Part 1 of my Season Review feature focused on the forwards and Isles power play.
In
Part 2, I will focus on team defense and the penalty kill. With the ups and
downs of the season, the Isles had more issues than just their PP and struggles
offensively. And while the boost Doug Weight brought to the complete team game
was evident, they had a lot of injuries on their blue line and still had
trouble at different parts of the season holding on in a few tight games.
Whether it was letting an opponent answer back quickly after scoring,
surrendering late goals in the period or even late in the game, it seemed like
New York struggled at the worst possible times to hold the lead. They left
quite a few valuable points on the table, and it cost them big time. As
mentioned previously, “The Isles went 15-10-12 in one-goal games, winning only
14 of the 36 games (.405). That .405 percentage in 1-goal games won is
the second lowest in the NHL – the Leafs are 14-8-15 (.378) in 1-goal games,” –
Hornick. So how did our New York Islanders compare to the rest of the NHL?
Defensively
as a whole, the Islanders were 10th in the NHL in goals for and managed a
respectable 8th place position in goals against during the regular season.
While I can’t defend their frequency of penalties taken or the types and timing
of the infractions surrendered by the team, I can speak about Greg Cronin’s
Penalty Kill. Their PK had its struggles, but was often more of a benefit, than
a detriment. Especially when Capuano moved John Tavares to the PK after the
team faltered late in the year. The Isles finished 11th in the NHL (7th in the
east) with an 81.9% penalty kill rate, including an impressive kill to 27 of
their last 30 PK’s on the season. They were better than half the teams who made
the post season. Teams like Montreal, the Rangers, Ottawa and Pittsburgh all
finished as far as 11 spots behind the Isles on man-down percentages.
Andrew Ladd, Jason Chimera, Johnny Boychuk, John Tavares and Nikolay Kulemin
all had a shorthanded goal on the season. Of that group, Boychuk, Tavares and
Kulemin all had 2 shorthanded points with Ladd, Nelson and Chimera having 1.
Eric
Hornick points out, “The Isles finished the season 30-0-5 in games they led
after two periods.”
“It's
the first time since 2003-04 (26-0-0) that the Isles have earned a point in
every game they led after 40 minutes.”
“The
Isles played their final 11 regular-season games in a span of 19 days. The
Isles went 8-3-0 in this stretch (2-2-0 at home and 6-1-0 on the road), with
seven of the games decided by empty net or less.”
The
defense had a major role in the successes (and a few shortcomings) on the
season. But the greatest failure was on the team as a whole not making the
playoffs. We all know what that is about. Despite the negatives, the Isles had
some decent statistics to show they did some things well this season. The trick
is building on those positives and addressing the negatives as they get set to
head into a busy off-season and into next year. That starts with the players on
the roster. Let’s take-a-look at the Isles blueliners and goaltenders from the
2016-17 season.
Nick
Leddy (11 & 35 for 46 pts in 66 games) was the best on the defensive side of things for the Islanders this season. He established a new career high in
goals (11) and points (46) and matched a career high in assists (35) while
leading in average ice-time with 22:43 (Boychuk 20:43 & Hamonic 20:27).
Leddy even had a GWG on the season and led all defensemen in shooting
percentage with 8.0% and finished 4th on the team with points per game (0.57).
Leddy was also 4th on the team (4 & 21 for 25 pts in 40 games) in scoring
since Doug Weight took over as head coach just behind Tavares, Lee and Bailey.
Rumor has it that Nick Leddy was one of the vets Weight called in to his office
to speak about what was expected of him and clearly, he responded.
Johnny
Boychuk was 6 & 17 for 23 points in 81 games, with 2 GWG. Isles were 9-4-1
when Boychuk led in ice time and he finished +11 on the year. Calvin deHaan is
prone to a mistake now-and-then, but has been improving steadily over the last
few seasons. This season, de Haan established a career high in goals (5),
assists (20) and points (25) and a finished the season with a +15 rating.
Boychuk
(24.8), Leddy (23.6) and deHaan (22.8) were all ranked #2, 3 & 4 just
behind John Tavares in shifts per games played and factored heavily into the performance
of this team at its best.
Travis
Hamonic (3 & 11 for 14 pts in 49 games) had a tough year, but still managed
to rise up when called upon. His -21 rating, mostly piled up at the start of
the season showed that Hamonic will want to make more of an impact next season.
The contributions of Travis Hamonic in the community are well known over his
career with the Islanders. This season would be no
different. Arthur Staple reported that Travis Hamonic (and Wayne Simmonds) were
named finalists for the NHL Foundation Award.
Per
Staple, "The whole point of this program is to reach out to as many people
as possible and let everybody know that whatever sense of grief you're going
through, you're not going through it alone and it's definitely okay to talk
about it," Hamonic said. “The NHL Foundation Player
Award is awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) player ‘who
applies the core values of (ice) hockey—commitment, perseverance and
teamwork—to enrich the lives of people in his community’. The winner is given a
grant of US$ 25,000 to help causes that the winner supports.”
Dennis
Seidenberg joined the Islanders after impressing in the world championships for
Team Germany with Thomas Greiss. Seidenberg was bought out by the Bruins last
summer, so he was motivated to find a new place to play. His ties with Johnny
Boychuk in Boston gave the Isles an inside shot on signing the Stanley Cup blue
liner. Seidenberg did more than fill in this season. He won another contract
for 2017-18 based on this seasons performance. The 35-year-old D-Man recently
agreed to terms on a one-year, $1.25M one-way extension. Seidenberg had an
impressive team leading +25 and finished with 5 & 17 for 23 points in 73
games and was among the best Isles D in several key stats. Per Eric Hornick,
“He (Seidenberg) joins Adrian Aucoin +29 and Kenny Jonsson +25 (both in
2003-04) as the only Islanders to finish a season with a rating of +25 or
better since 1994-95.”
Thomas
Hickey must be one of the biggest unsung players on the Islanders, if not the
NHL. Hickey is a solid, multi-faceted defenseman who does whatever is asked of
him. And then does a little more. Hickey was 4 & 16 for 20 points in 76
games, including 2 GWG and a team high 2 goals in OT.
Adam
Pelech (3 & 7 for 10 points in 44 games) and Scott Mayfield (2 & 7 for
9 points in 25 games) were solid after getting their shots with the big club
this season. I continued to write about how these two young defensemen deserved
a shot and looked comfortable and played well for the Islanders, even in
crucial situations along the way. They certainly seem to be making the most of
their chances. We will see what the summer brings and what kind of impact they
will make moving forward.
And when you think about blue line prospects, some
fans weren’t too happy about the news of Seidenberg re-signing, despite his
performance last season based on the desire to finally see Ryan Pulock get his
serious shot. It’s no secret that Pulock (called up for only 1 game last
season) and an ever, impressive Devon Toews are high on their list to see in
action with the Islanders. Pulock is known as a solid defenseman with offensive
upside and a strong PP game. Toews was named to this season’s AHL all-rookie team for defense and even won the competition
for fastest skater.
The
three-headed goaltending
situation for the Islanders was a bit complicated again this season. The off
season saw Halak and Greiss lead Team Germany to the finals of the IIHF world
championships, so optimism was definitely in the air. Jaroslav Halak started to
lose a little bit of his consistency and saw some time out of the line up with
injury, eventually giving way to Thomas Greiss. Alan Walsh, Halak and Berube’s
agent, complained about his client’s lack of playing time because of the Isles
3-goalie system and criticized them on social media. Snow was not happy. Greiss
played well and the team wanted to send a bit of a message. Garth Snow then
sent Halak down and placed the inexperienced JF Berube to serve as Greiss’ back
up. He said he didn’t want to lose Berube off waivers (like the way he was
attained) and chose to keep him up as a 3rd goalie.
No
other team wanted to claim the struggling goal tender with Halak's $4.5M salary
through next season, so he reported to Bridgeport as requested. Greiss continued to play well for the
Islanders, got an extension, and looked good in the process. But eventually, he just seemed to play too much without a break and his game suffered as a result.
During this time, Berube continued to sit on the bench, not play and did not
look sharp when he was finally called upon in relief or as a starter for that
night. That all resulted in the Islanders losing games when Greiss was
scheduled to have a night off. On the plus side, Halak took the opportunity
with Bridgeport to buckle down and play hard enough to pull the Sound Tigers
back into a playoff race and post a 17-7-3 record in the process. When he was
called back up, he played the Islanders out of the regular season and looked
very good doing it. He went 12-9-5 in 28 games with a .915Sv% and a 2.80 gaa in
an abbreviated workload.
“Jaroslav
Halak went 6-1-0 after his recall from Bridgeport (and 6-0-0 as a
starter). He has played to a 1.58 GAA and 94.9 save percentage in those
seven games.” – Hornick.
Most
Wins Since March 24, Jaroslav Halak 6 (tied with TBL Andrei Vasilevskiy)
In
the categories of lowest Goals Against Average and SV% Since March 24 (minimum
3 starts), Halak was 3rd with a 1.58 gaa (Rask & Gibson) and 3rd with a
.949Sv% (Rask & Gibson).
Thomas
Greiss (26-18-5 in 51 games with a .913Sv% and a 2.69 gaa) had another strong
season with New York. “He established new career highs in games (51), minutes
(2813) and wins (26) and finished 26-18-5 on the season. Greiss appeared in a
career high 51 games, and set career highs for both wins (26) and shutouts
(3).” Greiss was clearly miss-managed as the season wound down, due to the
unpolished performances by Berube. He played too many games and the team gave
up valuable points in the process.
Garth
Snow refused to send JF Berube down for fear of losing him to the waiver wire.
As a result, the young goaltender practiced, never got enough game action, and
when he was finally called upon, he struggled to find a rhythm. Was he even
given a fair shot to succeed seeing so little in the way of PT? Rumors have
Berube (3-2-2 with an .889 save percentage and 3.42 GAA) expecting to test free agency and not wanting a repeat of the last 2 seasons. He commented about his
development suffering and unwilling to repeat the process with New York again
next season unless he played a bigger role on the team. That seems very
unlikely. So, will he have any trade value prior to the drafts scheduled in
June based on his numbers?
Are
the Islanders sold on a Halak-Greiss combination going into next year? The
promising prospects the Isles have in the system would probably not
serve any better than Berube did this season, even if they could be brought to
the NHL. Ilya Sorokin is signed through next season in the KHL & Linus
Soderstrom is playing in Europe. Both are high on the list in the Isles future
plans, but still unproven in the North American game. Eamon McAdam (15-8-0)
looks like a good AHL goaltender on the rise and Stephon Williams (6-13-1) struggled last
season. The veteran of the group, Christopher Gibson (6-0-0) played just 7
games with the Tigers this season according to the BST stat page.
The
summer will be an interesting one. The impending off-season “deadline” contract
talks with John Tavares will lead into both an expansion and entry draft. Those
factors coupled with the ever-stressful free agency period tainted once again
by the team’s arena uncertainty will certainly be a factor. And with the Las
Vegas Golden Knights opening shop this summer, it may be a unique and possibly
trade heavy off season for everyone with a lot of big names being shopped
around.
What
or who is on your Isles wish list for next season?
Isles
Notes:
4/23
Per John Shannon, “Islander owners Scott Malkin and Jon Ledecky are in Toronto.
Meetings and getting first hand look at MLSE and Air Canada Centre.” Its
another attempt to see how a state-of-the-art and built-for-hockey arena is
laid out with plans for Belmont park in the air.
Islanders
plan to submit bid for arena at Belmont Park per Gary Bettman.
Per
Jim Baumbach, “So the court's decision will determine how quickly the parking
lot will be available to the Wilpons. And how viable it is for the Isles. A
decision isn't expected for months. But that lines up with Belmont RFP decision
and also opt out negotiations. So we will see.”
Per
Chris Botta, “Someone Isles ownership should speak with: close Weight pal and
Penguins AGM Bill Guerin. Smart hockey man, strong leader.”
“Ledecky
taking a full year to observe pays off. Dean Lombardi available. Must be given
complete hockey authority with Islanders.”
“Peter
Luukko, former Flyers prez/current Panthers chairman, strong candidate to run
the Islanders and take lead on arena deal. Luukko is co-chairman of Oak View
Group (Leiweke, Azoff, MSG) looking to run Islanders arena. Another reason
Luukko makes sense for NYI.”
Former Islander, Kyle Okposo update: Okposo showing major signs of improvement.
Sound
Tigers Notes:
The
Sound Tigers will play their 2017-18 Home Opener on Saturday, October
21st.
Mathew
Barzal and Linus Soderstrom continue their playoff runs
Hockey
Notes:
"IF
KOVALCHUK COMES BACK TO THE NHL, WHERE WILL HE LAND?
New
York Islanders
The
assumption here is that the Devils would be at all willing to move Kovalchuk to
a divisional opponent. That’s never a given. However, as noted, New Jersey
desperately needs to bolster their backend and New York would be able to
provide an NHL-quality defender. That could make all the difference here.
Johnny
Boychuk, Nick Leddy and Travis Hamonic probably aren’t going anywhere, but
Thomas Hickey or Calvin De Haan could be trade options for the Islanders if
they’re after Kovalchuk. And if the Islanders need to sweeten the pot — and
clear up more cap space — there are a few young forwards who could be thrown
into the mix to make this deal more than a one-for-one swap.
While
things improved for the Islanders once Doug Weight took over, it sure would be
nice if John Tavares could have a sniper on his wing all season that can
provide the offensive punch that was lost when Kyle Okposo left town. With his
shot alone, Kovalchuk still possesses 30-goal potential. And after the
Islanders had the third-worst power play in the league, it couldn’t hurt to add
someone with Kovalchuk’s offensive acumen.”
The 2017
NHL Expansion Draft (Las Vegas Golden Knights) will be held on June 18-20 and
the formal selections announced on 6/21 during the NHL awards in Las Vegas at
T-Mobile Arena.
The
NHL Entry Draft will be held on June 23–24, 2017 at the United center in
Chicago.
Team
USA wins U18 Worlds.
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