I suppose it’s Dal Colle and Sbisa. Tanner Fritz once he is healthy.
I won’t include Dennis Seidenberg in there because he hasn’t played a game at any level this season. Can’t see him being pressed into service even in a doomsday scenario.
Injury Report: Boychuck out 3-4 weeks
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I won’t include Dennis Seidenberg in there because he hasn’t played a game at any level this season. Can’t see him being pressed into service even in a doomsday scenario.
blinkman360
Loyal Players Only
Let's just hope that Pelech-Pulock and Toews/Leddy-Mayfield get like 90% of the workload.
I like Hickey - seems like a good guy and enjoys being an Islander, but every postseason is the same story with him: manhandled. It would be one thing if he were your classic small PMD-type defenseman, but he's not. He's essentially a tiny defensive D with a good first pass. If it were up to me I'd go Aho, but I understand why most don't want to throw a kid with little experience into the fire - even in a bottom pairing, low minute role.
Perhaps Hickey will prove us wrong and Trotz will be able to deploy him in a way that hides his warts. I really hope he does, because hearing "Hickey in for Boychuk" was the first time I actually felt nervous during this postseason.
Prove me wrong Hick!!!! Let's freaking go.
I like Hickey - seems like a good guy and enjoys being an Islander, but every postseason is the same story with him: manhandled. It would be one thing if he were your classic small PMD-type defenseman, but he's not. He's essentially a tiny defensive D with a good first pass. If it were up to me I'd go Aho, but I understand why most don't want to throw a kid with little experience into the fire - even in a bottom pairing, low minute role.
Perhaps Hickey will prove us wrong and Trotz will be able to deploy him in a way that hides his warts. I really hope he does, because hearing "Hickey in for Boychuk" was the first time I actually felt nervous during this postseason.
Prove me wrong Hick!!!! Let's freaking go.
Love JB and hope we make it through round two to get him back. With that, a lot of teams are injury riddled this time of year and losing Toews/Pulock/Pelech/Mayfield would have hurt worse. Hickey is a decent #6 damn so should fill in fine.
majormet
Registered User
It may be a possibility in 2019/20, we have a lot of unsigned forwards and a surplus of dmen if you count our futures.... don't see where Hickey ever becomes part of the defense core.
PK Cronin
Bailey Fan Club Prez
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He'll be relegated to the #7 role, which is where he's at right now. Nick Leddy will likely be traded and then Hickey and Aho will battle for the last spot.
Hickey having a nice series would not only help us move to our first conference finals in 25 years, but also have the bonus in improving Hickey's trade value for this offseason.
majormet
Registered User
Are we trading Leddy to make room for Dobson?
I would think we could trade Hickey too, Aho could be the #7 or Burroughs or MVS or Wotherspoon
There are teams that suit up some bad defensive units, Hickey could easily be an 80 game bottom pairing for 8-10 teams in the league.
PK Cronin
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Staple has speculated that Leddy is the odd man out because his role as our #1 defender has been supplanted, and he has value around the league. If traded, he'd return a top six forward for a team that could use some more offense. Hickey or Aho would take Leddy's place.
Team's don't typically put rookies in the #7 spot on defense because it doesn't allow them to develop. It's usually reserved for veterans who are done developing and can be thrown in at the last second and play decently. Hickey could be traded in addition to Leddy, but then they'd need to sign a new #7 and that doesn't make much sense to me. Hickey would be a great #7 to have.
majormet
Registered User
I see your points
Leddy has value around the league albeit.. lower than 2 years ago, he could draw forward prospects which is what is more likely to happen.
True about #7's being players that are finished developing, but I think some of our lower level guys like Burroughs or Wotherspoon can be a #7 if they are not going to break past the top 6 we would have.
Will be very interesting to see if we retain any forwards as that is going to dictate a lot
LeapOnOver
Mackenzie is a hack!
You mean the one where he had been back from a long term injury for a week and had very little game play under his belt? Yeah, I think that's the one you mean.
Lame Lambert
Fire Lou
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I’m not sure what you’re talking about. He returned from injury at the end of February and played in 7 games throughout March before being pulled out of the lineup due to his play. He then returned to the lineup against Florida at the beginning of April and had a terrible game.
LeapOnOver
Mackenzie is a hack!
Oh, my bad. You are talking about the one where he only had 7 games after a long injury, and then was scratched for quite awhile and thrown into a game. My mistake.
Lame Lambert
Fire Lou
- Mar 5, 2015
- 21,243
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Yes that one. And now he’s going to be thrown into the 2nd round of the playoffs against a physical Caps team or a fast Canes team.
LeapOnOver
Mackenzie is a hack!
Yes, and it'll probably take him a little while to get his bearings, but the Hickey we saw this season was not the normal T. Hickey. That's all I'm saying. Line matching will be a little bit harder, but the defense on this team is played by all five guys on the ice, so sucks losing Boychuk, but would suck more if we had no depth and were throwing in immobile dinosaurs like Seidenberg or Sbisa into the mix or greenies with no practice at the NHL level on Trotz's system like Aho, MVS et al.
Boychuk better hurry back, especially if the Hickey/Leddy pairing makes it to the ice intact. The Hickey we saw this year was the same one as last year, and the playoffs magnify his flaws.
