Injury Report: Brian Strait placed on IR **Activated 12/12**

[Isles Fan]

Strait isn't a great defenseman by any stretch of the imagintion, BUT, he's above average. I'm not gonna flip out if he sucks immediately, gonna give him 5 or 6 games to get back to where he was before the injury. Once he's back to the way he was pre injury, him and CDH should help cut down the goals against.

A guy who that is a career minus defenseman cannot be considered above average.

Strait is a 6th or 7th D man on any other team with an average defensive core. I do not expect his return to cut the goals against at all, after all were not talking about Dennis Potvin here.

 

[_illicit_]

A guy who that is a career minus defenseman cannot be considered above average.

Strait is a 6th or 7th D man on any other team with an average defensive core. I do not expect his return to cut the goals against at all, after all were not talking about Dennis Potvin here.

Yes, lets label him at all of 40 games. Stats are fun.

 

[bigd]

A guy who that is a career minus defenseman cannot be considered above average.

Strait is a 6th or 7th D man on any other team with an average defensive core. I do not expect his return to cut the goals against at all, after all were not talking about Dennis Potvin here.

He should help shore up the PK which has been atrocious since he got hurt.

 

[blinkman360]

A guy who that is a career minus defenseman cannot be considered above average.

Strait is a 6th or 7th D man on any other team with an average defensive core. I do not expect his return to cut the goals against at all, after all were not talking about Dennis Potvin here.

I could be wrong, but isn't Hamonic a career minus defenseman?

 

[Seph]

A guy who that is a career minus defenseman cannot be considered above average.

Strait is a 6th or 7th D man on any other team with an average defensive core. I do not expect his return to cut the goals against at all, after all were not talking about Dennis Potvin here.

Right, because only Denis Potvin caliber defenseman would be an improvement on the defensemen we are currently icing.

I could be wrong, but isn't Hamonic a career minus defenseman?

Yep, -6 on the career.

 

[seabass45]

Strait is a plus defenseman in his time with the Isles, and also let's not use plus/minus to judge a player.

 

[bigd]

Strait is a plus defenseman in his time with the Isles, and also let's not use plus/minus to judge a player.

A lineup minus Carkner is a plus.

 

[bluechipbonzo]

Strait isn't a great defenseman by any stretch of the imagintion, BUT, he's above average. I'm not gonna flip out if he sucks immediately, gonna give him 5 or 6 games to get back to where he was before the injury. Once he's back to the way he was pre injury, him and CDH should help cut down the goals against.

This.

People forget how god awful the defense options had been before the likes of Strait and Hickey were acquired.

Now that things (and I'm thinking down the stretch last year) have improved, they are ready to toss Strait aside.

I guess they are forgetting he helped us reach the playoffs last year with some of his above average play.

 

[leeroggy]

Yes, lets label him at all of 40 games. Stats are fun.

Which is why it's pretty silly to expect too much from him at this point. A 40 game career is not worth bragging on yet. Right now he is a placeholder for the kids when they prove they are ready.

 

[scott99]

A lineup minus Carkner is a plus.

Best line of the year so far.

 

[Brunomics]

Who is this Brian Strait character?

 

[redbull]

Glad he's back, he's an underrated dman for the Isles. He's physical, like Carkner without the fighting and hopefully without any dumb penalties. Strait skates pretty well and makes a decent pass if he keeps it simple.

I wonder how Capuano will use him

deHaan - Hamonic
MacDonald - Hickey
Strait - Ness

that's my guess.

Team could use a "Potvin", even a Visnovsky, sooner rather than later!

 

[Sparksrus3]

Glad he's back, he's an underrated dman for the Isles. He's physical, like Carkner without the fighting and hopefully without any dumb penalties. Strait skates pretty well and makes a decent pass if he keeps it simple.

I wonder how Capuano will use him

deHaan - Hamonic
MacDonald - Hickey
Strait - Ness

that's my guess.

Team could use a "Potvin", even a Visnovsky, sooner rather than later!

Even Felix would help

 

[Islander Prophet]

really happy Strait is back, this allows to stop using one of our two lower caliber defenseman (the other one being Ness). As soon as Visnovsky returns, our defense will actually be legit

Hamonic-DeHaan
Visnovsky-Hickey
Strait-MacDonald

What I like about these 6 guys is that while none of them are "stars", all of them are reliable

 

[A Pointed Stick]

Does anyone remember how he played before the latest injury? It wasn't 'great but it feels like some of you are expecting something better. The only significant change to the defense will be by the return of Vis. Any word on that front?

 

[PWJunior]

really happy Strait is back, this allows to stop using one of our two lower caliber defenseman (the other one being Ness). As soon as Visnovsky returns, our defense will actually be legit

Hamonic-DeHaan
Visnovsky-Hickey
Strait-MacDonald

What I like about these 6 guys is that while none of them are "stars", all of them are reliable

That defense group isn't as terrible as usual, they could be a competent group. Visnovsky is really the key, he would be the biggest stabilizer. Too bad he's in concussion limbo. I don't really expect him back until possibly after the Olympics if he continues to not be cleared to at least work out.

 

[mitchy22]

Scott, I am guessing you mean he is above average for a #6, right?

Color me very unimpressed with Strait, I have no idea why he was signed to a 3 year deal after playing 9 games with us. Is the standard being able to stand up on skates without falling down more than 2x in 5 miutes?

He's larger than Ness and he's more comfortable on the right side. Since he's signed for peanuts, it's hard to get too upset about the signing - he's signed like a #6/#7 even if it is for three years.

I do agree with the general sentiment though; Strait in the lineup is an area for improvement. Sadly, his return is also an improvement. That's a bit depressing. I'd rather see them give Mayfield a cup of coffee and send Strait down for conditioning for a few games, but that's probably just me.

My only hope for the current mix (horrible) at defense is that we are going to have reinforcements eventually. There is hope on the horizon, but it's not quite here; I do think de Haan should stick though. It doesn't improve our size, but it's hard to measure how important Visnovsky is to our lineup; we'll just say it's uber-****ing important. It's still a ****** mix though.

,
Mitch

 

[Tavares2TheRescue]

With the current state of our defense, Brian Strait coming back is a huge upgrade. He's nothing special but he keeps Carkner out of the lineup.

 

[bigd]

He was probably our best Dman last night which is sad commentary. Ness was a mess!

 

[MikeT98213]

Only on the Isles would Strait be considered above average. To me he's the classic definitiion of a depth defenseman, which is what he should be. Of course, when you have to regularly dress a guy like Carkner and resort to using Martinek, Strait looks pretty good.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Strait is a plus defenseman in his time with the Isles, and also let's not use plus/minus to judge a player.

I hate +/- it's more of an indictment of a crappy team overall than a individual's personal play. I just shake my head when that stat is cited as a be all end all stat is is pretty useless.

 

[duster19]

really happy Strait is back, this allows to stop using one of our two lower caliber defenseman (the other one being Ness). As soon as Visnovsky returns, our defense will actually be legit

Hamonic-DeHaan
Visnovsky-Hickey
Strait-MacDonald

What I like about these 6 guys is that while none of them are "stars", all of them are reliable

not really. Hammer, amac and hickey have all been reallu dissapointing this year

 

[12Dog]

not really. Hammer, amac and hickey have all been reallu dissapointing this year

Is it me or has Hamonic not progressed at all? And not just this year. Waiting for him to take that next step. Is that an indictment of the coach, or player?

 

[Dutch Frost]

I love how excited we get over a #6 dman returns to our line up. Problem solved Garth!!!!

We have Strome, Strait and Nabby back, once we get back Viz we are 100% ready to to turn it around and win the division.

 

[duster19]

Is it me or has Hamonic not progressed at all? And not just this year. Waiting for him to take that next step. Is that an indictment of the coach, or player?

He's been horrible this year when they needed him most to step up. His physical play has really diminished and he is making terrible decisions with puck. He used to be so competitive...now he just is going through the motions. Amac has been worse. Getting strait back won't do much unless hammer, amac, hickey somehow turn their games around and completely turn it around in our own end...we really do nothing well in our own zone.