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

[Lek]

So...are our guys off all week?...are they not going to take a few practice days before they break?

 

[periferal]

So...are our guys off all week?...are they not going to take a few practice days before they break?

I think the CBA mandates a few days off.

 

[periferal]

I can’t ignore you, I am a mod. Let people feel the way they feel this is a message board and people can have their own opinions. You trying to beat them over the head with whatever you feel want isn’t going to change anything on the ice. None of us work for the team or if the collective consciousness changes it’s not changing anything.

You aren’t breaking any rules but it’s really going against the spirit of open discussion.

I respect this post. My take is that I'm just going to put my voice out there. I'm under no illusions that I/we will change anything, but I can't be silent either. I think you/most would agree that it's important to vote, but voting for president in any state but the swing states also has zero bearing on the outcome.

That said I do totally respect that group that took up billboards years back to get rid of snow. Who knows if it swayed Malkin at all (I'd bet given his level of working with top-end people across the board I think snow was doomed anyway), but no doubt it's good to make your voice heard always.

And I do think if Lou is not replaced he's going to continue to lead this organization on this path to an older/less talented team with no youth to replace the aging vets. And after a few years of no playoffs Malkin is going to see attendance, and thus profits, drop... And then, after enough fans voice their opinions with their wallets, then I think he'll have to listen and make the necessary change.

 

[Throttle]

I respect this post. My take is that I'm just going to put my voice out there. I'm under no illusions that I/we will change anything, but I can't be silent either. I think you/most would agree that it's important to vote, but voting for president in any state but the swing states also has zero bearing on the outcome.

That said I do totally respect that group that took up billboards years back to get rid of snow. Who knows if it swayed Malkin at all (I'd bet given his level of working with top-end people across the board I think snow was doomed anyway), but no doubt it's good to make your voice heard always.

And I do think if Lou is not replaced he's going to continue to lead this organization on this path to an older/less talented team with no youth to replace the aging vets. And after a few years of no playoffs Malkin is going to see attendance, and thus profits, drop... And then, after enough fans voice their opinions with their wallets, then I think he'll have to listen and make the necessary change.

Why do you care whether the team is profitable or not? These owners have demonstrated they will spend money on the cap, coaching, facilities, etc.

They’ll either hold onto their asset (the team) or flip it for tremendous profit to another person.

There’s a good portion of this fanbase that wants a rebuild. It’s been said over and over, at some point those people can go ‘see I was right’ and tell everyone else they were right.

Malkin has diversified this team enough that an attendance drop is more than sustainable - you can 100% guarantee the average fan ain’t committing in the wallet as they do for a playoff team in the NHL.

 

[Osakahaus]

Matt Martin is cooked. jfc

 

[periferal]

Why do you care whether the team is profitable or not? These owners have demonstrated they will spend money on the cap, coaching, facilities, etc.

They’ll either hold onto their asset (the team) or flip it for tremendous profit to another person.

There’s a good portion of this fanbase that wants a rebuild. It’s been said over and over, at some point those people can go ‘see I was right’ and tell everyone else they were right.

Malkin has diversified this team enough that an attendance drop is more than sustainable - you can 100% guarantee the average fan ain’t committing in the wallet as they do for a playoff team in the NHL.

I agree with most of the individual sentences in this post, but not sure how they all tie together to make a point.

All I want is the Islanders to win a Cup. That requires an owner who's not only willing to spend on the team, but also cares about them winning and is astute enough to put the right people in place to accomplish that very lofty goal. So it doesn't matter to me if the Isles are profitable or not, but I also recognize it would be a lot easier to accomplish the main goal if they were.

Malkin, as compared with any previous owner since Pickett, has so far proven to be A+ across the board. This franchise is run better now than it ever has been in its 50 year history. The big test for him is going to be when he decides to replace Lou, and who he replaces him with. That will truly show if he's not just a savvy businessman, but hockey owner capable to bringing this team it's 5th championship.

 

[leeroggy]

View attachment 812216Matt Martin is cooked. jfc

But there's a lot of damn good players in the 400's . . .

 

[Kevin27NYI]

But there's a lot of damn good players in the 400's . . .

Matt Tkachuk is cooked. Maybe we can trade a mid round pick for him. Salary retained, of course.

 

[Torrey Redux]

..........

Malkin, as compared with any previous owner since Pickett, has so far proven to be A+ across the board. This franchise is run better now than it ever has been in its 50 year history. The big test for him is going to be when he decides to replace Lou, and who he replaces him with. That will truly show if he's not just a savvy businessman, but hockey owner capable to bringing this team it's 5th championship.

Did you really just write that? Perhaps if you put in the qualifier "financially" you might have a case, but in every other way this franchise is being run about on par with previous regimes as far as the on ice product is concerned. Yeah, there has been an uptick in being consistently OK with at least a chance at making the playoffs most of the time, but that has come at the cost of being anything close to great or a true contender, either now and as far into the future as the eye can see.

In any event, the ghost of Bill Torrey undoubtedly takes issue with your comment, or do you think, for example, that all of the buzz at the time comparing the Pageau trade to the Goring trade was spot on?

 

[doublechili]

Did you really just write that? Perhaps if you put in the qualifier "financially" you might have a case, but in every other way this franchise is being run about on par with previous regimes as far as the on ice product is concerned. Yeah, there has been an uptick in being consistently OK with at least a chance at making the playoffs most of the time, but that has come at the cost of being anything close to great or a true contender, either now and as far into the future as the eye can see.

In any event, the ghost of Bill Torrey undoubtedly takes issue with your comment, or do you think, for example, that all of the buzz at the time comparing the Pageau trade to the Goring trade was spot on?

He was posting about ownership, and these owners do seem to be the best in the franchise's history. Even during the dynasty years ownership wasn't great, but at least it was stable enough (and the team was doing well enough) that they were able to pay and retain players.

 

[Throttle]

I agree with most of the individual sentences in this post, but not sure how they all tie together to make a point.

All I want is the Islanders to win a Cup. That requires an owner who's not only willing to spend on the team, but also cares about them winning and is astute enough to put the right people in place to accomplish that very lofty goal. So it doesn't matter to me if the Isles are profitable or not, but I also recognize it would be a lot easier to accomplish the main goal if they were.

Malkin, as compared with any previous owner since Pickett, has so far proven to be A+ across the board. This franchise is run better now than it ever has been in its 50 year history. The big test for him is going to be when he decides to replace Lou, and who he replaces him with. That will truly show if he's not just a savvy businessman, but hockey owner capable to bringing this team it's 5th championship.

Whether you truly understand or believe it or not, Malkin hiring Lou was a savvy move for this franchise.

 

[Throttle]

Did you really just write that? Perhaps if you put in the qualifier "financially" you might have a case, but in every other way this franchise is being run about on par with previous regimes as far as the on ice product is concerned. Yeah, there has been an uptick in being consistently OK with at least a chance at making the playoffs most of the time, but that has come at the cost of being anything close to great or a true contender, either now and as far into the future as the eye can see.

In any event, the ghost of Bill Torrey undoubtedly takes issue with your comment, or do you think, for example, that all of the buzz at the time comparing the Pageau trade to the Goring trade was spot on?

How much bottoming out will be tolerated by this fanbase over 5-8 years on the hope and believe it nets several game changing players in the draft?

This is also a unique era in terms of cap and the over abundance of long term contracts every team has locked themselves into.

 

[seafoam]

But there's a lot of damn good players in the 400's . . .

Yeah seriously, this post was a miss.

 

[Torrey Redux]

He was posting about ownership, and these owners do seem to be the best in the franchise's history. Even during the dynasty years ownership wasn't great, but at least it was stable enough (and the team was doing well enough) that they were able to pay and retain players.

I know the context, but being the best ownership encompasses at lot of things, not just franchise stability or worth, and to make the claim that the current group is the best is a stretch, particularly when you consider that there is not a small subset of fans and watchers who, cynically or not, believe that this ownership's primary motivation has little to do with hockey and much more to do with real estate, the hockey team being the mechanism whereby they have a achieved their real estate goal.

 

[YearlyLottery]

Did you really just write that? Perhaps if you put in the qualifier "financially" you might have a case, but in every other way this franchise is being run about on par with previous regimes as far as the on ice product is concerned. Yeah, there has been an uptick in being consistently OK with at least a chance at making the playoffs most of the time, but that has come at the cost of being anything close to great or a true contender, either now and as far into the future as the eye can see.

In any event, the ghost of Bill Torrey undoubtedly takes issue with your comment, or do you think, for example, that all of the buzz at the time comparing the Pageau trade to the Goring trade was spot on?

Just need to correct the bolded. Since hiring Lou/Trotz they have only missed the playoffs once. They indeed need to continue making changes but don't come out here typing this bullshit that this is only slightly better than the Wang/Snow era.

 

[Osakahaus]

Just need to correct the bolded. Since hiring Lou/Trotz they have only missed the playoffs once. They indeed need to continue making changes but don't come out here typing this bullshit that this is only slightly better than the Wang/Snow era.

They need to get back to finding a good mix of scoring. Islanders look lost without a good middle 6.

 

[YearlyLottery]

They need to get back to finding a good mix of scoring. Islanders look lost without a good middle 6.

They currently have what I call the Alan Quine problem with players. Fasching, Engvall and Fasching looked good in bottom six roles similar to Quine so that somehow means they can play top six roles. The defensive depth is also a problem, however, it would be for most teams who lose two of their top three defenseman.

 

[Torrey Redux]

Just need to correct the bolded. Since hiring Lou/Trotz they have only missed the playoffs once. They indeed need to continue making changes but don't come out here typing this bullshit that this is only slightly better than the Wang/Snow era.

Who gives a shit that we made just the playoffs? You gonna hang a banner, "one of teams that thrived most under the COVID rules". The real question is, how good were we actually? I contend, just OK, yeah, better than the Wang/Snow era but so what? As I wrote the other day, we're the Minnesota Wild of the East and who the hell wants to be that? And for the record, outside of the pandemic (with conditions that made it possible for the MTL Canadiens - a team far worse than the Islanders - to make the finals), this team has nothing close to a deep run in the playoffs. Nothing.

 

[periferal]

Whether you truly understand or believe it or not, Malkin hiring Lou was a savvy move for this franchise.

If Lou was the only way to get Trotz here as coach, then I totally agree with that. If Trotz would've come here regardless sans Lou, then I don't.

I find it hard to believe it's the former, so I think a bunch of GM's could've taken basically snow's roster and let Trotz coach them to the semifinals.

That said, I'm much more concerned with where we are now, not making it any worse, and how to fix it going forward.

 

[BelovedIsles]

View attachment 812216Matt Martin is cooked. jfc

Odd, I couldn’t find Lee.

 

[YearlyLottery]

Who gives a shit that we made just the playoffs? You gonna hang a banner, "one of teams that thrived most under the COVID rules". The real question is, how good were we actually? I contend, just OK, yeah, better than the Wang/Snow era but so what? As I wrote the other day, we're the Minnesota Wild of the East and who the hell wants to be that? And for the record, outside of the pandemic (with conditions that made it possible for the MTL Canadiens - a team far worse than the Islanders - to make the finals), this team has nothing close to a deep run in the playoffs. Nothing.

Not once did I say I expect this team to make a deep playoff run this season. I am just pointing out the absurdity of this organization being similar at all to Snow/Wang.

 

[LeapOnOver]

Oh it's started to fade, but when he got here you know all those posts saying "In Lou we trust" or that avatar with Lou's face superimposed over the Godfather? Those people were/are the "contingent." It's anyone who simply trusts anything that Lou does with the belief it will work out eventually (when it's not) without questioning anything along the way.

If you don't think there's a segment of fans that have, and still do, think that way then no need to reply - We just disagree.

None of these things = Lou is a God. They are playfully playing up the Italian thing with the way Lou operates. You just either didn't catch it, or used it for hyperbole.

 

[LeapOnOver]

Pelech is Mr. Glass.

Would love to see how you would hold up on that Gallagher hit, keyboard tough guy.

 

[LeapOnOver]

I'm all for selling off some assets and rebuilding this team around Roy's style, rather than Trotz. Honestly, if Lou isn't thinking that way, he's not trying. He at least needs to be thinking about adding to match Roy's style, at the least. We'll see if selling becomes and option. I think it will. This is not a playoff team. I liked the Engvall signing when it happened, but it's awful. I didn't realize how terrible his hockey IQ was. I accepted that he didn't hit or use his size, but am shocked on how bad his decision making is. The second line needs a rework in a major way.

 

[Throttle]

Would love to see how you would hold up on that Gallagher hit, keyboard tough guy.

Not well. My point was he is often injured. He’s just becoming or is one of those guys that routinely gets injured and misses games, forcing the team to play other players and shuffle the backline.