GDT: GDT #56 New York Islanders @ St. Louis Blues | February 22nd | 8 PM | F/4-0 L

[CupHolders]

Told the wife I was going to close my eyes for a couple minutes before game time and to wake me if we score. It’s 345am I just woke up on the couch. LGI

Holy crap! Can you believe I said the exact same thing, and had the exact same result?!

I guess next time, I need to clarify to my wife that I didn't mean the Islanders.

 

[NYI365]

There's an incredible amount of people I'm seeing on Facebook, Reddit, Twitter etc who've cancelled or are going to cancel their STH's next season. The gall to remove parking and increase prices nearly 12% across the board to watch this team is borderline criminal. UBS will be a ghost town next season and the organization and the country club have nobody but themselves to blame.

 

[NYI365]

The scary thing is I can't just blame all of this on Lane anymore. It's pretty clear the players in this core can't get it done anymore

 

[DerekKingSnipes]

I hate to say this because I like a lot of things that Roy brings, but the truth is the coaching change has done nothing so far. Absolutely zero. The team is as fragile and mentally weak as ever. They make the same mistakes and have the same collapses once any one little thing goes wrong. Most crappy teams even usually get that initial new coach spark and we did not even get that. If I did not see Roy on the bench while watching the game, I would think Lambert was still the coach.
We can all argue that this group was not a contending team, but whereas they used to overachieve, there is nobody who can convince me that on paper this roster is not a top 12-15 team in the league at worst. This has become an underachieving group that cannot get out of its own way.

This is why this for Roy is really evaluations of what he can get out of this group and secondly what needs to change roster wise next year for him to implement what he wants to do. He’s gone out of his way to not bash them publicly, closest was the Seattle game where he only said nobody should be happy with that game. The crazy thing is a win Saturday outs them three points behind Tampa with two games in hand.

There's an incredible amount of people I'm seeing on Facebook, Reddit, Twitter etc who've cancelled or are going to cancel their STH's next season. The gall to remove parking and increase prices nearly 12% across the board to watch this team is borderline criminal. UBS will be a ghost town next season and the organization and the country club have nobody but themselves to blame.

This also changes or narrative changes should something be done roster wise to excite fanbase again tbh. I don’t know what that looks like but it’s certainly the path I’m sure they will and have to take.

 

[Bones45]

There's an incredible amount of people I'm seeing on Facebook, Reddit, Twitter etc who've cancelled or are going to cancel their STH's next season. The gall to remove parking and increase prices nearly 12% across the board to watch this team is borderline criminal. UBS will be a ghost town next season and the organization and the country club have nobody but themselves to blame.

Ive heard that the nice sexy new parking garage, will be now supporting customers of the shopping village. So its possible parking there for STH could be reduced/limited.

That should help.

 

[12Dog]

There's an incredible amount of people I'm seeing on Facebook, Reddit, Twitter etc who've cancelled or are going to cancel their STH's next season. The gall to remove parking and increase prices nearly 12% across the board to watch this team is borderline criminal. UBS will be a ghost town next season and the organization and the country club have nobody but themselves to blame.

Maybe Lou will go
New GM as a way to sell new hope?

 

[MJF]

My goodness, what a waste of 2.5 hours of my life.

***
We actually had some really good PP looks in this game.

But a whole bunch of O-fers.

Good looks but no finish in their sticks. Again.

 

[MJF]

Honestly, this is the worst version of team fandom. A veteran team that seemingly has the pieces to compete - team continuity, names on offense - defense and in goal, but they can't get out of their own heads...

Then they really don't have the pieces to compete. They have names without substance.

 

[Throttle]

Maybe Lou will go
New GM as a way to sell new hope?

Fans watch players, not GMs. A GM change doesn’t move the needle. It’s the players.

 

[12Dog]

Then they really don't have the pieces to compete. They have names without substance.

The Covid bubble runs are getting smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror

 

[Bones45]

Fans watch players, not GMs. A GM change doesn’t move the needle. It’s the players.

Wait!!!

Maybe we need .... new fans?

Ones who will be happy with a .500 team?

THATS THE TICKET!!!!

 

[12Dog]

Fans watch players, not GMs. A GM change doesn’t move the needle. It’s the players.

GM’s sell new plans, new ideas
Due to cap and contract constraints drastic roster turnover ain’t happening
Marketing has to sell something

 

[MJF]

Wait!!!

Maybe we need .... new fans?

Ones who will be happy with a .500 team?

THATS THE TICKET!!!!

We have a few here already. We just need more of them.

Fans watch players, not GMs. A GM change doesn’t move the needle. It’s the players.

A GM (and an owner) have to give fans a reason to be excited about their team. The last 3 years of attendance stats say the Isles are failing at this.

 

[Throttle]

We have a few here already. We just need more of them.


A GM (and an owner) have to give fans a reason to be excited about their team. The last 3 years of attendance stats say the Isles are failing at this.

Sure, I get that, but if the new GM just sunsets the UFAs and does not much else, is that really jazzing people up to renew?

New GM or not, fans will get excited over player changes that they can put hope and dreams on - which is what should happen anyway.

 

[Throttle]

I remember Charles Barkley, when asked about the Washington Wizards a number of years ago saying; they run like deer, they jump like deer, they think like deer. Makes me think of Barzal. When you watch that line play, Horvat backchecks like a demon and they guy who turns the puck over just watches. Shame on Roy for going with the same 5 on the ice for goals 2 and 3.

Was Trotz shown the door as a way to keep Barzal here? I wonder.

At this point, having Wahlstrom and Martin in the line-up is a complete waste. If Ishakov is not an option, a waiver grab or moving a nothing asset as the Pens did yesterday should have been done. I am sick of watching Pageau struggle as well.

The blown rotations in the d zone are painful to watch. I have a hard time believing that is all on the players.

The Barry thing is a black hole on the ‘why?’

I would say the $9M ice skater is akin to a Range Rover - lots of flash, does a lot to maintain an image, and its buyers rationalize (or just don’t care bc of the image) its well known reliability issues.

The people that want a similar luxury vehicle go to other luxury brands with better overall track records and ‘sacrifice’ the status element for a much better vehicle. There’s always new entrants into the RR market, but the first timer with a brain moves on to the better overall vehicle and the cycle continues…

 

[MJF]

Sure, I get that, but if the new GM just sunsets the UFAs and does not much else, is that really jazzing people up to renew?

New GM or not, fans will get excited over player changes that they can put hope and dreams on - which is what should happen anyway.

I don’t think you do.

Let contracts expire on their own, then replace them with who? Pay the Islanders tax for some free agents and go right back to an inflexible roster?

You can’t fool these fans anymore. New arena with higher prices than they’re willing to pay and they’re not going for In “Lou We Trust” anymore. A new GM is necessary to remove the stagnant air that set in over the team.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

 

[Throttle]

I don’t think you do.

Let contracts expire on their own, then replace them with who? Pay the Islanders tax for some free agents and go right back to an inflexible roster?

You can’t fool these fans anymore. New arena with higher prices than they’re willing to pay and they’re not going for In “Lou We Trust” anymore. A new GM is necessary to remove the stagnant air that set in over the team.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

So, what if Malkin wants to keep going for it. The new GM does a Dubas vs a Trotz?

Lou or any GM can sunset the UFAs, but yes, the Isles will need to pay the Isles tax to sign new guys - that’s not changing. Otherwise, you are going all in on playing Wally types to extract as much out of that desert as you can (which is nothing).

The carving of the roster can be done by Lou or a new hire. However, what the new hire does is based on what Malkin wants to be done.

I don’t care whether Lou stays or goes. Some of players this franchise is relying on worked as a unit under Trotz, they don’t work as one outside that. Some of these players are too comfortable and some are selfish and are just not very good anymore. The composition of the CORE needs to change - the fringe is a big whatever.

 

[MJF]

So, what if Malkin wants to keep going for it. The new GM does a Dubas vs a Trotz?

Lou or any GM can sunset the UFAs, but yes, the Isles will need to pay the Isles tax to sign new guys - that’s not changing. Otherwise, you are going all in on playing Wally types to extract as much out of that desert as you can (which is nothing).

This is what you fail to understand. It never should have gotten to letting contracts expire, especially for the guys down roster. Those are never the ones you overpay or overterm. You save that for your high end talent, which Lou never built up towards starting in 2021-22. With the contracts Lou created he took away his own flexibility and won't be able to replace a few key ones from within the organization on cost controlled contracts. That's not the way today's pro sports franchises operate.

Take Lou's media availability from yesterday.

Ahead of trade deadline, Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello still believes in his core group of players

"I believe in the group," said Lamoriello. "But we have to play to our capabilities."

www.newsday.com

The Islanders president/general manager just doesn’t believe in rebuilding.

“It’s only in recent years that ‘buyers and sellers’ have come out,” Lamoriello said in a wide-ranging sitdown prior to Thursday night’s match against the Blues at Enterprise Center.

“Now it’s become something prevalent in sports where you think you’re going to be able to use it as a reason to bleed and try and reload. I’m not a believer in that. If there are players that are not in your plans, then you have to look at something like that if you felt you weren’t going to have a chance to be in the playoffs.”

Lou has put the team in such a precarious position that if Malkin wants to keep "going for it" with mediocre results it will cost him asses in seats of his multi million dollar arena, not spending money at any of the other components of NYAP's Belmont development project. And the mess will be left for the next GM to clean up.

In a salary cap world teams eventually must reload. Lou is committing mismanagement. Operating with an expired playbook.

I don’t care whether Lou stays or goes. Some of players this franchise is relying on worked as a unit under Trotz, they don’t work as one outside that. Some of these players are too comfortable and some are selfish and are just not very good anymore. The composition of the CORE needs to change - the fringe is a big whatever.

And they're also 3 years older after playing a style that accented team play and had them outperforming their talent level. I don't just think it's a matter of some are too comfortable and some are selfish. An outsider coach was just hired, someone who has no loyalties to any player in the room and he's dressing the same guys and getting the same results as the previous coach.

This core has timed out. Everyone sees that except Lou. And maybe Scott Malkin.

 

[scottywiper]

My 2c worth is that resigning Varly was a bad idea. Thought it at the time and with hindsight looks a poor decision?
We have this supposedly great goalie tandem and they haven't really pinched us any games, which is what was expected.
Varly hasn't played that much, but has been ok (Sorokin clearly has not been at best), but it feels to me like that money could be better used elsewhere.
Having a quality back up goalie really hasn't helped us at all. AS evidenced by our position in standings.

 

[MarsTBOW]

i missed the game and was going to watch on delay, something told me just forget it so I checked the score and I am very happy I missed it

Me Too.
Too Fed ups with the same B.S.

 

[Big L]

I, for one, am happy they allowed 3 in 32 seconds, because it allowed me to turn it off at that moment and go to bed, instead of wasting another hour or more to witness another loss.

ripped the bandaid off quick and got on with it. #brightside

 

[BelovedIsles]

Fans watch players, not GMs. A GM change doesn’t move the needle. It’s the players.

GMs acquire said players.