An independent blog on the New York Islanders, the NHL and AHL by a guy from New York.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

New York Islanders: Not Quite Dead At Deadline


The Islanders were blown out by a 7-0 score in front of a sellout crowd in Columbus by the Blue Jackets on Sunday. It was a horrible effort and not consistent with the level of play the Isles have shown under interim head coach, Doug Weight thus far. Weight (12-5-2) responded by having a couple of grueling practices and reminded the team of their accountability to themselves and each other. The Isles are 2-1 on the road trip so far and are in Dallas tomorrow and in Chicago on Friday before heading into Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and St. Louis next week. While against western conference opponents, the points available are no less important and the team needs to respond well or risk slipping away from contention. They are without the services of Harmonic, Cizikas, Prince and now Quine, so call-ups are and have been necessary to keep pace as players move in and out of the lineup. The Isles have 120 man games lost to injury so far this season.


Josh Ho-Sang will get his chance. Ho-Sang had a strange start to his first career NHL call up this week. He was called up to the Islanders on an emergency basis, then immediately sent down while still under emergency conditions. Then, he was called back again to practice with the big club and all around the trading deadline. To make it worse, rumors surfaced that he was on trade block according to Joe McDonald of ESPN, but Arthur Staple quelled those rumors as “Not True,” per source. Staple then added, “Isles will "send" Ho-Sang, Mayfield, Pelech to BPT later today for AHL playoff eligibility. That's a paper move. Expect JHS to play tomorrow.”


Despite all that, Doug Weight maintains Ho-Sang (#66) will be in the lineup against Dallas tomorrow night. He will lineup with Andrew Ladd and Brock Nelson per Arthur Staple. I’ve been waiting for Ho-Sang (2014,1st round, 28th overall selection) to get his shot. Yes, I know he can be a defensive liability and yes, I know he has a litany of disciplinary problems, but he also has great hands and a strong ability to open the ice in the attack zone and help the offense score goals. He leads Bridgeport with 35 points and 25 assists and was just named AHL rookie of the month by tallying 10 assists and 15 points while registering a plus-9 rating in 12 games with the BST in February. “The 21-year-old Ho-Sang has recorded 10 goals and 26 assists for 36 points in 48 games for Bridgeport this season, tied for sixth among all AHL rookies in scoring.”


Going into the trading deadline, rumors surfaced that the Islanders were in the market to acquire the likes of a Matt Duchene (COL) or Jordan Eberle (EDM) to play with John Tavares. Even mentions of trading for Thomas Vanek (DET- now FLA) were circulating. Isles Twitter was even tracking the team’s flight and when it would land in Dallas after hearing that no trade news would be announced while the team was in air. I have always admired the passion of our fan base and am right there with them in wanting the team to improve sooner, rather than later. It’s a fan base that has been waiting for the future plans to bear fruit for quite some time. A trade splash with the likes of the Boychuck and Leddy acquisitions were on the wish list of Isles fans who felt that things were changing as they watched their team go from last in the east to a wild card spot in a little over a month. Everyone feels the momentum and several insiders have noticed the team’s turn around and have started talking about it. The playoffs are a real possibility, but the team needs to find a way to finally reach that frustrating and elusive next step I have been writing about them taking for years.


The nature of the trade deadline has evolved over the 100 seasons of the NHL. The specifics and way of business has changed. Brad Kurtzberg had this to say on the evolving deadline ritual, “The salary cap & the way the loser point keeps the standings artificially close means fewer sellers and not much action.” Shortly after the 3 p.m. deadline today, Bob McKenzie said the Islanders were officially done. Done without a single move for the fans to cheer about. Reports of Hamonic “not being available,” big or advantageous deals being struck by conference and division rivals and rumors of top players being targeted by the Islanders only fueled the fan frustration when the day turned out devoid of a single trade acquisition for New York. General Manager, Garth Snow was even reported to have at least 2 offers on table for acquiring Duchene with the Colorado Avalanche and GM, Joe Sakic, without any measure of success.


Sakic kept any trades from happening today. We know that the Isles won’t be forced into what they perceive as a non-advantageous deal. Apparently, the Islanders or any other team for that matter, weren't offering “enough” for Duchene or Landeskog according to a league source. It may have been that Sakic never had intentions of trading Duchene (or Landeskog) unless an offer blew the him away. Instead, it seems Colorado was using todays dealings as a barometer to inflate the price of his players heading into the NHL entry draft, expansion draft and free agency period coming this summer.


I don’t feel it’s realistic to “blame” Snow for not landing Matt Duchene, especially knowing what we now know about what Colorado’s true motivations might have been. @RumorBreak even had yet another last minute offer from the Islanders to acquire Duchene, but mentioned Sakic would “not bring price down.” Per B.D. Gallof, “NHL source cites that Sakic decided that he would get more if others teams were involved at draft than accept current offers.” Trading and dealing is an involved process. We all want a big move, but it won’t be made if too much has to be given up in the process. I'm well aware that we as fans, may differ on what too much is and I know how sick and tired everyone is about watching teams around the Islanders get “better” on paper while the Islanders seem able to do nothing at each deadline. I often feel the same way. It’s infuriating as a fan and I’d love to see some A-list progress more often. I’d even welcome some solid, on-the-fly additions when all seems lost and they miss out on their primary target.


While I understand not being able to make a deal for Duchene, especially knowing more details of the position that Colorado took on the day, I do think General Manager, Garth Snow and the organization should have had at least 1 back up acquisition factored in that would have been a more affordable and very serviceable addition to the team. To me, that role could have been filled by Radim Vrbata. Vrbata will be a UFA this summer and I know the isles aren’t really interested in a soon to be 36-year-old rental, but here is my point. The skilled forward has 15 & 32 for 47 points this season in 62 games. That would have put him tied for 4th on the team (Chimera) in goals, 1st on the team in assists and 2nd only to John Tavares (52) in points. The asking price was said to be a 2nd round pick. Craig Custance had Flames, Bruins, Panthers, Penguins and Islanders in the mix for Vrbata, but he stayed around to finish the season in Phoenix because Coyotes GM, John Chayka said there is a chance they will try to re-sign him this summer and didn’t want to lose him for anything less than a 2nd round pick. IMO, he may have been a good bridge player and even a sign-able short-term addition by New York this summer. Although I understand the value of a 2nd round pick, I think would have been a good, low risk acquisition for the Isles to take a chance on Vrbata to try and help add even more skill and scoring punch for the playoff push. He would have added veteran depth and offense to a team that can already score (tied for 10th with EDM at 179 points) a lot of goals.


In the net, we know that J.F. Berube was named the #2 goaltender for the Islanders when Jaro Halak was sent down to Bridgeport at the end of December. Berube is now 3-2-0-2 with a 3.38 gaa and an .894Sv%. At times, he has played very well in net. While I think Berube might be good enough to contribute to the Islanders goal-keeping duties soon, I don’t think he will serve the best interest of the team right now. But what I think hardly matters to editing the roster. What I do know is that Jaroslav Halak has done what has been asked of him in his demotion to Bridgeport. He has compiled a 14-2-2 record with 2 shut outs on the farm and has helped the AHL BSTs climb in the standings. I also know he probably should not remain there for long. There were speculations around impending trades for Halak leading into the deadline. Even Darren Dreger and Matt Larkin tweeted about him as a hot commodity in the thinned goalie market. It was rumored that a few teams were in the hunt for his services, including the Boston Bruins. That and all the other rumors lost steam as the day went on, so Halak remains as an Isles property, making an NHL $4.5M for the rest of the season and into next year, possibly spending the whole time in the AHL. Especially after not being moved at the deadline. Salary was slated as the primary reason. Per David Pagnotta, “Sounds like, per league exec, Islanders were not able to finalize move involving Jaroslav Halak. Salary was main issue.” I believe Halak should be called back up to give the team a more stable presence in net to back up Thomas Greiss (20-12-0-3, 3 shut outs and allowed 2 goals or less in 17 of last 24 starts-Hornick) and aid the team as they fight for playoff position.


The Islanders need to be healthy, play together and realize they are in a position to control their own destiny if they can minimize games like one against Columbus last Sunday. Especially while on the road for a majority (17) of their final 24 games, “including nine consecutive road games for the first time in their history.” They will be playing a lot of games without much of a break in-between. Eric Hornick also mentions, “The Isles are 4-6-1 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 4-3-4 on the back-end. The Isles will play 16 sets of back-to-backs this season. The next back-to-back set is March 2nd in Dallas and March 3rd in Chicago.” The continued contributions of guys like Mayfield, Pelech and even a recently added Ho-Sang may determine the future success of the squad. The prospects are the best “guarantee” the team has when you take today’s trade picture as an example of the changing NHL landscape. The Isles went from last in the east to the 2nd wild card slot within a months’ time and although they have slipped a point out after being idle for 4 days, they were able to do more positive things over that stretch than those that were negative.
Sometimes the odd paper work, the ins and outs by the organization on managing the rules and regulations, eligibility of player movement and navigating the procedures on NHL policy may make it seem like the moves made are complete madness, even to the seasoned fan. This may explain some of the moves made or not made by the team. In a way, it may be better that a player like Matt Duchene wasn’t added to the roster just yet. He has a reputation of being selfish and just maybe, the chemistry that’s building in that locker room would have been upset. Maybe, just maybe we can see some positives by riding it out with the current team. The 1st line is clicking, the prospects solid and the appearance of a Barzal, Dal Colle, Pulock, Toews in another call up situation might just be the final pieces to the puzzle. Ho-Sang is on the clock and I am excited to see what he can do.





Isles Notes:


Alan Quine won't be traveling with the team (day-to-day upper body).

Starting 2/22, Casey Cizikas slated to miss four weeks with an upper-body injury, per Staple.

2/27:  Isles goaltending prospect, “Ilya Sorokin advanced to the second round of the KHL playoffs. CSKA swept Jokerit 4-0. Sorokin had a 25-save shutout in the clincher,” per Cory Wright.

“Mathew Barzal recorded back-to-back four-point games over the weekend, netting eight points (1G, 7A) in a pair of wins for the Seattle Thunderbirds,” helping the T-Birds make the WHL playoffs.

James Dolan Among Investors Behind Islanders Arena Proposal.

Per NHLhistorygirl, “On this date in 1980, Ken Morrow of the 1980 US Olympic team joined the #Isles.”



NHL Notes:


Las Vegas Golden Knights are officially in business.  As of today, they can start acquiring picks/unsigned prospects (college free agents, non NHL pros including those in Europe and KHL) in agreement not to take players in expansion draft.


Sound Tigers Notes:

Connor Jones has agreed to terms on a one-year (remainder of the 16-17 season) two-way deal (NHL/AHL).




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