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Where do the Isles Finish in the Metro Division?

Garbage ESPN came out with their Metro predictions:

Strang 4th
Melrose 4th
Custance 5th
LeBrun 5th
Burnside 7th This dude is an absolute joke. 7th!!! WHAT???

My prediction is 4th maybe battling for 3rd but pretty much 4th/5th IMO. I see a wildcard spot probably WC1
 
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VAIsles said:
Garbage ESPN came out with their Metro predictions:

Strang 4th
Melrose 4th
Custance 5th
LeBrun 5th
Burnside 7th This dude is an absolute joke. 7th!!! WHAT???

My prediction is 4th maybe battling for 3rd but pretty much 4th/5th IMO. I see a wildcard spot probably WC1
Click to expand...

I think Burnside used to be an Isles fan growing up, but he takes every opportunity to add in a snide remark or two whenever he mentions the Isles. He's been drinking the same haterade that Healy and Ferraro have been over the years.
 
I see the Isles on the outside looking in, right at the threshold (9th/10th place in conference). I'm not convinced internal development/improvement will be enough to offset deficiencies and needs weren't augmented/addressed externally this offseason. I'm also not convinced a 48-game sampling is a significant indicator of a playoff team. That said, they proved me wrong a year ago (predicted a bottom 10 finish), I'd love to see them do it again!
 
5th at best, we are going to deal with injury problems, something we actually avoided last year. Already with Clutterbuck now hearing something about Okposo. Not deep enough to compete with injuries, especially if Nabby can't last the long year.

Re: the flyer on Jake Allen, not going to happen Blues just signed him this summer. Was in a golf tournament here locally the day after getting his contract, he was all smiles.
 
I think it really depends on the backup goalie situation imo. Last year, I really wanted Garth to trade for a good backup goalie to give Nabby some rest, but that obviously never happened.

Nabby played in 85% of the games in a 48 game season as a 37 yr old. That percentage imo will be lower. With the longer season, our backup goalie (Poulin) will be playing in more games and Nabby will be 38 yrs old.

Are backup goalies last year were 1-6, Poulin 1-3 with 3.02 GAA and .893 Save%. It would have been nice to get a backup goalie that is capable of playing 30 games. I'm not sure Poulin can do it, he seems to be very inconsistent.

We'll see what happens.
 
BelovedIsles said:
I see the Isles on the outside looking in, right at the threshold (9th/10th place in conference). I'm not convinced internal development/improvement will be enough to offset deficiencies and needs weren't augmented/addressed externally this offseason. I'm also not convinced a 48-game sampling is a significant indicator of a playoff team. That said, they proved me wrong a year ago (predicted a bottom 10 finish), I'd love to see them do it again!
Click to expand...

This.

Our goaltending situation is worse. It's much easier to start over 48 games than 82. At a year old (I think 38 now?) Nabby's going to require significantly more rest than last season. The backup goaltending situation is in the same boat as last year-not good at all (actually REALLY bad). We snuck into the playoffs last year-if Nabby plays a few less games percentage wise-we would have missed them. It's fair to say he wont start as many games percentage wise this season. This alone signifies that making the playoffs will be an uphill battle.

Our power-play will be worse without Streit. How much? We don't know. If for nothing else the presence of two defensemen capable of offensive production on the point is much better than just one on a single PP unit.

We've yet to replace PAP with a capable winger. Still a big question mark there-and I don't think anybody would say we have 2 legit 1st line wingers with JT yet (most would argue we don't even have 1).

We weren't that young of a team last year (despite popular belief), and we relied heavily upon vets-who are another year older.

Ultimately I think it's going to take a miracle to reach the playoffs unless something changes between now and last season.

Many around here and assuming that every young player will improve-that wont be the case. Some will, some will stay stagnant, and a few will digress. That's what happens.

I'll be happy with a playoff appearance-but I wouldn't be shocked at all if we fail to even finish 5th.
 
Pretty safe to assume Tavares will start missing games soon as he hasn't hit the injury bug yet. As John tortarella said last season, some teams made the playoffs because of the shortened season. Likely referring to a team like philly missing the playoffs. If I was a odds maker the chances of the islander making the playoffs would be about 30%.
 
lacunacoil777 said:
Pretty safe to assume Tavares will start missing games soon as he hasn't hit the injury bug yet. As John tortarella said last season, some teams made the playoffs because of the shortened season. Likely referring to a team like philly missing the playoffs. If I was a odds maker the chances of the islander making the playoffs would be about 30%.
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JT has the same chances of hitting the injury bug as anyone else. You are just claiming the gambler's fallacy. And as for the odds-makers, Vegas put them at 90.5 points, which is historically right at the cusp of the 8th seed (so probably closer to 50/50). That's where I put them as well.
 
THey spend no money, and make the playoffs about once every 4 years. So 50/50 is extremely high in my opinion. If Nabakov continues his playoff struggles they may not even have a NHL goalie on the team.
 
The current Las Vegas odds, which are usually pretty accurate, has the Isles as -120 to make the playoffs. That means you would have to bet 140 to win 100 on them making it. To be exact, that translates to a 54.55% chance they make it.

I'd agree, a coin-flip as of now.
 
Good luck this season. I think you guys make the playoffs again as a wild card.
 
My heart says they make playoffs 60%.
My brain says they just miss.
The overall is 50/50 and dependent on how other teams perform as well.
 
The offense will score enough goals, and the forwards will maintain enough possession to make the playoffs. I'm pretty confident about this.

My worry is a collapse of the D and the collapse of the goalies.

If it were ONLY one or the other I'd be confident. But I'm worried both could happen. If Visnovsky or Hamonic get hurt for significant time, that could happen. I'm not going over the goalies, again.
 
Offense and defense are definitely better than last year imo, not even debatable. You guys realize are defense gets better defensively because of Nelson, Clutterbuck, and Regin, right? Instead of Boyes and Aucoin(wasn't bad). The lines are more balanced.

Goalie will be worse bc of Nabby's age and playing less games in a 82 game season. Can Poulin be a solid backup, who knows.
 
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What's the point of being realistic or pessimistic on opening day when you can be optimistic.

I say the Isles finish 2nd in the Metro (what a stupid name) conference/division (whatever the hell they call them now).

This team has lots of talent. It just needs to mature and the playoffs were a big step in that maturation process.

Go Isles!
 
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