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

[Ghost of Arbour]

Matthew Tkachuk.

I cannot remember a player more deserving of the Conn Smythe trophy for what he brought to a team in terms of intangibles than he.

I remember when the trade was done I thought the Panthers overpaid. Now I think they underpaid. These are the types of special players you should be using 1st round picks+ on.

Yes, indeed - too bad we don't have any #1 picks - Lou gave them all away, and we are looking into the abyss of a decade of suckage.

 

[Ghost of Arbour]

I find myself smiling at the subtitle of this thread “Eyes Toward The Draft”

My eyes will be watching the other teams in the league selecting prospects in a stacked draft while we make microwave popcorn

We arguably now lay claim to the weakest prospect pool in the league and I suspect we may be the last team in the league to select their first player in the upcoming draft. (That comment may need to be fact checked but it’s not far off in any event.)

Boy I hope Dufour and Maggio live up to their promise.

We really are in a terrible spot, I don't think people realize how bad it is. We have the oldest team in the league, paired with the worst prospect pool - add in no 1st round picks and I am ready to wonder if we have reached Washington Generals-level bad.

Wish the NHL had a Ted Stepien-type rule so LL would not have been able to trade away all those #1 picks.

We need to basically unload our best pieces so we can accumulate a boatload of top level picks, and that won't happen while Lamoriello is GM, so he should be the first to go.

 

[Ghost of Arbour]

Feel like this isn't going to work. Barzal is pretty shit at winning board battles. He never knows when to play the body, and most of the time chooses not to engage physically making it even more difficult to win the puck. I think you hit the nail on the head though where they need more than one puck carrier and need to keep the PK guessing. They have zero creativity in every single facet of the PP. It's humiliating to watch.


Curtis Joseph?

Barzal plays less defense than the fans do, and tries to get as far from physical contact as they are sitting. He really is playing in the wrong league; he should be in the Swiss League with all the super-fast skaters, large rinks, and zero defense played there - he'd fit right in. In the NHL game, he's useless on the ice much of the time as he is so incapable/unwilling to do most of the things needed to consistently win.

 

[Ghost of Arbour]

Every franchise has this discussion regarding rebuilding. It's all nonsense. If you have to rebuild, you rebuild. There are teams that cannot avoid it: Philly is one. The only thing worse than rebuilding is being mediocre with aging forwards that are not exciting to watch. Isles brand of hockey is only watchable if they are winning. When this team loses, with the way they play, it is unwatchable. The reason is lack of high end talent.

It usually takes franchises too long to decide to rebuild. Isles aren't there yet, but they have to get younger and cheaper at certain positions. The team is stale. The team has very little offensive swagger and the defensive game has eroded. You simply cannot rebuild with an elite goaltender either.

The best way for the Isles to inject some much needed skill into the lineup immediately is by trading Sorokin (probably). The UFA market stinks this year. I'm not sure what the trade market holds. The Isles can retool by discarding many of the high priced aging players on the roster (Pageau, the entire 4th line, maybe Palmieri). The other players are simply not tradable because of the term.

Making decisions to keep fans in the seats never works out: see Vancouver, Philly, etc. Most fans are ok with a rebuild if done correctly. The Isles don't need one yet. But they need to start understanding that the league is getting younger, more skilled, and faster. If they don't adjust, the rebuild will be forced upon them. Worst thing a team can be is old, slow, boring, and not winning. Right now the Isles are a borderline playoff team. A purgatory of sorts. Something has to give.

Very well said, stating everything ever honest isles fan knows - but some won't admit.

 

[The Wahligator]

Just poking around on CapFriendly and noticed that Lee and Pageau's deals come off the books the same year McDavid hits UFA. Lou playing 4D chess!

 

[Ghost of Arbour]

The listless Panthers franchise that won the President’s trophy last year without him?

As proven more strongly this year than perhaps any other - winning the PT/doing really well during the regular season doesn't honestly exhibit a team's mettle/worth.

Sure. We'd all be hoping but the draft being a crap shoot is reality.

Yet there are teams who consistently draft well, having a solid handle on what attributes to look for in a potential pick. The Isles are not one of them.

 

[Ghost of Arbour]

They're not winning the cup anyway.

FL beat a dominant BOS team, and has probably the best goalie left in the PO, not so sure if I would dismiss them so quickly.

 

[Ghost of Arbour]

If the Rags winning the draft lottery twice in a short period wasn’t fishy enough, Chicago winning right after Kane and Toews depart is just icing on the cake

Totally 100% random

Shades of the Knicks getting the #1 pick/Ewing in '85.

 

[Doshell Propivo]

FL beat a dominant BOS team, and has probably the best goalie left in the PO, not so sure if I would dismiss them so quickly.

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

This conversation is a waste of time. The Islanders did not have a 115 point asset to offer in a deal last season. Yes. I know this. Was just a hypothetical to simply consider whether or not we maximized assets/cap space with Horvat. And your original point was questioning whether or not I...

forums.hfboards.com

We really are in a terrible spot, I don't think people realize how bad it is.

The horror!

lol

 

[Doshell Propivo]

Yet there are teams who consistently draft well, having a solid handle on what attributes to look for in a potential pick. The Isles are not one of them.

You're drafting 18 year old kids. Outside of the top 2 or 3 players, odds of them being regular NHLers (let alone franchise saviors) are not that great.

The real art in drafting is not really in the first or second round. There's so much data and info available to everyone that no one really has an "inside scoop" on any particular player. If a team goes "off the board" and drafts a player #9 overall that was projected to go #16 overall, and that player ends up being amazing, it is more luck than anything. The real art is finding the diamonds in the rough in the later rounds. Are the Islanders worse than other teams when it comes to that? I honestly don't know.

 

[periferal]

 

[YearlyLottery]

Or the same Panthers franchise that, in the past 3 weeks, is about to double they're playoff series wins they had over the past decade?

Also take a moment to break down the Flames between last year and this year with/without Tkachuk.

Not sure why we're trying to undermine the value of one of the most unique competitors in the sport, but alas...Here we are.

Give me a break. Florida was also a game away from missing the playoffs entirely. They are a damn good team. The thing is they were good before and after this acquisition.

 

[NC 1972]

Life is full of what ifs.

What if Dale Hunter didn’t destroy Pierre Turgeon? What if Shayne Corson didn’t destroy Michael Peca?

Sure injuries happen but I think the Blues were playing good hockey and were derailed by an injury to the goalie that had previously carried them to a cup. And I think it was Darcy Tucker that took out Peca.

 

[NC 1972]

As proven more strongly this year than perhaps any other - winning the PT/doing really well during the regular season doesn't honestly exhibit a team's mettle/worth.


Yet there are teams who consistently draft well, having a solid handle on what attributes to look for in a potential pick. The Isles are not one of them.

As often said by Chapman the more bullets you have the more likely you’ll hit on something. A full complement of picks year in and out stocks the cupboard. Those assets are currency trade them for players or develop them you want options.

 

[Glorydays22]

I am really wondering if all this silence by the isles is a signal of a regime change coming. Maybe they are targeting a new GM from a team that has yet to be eliminated? Maybe Lou helps pick his successor, and rides off into the sunset.

I think you are right. Could the Kyle Dubas rumors really be true? I have HUGE MIXED emotions if this is true. First, I would be jumping up and down with joy if Lou is leaving. But I'm not sure I want Dubas.

 

[Zeeker]

I think you are right. Could the Kyle Dubas rumors really be true? I have HUGE MIXED emotions if this is true. First, I would be jumping up and down with joy if Lou is leaving. But I'm not sure I want Dubas.

Lol we’d be the joke of the league if Dubas replaced Lou as GM

 

[Glorydays22]

Lol we’d be the joke of the league if Dubas replaced Lou as GM

I agree, but it's really weird that Lou is waiting so long to talk to the media. He's obviously trying to get something ironed out in the back office. If Lou was going to have his son Chris replace him, he would have had a press conference already.

 

[doublechili]

FL beat a dominant BOS team, and has probably the best goalie left in the PO, not so sure if I would dismiss them so quickly.

Bobrovsky? I seem to recall not that long ago that he was an untradeable anchor contract. Now he's Jacques Plante? Maybe there's a lesson there about not being reactionary.

 

[WangMustGo]

I think you are right. Could the Kyle Dubas rumors really be true? I have HUGE MIXED emotions if this is true. First, I would be jumping up and down with joy if Lou is leaving. But I'm not sure I want Dubas.

I dont want Dubas at all. He has done nothing for Toronto. I would be interested in Tulsky from Carolina. Or another assistant GM from a top team that has made alot of good moves to improve their roster.

 

[Ghost of Arbour]

I dont want Dubas at all. He has done nothing for Toronto. I would be interested in Tulsky from Carolina. Or another assistant GM from a top team that has made alot of good moves to improve their roster.

Like maybe the TBL fellow...

 

[doublechili]

Like maybe the TBL fellow...

The team that traded a 1st, a 2nd, a 3rd, a 4th and a 5th round pick for a 4th liner at the TDL?

 

[Big L]

Dubas sucks balls. Stay tf away from the isles

 

[Glory Days]

If Malkin was firing Lou I don’t see why he wouldn’t have made that announcement And if Lou was firing Lambert I would think he would have made that announcement. To me this delay is one of two things: either Lou is staying and hiring a GM or Lou is retiring.

 

[DerekKingSnipes]

As proven more strongly this year than perhaps any other - winning the PT/doing really well during the regular season doesn't honestly exhibit a team's mettle/worth.


Yet there are teams who consistently draft well, having a solid handle on what attributes to look for in a potential pick. The Isles are not one of them.

Ok drafting is crap shoot for anyone, no team over long haul is really better or worse than the next. Lou has overseen five drafts, 2018 we have Dobson and Wahlstrom and Iskhakov is still a prospect. 2019 we have Holmstrom and Bolduc, 2020 we have Dufour and Jeffries along with possibly Tikkanen who played well in ECHL as depth goalie option. 2021 we used Raty to get Horvat, Lennox is our top goalie prospect, LIukas is going to play here as he’s a bigger version if clutterbuck, Berg has ability and moves to North Dakota this year. 2022 we have two new age Nhl defense prospects in Odelius and George and we drafted Maggio in fifth round and he led OHL in scoring this year. Finley can also play so we will see how he progresses in college.

If Malkin was firing Lou I don’t see why he wouldn’t have made that announcement And if Lou was firing Lambert I would think he would have made that announcement. To me this delay is one of two things: either Lou is staying and hiring a GM or Lou is retiring.

I’m convinced he’s either retiring or moving to president role and hiring GM. If he was going to stay as GM I think he would have spoken to media already. Isles are waiting for someone who is involved with one if the current playoff teams I think to at least interview them. I’d imagine whomever that is would be the one to pick their own coach.

 

[Glory Days]

Ok drafting is crap shoot for anyone, no team over long haul is really better or worse than the next. Lou has overseen five drafts, 2018 we have Dobson and Wahlstrom and Iskhakov is still a prospect. 2019 we have Holmstrom and Bolduc, 2020 we have Dufour and Jeffries along with possibly Tikkanen who played well in ECHL as depth goalie option. 2021 we used Raty to get Horvat, Lennox is our top goalie prospect, LIukas is going to play here as he’s a bigger version if clutterbuck, Berg has ability and moves to North Dakota this year. 2022 we have two new age Nhl defense prospects in Odelius and George and we drafted Maggio in fifth round and he led OHL in scoring this year. Finley can also play so we will see how he progresses in college.


I’m convinced he’s either retiring or moving to president role and hiring GM. If he was going to stay as GM I think he would have spoken to media already. Isles are waiting for someone who is involved with one if the current playoff teams I think to at least interview them. I’d imagine whomever that is would be the one to pick their own coach.

I’m thinking the same regarding Lou.