Bump this up, 1 year later, to boast how smart I was and to confess humbly how stupid I was.
Saying that, I have to admit that if he walks I won't be on that proverbial suicide watch. Boston survived departure of their best player and "the face of the franchise" quite well, we will survive too.
Happy with this comment, would have never ever believed they would rebound so fast so soon (basically immediately).
Undoubtedly, Tavares would make this team better, but whether having Tavares would have been worth the pure enjoyment of seeing them playing the Leafs 3 times per year – I'm not so sure.
As a side note, I think that Halak will get a starting job and very nice numbers with his new team.
I was surprised he signed with a team with an established No 1. Nevertheless, he proved, much like the Isles themselves, that the last season numbers were entirely on Weight and his cronies, not the personnel.
I like Johnston, he's perfect 4th liner. He's cheap.
Return of Martin made Johnston much less relevant. He is not a "perfect 4th liner", but it's nice to have this kind of depth.
Pulock is the only young defenseman in NYI system capable of top-4 duties right now. If there is a defenseman to retain from this trainwreck of Weight's "defense" – it's him.
Happy, happy, happy.
Toews is highly praised by those who pay close attention to minors (including Snow), so I go with the majority.
Happy again.
Now we turn to our best trade asset: Brock Nelson. In my opinion, he is among those unfortunate players good enough to play in NHL, but not good enough offensively for top-6 and not good enough defensively for bottom-6. Still he is consistent 20-goals scorer, there must be a market for him. He should be shopped aggressively in the offseason.
Heh, still don't know what to think about him. It's fair to say he's our Top-5 MVP this season, but this is his walk year, so ... I don't know, truly.
He will finish his career as the greatest Islander at this side of the dynasty.
I stand for every word in this quote.
Barzal is the future: he is our Matthews-Laine-McDavid.
His numbers are less sexy than the last season, but he is still the main piece of the future.
I'm impressed with the development of Beau this year. He's already a serviceable middle-6. I don't want him traded unless in a package for something irresistible.
Here, one of the main disappointments. He is still a "serviceable middle-6", but his progress is not as good as I hoped, and, given that he looks like one of the dumbest players on this team (IMO), I have doubts about his ceiling.
Eberle is probably the only one Islander this season I can't really complain about. Both him and Lee are perfect top-6 wingers. With shrewd management we can retain them both.
Eberle is not Beau/Ladd-bad, but he didn't earn an extension, plain and simple. Lee should be resigned.
Cizikas is harder to defend because of his contract, not his play. Nevertheless, the cap keeps going up, Seattle is coming, by the end of his contract it won't cost much percentage-wise. At least no one can question his work ethics.
My Top-5 MVP:
Nelson
Lehner
Cizikas
Pulock
Boychuk
IMO: during this season Cizikas more than earned his contract and some more. Happy again.
And then there is Ho-Sang, the opposite of Cizikas in all respects, from talent to work ethics. Still believe he is part of the solution though.
Here, I changed my opinion: he is not "part of the solution". His failure to make a severely offensively-challenged team says a lot about him. His output after demotion says a lot about him. I was one of his biggest supporters on these boards, but enough is eventually enough. We all should just move.
About Boychuk: unless we draft Dahlin (and he delivers), or trade for Karlsson/Doughty, or Pulock emerges – Boychuk is our best defenseman. He won't be on a first pair for 2/3 of the league, but this is what we have right now.
And Pulock emerged! Boychuk is now our second best defenseman.
Aho and Mayfield are fillers at this stage in their careers. Both have upside.
Mayfield is above praise. As one of his biggest supporters, even I didn't expect how good he became. I want to proclaim myself Mayfield Fan Club Supreme Leader.
Dal Colle is a high draft pick of Snow, we know how it goes. Whether it will be Nino-type deal or Griffin-type one is anyone's guess.
DMC had more than enough time to prove himself. Don't see him becoming much better than what he is right now.
There are 5 players I would like to get rid of – 3 of them are no-brainers: Clutter, Greiss, and Ladd. They are the real anchors: given their age I'm highly doubtful they can improve in the upcoming seasons versus their contracts. Unfortunately, there is nothing to do with that.
Greiss: the same as Halak – he proved he is a good goalie. One year left, then we'll see.
Clutter – overpaid, his contract is acceptable so far, but the term will eventually bite us.
Ladd is done, LTIR-bound.
Leddy is very good offensive defenseman who can thrive playing for a defensively responsible team. Unfortunately, the Isles are not among those teams, and given the disbalance in talent between our forwards and our defensemen, they won't be in a foreseeable future.
I was wrong, I was stupid.
In a sense, he is much better: his +/- turnaround mirrors the Isles GA one. That's all, the main point is that he does not "thrive playing for a defensively responsible team". Should be shopped.
[As about the last sentence in the quote above – I'm ashamed of it, my only consolation is that I'm by far not the only one to make this kind of "assessment"]
Who makes defense defensively responsible? Apart from coaches, defensively responsible defensemen make defense defensively responsible – sorry for this tautology.
At least, I mentioned the coaches, otherwise, I'm stupid, no question about that.
Apart from Boychuk and De Haan we have no one, absolutely no one. On the other side, we have Leddy and Pulock as offensive defensemen, plus Mayfield trying to join offense despite his limited abilities, and Hickey consistently trying to impersonate Bobby Orr with consistently the same results.
We have no one, absolutely no one? One year later, we have EVERYONE playing a well-coached defensive game.
As about Pelech, he's very limited untalented bottom pair defenseman, who, in due time, will fall behind Pulock (already happened), and then Aho, Mayfield, and Toews. So, trade him high, now.
I hated Pelech right until about January – now he is one of my favorite Islanders. Love this guy, very-very happy to be wrong about him.