Islanders Point Blank: Isles to start working on Okposo contract?

[periferal]

I hope you are referring to Wang... Because Garth has been pretty cautious in handing out deals. The only deal I am not really a fan of is Grabovski's right now because he got injured (cant blame Garth on that)

Garth has done fine lately imo with the contracts he has handed out, 6M for Boychuk who is a top 4 d man 5.5M for Leddy who has been a top 4. He has done fine, just unfortunate Grabovski had gotten hurt. Anyway when you go after UFA's you kind of have to overpay a little bit since you are competing against 29 other teams.

Resigning Okposo should be a good test... Very curious to see what happens

I am referring to wang. The argument isn't that Snow has been better with contracts, but rather that it only takes one buffoon in the NHL to hand out a stupid contract. Wang isn't the only one in the NHL so don't be surprised if Lucic gets 8+ million if he becomes a UFA.

 

[First Blood]

I am referring to wang. The argument isn't that Snow has been better with contracts, but rather that it only takes one buffoon in the NHL to hand out a stupid contract. Wang isn't the only one in the NHL so don't be surprised if Lucic gets 8+ million if he becomes a UFA.

Wang is a jerk, agreed


But god help the GM that gives Lucic 8+ M a year.

We have seen bad contracts before periferal. DP and Yashin come to mind.

But honestly, Lucic was a product of the Boston system and talent around him. This year he was an undisciplined tool. (44 pts, 81 GP)

Not to mention his 0.54 and career 0.60 PPG equates to a 2nd line NHL talent

(Kyle Okposo career 0.68 PPG so HA to you guys saying you would take Lucic over him)

I posted this the other day, but contracts like Lucic's contributed to Peter Chiarelli's fall as GM of the Boston Bruins.

Krejci(7.25M), Lucic(6M), Even Chara'(6.9M) at the time

I mean these contracts are insane... I am so glad Garth has never done this amount because look at how it hurt Boston. They were left unable to resign a legit core player in Johnny Boychuk.

Garth cannot afford to overpay Kyle Okposo, he has got to be creative some how.. But I hand it to the man. He has yet to give a horrible contract out yet(maybe I spoke to soon )

Off topic again I apologize but it is so hard to build a repeat cup contender in the salary cap era of hockey.

 

[Crispy385]

I need KO to stay long term so my jersey stays in date. This is obviously the most important reason.

 

[LeapOnOver]

Gotta love how fans are willing to let him walk if he wants to much. They will be the same fans cryassin' saying, "Snow didn't fill our need for a RW". Who do you replace him with, or you think we are deep enough that he's not needed? I'm glad Snow is the GM and thinks beyond this because I'm sure nobody on here who wants to walk away from Okposo has any plan on who to replace him with.

Yet they didn't want us to walk away from Moulson and we should have just paid that guy. Really?!?!

 

[periferal]

Wang is a jerk, agreed


But god help the GM that gives Lucic 8+ M a year.

We have seen bad contracts before periferal. DP and Yashin come to mind.

But honestly, Lucic was a product of the Boston system and talent around him. This year he was an undisciplined tool. (44 pts, 81 GP)

Not to mention his 0.54 and career 0.60 PPG equates to a 2nd line NHL talent

(Kyle Okposo career 0.68 PPG so HA to you guys saying you would take Lucic over him)

I posted this the other day, but contracts like Lucic's contributed to Peter Chiarelli's fall as GM of the Boston Bruins.

Krejci(7.25M), Lucic(6M), Even Chara'(6.9M) at the time

I mean these contracts are insane... I am so glad Garth has never done this amount because look at how it hurt Boston. They were left unable to resign a legit core player in Johnny Boychuk.

Garth cannot afford to overpay Kyle Okposo, he has got to be creative some how.. But I hand it to the man. He has yet to give a horrible contract out yet(maybe I spoke to soon )

Off topic again I apologize but it is so hard to build a repeat cup contender in the salary cap era of hockey.

I do NOT want Lucic. Not at the price he's going to get. Period.

That said I am so much less concerned about building a REPEAT Cup contender. I just want to build a Cup contender. If the Isles win the Stanley Cup again in my lifetime I don't know what I'll do, but I'll be beyond floored because I can't even picture it happening right now.

As for Okposo...Of course Snow shouldn't let him go for nothing, but honestly I think if there's a deal out there this summer for a guy who is more consistent and even better to play with Tavares I would ship Okposo+ for that player without hesitation.

To be CLEAR I'm not saying that such is player is available or that it would make sense to deal for that player, but rather that if such an opportunity present itself to Snow then jump on it.

 

[crasherino]

Gotta love how fans are willing to let him walk if he wants to much. They will be the same fans cryassin' saying, "Snow didn't fill our need for a RW". Who do you replace him with, or you think we are deep enough that he's not needed? I'm glad Snow is the GM and thinks beyond this because I'm sure nobody on here who wants to walk away from Okposo has any plan on who to replace him with.

Yet they didn't want us to walk away from Moulson and we should have just paid that guy. Really?!?!

You're painting with a pretty broad brush, me thinks. You seem to think there's one linear thought process for every Islander fan. Everyone has their own thoughts - its not crazy to say they that there is a threshold amount to pay Okposo. What if he wants $7m? Do you pay him? What about $7.5m? $8m? Unlike JT, he doesn't have a blank check. I think both camps will have some real talks and be able to hammer out a deal but it won't be cheap. And considering Okposo is not the most consistent player (partly on account of injuries), there will be some debate as to whether its a good deal and we obviously won't know the truth until some years down the road.

At the end of the day, I don't think anyone is pushing the dude out the door. We have the room to sign him, I'm sure he wants to be here and Garth knows he's hard to replace. But, what he should (as opposed to WILL) get paid is certainly fair game to discuss.

 

[Quicklime]

You're painting with a pretty broad brush, me thinks. You seem to think there's one linear thought process for every Islander fan. Everyone has their own thoughts - its not crazy to say they that there is a threshold amount to pay Okposo. What if he wants $7m? Do you pay him? What about $7.5m? $8m? Unlike JT, he doesn't have a blank check. I think both camps will have some real talks and be able to hammer out a deal but it won't be cheap. And considering Okposo is not the most consistent player (partly on account of injuries), there will be some debate as to whether its a good deal and we obviously won't know the truth until some years down the road.

At the end of the day, I don't think anyone is pushing the dude out the door. We have the room to sign him, I'm sure he wants to be here and Garth knows he's hard to replace. But, what he should (as opposed to WILL) get paid is certainly fair game to discuss.

Astute observation. I think he'll stick and hopefully be amenable to a hometown discount. He's a 1st line forward, but if Strome keeps being Strome and Lee & Nelson spend the summer getting more "feral" (the real missing element in the top-6), Okie slots in far finer on line #2. Hopefully he's good with that level of price tag.

 

[duster19]

Wang is a jerk, agreed


But god help the GM that gives Lucic 8+ M a year.

We have seen bad contracts before periferal. DP and Yashin come to mind.

But honestly, Lucic was a product of the Boston system and talent around him. This year he was an undisciplined tool. (44 pts, 81 GP)

Not to mention his 0.54 and career 0.60 PPG equates to a 2nd line NHL talent

(Kyle Okposo career 0.68 PPG so HA to you guys saying you would take Lucic over him)

I posted this the other day, but contracts like Lucic's contributed to Peter Chiarelli's fall as GM of the Boston Bruins.

Krejci(7.25M), Lucic(6M), Even Chara'(6.9M) at the time

I mean these contracts are insane... I am so glad Garth has never done this amount because look at how it hurt Boston. They were left unable to resign a legit core player in Johnny Boychuk.

Garth cannot afford to overpay Kyle Okposo, he has got to be creative some how.. But I hand it to the man. He has yet to give a horrible contract out yet(maybe I spoke to soon )

Off topic again I apologize but it is so hard to build a repeat cup contender in the salary cap era of hockey.

Lucic played on the top line for a Stanley cup winner and normally a contender. He played with nobodies this year. That is why his production is down.

He won't get 8 million.

 

[crasherino]

Wang is a jerk, agreed


But god help the GM that gives Lucic 8+ M a year.

We have seen bad contracts before periferal. DP and Yashin come to mind.

But honestly, Lucic was a product of the Boston system and talent around him. This year he was an undisciplined tool. (44 pts, 81 GP)

Not to mention his 0.54 and career 0.60 PPG equates to a 2nd line NHL talent

(Kyle Okposo career 0.68 PPG so HA to you guys saying you would take Lucic over him)

I posted this the other day, but contracts like Lucic's contributed to Peter Chiarelli's fall as GM of the Boston Bruins.

Krejci(7.25M), Lucic(6M), Even Chara'(6.9M) at the time

I mean these contracts are insane... I am so glad Garth has never done this amount because look at how it hurt Boston. They were left unable to resign a legit core player in Johnny Boychuk.

Garth cannot afford to overpay Kyle Okposo, he has got to be creative some how.. But I hand it to the man. He has yet to give a horrible contract out yet(maybe I spoke to soon )

Off topic again I apologize but it is so hard to build a repeat cup contender in the salary cap era of hockey.

What's the alternative though? When you build a good team, you need to shell out money to keep it together. Inevitably, unless you have a good combo of skill and luck, you will face cap issues. Leddy and Boychuk had to be signed, but they cost money. Okposo has to be signed and I'm guessing his AAV will begin with a 6. JT will have to be signed shortly to a mega deal. Grabo has a $5m/yr deal and Kulemin is close as well. The Islanders have structured their cap well (as well as any team really) but all of a sudden we are a lot closer to the cap ceiling than the cap floor.

 

[IslesFanatic]

gotta spend to win and eventually it catches up with you.

 

[doublechili]

I did not mean to turn this into the Islanders are a better team without Okposo thread and I apologize if some of my posts sound like that.

Of course I want Okposo resigned... Probably more than any single one of you. The issue is how much we will pay him

Top 6 RW do not grow on trees and I want him resigned around 5.8M - 6.5M

Don't be so sure about that. Let's use advanced stats. KO's Fanwick score for me is a +6. Can you top that?

 

[First Blood]

Don't be so sure about that. Let's use advanced stats. KO's Fanwick score for me is a +6. Can you top that?

What number am I looking for on here so I can compare it to other players?

http://www.puckalytics.com/players/#!/?pid=932

 

[1calledsteve]

What number am I looking for on here so I can compare it to other players?

http://www.puckalytics.com/players/#!/?pid=932

A lot of those statistics are good reference provided they are used in context. To compare players you will want to compare the quality of competition they play against, how they are deployed (Zone Starts, PP v PK v ES time) and overall the team around them.

http://ownthepuck.blogspot.com/

That site use what are called HERO charts. Essential charts a players production from a lot of advanced stats as compared to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th liners and top 2, top 4 and top 6 defensemen.

This shows it in a very easy to read horizontal chart to compare if you don't want to get in depth with some of the analytics.

 

[LeapOnOver]

You're painting with a pretty broad brush, me thinks. You seem to think there's one linear thought process for every Islander fan. Everyone has their own thoughts - its not crazy to say they that there is a threshold amount to pay Okposo. What if he wants $7m? Do you pay him? What about $7.5m? $8m? Unlike JT, he doesn't have a blank check. I think both camps will have some real talks and be able to hammer out a deal but it won't be cheap. And considering Okposo is not the most consistent player (partly on account of injuries), there will be some debate as to whether its a good deal and we obviously won't know the truth until some years down the road.

At the end of the day, I don't think anyone is pushing the dude out the door. We have the room to sign him, I'm sure he wants to be here and Garth knows he's hard to replace. But, what he should (as opposed to WILL) get paid is certainly fair game to discuss.

I don't think i'm painting with a broad brush. What I'm proposing is to pay him whatever he would get on the open market. Do I think a team is going to pay him 8m. Nope, would a team possibly pay him 7.5m if he hit free agency. Possibly. Would a team pay him 7m, that's probably more likely than the others. My point is to pay him what he wants as long as it's not over what any other team would be likely to pay him. That puts it around the 7m mark imo and like others said hope he agrees to 6.5 for longer term.

I didn't say it wasn't fair to discuss it, but the nature of the conversation is "if he demands anything over ________ let him walk". All I'm saying is that there is nobody lined up in the immediate future to replace him and we aren't deep enough to absorb his loss. Basically pay him what he WILL get anywhere.

 

[GrandmaSlices51631]

Keep It Simple. 6 x 6 for KO. Maybe 6.25 x 6. . .

 

[ndgolden]

Astute observation. I think he'll stick and hopefully be amenable to a hometown discount. He's a 1st line forward, but if Strome keeps being Strome and Lee & Nelson spend the summer getting more "feral" (the real missing element in the top-6), Okie slots in far finer on line #2. Hopefully he's good with that level of price tag.

Lee for the record was fourth on team in hits, second in goals with one of the lowest TOI totals on the team. Overall in the NHL he was 4th in the league in hits for players scoring 25 goals or more behind only Ovetchkin, Backes and Foligno. What exactly are we expecting Lee to do more physically? Do you want big open ice hits, or scoring combined with the ability to go to net and corners and battle and extend offensive scoring chances. You will give up the latter if you are aiming for more Gritz.

 

[crasherino]

Lee for the record was fourth on team in hits, second in goals with one of the lowest TOI totals on the team. Overall in the NHL he was 4th in the league in hits for players scoring 25 goals or more behind only Ovetchkin, Backes and Foligno. What exactly are we expecting Lee to do more physically? Do you want big open ice hits, or scoring combined with the ability to go to net and corners and battle and extend offensive scoring chances. You will give up the latter if you are aiming for more Gritz.

I'm pretty sure I've seen the same post - in different words - several times over. I think every Islander fan loves Anders Lee and loves what he brings. Count me squarely in that court. But, for a guy his size, I would love for him to play with a bit more grit and physicality and a bit more nastiness at times. He's definitely the heavy net front presence that this team so sorely needs and I love that about him.

I don't think the options you lay out above are mutually exclusive - he can lay the thunder and still retain his scoring ability. Not suggesting he turns into Matt Martin - but a guy with his build and ability can certainly be a feared player by other teams. He's getting there, IMO, but still has a little bit to go. Which is fine - he's hardly a finished product and this was his first full season.

Edit to add: As this is an Okposo thread, I would very much like to see Okposo raise his level of physicality as well. He has it in him (unlike, say...Bailey who just isn't that type of player), just want to see it more.

 

[A Pointed Stick]

I'm pretty sure I've seen the same post - in different words - several times over. I think every Islander fan loves Anders Lee and loves what he brings. Count me squarely in that court. But, for a guy his size, I would love for him to play with a bit more grit and physicality and a bit more nastiness at times. He's definitely the heavy net front presence that this team so sorely needs and I love that about him.

I don't think the options you lay out above are mutually exclusive - he can lay the thunder and still retain his scoring ability. Not suggesting he turns into Matt Martin - but a guy with his build and ability can certainly be a feared player by other teams. He's getting there, IMO, but still has a little bit to go. Which is fine - he's hardly a finished product and this was his first full season.

Edit to add: As this is an Okposo thread, I would very much like to see Okposo raise his level of physicality as well. He has it in him (unlike, say...Bailey who just isn't that type of player), just want to see it more.

Pretty much this. He would benefit from additional sandpaper in his play. He is too nice. We have too many players that fit the "But he is too nice" mold.

 

[First Blood]

A lot of those statistics are good reference provided they are used in context. To compare players you will want to compare the quality of competition they play against, how they are deployed (Zone Starts, PP v PK v ES time) and overall the team around them.

http://ownthepuck.blogspot.com/

That site use what are called HERO charts. Essential charts a players production from a lot of advanced stats as compared to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th liners and top 2, top 4 and top 6 defensemen.

This shows it in a very easy to read horizontal chart to compare if you don't want to get in depth with some of the analytics.

I looked up Strait on there... Most of his advance stats are below bottom pair lol

And for Okposo, yeah he is a top 6 forward RW

 

[Lame Lambert]

I say we let him and Nielson walk and go after Stammer

 

[duster19]

I'm pretty sure I've seen the same post - in different words - several times over. I think every Islander fan loves Anders Lee and loves what he brings. Count me squarely in that court. But, for a guy his size, I would love for him to play with a bit more grit and physicality and a bit more nastiness at times. He's definitely the heavy net front presence that this team so sorely needs and I love that about him.

I don't think the options you lay out above are mutually exclusive - he can lay the thunder and still retain his scoring ability. Not suggesting he turns into Matt Martin - but a guy with his build and ability can certainly be a feared player by other teams. He's getting there, IMO, but still has a little bit to go. Which is fine - he's hardly a finished product and this was his first full season.

Edit to add: As this is an Okposo thread, I would very much like to see Okposo raise his level of physicality as well. He has it in him (unlike, say...Bailey who just isn't that type of player), just want to see it more.

It is the same for almost all the isles. Play bigger and more physical with some grit. It is arguably the biggest problem with the club. How it gets fixed I have no idea.

 

[WangMustGo]

It is the same for almost all the isles. Play bigger and more physical with some grit. It is arguably the biggest problem with the club. How it gets fixed I have no idea.

I dont agree. The isles are not the biggest team, but they certainly are not the smallest. Are we any less physical than Tampa or those scums from the city? I don't think so, if anything we are more physical than both of those teams.

I think these playoffs are showing that you win with speed and skill, the only physical team left is the ducks, and they certainly have a ton of skill.

 

[duster19]

I dont agree. The isles are not the biggest team, but they certainly are not the smallest. Are we any less physical than Tampa or those scums from the city? I don't think so, if anything we are more physical than both of those teams.

I think these playoffs are showing that you win with speed and skill, the only physical team left is the ducks, and they certainly have a ton of skill.

You take the 4th line away and we have very little to no physical presence through the rest of the lineup.

Sure you win with skill. You win with goaltending too. You dont have to be the most physical team in the nhl, but you cannot be the softest. We are very very soft outside of a couple players, who are playing bottom line minutes.

 

[LeapOnOver]

You take the 4th line away and we have very little to no physical presence through the rest of the lineup.

Sure you win with skill. You win with goaltending too. You dont have to be the most physical team in the nhl, but you cannot be the softest. We are very very soft outside of a couple players, who are playing bottom line minutes.

I guess you are only talking about forwards and ignoring guys like Boychuk and Hamonic?

 

[CREW99AW]

Two interesting things I've come across. The first was a question and answer session of Staple's from just a few days ago, where he says he expects Okposo's extension will be along the lines of 6/7 yrs and $6m-$7m per. The fans saying they'd trade him or let him walk if he wants more then $4.5m-$5m are gonna be in for a rude awakening,


The second was a Lucic discussion among HF Bruin fans.Like NYI fans and Okposo , there are some pretty big differences of opinion about his next contract.