Roster/Rumors/Speculation/Trade Talk - 2024-25: Re-Tool, Re-Group, Re-Mix, Re-Build

[Chapin Landvogt]

This may be premature, but I wanted to post it.
This will be my last large hockey blog post for awhile.

Who ya kiddin'?

 

[leeroggy]

Ooof next 15 looks brutal. Looks like 4 wins, max out of that.

Not fer nuthin, Hagens is not a big fella. Looked rather small next to teammates at the WJCs

5'11", 170. Just turned 18 2 months ago. Plenty of time to fill out. Basically Ehlers' current size.

 

[Chapin Landvogt]

Yep, getting Hagens would be cool.

 

[periferal]

Yep, getting Hagens would be cool.

Getting any young talent that we can safely say will have a long term NHL career would be exciting at this point. A blue chip talent would be over the top.

I mean it's been so unbearably dry in our prospect system part of me thinks that Danny Nelson will be the next (Carolina) Sebastian Aho when we would be very fortunate if he was even close to the next Brock Nelson.

 

[SI]

Thanks brother. Interesting time. Hey was #5 a first overall back in the day? Too lazy to look up

Would be nice to grease bettman and co to win the lottery this year. Was kinda easy for the rags to move up big time getting awarded 1 and 2 back to back years.

You are correct - Potvin went #1 overall.

 

[leeroggy]

Getting any young talent that we can safely say will have a long term NHL career would be exciting at this point. A blue chip talent would be over the top.

I mean it's been so unbearably dry in our prospect system part of me thinks that Danny Nelson will be the next (Carolina) Sebastian Aho when we would be very fortunate if he was even close to the next Brock Nelson.

Perif my friend, you need a 28-day vacation with no internet connection! Maybe a Clipper Ship in the Pacific, visiting Vanuato, Fiji and a few more. A few tropical drinks, a daily massage, a couple of 25-year old's named Kim, fresh fish and fruits.

Then when you come back, Lou has completely overturned the roster, and you missed a 10-game winning streak . . .

Imagine how much better you'd feel!

 

[duster19]

Dusting off Martin for another game tonight…

edit - I thought they were in VGS tonight!

 

[seafoam]

Yep, getting Hagens would be cool.

So would me getting a date with Scarlett Johansson.

 

[Mr Misunderstood]

So would me getting a date with Scarlett Johansson.

Well you're not exactly setting yourself up well with an avatar of Michelle Williams (unless that's Carey Mulligan, I can never tell).

Kinda like how the Isles need to offload some pending UFA's to set themselves up for a better lottery ball if they want a good chance.

 

[periferal]

Perif my friend, you need a 28-day vacation with no internet connection! Maybe a Clipper Ship in the Pacific, visiting Vanuato, Fiji and a few more. A few tropical drinks, a daily massage, a couple of 25-year old's named Kim, fresh fish and fruits.

Then when you come back, Lou has completely overturned the roster, and you missed a 10-game winning streak . . .

Imagine how much better you'd feel!

My friend...

I don't even understand your logic - If I 10 game winning streak would make me feel "better," then why would I want to miss that?

And man - I'm all for living off the grid and I would be very open to doing it for a while, but once you have a wife and child that option is nonexistent.

Also I took once cruise in my life and will never do that again. Nature is what relaxes - Not wave pools and a casino with no chance of touching grass. I've actually been to Australia/NZ and would definitely go back to that area of the world. Just next time I am not taking a 16 hour flight from LAX to get there.

 

[leeroggy]

I don't even understand your logic - If I 10 game winning streak would make me feel "better," then why would I want to miss that?

It would take 10 games for you to believe your own eyes! You'd be pooh-poohing it until about then!

And I LOVE cruising!

As far as the wife and kids . . . take them with you

 

[doublechili]

You are correct - Potvin went #1 overall.

Also, didn't Billy Harris go #1 in the team's first season?

 

[leeroggy]

Also, didn't Billy Harris go #1 in the team's first season?

Yep, first pick ever. And that 1972 draft also saw us pick Lorne Henning, Bobby Nystrom, Richard Brodeur and Gary Howatt.
Only 16 picks per round and no limit on how many rounds as long as you wanted to use your pick.

 

[periferal]

 

[leeroggy]

1) Heck, why not trade Nelson and Palmieri for Farabee and Frost?

2) Guess this puts to lie the main Trade Rumor thread that Nelson isn't worth too much.

3) JGP is now in demand instead of a cap dump . . .

 

[Glory Days]

Nelson absolutely needs to be moved. Nice to see Pageau has value and the Isles need to take advantage of that by moving him. Doesn’t sound like the return on Palms will be great.

 

[The Real JT]

Tons of games for the bottom dwellers in the Eastern Conference tonight. That includes some head-to-head matchups
that could result in three-point games.

It’s gotten to the point where I hope as many of those teams as possible get two points. That means all of them. Except the Rags, of course. They can suck a whole bag of d*cks. (Chris Rock’s best line).

If Lou’s mind were a campfire, I want to extinguish his most remote thought that we are contenders.

 

[Konk]

Tons of games for the bottom dwellers in the Eastern Conference tonight. That includes some head-to-head matchups
that could result in three-point games.

It’s gotten to the point where I hope as many of those teams as possible get two points. That means all of them. Except the Rags, of course. They can suck a whole bag of d*cks. (Chris Rock’s best line).

If Lou’s mind were a campfire, I want to extinguish his most remote thought that we are contenders.

You mean Louis CK.

 

[The Real JT]

You mean Louis CK.

I am occasionally wrong but never in doubt.

 

[Konk]

I am occasionally wrong but never in doubt.

You had me convinced, even though I knew better. I even imagined Rock doing that bit...

 

[LeapOnOver]

A bit different scenario, but Matthew Tkachuk deal was 100% sign and trade. So, there’s precedent for it.

The argument before that was ‘it’s never happened before so…’ until two GMs do it.

No one ever gave bonuses as ‘salary’ under the hard cap, well, until they did and now it happens quite frequently.

No one ever put an ‘injured’ player on LTIR for the benefit of the cap bc you can’t really do that until someone did and again, it happens quite frequently.

No one ever gave out deferred salary until, well, someone did.

No one ever put a guy on waivers to avoid trade protection until someone did.

So it makes perfect sense to bring up scenarios that rarely, if ever happen, like they are commonplace? I think it would have been better in this case to say, "You are right, but if the Isles could have done a sign and trade, that's what I would have wanted to happen. Rolling the dice would not have been a smart option."

 

[SI]

So it makes perfect sense to bring up scenarios that rarely, if ever happen, like they are commonplace? I think it would have been better in this case to say, "You are right, but if the Isles could have done a sign and trade, that's what I would have wanted to happen. Rolling the dice would not have been a smart option."

Just got to tune him out.

Of course, the Tkachuk trade was a sign and trade - he was an RFA and picked the destination he was going to be traded to and wanted to sign there. Not the same thing when it comes to Horvat.

And what doesn't make sense in this revisionist history is the Isles had just extended Barzal. He may not like Barzal, but the Isles leadership does.

The entire concept of a trade of Horvat for Barzal makes zero sense - why make the trade? Just keep the guy you just signed. Horvat doesn't make the team better without Barzal.

 

[LeapOnOver]

Just got to tune him out.

Of course, the Tkachuk trade was a sign and trade - he was an RFA and picked the destination he was going to be traded to and wanted to sign there. Not the same thing when it comes to Horvat.

And what doesn't make sense in this revisionist history is the Isles had just extended Barzal. He may not like Barzal, but the Isles leadership does.

The entire concept of a trade of Horvat for Barzal makes zero sense - why make the trade? Just keep the guy you just signed. Horvat doesn't make the team better without Barzal.

Yeah, I mean I'm willing to let a guy have his opinion on players, but have to draw the line when he wants to dangle one for a roll of the dice and double down on it when that's pointed out. In the grand scheme of things, Horvat and Barzal have not been healthy at the same time very much at all since he was acquired.

 

[Chapin Landvogt]

Getting any young talent that we can safely say will have a long term NHL career would be exciting at this point. A blue chip talent would be over the top.

I do agree with @SI that Hagens being from LI and having grown up an Islanders fan would make that a very, very special situation, one you really couldn't skip out on if the chance were to arise.

I mean, I like Schaefer, Martone, and Misa just fine. One or two of them will likely even be better NHLers than Hagens.

But Hagens would have a much more transcending value for this franchise.

Playerwise, I think of him as another Jack Hughes.

I mean it's been so unbearably dry in our prospect system part of me thinks that Danny Nelson will be the next (Carolina) Sebastian Aho when we would be very fortunate if he was even close to the next Brock Nelson.

I like Danny Nelson just fine. Heck, I'll even take this opportunity to once again point out that I tabbed him as the likely pick for the Isles like 2 weeks before they selected him D).

But I don't really see him entering that Brock Nelson territory with respect to production. He was actually a defenseman his whole life and only just became a center during his time with the USNTDP. And he's got nothing like Brock's (underused) wrister and stick saavy, when he decides to use it.

@leeroggy has mentioned Joel Otto as a comparison and think that's exactly what Islanders should realistically be hoping for. In more modern terms, we can look at guys like Jordan Staal and Lars Eller as the type of NHLers Nelson will most likely slot in as.

Which is A OK, 'cause he's going to bring other intangibles as a bruising 2-way center with a strong sense of Dman duties (although I've gotta say that there were a few times at the WJC where I thought he played things wrong in the D zone). He's clearly teachable though. And him wearing an "A" at the Worlds is a very impressive sign for a college kid playing on the current U20 powerhouse for a coach who's basically the best U45 coach outside of the NHL.

***
Strange aside here, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the Isles end up being in heavy on 23-year old Quinn Hutson as a college UFA this spring.

Keep that name in mind.

 

[Chapin Landvogt]

Here's a quarter-yearly reminder that
A) You can change on the fly without dumping the season. There are ways to move out certain players and still remain competitive while building for a brighter future.
B) Your minor league outfit does not have to stink just because you don't have a lot of high grade prospects. There are ways to be very middle-of-pack and on a playoff pace while working in and fostering prospects of various degrees in a healthy and productive manner.

What we're seeing at the NHL and AHL level doesn't have to keep being this way.