Islanders General Rumour, Trade, FA, & Waiver Speculation 2018-19 Part II

[NC 1972]

Just a few observations, is our defense suspect indeed can it get better surely with the addition of a seasoned vet or two yes. Next up I see high expectations for a player like Towes being bandied about and my thoughts immediately turn to Matt Donavan. While he may very well turn into a good player I think we should pump the brakes a little, he has been brought along properly but who knows how he will respond from the shoulder injury. And lastly we seem to love throwing our young D-man under the bus I mean for God's sake these guys were never put in a position to succeed no team ice's a defense with the number of rookies like the NYI did last year. Did Doug Weight know how to implement a defensive strategy? So with that said the addition of BT as coach should help turn our team D around and I'd like to close by saying Denis Potvin was quoted as saying back in 01/2007 that it takes 300 NHL games to become comfortable playing D add to that the game is now faster. Look at guys like Mayfield and think of the criticism Tyler Myers received early in his career. By all accounts Adam Peleech was and still is a very good prospect this team has many holes and all of that is amplified when it comes to TEAM defense so a little patience is in order when evaluating young D-man.

 

[boredmale]

Just a few observations, is our defense suspect indeed can it get better surely with the addition of a seasoned vet or two yes. Next up I see high expectations for a player like Towes being bandied about and my thoughts immediately turn to Matt Donavan. While he may very well turn into a good player I think we should pump the brakes a little, he has been brought along properly but who knows how he will respond from the shoulder injury. And lastly we seem to love throwing our young D-man under the bus I mean for God's sake these guys were never put in a position to succeed no team ice's a defense with the number of rookies like the NYI did last year. Did Doug Weight know how to implement a defensive strategy? So with that said the addition of BT as coach should help turn our team D around and I'd like to close by saying Denis Potvin was quoted as saying back in 01/2007 that it takes 300 NHL games to become comfortable playing D add to that the game is now faster. Look at guys like Mayfield and think of the criticism Tyler Myers received early in his career. By all accounts Adam Peleech was and still is a very good prospect this team has many holes and all of that is amplified when it comes to TEAM defense so a little patience is in order when evaluating young D-man.

It should be noted Toews was drafted as we 20 year old, so he is like 24 now. I get the idea that he is still raw at the NHL level but it's not like he is 22(which to me is a world of difference for defense). Toews is actually a few months older then Pelech

 

[LeapOnOver]

Just a few observations, is our defense suspect indeed can it get better surely with the addition of a seasoned vet or two yes. Next up I see high expectations for a player like Towes being bandied about and my thoughts immediately turn to Matt Donavan. While he may very well turn into a good player I think we should pump the brakes a little, he has been brought along properly but who knows how he will respond from the shoulder injury. And lastly we seem to love throwing our young D-man under the bus I mean for God's sake these guys were never put in a position to succeed no team ice's a defense with the number of rookies like the NYI did last year. Did Doug Weight know how to implement a defensive strategy? So with that said the addition of BT as coach should help turn our team D around and I'd like to close by saying Denis Potvin was quoted as saying back in 01/2007 that it takes 300 NHL games to become comfortable playing D add to that the game is now faster. Look at guys like Mayfield and think of the criticism Tyler Myers received early in his career. By all accounts Adam Peleech was and still is a very good prospect this team has many holes and all of that is amplified when it comes to TEAM defense so a little patience is in order when evaluating young D-man.

I don't think we iced that many rookie defenseman last year. I can only think of Pulock and Aho. Who else did we ice that was still considered a rookie? I mean, maybe you are talking about Pelech but to me his 40+ games from the season before didn't really make him that much of a rookie imo. Guess you could be talking about Scott Mayfield, but neither Aho nor Mayfield played a full season so it's not like they were regulars.

 

[NC 1972]

It should be noted Toews was drafted as we 20 year old, so he is like 24 now. I get the idea that he is still raw at the NHL level but it's not like he is 22(which to me is a world of difference for defense). Toews is actually a few months older then Pelech

I understand that but he has yet to play as a regular in the NHL and Pelech is still very raw in his NHL development as well. I will side with NHL Hall of Famer Denis Potvin's observation that it requires a significant amount of minutes logged at the NHL level to become proficient at playing defense in the worlds greatest ice hockey league.

 

[NC 1972]

I don't think we iced that many rookie defenseman last year. I can only think of Pulock and Aho. Who else did we ice that was still considered a rookie? I mean, maybe you are talking about Pelech but to me his 40+ games from the season before didn't really make him that much of a rookie imo. Guess you could be talking about Scott Mayfield, but neither Aho nor Mayfield played a full season so it's not like they were regulars.

Maybe they didn't meet the criteria of rookies as per number of games but you cant consider Mayfield and Pelech much more than that so in using the vernacular of the day my bad.

 

[Chapin Landvogt]

Just a few observations, is our defense suspect indeed can it get better surely with the addition of a seasoned vet or two yes. Next up I see high expectations for a player like Towes being bandied about and my thoughts immediately turn to Matt Donavan. While he may very well turn into a good player I think we should pump the brakes a little, he has been brought along properly but who knows how he will respond from the shoulder injury. And lastly we seem to love throwing our young D-man under the bus I mean for God's sake these guys were never put in a position to succeed no team ice's a defense with the number of rookies like the NYI did last year. Did Doug Weight know how to implement a defensive strategy? So with that said the addition of BT as coach should help turn our team D around and I'd like to close by saying Denis Potvin was quoted as saying back in 01/2007 that it takes 300 NHL games to become comfortable playing D add to that the game is now faster. Look at guys like Mayfield and think of the criticism Tyler Myers received early in his career. By all accounts Adam Peleech was and still is a very good prospect this team has many holes and all of that is amplified when it comes to TEAM defense so a little patience is in order when evaluating young D-man.

Someone else mentioned that a little while ago.

A poster who watches the Soundtigers regularly stated in response that these two players really couldn't be any different.

I think it comes down to Toews having superior skating ability in comparison to Donovan. In addition, he makes quicker decisions with the puck.

I'd also like to say that Toews had 5-40-45 as a pro rookie, then improved on those 5 goals in his sophomore season by 3 (collecting 8) despite only playing 30 total games.

Thus, he was actually on pace for a 21-37-58 AHL season over 80 games. That would have been a hefty improvement overall and especially in the goal-scoring department.

I'm going to continue to say that Toews is more like a mix between de Haan and Leddy than anything else.

He's basically de Haan's body with de Haan's smarts together with skating that is closer to Leddy's.

Now, I sure hope he comes out and proves just that or I'm gonna look a bit stupid here.

 

[LeapOnOver]

Maybe they didn't meet the criteria of rookies as per number of games but you cant consider Mayfield and Pelech much more than that so in using the vernacular of the day my bad.

Yeah, I know what you are getting at, but I think it's kind of funny you've got people saying Pelech was horrible last year. If that's the case then it's too be expected from a rookie, but still they are raking him over the coals because they are comparing him to the season before. So really not fair to consider him a rookie, but to blast him for a bad season (not that you were doing that).

Take away Pelech and it's not really a whole heck of a lot of man games played by rookies. Including Pelech still it's only the equivalent of like 2 1/2 rookies in the lineup so I don't think that's too bad when you lost one of your top 4 guys for a whole season.

 

[NC 1972]

Someone else mentioned that a little while ago.

A poster who watches the Soundtigers regularly stated in response that these two players really couldn't be any different.

I think it comes down to Toews having superior skating ability in comparison to Donovan. In addition, he makes quicker decisions with the puck.

I'd also like to say that Toews had 5-40-45 as a pro rookie, then improved on those 5 goals in his sophomore season by 3 (collecting 8) despite only playing 30 total games.

Thus, he was actually on pace for a 21-37-58 AHL season over 80 games. That would have been a hefty improvement overall and especially in the goal-scoring department.

I'm going to continue to say that Toews is more like a mix between de Haan and Leddy than anything else.

He's basically de Haan's body with de Haan's smarts together with skating that is closer to Leddy's.

Now, I sure hope he comes out and proves just that or I'm gonna look a bit stupid here.

Hello Chapin always enjoy your post and appreciate your input my reference to Matt Donavan is not one of style or skill I'm merely pointing out that prospects on this board are often being hailed as saviors' and we should allow them the time to develop . All players are different some learn quicker others get there in time we have a good stable of D-man lets see what good coaching brings out of them.

 

[saintunspecified]

Donovan had a big shot, a bulky upper body, and below average agility. Toews doesn't look anything like that. He's very light on his feet.

 

[leeroggy]

Are we sure he didn’t just profess his love for the city of Columbus and the Blue Jackets organization and say that his main focus is to remain a Blue Jacket but he’s not ready to sign?

Did anyone check to see if he's engaged to a massage therapist with a clientele?

 

[leeroggy]

I can say for sure that the majority if not all of our posters have written in the not so distant past that they could live with Hickey on the 3rd pair or insisted he not be re-signed this summer. Many probably both. Did he become any better since the season ended?
This D is not good . Boychuk will continfue to miss 20-30 games . When that happens Hickey might just be our shutdown guy. Yikes.
Why will Toews be an instant success? He will struggle I am sure. When Toews needs to be sit out combined with Boychuk missing a couple chunks of the season all leads to Mayfield getting 55-65 games. Much of the season may look like this.

Leddy - Pelech
Hickey - pulock
Mayfield - Aho

Either way this is not good.
Not too long ago we had Streit,Gervais,Freddy Meyer, and Jack Hillen all play at least 64 games with guys like Andrew Macdonald,Dylan Reese, and Dustin Kohn filling in the rest amongst others.Is our D today any better ?
LGI

You can't seriously think that isn't an improvement . . .

 

[karljans]

Donovan had a big shot, a bulky upper body, and below average agility. Toews doesn't look anything like that. He's very light on his feet.

It also seemed like he broke his stick on 50% of his shot attempts

 

[wingnutks]

People are really sleeping on Pelech... with good coaching he is going to be a good defenseman.

Also, I think the Hickey-Pulock pair are a pair where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

 

[Glory Days]

I have high hopes for Pelech, Toews and Pulock. I think all have top 4 ability. I think all need to play regular minutes this year. I'm expecting that with another year of experience with the young D and a much better system/coaching the D this year will be much better than last year.

 

[seabass45]

People are really sleeping on Pelech... with good coaching he is going to be a good defenseman.

Also, I think the Hickey-Pulock pair are a pair where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

I'm expecting better seasons from everyone but I get why Donovan keeps coming up... we're hoping someone steps up and fills a pretty big hole and we've seen what happens when the player fails to do that.

 

[redbull]

I'm all for summer optimism but I think we're forgetting just how awful this team was last year, defensively.

The defensemen were/are among the slowest in the NHL (does anyone measure that)???

Foot speed also kills them with in-zone coverage, they have zero quickness (especially Mayfield and Pelech). Their first pass is Rich Pilon-like - i.e. "not great"

I'm really worried about the defense and goaltending which will be magnified if we can't score as much.

But it's summer. No doom and gloom!

 

[NC 1972]

Donovan had a big shot, a bulky upper body, and below average agility. Toews doesn't look anything like that. He's very light on his feet.

See post 633

 

[seafoam]

I'm all for summer optimism but I think we're forgetting just how awful this team was last year, defensively.

The defensemen were/are among the slowest in the NHL (does anyone measure that)???

Foot speed also kills them with in-zone coverage, they have zero quickness (especially Mayfield and Pelech). Their first pass is Rich Pilon-like - i.e. "not great"

I'm really worried about the defense and goaltending which will be magnified if we can't score as much.

But it's summer. No doom and gloom!

Pelech is not the fleetest of foot, I agree with you there.

I’m curious to see if coaching can improve how the quickly the defense plays . I’m hoping more structure will lead to confident decision making, and thus playing quicker because they are just reacting and not thinking.

Also, the better position you are in, the less ground you should be having to cover for things like loose pucks or picking up a man.

 

[Jester9881]

If Hickey is getting top 4 minutes, the goalies better be on top of their game and all 4 centers better have their heads on a swivel to cover for all his turnovers.

 

[boredmale]

I'm all for summer optimism but I think we're forgetting just how awful this team was last year, defensively.

The defensemen were/are among the slowest in the NHL (does anyone measure that)???

Foot speed also kills them with in-zone coverage, they have zero quickness (especially Mayfield and Pelech). Their first pass is Rich Pilon-like - i.e. "not great"

I'm really worried about the defense and goaltending which will be magnified if we can't score as much.

But it's summer. No doom and gloom!

I have no illusions that we all of a sudden will become a defensive powerhouse next season BUT I think a majority of our defensive issues last season were due to poor team system and structures more then blaming any 1 player. I have to believe with Tortz as the coach we will cut down our goals against as a team by many goals

 

[redbull]

Yes. Prospect game. But look at Mayfield play this and how effortlessly JHS makes it look.

That's how skill players see our defense. Last year anyway.

On the flip side, Ho-Sang has some skills!

 

[danteipp]

One thing I will add about Pelech, is that when I watched him in the AHL a couple season's ago, he looked a lot better in the transition game and carrying the puck up ice when needed.

Hopefully with a better system, coaching, some confidence and a reliable defense partner, he can translate some of that to the NHL.

He played smart hockey with the Sound Tigers and made some strong passes, let's hope he is put in a position to suceed now.

 

[IslesNorway]

I put my faith in the fact that for the FIRST TIME all these young players will play under a proper NHL coach. Someone hired because he is good and not a friend of the GM.

No doubt the likes of Leddy and Boychuck will get back to their best as well.

 

[GrandmaSlices51631]

Yes. Prospect game. But look at Mayfield play this and how effortlessly JHS makes it look.

That's how skill players see our defense. Last year anyway.

On the flip side, Ho-Sang has some skills!

This is why it is a nice luxury to be able to put Ho-Sang on the 3rd line, realistically, he is a top-6 player but you put him against other teams bottom pairings and he will have a field day

 

[Sparksrus3]

Someone else mentioned that a little while ago.

A poster who watches the Soundtigers regularly stated in response that these two players really couldn't be any different.

I think it comes down to Toews having superior skating ability in comparison to Donovan. In addition, he makes quicker decisions with the puck.

I'd also like to say that Toews had 5-40-45 as a pro rookie, then improved on those 5 goals in his sophomore season by 3 (collecting 8) despite only playing 30 total games.

Thus, he was actually on pace for a 21-37-58 AHL season over 80 games. That would have been a hefty improvement overall and especially in the goal-scoring department.

I'm going to continue to say that Toews is more like a mix between de Haan and Leddy than anything else.

He's basically de Haan's body with de Haan's smarts together with skating that is closer to Leddy's.

Now, I sure hope he comes out and proves just that or I'm gonna look a bit stupid here.

The one poster here that would never be considered stupid would be you and if Toews winds up being a Gervais/Freddy Meyer 111 mix instead of a Leddy/ Dehaan mix the excitement of having the Hughes kid come to Long Island with the #1 pick next year will make everything better .

LGI