people are being absolutely ridiculous
for the last 4 years isles fans were all like we need a top 4 dman and we will compete, this line up gives us a 3rd top pairing d-man and no one is satisfied
nielsen is usually around 45th in scoring among centers and with his defensive capabilities he should keep people content with him as a number 2 center, every one always loves how bailey plays on wing and now he would be getting a full season of it and he some how sucks anyway, okposo has finally learned how to put the puck on the net which everyone has been waiting for since his 19 game goalless streak a couple seasons ago and some how every one thinks he sucks too, there are absolutely no reasons why this team wouldn't be competing with the flyers this season for 3rd place in the division and in addition to that there are no rookies other than hickey as a number 7 dman who has already had a ton of time to develop
First off, grammar is your friend. Use it.
Second, people here are not being ridiculous. You're being ridiculous for being overly optimistic.
Third, I'll tell you all the things you said wrong:
- I love Nielsen, but he's not a 2nd line center that most teams want. He's very good defensively, and we all know he can chip in offensively. However, he has a hard time jump starting an offense. You would know this if you watched him play, but you seem to go by the stat sheet and nice highlights on YouTube. A guy like Grabovski, Vermette, Stephen Weiss, etc. can jump start an offense. If Nielsen was put on the 3rd line, and a guy like Strome played like a Vermette/Grabovski/etc, then we have a solid situation going into this year. Right now, Nielsen cannot make Okposo/Bailey/Grabner better. He'll be adequate, but not good enough to make them 20+ goal scorers.
- Bailey, even on wing, is not good. I have no faith in him being a good player this year or really ever if he's still on Long Island. If he gets traded to say Phoenix, he'll fit well there and be a good player, but not on Long Island. I would love for him to prove me wrong (I have his jersey), but even last year when he had his nice streak I wasn't impressed. He's a natural center, and was groomed throughout his time on Long Island to be a center. Great, he scores more on wing. Two years ago when he went on his scoring streak at wing, he should have had enough confidence to become a center and score from there. He didn't, which makes me believe that he won't have the confidence going into this season to score a lot.
- I don't think Okposo sucks, I just think he needs to be physical to be successful, which he hasn't really been. Now that he had the summer to rest, I think he'll have a good year. Especially if he plays with Tavares. Nobody here really thinks he sucks, we just expect a lot more out of him since his very good rookie year. He's not going to be a 30 goal scorer anymore, he'll be a 25 goal scorer and I think we're all disappointed but still happy that he's going to be a regular top-6 forward.
- I do see the Flyers being somewhat disappointing this year, since their defense is really bad (better than ours, but still really bad), but we're not fighting for 3rd in the division. The Devils always find a way to win games and make it to the playoffs. Let's see how they do without Parise, but Henrique is an animal and will replace him IMO. Even though the Islanders always have a chance at beating them, the Islanders record is going to be lower throughout the 48 games.
- There are going to be 2 rookies and 2 very young an inexperienced NHLers in the forward group. Ullstrom, Cizikas, Hickey, and maybe Strome are young, they don't know what it's like to win. They aren't like Duchene, O'Rielly, and Stewart who helped the Avalanche make the playoffs in 2010. They're not nearly as talented or surrounded by a strong veteran presence. That goes a long way and this team simply doesn't have it.
Like someone said before, a lot of things have to go our way for this team to make the playoffs. There is little to no room for error:
- Bailey, Grabner, Okposo, and Nielsen have to have career years
- Boyes has to score at a 25 goal pace
- Nabokov has to be as good as he was last year
- The defense has to play above expectations, especially without Visnovsky
- Martinek needs to stay healthy for at least 40 games (and that's being generous)
- Strome (who I think is the key to the season) has to be good enough to be a 2nd line center right now. If he's good, then Nielsen goes to the 3rd line, and players fall more "into their place".
That's
a lot. Let's hope it works out, because I think some of these things could happen. All of it to happen would almost be a miracle.
Well i have been following this forum for a while and have been an Islanders fan well since the cup years as i was a kid when they won those cups. With that said i don't expect much from this team. They would probably finish 10-12 if everyone was here and healthy but that is not the case. With that said i see them finishing between 14-16 and if thats the case i hope for the worse. I don't have any expectations until this team gets to Brooklyn. When they do get there they better spend some money then i will spend some of mine.
