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

[WangMustGo]

Who?

Mctavish, Rossi, Byfield, Caufield. Or even A+ prospects and picks. Stay far away from Pettersson.

 

[impaaaaaact]

The balls out pie in the sky move I'd love to see is dealing Dobson+ for a top pick, and drafting twice within the top 10 this year. Grab both of the Swedes - Frondell is already playing against men and I bet he comes straight to the NHL next year. Trade Pageau for whatever, and use the 13M you just saved to make an offer Marner can't refuse.

Lee - Horvat - Marner
Duclair - Frondell - Barzal
Tsyplakov- Ritchie - Holmstrom

 

[Zeeker]

The balls out pie in the sky move I'd love to see is dealing Dobson+ for a top pick, and drafting twice within the top 10 this year. Grab both of the Swedes - Frondell is already playing against men and I bet he comes straight to the NHL next year. Trade Pageau for whatever, and use the 13M you just saved to make an offer Marner can't refuse.

Lee - Horvat - Marner
Duclair - Frondell - Barzal
Tsyplakov- Ritchie - Holmstrom

Trade FOR a top pick?

The suggestion alone might cause Lou to spontaneously combust

 

[12Dog]

Isn’t it a standard procedure for a new head coach to bring in his own assistants? What’s the reason that MacLean is still employed? I know it’s probably Lou but it’s not like the power play is top 5 in the league.

I’m no McLean fan, and Roy should hire who he wants, but the power play woes are more a lack of higher end skill players than coaching

I could coach Edmonton’s or Toronto’s pp

 

[BelovedIsles]

Re: Tsyplakov, he’s an adequate middle 6’er. Has some offensive skill, haven’t really seen that shot he flashed in the KHL. I’d go 2.5 at 2 years max.

Re: Engvall, I’d buy him out. He’s not a fit for the bottom 6, and doesn’t provide enough offense for the top 6. His demotions have done nothing to change his game; I’d expect the same. He is what he is.

 

[12Dog]

Nah - Don't do a thing the rest of this season. Pray that Lou and Roy get fired and we can start fresh with a GM that knows how to build a team and a coach who is fully invested and not pulling goalies with 12 minutes left.

Last thing I want to do is let Roy get his hands on a young player - Much less burn a year of any ELC to watch a rookie be learning how to play on a team that is essentially Titanic on ice.

Roy did pretty good in winning/developing players in juniors

Trotz was the guy who had no use for young players

ELC? Different issue

 

[12Dog]

Moving on from Lou’s horrendous contracts for Engvall and Mayfield?
Buyouts? Crazy
Engvall is completely useless, bury him till he goes home, Mayfield should’ve been shopped at the deadline, take back a shorter term shitty contract. Going forward who is taking that deal without a pick attached?
Roy has no use for him and I don’t see his role on any team

Gosh, your post makes me all nostalgic for 1999 when the Islander had 4 first round draft picks and Ziggy Palffy!

Yeah
In one of the worst draft years in 30 years
That just figured

 

[Strickland]

Engvall and Mayfield are Lou disasters he should be forced to look at every day. The Isles next season aren't winning a goddamned thing. They shouldn't be buying out anyone. To have money on you cap for a literal decade is such an insane proposition. Lou's gonna consider it because he's bad at his job and it frees up cap space. But in the end, just dump them in the AHL if the situation becomes untenable. Every year they stay down there is two less years a buyout sits on your cap. And again, the Isles aren't close to contending so this shouldn't be an issue.

Dobson trades are hard to pull off, but if you're gonna trade him, it's gotta be for ELITE young players. Target a team like SJ who has a need for a high end piece on the right side of their defense and has a plethora of assets to take from. Start with either Smith or the 2025 1st. Go from there.

The reality is that there's not a single player on this team that should be considered untouchable, sad as it is. A sign of just how poorly they've been run. And how long.

 

[MJF]

Gosh, your post makes me all nostalgic for 1999 when the Islander had 4 first round draft picks and Ziggy Palffy!

We also had Mike Milbury and horsehit owners. So, doomed to fajl.

 

[Zeeker]

We also had Mike Milbury and horsehit owners. So, doomed to fajl.

The collective fanbase will seemingly never recover from the 90s/00s PTSD

 

[MJF]

The collective fanbase will seemingly never recover from the 90s/00s PTSD

This in a nutshell. That’s why when anyone mentions rebuild here, everyone wets their pants and flashes back to 1997.

 

[12Dog]

Whoever is GM and coach going forward?

Hopefully to modernize how the islanders play, Mayfield somehow has to be gone, moving both will be tough but Pelech/Pulock both can not be on the team. Casey? Clock has hit midnight. Should be moved along, for what he brings, get a younger guy in, ideally internally or cheap externally.

A guy like Tsyplakov? Nice player
He’s really a bottom 6 winger at best, Lou should pay him accordingly, in money and years, no more Engvall specials

This whole thread has become about rebuilding or retooling however you want to term it

End of the day? Perif is right about one thing, what Lou keeps doing? Ain’t the answer

Keep bringing back this group as they get older? They aren’t a nice Cabernet, age ain’t helping this group

I hate to say it, cause when he signed the extension I hated it, but the only old vet I’d consider keeping is Lee, he seems reinvigorated with his new training, and him slotting lower in the lineup? I think he would accept that snd could be useful in a 3/4 line role, for a year or 2
No more

 

[doublechili]

The collective fanbase will seemingly never recover from the 90s/00s PTSD

Ironically, if it really were the 90s/00s, we've got the right man as GM.

But that was a different league entirely, and that's the main problem with our GM. He thinks you can slowly and patiently build a group of players that will mature into champions. When you really have to constantly tweak the roster, year in and year out.

 

[MarsTBOW]

Trade FOR a top pick?

The suggestion alone might cause Lou to spontaneously combust

YES YES YES! PLEASE!!!!

 

[periferal]

Roy did pretty good in winning/developing players in juniors

Then I guess he maybe should just coach juniors.

 

[8EJS9]

I’m no McLean fan, and Roy should hire who he wants, but the power play woes are more a lack of higher end skill players than coaching

I could coach Edmonton’s or Toronto’s pp

All of that is understood but it’s more than the players. They went 0/8 last night that’s literally inexcusable professionals playing up a man for 16 minutes of a 60 minute game

 

[Throttle]

Engvall and Mayfield are Lou disasters he should be forced to look at every day. The Isles next season aren't winning a goddamned thing. They shouldn't be buying out anyone. To have money on you cap for a literal decade is such an insane proposition. Lou's gonna consider it because he's bad at his job and it frees up cap space. But in the end, just dump them in the AHL if the situation becomes untenable. Every year they stay down there is two less years a buyout sits on your cap. And again, the Isles aren't close to contending so this shouldn't be an issue.

Dobson trades are hard to pull off, but if you're gonna trade him, it's gotta be for ELITE young players. Target a team like SJ who has a need for a high end piece on the right side of their defense and has a plethora of assets to take from. Start with either Smith or the 2025 1st. Go from there.

The reality is that there's not a single player on this team that should be considered untouchable, sad as it is. A sign of just how poorly they've been run. And how long.

Buyouts are not the end of the world. Even if they bought these guys out, they are a pittance on the cap.

For 5 million a year EP40 would be decent. For 11+ million for 8 more years he blows beyond belief.



We don’t know who is available for Dobson. If not Perfetti shoot for high end young talent that is just breaking into the league, not a guy that is damaged goods that is just starting a boat anchor of a contract. The EP40 contract is quickly turning into the worst contract in the league.

This aged well. Scores the game tying goal against a division rival in a huge game. A goal scorers goal.

Be nice to have one those at a discount. My guess is that discount will evaporate.

 

[BelovedIsles]

I’m asking this innocently, do we have any modicum of faith that Lou can’t turn this around?

I ask bc I get the sense he’s going to be here longer than most of us would like.

 

[impaaaaaact]

This aged well. Scores the game tying goal against a division rival in a huge game. A goal scorers goal.

Be nice to have one those at a discount. My guess is that discount will evaporate.

He also just went through a stretch where he scored 1 goal in 20 games. That's a 4 goal pace. He's an 11.5M goal scorer that just went 15 games straight with no goals. There's a reason people are wary of adding him at his price tag, as he obviously comes with risk

 

[IslesNorway]

Lou could easily have had a 1st rounder for Mayfield when he approached UFA, yet here we are with him being a scratch. It's such bad GMing it's baffling. Everyone but Lou knew it was coming. I bet even Mayfield himself knew.

 

[Throttle]

He also just went through a stretch where he scored 1 goal in 20 games. That's a 4 goal pace. He's an 11.5M goal scorer that just went 15 games straight with no goals. There's a reason people are wary of adding him at his price tag, as he obviously comes with risk

Isles fans are a very sympathetic bunch for a guy that went 17 games without a goal for $9.15M and blame everyone else around him. So, he should fit right in.

 

[SI]

I’m asking this innocently, do we have any modicum of faith that Lou can’t turn this around?

I ask bc I get the sense he’s going to be here longer than most of us would like.

He’s made strong trades for Nelson and Horvat—and while some may disagree, I also like the Romanov trade.


I appreciate the culture he has built and the fact that he won’t give up on the guys in the room, albeit to a fault.


On the negative side, not allowing Roy to choose his own staff is a mistake. And as @MJF said, the fact that he wanted to re-sign both Palmieri and Nelson is a problem. How do you expect to make real changes when you’re keeping both and using up cap space that could have been allocated elsewhere?

He’s been too slow to move on from players past their prime—Mayfield and Varlamov are prime examples of guys who should have been traded to recoup assets. Lou waited too long to start retooling. He eventually moved out Bailey and Clutterbuck, and next year, Martin won’t be back. So maybe he’ll finally get aggressive.

It’s odd because this isn’t the Lou we saw during the Devils' heyday. Back then, he was aggressive and made swift, decisive moves.

If Roy stays, he needs to be allowed to bring in his own staff—MacLean and the other assistants need to go.

If Dobson or other pieces are moved, I trust that Lou will get a good return. But my issue is that he won’t make enough moves. Dobson, Duclair, Mayfield, and maybe even Cizikas should all be in play. Palmieri doesn’t need to be re-signed, but if it’s a two-year deal, I wouldn’t be mad.

I wouldn’t move Pelech or Pulock right now because they fill specific needs and eat up a ton of minutes. You need experience on the blueline, especially with some younger guys in the mix. They may not add much offense, but IMO, they do a solid job defensively.

 

[SI]

Buyouts are not the end of the world. Even if they bought these guys out, they are a pittance on the cap.


This aged well. Scores the game tying goal against a division rival in a huge game. A goal scorers goal.

Be nice to have one those at a discount. My guess is that discount will evaporate.

I agree with this.
I think he finishes strong and Canucks will sneak into the playoffs because of it.
With a terrible season that he has had, he may still end with 20 goals, 50 points