Speculation: Rumors/Speculation/Trade Talk - 2018-19 - Part IX - Trade Deadline Edition

[duster19]

I'll take 23 guys who can create and score goals on their own. I didn't say Lee was a product of Nelson. How often does Lee score by carrying the puck into the offensive zone, making a move, and then shooting? He doesn't really. That makes him more of a complimentary player than the players I'm describing.

Was at the cgy game last week. Saw warmups. Lee brings a lot to the table but he does not have the skill set that a lot of the other players have. He’s a big body. Makes his money below the dots and in front. He needs to play with shooters and guys that create shots.

I don’t understand why the don’t put him on the Pulock/Toews PP. they shoot. The other unit just works it low and it forces Lee off the net and more to a shooting spot in the slot where he isn’t great from.

 

[PK Cronin]

Was at the cgy game last week. Saw warmups. Lee brings a lot to the table but he does not have the skill set that a lot of the other players have. He’s a big body. Makes his money below the dots and in front. He needs to play with shooters and guys that create shots.

I don’t understand why the don’t put him on the Pulock/Toews PP. they shoot. The other unit just works it low and it forces Lee off the net and more to a shooting spot in the slot where he isn’t great from.

He's an absolute monster at what he does and I love his game. Meat and potatoes, 100% effort.

 

[PWJunior]

Absolutely, but my concern is that Lee might want to be paid like one of those other guys because there are so few players that ever reach the 40 goal marker like he did.

Very likely, but the contract landscape is changing these days where teams seem more willing to pay for current and future production and less for rewarding past play. These kids off their ELC's are now making UFA money, the NHL middle class is shrinking rapidly. It also doesn't help that Chiarelli, Tim Murray, and now Dumbass have accelerated the process with the deals they've given out. It was going to happen anyway, but they set some bad precedents. That Matthews 5-year deal is a killer, these super RFA's (Barzal included) might all want only 5-years now.

I look at Wayne Simmonds as a good comparable to Lee. Both around the same age and similar style of play. I'm not as concerned about the AAV as it's more about cap % now, but the term is everything in Lee's and Simmond's cases. 5 years would be ideal and preferably around $6M.

 

[periferal]

Thats the problem, the Islanders are never EVER prepared to do what is necessary to make a big move, signing or trade.

I promise you the Isles absolutely ARE prepared to do what is "necessary to make a big move, signing or trade" much more than you are prepared to even be 0.01% positive.

 

[Chapin Landvogt]

New Jersey traded Langenbrunner mid-season and lost Parise next year.

Well, I think he means that a team watches its captain walk away as a UFA for two straight summers.

 

[Chapin Landvogt]

IMO, Nylander would be a potential "buy low" opportunity to fill the 2C slot long-term. I still think he's going to be great and might be better suited to the middle.

Brock has really improved this year, but he's NOT a classic playmaking, zone-entry kind of C. And with some of the wingers we have in the pipeline (Wahlstrom, Bellows) we need playmakers at C.

Exactly!

Glad to see that someone else here is catching on...

 

[periferal]

I can't imagine Lou comes up empty handed this summer, wether it's signing our own guys, or others.
The real test is going to be wether he saves space for the following season for Barzal, Pulock, and Toews...

Tons of people here "couldn't imagine" Tavares leaving a year ago. Lou is light years better than snow, but he's not Zeus. He's human and can make mistakes, but more importantly...People around here act like whatever he says goes. Like if he told Panarin, "I want you to sign here or else," Panarin would immediately sign. We're dealing with players and GMs who are going to do what is best for them, and the odds are for most all UFA's that signing with the New York Islanders is not something they want to do .

Therefore I promise you the "real test" is THIS summer - Trying to replace 3 top-6 forwards and a top-10 goalie just to be the same team we see this year - Much less better. Retaining Barzal, Pulock, & Teows in 2020 is just cap space as they are all RFAs, so one way or another they will either resign or be traded for good assets that keep this rebuild going. Losing UFAs for nothing is what sets a franchise back.

So of course Lou isn't going to come up "empty handed" this summer simply because even if he resigned all of Lee/Nelson/Eberle/Lehner, he'd still have to add at least a player or two. So one way or another there are going to be a handful of signings/trades by Lou this summer. The question is...Are they going to be players like Panarin, Duchene, Lee, etc, or are they going to be closer to Filppula, Komarov, Sbisa, etc?

The answer to that will determine the kind of season we have next year, but let's not act like just having Lou around is going to automatically make everything great. He already couldn't convince the greatest UFA in NHL history to sign with the Isles...And that player already played here.

 

[Hunn]

Well, I think he means that a team watches its captain walk away as a UFA for two straight summers.

I understand that. Just find this information worth to mention due to obvious reasons (GM).

 

[12Dog]

I would like to see Eberle and Lee in different combinations to see how their scoring responds whether that be with Barzal or Flip. It also helps evaluate Nelson's ability as he centers other players, but that line currently can only be counted on for being defensively responsible. Our top six are providing little scoring at this point and are hardly a threat to anyone.

The thing with Lee is he really doesn’t have a good shot. Barzal is a feeder more than a shooter, him feeding Lee is a waste of time. Bailey also isn’t much of a shooter. Lee needs to play with shooters so he can get deflections and rebounds.

 

[Instant]

Has any team ever lost 2 captains in consecutive seasons?

I'm not sure, but let's face it, it would be fairly typical if we were the first team to do it.

There’s only one problem here…

You’re assuming that the reason Lee hasn’t signed is because Lou wants to evaluate him.

What if the actual reason that Lee hasn’t signed is because of any number of reasons from he doesn’t love it here as much as we think to Lee is prepared to simply go to the highest bidder no matter what team it is?

The truth is that we don’t know the reason that Lee hasn’t signed yet and it could be anything. And even if the reason is in fact that Lou wants to evaluate him first, then we should at least just recognize that that is an incredible risk that could backfire big time at the end of the day he does want to re-sign him and then it’s too late.

We’re all putting our faith in Lou and he certainly deserves the benefit of the doubt. All I’m saying is let us all recognize the massive holes that this team is going to need to address this off-season. And as great as Lou has been in the past, there are a lot of factors out of his control that he may be hoping come to fruition and don’t.

We all assumed Tavares was going to say. Now we all assume that Lou is going to fix this. Personally I never thought we should assume either until they actually happen.

You know I like you and I've always respected your opinion. I'm not about to stop doing that, but for f***'s sake, perif...

No one here is saying Lee is 100% lock to re-sign with us. I'm pretty sure last year was a hard lesson that words may not, in the end, mean anything. But do remember that last year, right around this time we pretty much knew we were out of the playoffs, we had Doug Weight talking about battling hard and puck luck and Snow being... Well, Snow. And I don't think I need to remind you how much our situation changed since that time.

Yeah, Lee is not re-signed. Yeah, he might not re-sign at all. Or he might. But it isn't the end of the world, it isn't all we need to think and talk about 24/7. Just, I don't know, stop for a second and smell the flowers? There's plenty of questions surrounding this team, that's for sure. And we all know what you thought about Tavares last year. But maybe, just maybe, it's time to stop concerning yourself only with this and enjoy hockey. Even if it's just for a day.

 

[Islanders4Cups]

Yup, that is what I have been doing. Enjoying this season every day

 

[seafoam]

 

[BMOK33]

There’s no question if Lee isn’t here next year it was almost 100% on the Isles end. I see no way he wants to leave but if Lou has other plans so be it. It’s much like Okposo. Pretty sure he never wanted to leave. It’s clear he had a solid drop off without Tavares and that probably concerns them.

 

[Metnut]

It's smart of Lou to be concerned about term with Lee. He doesn't exactly create his own chances and he's not young.

 

[crasherino]

Makes perfect sense. The team wants 5...Lee wants 7 (or even 8). I understand both sides. Hopefully they'll settle on 6 in the near future and put this one to bed.

 

[YearlyLottery]

It is smart of Lou to be wary of term, I do wonder how that would look to the rest of the league though losing two captains in a span of two years. For how smart Lamoriello, he is in a bit of a bad position with Lee. Anything more than six years would suck.

 

[Skip To My Lou]

Had a feeling that would be an issue. Hope they can get something worked out quickly though.

 

[ndgolden]

Well, I think he means that a team watches its captain walk away as a UFA for two straight summers.

Correct.

 

[wingnutks]

not for nothing, but if you werent 100% sure you were gunna sign Lee, no matter the cost, why the f*** give him the C? Give it to Boychuck, or Bailey, not Lee

 

[Metnut]

not for nothing, but if you werent 100% sure you were gunna sign Lee, no matter the cost, why the **** give him the C? Give it to Boychuck, or Bailey, not Lee

The C doesn't really mean much IMO. We're having our best season in years (decades?) after losing our face of the franchise captain. If Lee leaves, we can find a new captain. We'll still have Trotz.

 

[wingnutks]

The C doesn't really mean much IMO. We're having our best season in years (decades?) after losing our face of the franchise captain. If Lee leaves, we can find a new captain. We'll still have Trotz.

Loosing your captain 2 years in a wrong looks ridiculous.

 

[beach]

I wouldn't give Lee more than 5 unless the $$ per year decreased along with the term increase.

 

[periferal]

You know I like you and I've always respected your opinion. I'm not about to stop doing that, but for ****'s sake, perif...

No one here is saying Lee is 100% lock to re-sign with us. I'm pretty sure last year was a hard lesson that words may not, in the end, mean anything. But do remember that last year, right around this time we pretty much knew we were out of the playoffs, we had Doug Weight talking about battling hard and puck luck and Snow being... Well, Snow. And I don't think I need to remind you how much our situation changed since that time.

Yeah, Lee is not re-signed. Yeah, he might not re-sign at all. Or he might. But it isn't the end of the world, it isn't all we need to think and talk about 24/7. Just, I don't know, stop for a second and smell the flowers? There's plenty of questions surrounding this team, that's for sure. And we all know what you thought about Tavares last year. But maybe, just maybe, it's time to stop concerning yourself only with this and enjoy hockey. Even if it's just for a day.

Instant,

Why in the world do you think it's not possible to...

1. Come here and discuss all aspects of the Isles.
2. Enjoy Islander games 100% when they're on.

When you go the beach you bring a towel and when you come to these boards we're supposed to discuss our opinions, both positive and negative, about our favorite team. That's what I do.

Now my opinions might annoy you, or it might be annoying that I keep hammering them home (and I only do that because there are some people still out there like, "I don't understand...Tavares told us he would stay." :'-( ), and that I understand. But make no mistake...When the Isles score a big goal I dance around my house and the only thing that holds me back is not risking waking my kid and drawing the ire of my wife.

So to recap...

• Multiple things can co-exist at the same time.
• I love me some Islanders (especially the 18-19 version).
• Coming here to post helps me vent when the team frustrates me.
• I'm never going to stop posting about things that are so obvious to me (like wang/snow/capuano needing to be removed before we could start winning...Or me knowing that Tavares should've been traded the moment he didn't resign in July 2017...etc).

 

[periferal]

This makes sense. Lee is absolutely the type of player who's game will probably fall off by 33-35, but surely he's asking for an 8 year deal taking him to age 37.

I'll bet the AAV is right around 7 million and both he and team agree on that, but I'll bet the Isles don't want to go past 5 years. If I was Lee I wouldn't back down as he's getting 7 years as a UFA in July from another team. As a result I don't think the Isles need to go to 8 years, but the difference between 5-7 years is $14 million and the chances of Lee getting 7 million at age 35 are much slimmer.

The annoying thing is that if Lee leaves over term that is something Lou should've known already. You may need time to evaluate the player, but almost every top-6 forward on any team the past decade has gotten a 7-8 year deal. Did he really think Lee was going to be ok with 4-5?

 

[periferal]

Loosing your captain 2 years in a wrong looks ridiculous.

Losing Tavares the way we did is enough egg on this franchise for years where losing a 1-year captain won't even register.

Trust me...Losing Lee the player is a bigger deal than losing a "captain."