Islanders better than most people thought

[Islanders10]

They have had a very tough schedule to begin with, meeting the Sharks, Predators and Hurricanes twice and already went down on a west coast trip. 8/11 matches away from home.

They don't have the best numbers, I know that, but if you watch the games I believe they still adapting to a new system and identity. It's a small sample size, but Lehner has been very good. The offense is still there, actually the whole Barzal line has much, much more to show for, so far, and that is actually a good thing because the team shows they not entirely depending on them.

The bottom-six has been good, believe it or not. Organised, structured and few mistakes.

It is the defense that worries me long term, as usual. But so far, so good, I think this team will surprise many, and make it to the playoffs. Thoughts?

Click to read more...

 

[Devil Dancer]

Who do you think they're going to pass in the Metro? Carolina and NJD are improved, they aren't finishing above PIT, WSH or CBJ, and the Flyers have room to improve. Only the Rangers are true dogs in that division.

The Isles may be better this year, but I'd bet a couple of paychecks against them making the playoffs.

 

[Islanders10]

Who do you think they're going to pass in the Metro? Carolina and NJD are improved, they aren't finishing above PIT, WSH or CBJ, and the Flyers have room to improve. Only the Rangers are true dogs in that division.

The Isles may be better this year, but I'd bet a couple of paychecks against them making the playoffs.

I don't know to be honest, just a feeling I have. Admit that it looks almost impossible, but I'm not so high on Columbus this year so far... I believe Metro will have 5 teams to the playoffs this year and it will be Washington, Pittsburgh, Carolina, New Jersey and Islanders. The "gut feeling" have betrayed me before, just trying to be a positive Isles fan, in hard times haha.

 

[John Price]

Trotz Effect

 

[Devil Dancer]

I love the positive attitude. And while I don't love Trotz as a coach, he has historically been great at improving teams. And he's undeniably a great guy.

Good luck!

 

[SI90]

Let’s not get crazy. Our roster isn’t built for the playoffs. Our forward core is solid except for a hole at #2 Center but on defense we don’t have a#1 Defensman and we’re pretty thin.

Coaching, team defense, and really good goaltending from Lehner has been the difference. I think we’ll be tough to play against but I don’t see us making the playoffs. Anything’s possible I suppose but I just think there are a lot of strong teams this year.

With all that being said it’s been an exciting start to the season as an islanders fan. So glad
To have a real coach.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Trotz will slowly keep turning this team around and keep getting better and better

 

[Islanders10]

I love the positive attitude. And while I don't love Trotz as a coach, he has historically been great at improving teams. And he's undeniably a great guy.

Good luck!

Thank you!
Being an Islander supporter for the past 15 years hasn't been easy, but now we finally have a arena solution long term solved, a SC winning GM and coach, even if I'm a bit sceptical still to Lou, you can't deny his success. Barry is without question a top coach, and I believe in him 100%. And I really think we have a bright future, if the top prospects can reach their potential.

 

[Stealth JD]

Well yeah. They dumped their captain who was clearly holding them back. Addition by subtraction.

 

[Islanders10]

Let’s not get crazy. Our roster isn’t built for the playoffs. Our forward core is solid except for a hole at #2 Center but on defense we don’t have a#1 Defensman and we’re pretty thin.

Coaching, team defense, and really good goaltending from Lehner has been the difference. I think we’ll be tough to play against but I don’t see us making the playoffs. Anything’s possible I suppose but I just think there are a lot of strong teams this year.

With all that being said it’s been an exciting start to the season as an islanders fan. So glad
To have a real coach.

The good thing about it, when it all comes down, is that if we do not make the playoffs, nobody will be surprised, that is our expectations going in to this season. All we can do is to cautionally hope to be better than people believed and be a real tough team to play against, and maybe shut up some people who taught we would be a joke of a team, this season without Tavares. It's not until maybe 3 years I hope we will be a team to be reckon with again, but until then, the best we can do is to be positive and maybe, maybe surprise a bit earlier than that.

 

[PuckItUp27]

I had them fighting for a Wild Card at the end of the season and will still stand by that.

 

[Brunomics]

They have and will be a bubble team this year. Having Trotz actually make this team accountable defensively has done wonders. They are able to win ugly like yesterday vs the Canes as well as put up big goal outputs as well(vs Kings/Flyers).

The issue with them right now is they need holes to be filled. Nelson looks great but isn't an ideal #2 center and while the third line has been good it needs to be improved upon. As well as a need for a top 4 dman.

It goes to show what an actual GM and Coach would mean to this team. Hell even if they had a Trotz type coach the past 5 or 6 years this team would have done a hell of a lot more damage in the post season and made the playoffs more frequently. But since Snow hired crap coaches what we got was a crap product on the ice.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

To be fair, most people thought that they were going to be absolutely awful, so being even just kind of bad would be better than most people thought. Dece start for sure.

 

[boredmale]

To be fair, most people thought that they were going to be absolutely awful, so being even just kind of bad would be better than most people thought. Dece start for sure.

The Islanders last year were a much better team then their record indicated, so even with the lose of Tavares(but addition of Tortz) they set themselves up a pretty easy bar to do better then this year.

I always said the real question is could they perform as good as they did 2 seasons ago without Tavares(1 point out of the playoffs)

 

[bigtim1988]

Love having Trotz as coach. He knows what it takes for a team to have consistency over the course of 82 games.

Playoffs might be unrealistic, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they made it. They’re nowhere near as bad as people think they are

 

[Riseonfire]

Rangers and Flyers look terrible.

Then the Isles are floating around.

Then Carolina and Columbus.

NJ, Pitt, Wash will be the top 3.

Isles have a shot to make the playoffs, but it isn't great and we certainly won't be buyers at the deadline no matter what.

 

[Tender Rip]

Looking forward to a better look. Two Pens and Isles games coming up. Barzal was fun to watch last year already, and if we take our Western Canada form back, it should be a decent test of what Trotz have been working on for that Isles D.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Will finish above the Rangers but hard to see them climbing much higher unless Philly never recovers. Too many roster issues that coaching alone can’t fix.

I guess in theory they could get on the bubble, but it would also require maybe Columbus tuning Torts out completely or Carolina coming back to earth. Not impossible, but not sure I would count on it.

 

[sabremike]

I guess in theory they could get on the bubble, but it would also require maybe Columbus tuning Torts out completely

Or Columbus seeing what happened to the Isles last offseason and trading Panarin at the deadline so they don't lose him for nothing.

 

[pabst blue ribbon]

They had a 5-4-1 start last year

 

[Negan4Coach]

I'm shocked at how good they are without Tavares, that's for sure. I think its mainly the play of both goaltenders, although I may be biased as a Canes fan watching those millions of shots just pepper off of them in the two losses.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Who do you think they're going to pass in the Metro? Carolina and NJD are improved, they aren't finishing above PIT, WSH or CBJ, and the Flyers have room to improve. Only the Rangers are true dogs in that division.

The Isles may be better this year, but I'd bet a couple of paychecks against them making the playoffs.

I'd say only the pens and caps are locks to make the playoffs. Carolina was looking good last year too and fell off hard the second half. NJ was leading the division for a while but also fell off the second half and made it as WC2. It really wouldn't surprise me who finished #3-5 in the division, other than NYR who will be last.

 

[boredmale]

I think its mainly the play of both goaltenders, although I may be biased as a Canes fan watching those millions of shots just pepper off of them in the two losses.

I would say more coaching. While Carolina got alot of shots, most of them were from low quality areas. The defensive structure on the team is much better this year(I am not surprised that both Greiss and Halak(Bos) are having bounce back seasons this year for that reason)

 

[Erndog]

I took Matt Barzal high in fantasy. Hope he turns it around. Guy has 9 shots on goal for the ENTIRE SEASON so far. Heavy minus player.

 

[boredmale]

I took Matt Barzal high in fantasy. Hope he turns it around. Guy has 9 shots on goal for the ENTIRE SEASON so far. Heavy minus player.

10 points in 10 games, he is on pace for last season