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.
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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