Injury Report: Islanders Injuries Part II

[thedonger]

I've had that injury. Sure it's painful but you can play with it, esp in an all important playoff series. But it really didn't matter anyway. Donovan and Mayfield played fine in his place. The guys on the back end we missed the most were Hammer and Vis.

Yeah, because AC joint sprains are the same...please. I've had the same injury as well and could barely raise my arm for over a week and I have high pain tolerance.

 

[A Pointed Stick]

Plus, we have the co-champions of borderline late hitters in Martin and Clutterbuck on our team so I don't think we can get too upset over another team delivering a quasi-late check.

I'm not saying they're dirty, but a lot of their hits come squarely after the puck is already gone. Its just the way it is in hard-nosed hockey.

It was a late hit, but CdH needs to have his head on a swivel, especially in that series.

I could not disagree more. Martin and Clutter have been remarkably clean. The absolute lack of suspensions and penalties per hits says as much. Did you see the Ovechkin hit? Now that was dirty, and he has a long history of boarding but the league lets franchise faces do that nowadays. Kerry Fraser just finished an interview with TSN calling out the league on letting Kronwall and OV get away with murder for years. Our guys are relative angels compared to a host of other guys in this league.

Btw, everyone noticed the league looked the other way on questionable hits from Washington. If that is the trend for the future how does our roster stack up?

 

[LeapOnOver]

deHaan is far from soft. He's a skilled player and the best first-pass on the team (well, maybe Leddy) and losing Visnovsky and deHaan KILLED the Isles transition game and made it impossible for the Isles to generate any offense in the neutral zone.

It's one thing to say that Donovan, Mayfield and Strait "played well" - i.e. they didn't hurt us with crippling mistakes or turnovers (though Strait had a couple of doozies that Halak bailed us out on) - but they didn't help the offense much at all. It was Hickey's rush and pass to Frans that led to the only goal (a softie) and one of the few times the Isles gained the zone and made a play, generating a scoring chance.

There aren't many big/tough defensemen that can ALSO skate and make a pass. Those are typically called "Pronger" or "Doughty" or "Subban". The Isles desperately missed Hamonic and while they can compensate for a short time, losing BOTH Visnovsky and deHaan made the offense essentially zero. Puck possession went away completely, playing right into the hands of the Caps, to their strengths.

This is spot on. I think that Donovan and to a lesser extent Mayfield have the ability to be good puck movers and contribute to the offense, but seeing as they were a pair of inexperienced 24 year olds playing in elimination games against one of the best offenses in the league, I can't imagine the coaching staff would want them to be anything other than cautious. They performed admirably in that conservative role; it was about as much as you could expect from them in that situation. I think given regular season playing time and less dire circumstances, both guys could really thrive in a more aggressive system.

You both are beacons of rationality in a logjam of ignorance. Thank you good sirs!!

 

[LeapOnOver]

I came here to get closure on the Hamonic injury, and now that i know what it is I'm not nearly as annoyed for him not making an appearance as I initially was.

 

[islandermaniac]

i don't think deHaan is soft at all. i consider him the 3rd hardest hitting D, behind Manchuk and Hammer. IMO, his fall from grace had to do more with being panicky. i believe that he will bounce back next year.

i also think that Brouwer hit was cheap. it's one thing to hit a guy a bit late, if he sees you coming, but he blindsided Calvin. refereeing was awful.

This is bs...the kid was admiring his pass and got nailed. Wrong series to admire a pass.