Roster/Rumors/Speculation/Trade Talk - 2023-24: Hotel California

[13th Floor]

I’m glad I’m not crazy

Nobody said all that.

 

[leeroggy]

Oh, I wouldn't trade him for a 3rd rounder. If he's traded he needs to be a package for something better or to move Bailey so they can sign someone better.

Bailey and Wally to Arizona for 2 2024 2nds and a 2025 2nd . . . that would leave Arizona with 5 2nd's in those 2 years

 

[danteipp]

I am not moving Wally unless it is absolutely necessary to SUBSTANTIALLY upgrade the team elsewhere. He is young, cheap and slots in quite easily on the third line alongside JGP and (presumably) Parise.

His development hasn't been linear, however, excluding short-timers on the roster, I believe he was fifth in Corsi EV and he isn't afraid to drop the gloves and stand up for a teammate or himself.

The Isles need more of that, not less.

I look at Wally's growth like Romanov's. Lots of people hated the Romanov deal, held it against the player and wanted to run him out of town. Now that he is getting comfortable, learning and growing, you see the player he can become.

Wally is a decent top-9 player now, with the potential for more as long as he is willing to learn and keeps working. To me, he feels like the anti-Beauvillier, who played soft, lacked confidence and is your archetype West player.

And, again, Wally is young and still inexpensive contractually. No need to move him unless it is part of a big return or other move.

 

[PK Cronin]

I am not moving Wally unless it is absolutely necessary to SUBSTANTIALLY upgrade the team elsewhere. He is young, cheap and slots in quite easily on the third line alongside JGP and (presumably) Parise.

His development hasn't been linear, however, excluding short-timers on the roster, I believe he was fifth in Corsi EV and he isn't afraid to drop the gloves and stand up for a teammate or himself.

The Isles need more of that, not less.

I look at Wally's growth like Romanov's. Lots of people hated the Romanov deal, held it against the player and wanted to run him out of town. Now that he is getting comfortable, learning and growing, you see the player he can become.

Wally is a decent top-9 player now, with the potential for more as long as he is willing to learn and keeps working. To me, he feels like the anti-Beauvillier, who played soft, lacked confidence and is your archetype West player.

And, again, Wally is young and still inexpensive contractually. No need to move him unless it is part of a big return or other move.

To be clear, I want to move him for an upgrade, not to just get rid of him.

I'm not one of those fans that were going after Romanov, and defenseman take longer than forwards to develop normally. I think it's unfair to label Beauvillier as soft, he didn't shy away from contact, he just wasn't a big guy who delivers hits. Wahlstrom isn't some Clutterbuck clone either, he throws his body around from time to time but he isn't what I would consider physical. If Wahlstrom had some of Beauvillier's hustle he'd be a very good player, but he coasts around far too often for my liking. He's a guy who when he's not scoring isn't impacting the game in any other positive way.

I am not sure he even has a roster spot next year. Fasching has been significantly more impactful in his brief time than anything Wahlstrom has done, and he's more suited for a bottom six role.

Barzal Horvat Lee
Engvall Nelson Palmieri
Parise Pageau Fasching
Martin Cizikas Clutterbuck

Is Wahlstrom better than anyone on that roster (assuming Engvall is retained)? I really don't think so. His shot is like Pulock's at this point, it looks nice but it doesn't get much accomplished. I wouldn't hate if he was kept around because he's serviceable and is cheap/young but I could see him being trade bait for sure.

 

[danteipp]

To be clear, I want to move him for an upgrade, not to just get rid of him.

I'm not one of those fans that were going after Romanov, and defenseman take longer than forwards to develop normally. I think it's unfair to label Beauvillier as soft, he didn't shy away from contact, he just wasn't a big guy who delivers hits. Wahlstrom isn't some Clutterbuck clone either, he throws his body around from time to time but he isn't what I would consider physical. If Wahlstrom had some of Beauvillier's hustle he'd be a very good player, but he coasts around far too often for my liking. He's a guy who when he's not scoring isn't impacting the game in any other positive way.

I am not sure he even has a roster spot next year. Fasching has been significantly more impactful in his brief time than anything Wahlstrom has done, and he's more suited for a bottom six role.

Barzal Horvat Lee
Engvall Nelson Palmieri
Parise Pageau Fasching
Martin Cizikas Clutterbuck

Is Wahlstrom better than anyone on that roster (assuming Engvall is retained)? I really don't think so. His shot is like Pulock's at this point, it looks nice but it doesn't get much accomplished. I wouldn't hate if he was kept around because he's serviceable and is cheap/young but I could see him being trade bait for sure.

I think it will depend on the severity of Wahlstrom's injury (can he definitely be relied on to make a full recovery?) and how Engvall and Fasching play the rest of the way.

Still lots of time for one to play themselves into or out of the Isles future plans.

I hope Engvall does well and makes a strong case for himself however, if he does too well, he might just price himself off of the Isles and a cap floor team will be able to offer significantly more money.

There is still lots of time before any definitive call needs to be made.

 

[PK Cronin]

I think it will depend on the severity of Wahlstrom's injury (can he definitely be relied on to make a full recovery?) and how Engvall and Fasching play the rest of the way.

Still lots of time for one to play themselves into or out of the Isles future plans.

I hope Engvall does well and makes a strong case for himself however, if he does too well, he might just price himself off of the Isles and a cap floor team will be able to offer significantly more money.

There is still lots of time before any definitive call needs to be made.

Couldn't agree more. Beauvillier quickly played himself into a raise and then played himself off the team not too shortly after that. Things change quickly in the NHL.

 

[Glory Days]

To be clear, I want to move him for an upgrade, not to just get rid of him.

I'm not one of those fans that were going after Romanov, and defenseman take longer than forwards to develop normally. I think it's unfair to label Beauvillier as soft, he didn't shy away from contact, he just wasn't a big guy who delivers hits. Wahlstrom isn't some Clutterbuck clone either, he throws his body around from time to time but he isn't what I would consider physical. If Wahlstrom had some of Beauvillier's hustle he'd be a very good player, but he coasts around far too often for my liking. He's a guy who when he's not scoring isn't impacting the game in any other positive way.

I am not sure he even has a roster spot next year. Fasching has been significantly more impactful in his brief time than anything Wahlstrom has done, and he's more suited for a bottom six role.

Barzal Horvat Lee
Engvall Nelson Palmieri
Parise Pageau Fasching
Martin Cizikas Clutterbuck

Is Wahlstrom better than anyone on that roster (assuming Engvall is retained)? I really don't think so. His shot is like Pulock's at this point, it looks nice but it doesn't get much accomplished. I wouldn't hate if he was kept around because he's serviceable and is cheap/young but I could see him being trade bait for sure.

I think this season proved teams need more than 12 forwards. Injuries happen. Wahlstrom won’t be expensive. I haven’t seen any of the remaining Bridgeport forwards look to be NHL ready.

 

[PK Cronin]

I think this season proved teams need more than 12 forwards. Injuries happen. Wahlstrom won’t be expensive. I haven’t seen any of the remaining Bridgeport forwards look to be NHL ready.

I think most people said that before this season too. He won't be expensive, but I could see him being a valuable add in a trade for something that is better.

 

[Glory Days]

I’ve seen Bridgeport twice recently and was disappointed in the forwards. I’m ok trading Wahlstrom but as you say just for an upgrade. There is no need to dump him especially at will likely be a low salary.

 

[seafoam]

I’m fine with trading Wahlstrom because I don’t think he’s going to win a bottom six role.

NYI has a glut of competition internally for bottom six forward positions…Bailey, Cizikas, Clutterbuck, Durandeau, Holmstrom, Martin, and Pageau. That list does not include impending UFAs Engvall, Fasching, and Parise whom may all be brought back.

He’s not better than Barzal or Palmieri so I also don’t see him winning a top six role.

My guess is that NYI will try (but fail) to trade Wahlstrom for a basically a more productive version or Beauvillier/Engvall and then pivot to using Wahlstrom as a chip to move Bailey, giving NYI some much needed cap relief.

Whether that means packaging him with Bailey or moving him for a pick that is ultimately used to dump Bailey will depend on the buyer.

 

[BelovedIsles]

If Wahlstrom is traded for a top-line winger, I'm all in. It would have been nice to use this year to evaluate his development, but I don't see a true top-6'er in him (just like I didn't in Beau). With that said, acquiring a top-line winger is more important than Wahlstrom.

 

[IslesNorway]

Isles would have to add a fair bit to Wahlstrom to add a top line winger, and how are they gonna do that? Lou has already traded away picks for fun and they have few other roster players who is a good add.

 

[BelovedIsles]

I wasn't implying Wahlstrom alone. He's going all in on this roster, so why stop. Hope that you find some diamonds in the rough to stabilize the prospect pool.

 

[SI]

If Wahlstrom is traded for a top-line winger, I'm all in. It would have been nice to use this year to evaluate his development, but I don't see a true top-6'er in him (just like I didn't in Beau). With that said, acquiring a top-line winger is more important than Wahlstrom.

Need to see more and IMO, too early to tell. Look at Necas in Carolina a season ago he was on the same path as Poolparty, but he finally pulled it together.

And who is the top 6 upgrade via trade market? Mangiapane? Boeser? Schmaltz? cap would have to increase significantly AND Bailey would have to go.

Lou may see that the kids could help fill those voids to start the season. And there are more kids on the horizon - might be a very quiet off-season.

 

[Chapin Landvogt]

Fact of the matter is that the loss of this season may have a huge impact on what Wahlstrom comes to mean for this franchise. At the moment, he's in no-man's land.

We *needed* to find out what he is this year. This was one of Lambert's key challenges coming into the season.

Instead, we've been finding out what Fasching is. We've been getting a look at what Holmstrom can be. We've gotten looks at Durandeau, who was previously completely a non-factor.

And at the same time, RW Dufour has been putting in a decent first pro year in the A while RW Maggio is one of the shooting stars in the prospect world. Even The Hockey News just did a podcast with him (https://thehockeynews.com/podcast/t...gios-goals-in-windsor-and-islanders-prospects).

This was a critical, critical year for Wahlstrom. We needed to find out what he is.

Instead, he remains a mystery and other guys are doing what they can to establish themselves, thus contributing to him possibly becoming obsolete.

CAVEAT:
He's still a coveted asset and must be treated as such. We need him to be "valuable".

 

[danteipp]

Assuming his injury isn't lingering or saps him of his (middling) speed, Wally is perfect for RW3 next season.

He is young, inexpensive, was on pace for around 20-20, can agitate to draw penalties, scrap a bit and is the intermediate shooter alongside Parise (in close) and JGP. Both of whom are also plus skaters and defensively sound, to offset any deficiencies that Wally might experience as he learns and grows. And if Parise isn't around or available, Fasching can man LW3.

Before he got hurt, he was one of the Isles top Corsi EV players and, despite some lapses, was still +1 in terms of takeaways vs. giveaways.

He should hopefully be using his recovery tine to strengthen his upper body and core right now. Then, once recovered in the offseason, try to work on his skating, footspeed and edgework as much as possible. Just make incremental gains.

I would say Wally only becomes an issue if he doesn't continue to progress over the next couple seasons AND becomes more expensive.

Right now he is fine, with the potential to be better than OK if he works at it. Wally is not an issue I am concerned about.

 

[islesmb]

Brock practicing:

 

[danteipp]

Brock practicing:

Terrific news!

 

[Glory Days]

Brock practicing:

That’s very good news. I was expecting worse.

 

[The Real JT]

That very well may happen but he's still young and has upside. We don't have many of those guys in our system.

What would we get for him? A 3rd rounder....maybe?

It’s the age old dilemma.

Make an assessment early into the player’s career and cut bait to minimize a mistake and retain some value to use elsewhere. Snow’s best move was just like that when he flipped Reinhart.

Otherwise you hold onto the version of the player you thought you drafted while he continues to underperform to the point where his value is so low you just say “Why bother trading him for such low value?” We’re approaching that point with Wally, especially with him coming off an injury.

I would’ve flipped him this past offseason but now his value is so low I don’t think it’s worth it. Full disclosure, I wouldn’t be a very good GM.

 

[periferal]

Brock practicing:

 

[Big L]

 

[periferal]

Fact of the matter is that the loss of this season may have a huge impact on what Wahlstrom comes to mean for this franchise. At the moment, he's in no-man's land.

We *needed* to find out what he is this year. This was one of Lambert's key challenges coming into the season.

Instead, we've been finding out what Fasching is. We've been getting a look at what Holmstrom can be. We've gotten looks at Durandeau, who was previously completely a non-factor.

And at the same time, RW Dufour has been putting in a decent first pro year in the A while RW Maggio is one of the shooting stars in the prospect world. Even The Hockey News just did a podcast with him (https://thehockeynews.com/podcast/t...gios-goals-in-windsor-and-islanders-prospects).

This was a critical, critical year for Wahlstrom. We needed to find out what he is.

Instead, he remains a mystery and other guys are doing what they can to establish themselves, thus contributing to him possibly becoming obsolete.

CAVEAT:
He's still a coveted asset and must be treated as such. We need him to be "valuable".

Who is Wahlstrom a "coveted asset" for? Us? Other teams? It would be huge if he reaches even 80% of his potential, but that feels like a long shot given where we are today. And I think other teams feel the same way.

 

[BrockLobster]

Whew on brock. Now how about a timetable on barzy?

 

[PK Cronin]

Whew on brock. Now how about a timetable on barzy?

You're better off asking for $1,000,000,000 from Lamoriello.