Roster/Rumors/Speculation/Trade Talk - 2023-24: Hotel California

[Osakahaus]

Koktaniemi hasn't gotten himself on a PP anywhere. imo there's a reason for that. He's not a need.

Unless NYI can move Nelson or Palmieri, there can only be moves for bottom 6ers.

Which is why I would be all in favor of getting a guy like Carrier to replace the bottom 6. The islanders should try to get that. We need guys who are quicker with the puck either way.

Good luck to whomever pays him that amount. He’s a very good player, but he’s sheltered in the lineup and outside that with a higher amount of $, not gonna end well.

Yeah I feel as if Chandler Stephenson is a Pageau in the making, both good and bad.

 

[Osakahaus]

Yeah, I get it - Carolina doesn’t have the star power name recognition other teams do. That doesn’t make them equivalent to the Trotz Islanders, who never came close to a regular season like Carolina has had multiple times now.

Nah

Carolina is a very good team and they skate fast and shoot from everywhere. I think their 2024 lineup is even better since we faced a very inexperienced group. My goodness is Seth Jarvis going to be a steal for the Hurricanes, and a very big blemish for the Maple Leafs. Shame on you for trading a FIRST that eventually became him. Somehow Toronto will blame Lou for that instead of wonderboy.

 

[Throttle]

You'd think that axe would be dust by now with how long Botta's been grinding it.

He’s just feeding his audience. Keeps him relevant since he’s never gotten another PR job with the other 31 teams in the league.

 

[YearlyLottery]

@periferal I saw you make a post on here regarding that some of us think the Isles values are too high. My overall point on a player like Pulock I disagree on. My reasoning for this is if you go back to before we dealt Ladd and Bailey 99% of posters felt a 1st was going to be needed to get rid of them (especially Ladd).

@Chapin Landvogt brought up Pulock being a RHD as a premium value. I would love to hear your thoughts on how you would handle this offseason.

 

[The Wahligator]

Lou and Roy addressing the media tomorrow per Gross. Lou back, no surprise.

 

[duster19]

Lou and Roy addressing the media tomorrow per Gross. Lou back, no surprise.

Get ready for the same team/outcome next year…

 

[mm11]

Think Lou is going to get a hungry, aggressive young bottom six plus some NHL dmen in here. Martin, Clutterbuck, JPG are gone and Lou seeks a home for the kid from Warroad, MN

 

[ekill08x]

Get ready for the same team/outcome next year…

team yes...outcome likely worse. we were lucky to even make the playoffs and it was in large part due to the rest of the conference playing even worse. maybe a full year with roy we are a mediocre WC team but we simply dont have enough to win a series against any of the better teams right now.

Think Lou is going to get a hungry, aggressive young bottom six plus some NHL dmen in here. Martin, Clutterbuck, JPG are gone and Lou seeks a home for the kid from Warroad, MN

that would certainly be an improvement. the biggest disappointment was the fact that we simply didnt have the same heart and energy that we did in those former playoff runs.

 

[doublechili]

Much different timing this year. After they were eliminated last year, wasn't it weeks before Lou spoke?

 

[Richie Daggers Crime]

He’s just feeding his audience. Keeps him relevant since he’s never gotten another PR job with the other 31 teams in the league.

Relevant is a subjective term, I guess.

 

[Zeeker]

Get ready for the same team/outcome next year…

Why is this necessarily the conclusion people are drawing? Wasn’t there that awkward press conference with Snow and Weight in 2018?

 

[doublechili]

If by chance Lou announces he's retiring, hopefully Malkin snags Chris L before someone else does. He found Hudson Facshing, you know.

 

[Osakahaus]

Lou and Roy addressing the media tomorrow per Gross. Lou back, no surprise.

Doubt he gets fired. I think him standing pat at the deadline means he values the first and the scouting staff likes someone. My guess? Its an OHL/Swedish kid

 

[Throttle]

Relevant is a subjective term, I guess.

I don’t know how many people follow him or whatnot, but he likes to stir up his followers when he can.

He’s a guy that got a job with franchise that looked for people with a pulse and cheap paycheck when team value wasn’t really a thing. The market changed a ton and he on the outside looking in - his choice or the market spoke, so the twit deck is his only voice.

 

[Richie Daggers Crime]

Didn’t expect that to be a controversial take, but I guess here we are

They're obviously not comparable because of regular season points.

 

[Zeeker]

They're obviously not comparable because of regular season points.

It’s a perplexing comparison. They’re so different in a multitude of ways. Maybe the ONLY similarity is the one you pointed out, that both teams succeed despite a lack of name recognition star power.

 

[BelovedIsles]

Not sure why everyone is concluding they will simply ‘roll things back’ after two mediocre seasons and quick exits.

 

[Richie Daggers Crime]

It’s a perplexing comparison. They’re so different in a multitude of ways. Maybe the ONLY similarity is the one you pointed out, that both teams succeed despite a lack of name recognition star power.

Only two things that are exactly alike can be likened.

 

[The Wahligator]

Much different timing this year. After they were eliminated last year, wasn't it weeks before Lou spoke?

Correct and Lambert never spoke at all.

 

[Richie Daggers Crime]

Preferably a top line winger who can add 35-40 goals and a top-4 D man either to accentuate the current corps or (more likely) to replace one of Pelech/Pulock.

There were only 22 players in the league who scored more than 35 goals. The likelihood of bringing in a player like that is slim.

 

[saintunspecified]

Which is why I would be all in favor of getting a guy like Carrier to replace the bottom 6. The islanders should try to get that. We need guys who are quicker with the puck either way.

This is as much of a criticism of myself, because I've thought the same way. I do think getting generally successful bottom-6 players as veterans is not a good bet especially as free agents. First, the energy it takes to be a successful PK/energy player is a mid-late 20s thing. Second, it's (obviously) better to hit upon them luckily. Pageau is kind of an object lesson - he was an acquisition that made sense at the time, and it's reasonable to believe that NYI would not have made it the conference finals even once without him. But it's gone now - he's passed that window. And Carrier is an imitation version. There's another real thing version of that player - Yanni Gourde - but it's passed him by too. Really, you have to luck into players like Joshua, and Amadio, and (for us) MacLean, or be willing to draft them.

NYI have a drafted bottom 6 guy in Holmstrom, and they lucked into MaClean. They still have Cizikas, so that's 3. Engvall is also going to have to fit into a bottom 6 roll, so that's 4. imo the way to fill it in is (i) get rid of JGP, (ii) grab a couple of bottom 6 vets below the buried salary threshold - I mean replacement level depth centers, and (iii) sign a few of athletic wingers also below that threshold & try to luck into a hit like the Canucks got with Joshua. MacLean was found money for the Islanders. I have no problem going into next year with Cizikas, and MacLean being bottom 6 centers. That's great. NYI have a drafted bottom 6 center (Nelson) who will be imo ready sooner rather than later. So, imo no significant spending on the bottom 6. Fasching is a decent utility player, not athletic enough to be that energy player, but he has the IQ to fill anywhere.

(Ftr I really like Fasching because he gets the most out of talent that is not quite NHL level, and he strikes me as a future coach type - in the decent person style instead of the screaming crazy person vein.)

 

[The Real JT]

I’m all in on your take but less enthusiastic about Fasching. He had his moment last season which was a surprise.

We now know who he is. He’s a high energy guy who just doesn’t have playmaking or finishing skills. I love the effort but he’s a classic tweener and honestly the team is better off taking a flyer on another player for the fourth line. Keep him as insurance.

 

[saintunspecified]

I’m all in on your take but less enthusiastic about Fasching. He had his moment last season which was a surprise.

We now know who he is. He’s a high energy guy who just doesn’t have playmaking or finishing skills. I love the effort but he’s a classic tweener and honestly the team is better off taking a flyer on another player for the fourth line. Keep him as insurance.

I don't disagree with any of this. He's been putting himself in the right place to score lots of times, but not getting it done. I'm just saying that I don't blame him - it's not for lack of knowledge, or trying. It's talent. That's why I seem him as a future coach type.

 

[Osakahaus]

I’m all in on your take but less enthusiastic about Fasching. He had his moment last season which was a surprise.

We now know who he is. He’s a high energy guy who just doesn’t have playmaking or finishing skills. I love the effort but he’s a classic tweener and honestly the team is better off taking a flyer on another player for the fourth line. Keep him as insurance.

He honestly a 13th forward. Fine for his role, but I do not expect him to be that sparkplug in 2022-23 yet again.

 

[seabass45]

Fun developments from exit interviews:

- Clutterbuck has no intention to retire, wants to stay
- Martin also has no intention to retire, wants to stay
- Mayfield fractured his ankle on game 1 and it didn't heal right
- Wahlstrom on his future with the team: "we'll see"
- Fasching wants a more definitive role with the team
- Dobson was playing hurt but felt "close to 100 percent" in the playoffs and whatever was causing an issue won't impact his summer (????)