I don't think it's the right move but I've had a sneaking suspicion 33 yo Marchessault is coming to LI this off season with VGK unlikely to re-sign.
I love Marchessault but this team needs to stay far away. He's old already and there's no reason to add a guy like him. If this was 5 years ago I'd love the add.
McDavid is overrated, he even could not beat the LAK, so he wouldn't beat the Canes.
Apart from Isles I'm having fun to watch early exits for Leafs and Oilers, unfortunately I will have to wait until 2nd round to watch Rags beaten down
The Oilers are 2-1 in their series and McDavid has 9 points...
I suspect Roy may roll the same lineup in game 4 with the exception of starting Varly and figure that will make the difference. But, I wouldn't mind him rolling the dice down 3-0 and going with the best skill/speed lineup he has available. Sit Martin and Fasching and maybe somebody else. Dress Holmstrom and Ishkakov and maybe Gauthier. Sit Bortuzzo for (gulp) Aho. Not much to lose at this point.
This is a rare time where I'm okay with throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks.
If mean, if you want to split hairs, maybe you could argue it's a little bit better. But, is Staal just miles better than Pageau, theoretically speaking? The production is pretty identical. Goalies you'd have to say are in the Isles favor. The biggest difference is that they generate offense from their defense and they get more production from their 3rd line wingers. Otherwise...
The main issue is that under Trotz, the GM, coach and players all had a unified identity and the objective and how to obtain it was crystal clear. Now, the team feels like a collection of players and the GM is patching cracks as they appear trying to keep it from splintering.
Yes, the players matter, but the overall philosophy behind the team has to be stout. It's how a Boston can lose players and still be successful, while a Columbus won't.
I think you're right. The Islanders were good with the identity they had, as some of those players got older and less effective we didn't see the identity change or any roster changes to indicate a shift. Lambert came in and seemed to be stuck between two ideas on how to play, and even if he did have a clear way he wanted to play he didn't have the pieces required (or his idea just doesn't work).
With Roy I feel more confident about the approach and the way he wants the team playing. Time will tell with that, but the veteran guys on this team who have slowed down used to be the backbone of the identity for the team. While the bottom six guys in Martin, Clutterbuck, Cizikas, Komarov, etc. are just bottom six guys, they were leaned on very heavily to help implement the strategy that led to success. On the back end the team lost their two most mobile defenders and replaced them with lesser versions.
They were hard to play against, every game was going to be a grind against the Islanders. Now as those players have gotten older, have slowed, and the overall strategy from the coaching staff has changed, it's becoming a grind for the Islanders to win.
