Around the League 2018-19 Offseason Part II

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Barzal is not better than Tavares

come on now

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Mat

Mat Barzal is still an Islander so that first part isn't correct.

Pretty irrelevant. Would you not say that Tavares is a top flight center? He’s one of the best players in the NHL, period. He’s gone. The fact that they have another good player doesn’t change the fact that they lost an elite player.

 

[Darkauron]

Lmaooo Barzal is not on the same level as Tavares by far. Come on now

 

[sabremike]

Barzal is not better than Tavares

come on now

All I can say is look at every metric from last year and it backs me up. Barzal was easily the team's best player last season.

 

[BahlDeep]

Barzal is probably on the same level as Tavares. I wouldn't say better, but what he did was impressive last year.

 

[NJDevs26]

They were awful last season and lost one of the best players in the NHL. I’m not following.

And a defenseman a lot of people here wanted to sign.

 

[sabremike]

Pretty irrelevant. Would you not say that Tavares is a top flight center? He’s one of the best players in the NHL, period. He’s gone. The fact that they have another good player doesn’t change the fact that they lost an elite player.

I'm being pedantic but I'm just sick of people acting like the team is now the expansion Thrashers or something. Losing PJB was an awful blow but the team still has a franchise level player so there is hope going forward. And it should just be pointed out just how awful and incompetent Weight was to have both of them and manage to be uncompetitive. He literally made Phail Housley look like Al Arbour in comparison.

 

[Bleedred]

I think it's fair to say Barzal was better than Tavares last year, but is he better than Tavares? One guy has only been in the league a year, the other has been doing it for close to a decade.

 

[Bleedred]

NYb will be much better than a lot of you guys think

Vintage DD!

I think they'll be like a 78-80 point team? Maybe only a 75 point team? But they could be an 85 point team also. Trotz deserves coach of the century if they make the playoffs this year. He might be the greatest coach in the history of hockey if they make the playoffs this year.

And with Lou you have to understand, there's no rebuilding. I don't think anybody there wants a 5 year rebuild, it might not take 5 years to completely rebuild, but with Lou, there won't be no rebuild. They might still need to rebuild in 5 years from now if he takes them on his trajectory that he was doing in his later couple years here.

 

[sabremike]

And a defenseman a lot of people here wanted to sign.

Lou made lots of bad decisions but letting CDH walk over 500k may have actually been the worst. You can literally pinpoint the game in late November where he got injured as the point the season went off the cliff like Will E Cyotee.

 

[Triumph]

The biggest question I have about Barzal moving forward is his goal scoring. I'm not convinced he will be a consistent 20 goals in 82 games player. It's rare to see someone move from a lower level and increase their goal scoring rate. Even so, I'd definitely bet on a goal-scoring regression next season for Barzal, even if he does maintain that rate as he moves into his prime.

 

[bobilly45]

Speaking of the isles, there areana is going to be delayed. There are talks of adding AT LEAST 2 more years at the Nassau Coliseum, or the official name, "new york community bank live: home of the nassau veterans memorial Coliseum". Those 2 years would be after the 3 already guarented while the stadiums being built. After mid winter all of their remaining games this season will be at the Coliseum, with a 80%+ chance of the full 41 home games for the next 3 seasons being played at nvmc.

The arena was barely modified, looks uglier on the outside with the stupid metal, and has the same long lines for the bathroom and narrow concourse. Also has a few thousand less seats, but no honky the SUV nor obstructed seats. NyS is paying 6 mil for additional modifications (ie locker rooms, wiring it forTV broadcast, new ice equipment... but bc this is nassau county the cost is closer to 9 mil.

For belmont.... while they do have a station there for racedays there is no plan to make it a ft stop or add another track.

For ronkonkoma... yes. They are planning to build an 18k seaf areana in ronkonkoma with 0 tenant so far. They're in the developmental phase, which is only a step behind the phase Belmonts in. Oh. And the cost of the areana plan, only 1 billion.

 

[sabremike]

For my birthday in November I am going to celebrate by going from NY to Buffalo to see my Sabres play Tampa. Taking MegaBus up at midnight before for a 9 hour drive and when the game ends will get the midnight red eye back. Will cost me $10 each way and I got a ticket via StubHub for $12 in the 300s. Bus terminal is a short walk to the arena so it works out perfectly. Want to do the same this season to Boston or DC but the games are on weekends and tickets are stupid expensive. Devils or Isles play there on a weekday I may do that instead if the tickets aren't insane.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I think it's fair to say Barzal was better than Tavares last year, but is he better than Tavares? One guy has only been in the league a year, the other has been doing it for close to a decade.

He absolutely is not, and I would not be shocked at all to see Barzal regress significantly without JT taking pressure away all season on top of them not playing all offense all the time. I fully expect a regression, but I am not sure how much.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Honestly if I had to pick, I would much rather take Buffalo’s current team for the long term then Isles.

Actually I think it do it rather easily. Of the two I would expect Buffalo to be better then the Isles.

 

[sabremike]

He absolutely is not, and I would not be shocked at all to see Barzal regress significantly without JT taking pressure away all season on top of them not playing all offense all the time. I fully expect a regression, but I am not sure how much.

They did NOT play all offense and no defense. This is a myth that will not die. The team tried to play defense, but they were instructed by the coaching staff to play the position completely wrong. Allowing clean shots on goal was the entire strategy. They were instructed not to block shots. You could drive a truck through both the passing lanes and shooting lanes that were left open by design. It was total madness and the result was obvious to any sane person.

And as for Barzal he didn't score those points by accident. What happened is that when his line got on the ice he usually gained posession shortly thereafter. Then he was fantastic at entering the zone. And when his line entered the opposing zone they were great at maintaining posession and keeping the other team pinned in their own zone. When that happens it should come as no suprise that it leads to goals. And as for the how will he fare against top guys: by the end of the season teams were doing just that and it didn't phase him.

 

[glenwo2]

I'd be all over this if I'm Ray Shero. He and Taylor Hall have a good history together and he averaged 29.25 goals and 66 points over an 82 game season when playing with Hall (rookie season not included). That's top-10 RW numbers and he's still in his prime. Islanders acquired him in a previous regime and he also had a below average year with them. It's also worth wondering if his lack of defense will mesh with Trotz. One thing's for sure – he'd give the Devils a very solid top-9:

Hall - Hischier - Eberle
Johansson - Zacha - Palmieri
Wood - Zajac - Bratt
Coleman - Boyle - Noesen

I'd give up a 2020 2nd that becomes a 2020 1st if he re-signs (save our pick this year in case we fall out of the playoff race)

Boyle is an anchor.

Why break up a very EFFECTIVE 3RD LINE like Coleman - ZAJAC - Noesen was last season?

 

[OmNomNom]

despite their roster, don't underestimate trotz. i also think that people on here aren't giving barzal a fair shake. yes, JT is pretty elite, but i don't think barzal is just some 1st/2nd line tweener. keep in mind he's also a year older and slowly approaching his prime.

 

[Darkauron]

Barzal is a great player yes, but he is going to be the #1 player that other teams are going to target on the islanders now. A lot more preassure and a weaker team around him is not going to be great for the islanders

 

[Triumph]

They did NOT play all offense and no defense. This is a myth that will not die. The team tried to play defense, but they were instructed by the coaching staff to play the position completely wrong. Allowing clean shots on goal was the entire strategy. They were instructed not to block shots. You could drive a truck through both the passing lanes and shooting lanes that were left open by design. It was total madness and the result was obvious to any sane person.

And as for Barzal he didn't score those points by accident. What happened is that when his line got on the ice he usually gained posession shortly thereafter. Then he was fantastic at entering the zone. And when his line entered the opposing zone they were great at maintaining posession and keeping the other team pinned in their own zone. When that happens it should come as no suprise that it leads to goals. And as for the how will he fare against top guys: by the end of the season teams were doing just that and it didn't phase him.

I have few doubts that Weight wasn't a bad coach, but there's absolutely no evidence that the Islanders were not trying to block shots. They didn't block significantly more or less than would be expected.

Trotz will help, but the roster is really bad. He can only do so much.

 

[sabremike]

I have few doubts that Weight wasn't a bad coach, but there's absolutely no evidence that the Islanders were not trying to block shots. They didn't block significantly more or less than would be expected.

Trotz will help, but the roster is really bad. He can only do so much.

The entire strategy was to allow clean shots on goal with the theory that if the goalie sees it he will stop it. They wanted the puck to reach the goalie.

 

[theoptimist]

For my birthday in November I am going to celebrate by going from NY to Buffalo to see my Sabres play Tampa. Taking MegaBus up at midnight before for a 9 hour drive and when the game ends will get the midnight red eye back. Will cost me $10 each way and I got a ticket via StubHub for $12 in the 300s. Bus terminal is a short walk to the arena so it works out perfectly. Want to do the same this season to Boston or DC but the games are on weekends and tickets are stupid expensive. Devils or Isles play there on a weekday I may do that instead if the tickets aren't insane.

Very economical

 

[Triumph]

The entire strategy was to allow clean shots on goal with the theory that if the goalie sees it he will stop it. They wanted the puck to reach the goalie.

And yet they allowed the same rate of shots to blocked shots as other teams. So their strategy wasn't doing a whole lot.

The Islanders are also credited with having 1017 of their shots blocked this season. The Islanders themselves blocked 1034. Weird how this 'strategy' of theirs resulted in them blocking more shots than their opponents.

Again, I don't doubt the Islanders were doing some dumb things, but not blocking shots is not something they were demonstrably doing.

 

[Emperoreddy]

despite their roster, don't underestimate trotz. i also think that people on here aren't giving barzal a fair shake. yes, JT is pretty elite, but i don't think barzal is just some 1st/2nd line tweener. keep in mind he's also a year older and slowly approaching his prime.

A coach alone can’t work miracles with a shitty roster.

Vegas is an extreme anomaly, it isn’t the norm what so ever.

 

[Bleedred]

The Islanders current roster looks worse to me than I ever thought the Vegas roster did.

They even took back Matt Martin for seemingly little to no incentive at all. Other than “That grit, need team physicality and fighting”. Or maybe Lou wanted to piss Boomer off by having his son-in-law play for the rival of his favorite team again.