The Islanders aren't boring

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

So glad they lost but the damage is done. Thanks Isles for starting another dead puck era in the stupid copycat league.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

I fell asleep reading the first post.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Total’s the best you’re gonna get, because “forced turnovers” isn’t a stat.



No, the shots metric means total shot attempts by both teams in games played by the Isles. Adding blocks would be double-counting those attempts.



I don’t know how it can be any plainer — the Isles didn’t play in close of games any more often than their opponents. The only difference was the Isles games featured less action.

In any case it’s academic now, because we won’t be seeing them again till next season. Whenever that is.

So you're still wrong on all counts, and just can't admit it.

No problem. Thanks.

 

[tarheelhockey]

So you're still wrong on all counts, and just can't admit it.

No problem. Thanks.

Whatever you say.

Have a nice offseason.

 

[Merrrlin]

So you're still wrong on all counts, and just can't admit it.

No problem. Thanks.

@tarheelhockey is showing you how to actually put effort into your posts. Being so dismissive is rude.

 

[The Real JT]

Islanders don't need to prove anything to nobody; they play a very discipline game, play hard, have one of the best coaches in the NHL, and this almost got them to the finals.
Lightning have 2 cup final appearance & 4 EFC final appearances these past 6 years, and there's no shame losing in 6 to a team like this

It stings now Isle fans, but be proud of what your team did this season, heck of a deep run
Don't let the haters ruin it

I was going to post something critical about how people's screen names (e.g. Oddbob and Chimp) reflect the quality of their analysis but then I read your knowledgeable and insightful post and thought better of it.

So thank you, Flying Squirrel.

 

[BrindamoursNose]

Yes, they lost, after having gone farther than all but two teams.

And they've won the same amount of Stanley Cups this year as those other losing teams. Congrats.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

The Islanders truly made hockey hard to watch and that takes a lot. I was rooting for Varly but I’m really glad I don’t have to watch them play anymore.

 

[serp]

Game 5 was awful but Game 6 to me was fine. Isles didn't have a massive amount of shots but in the third they imho had enough chances to go up 2:1 and had several shifts where the pressed Tampa in.

Isles at times in game 6 had Tampa on the ropes after seemingly tiring them out but couldn't knock them down.

 

[Pure Slaughter Value]

So glad they lost but the damage is done. Thanks Isles for starting another dead puck era in the stupid copycat league.

GO LEAFS GO!!!!1111!!!

LIKE THIS POST DANTHEMAN1967!!!!11!!!

 

[notDatsyuk]

@tarheelhockey is showing you how to actually put effort into your posts. Being so dismissive is rude.

I appreciate the effort, but the effort was directed, by design or otherwise, to avoid my points, and after several circular repeitions, it was time to stop.

 

[notDatsyuk]

And they've won the same amount of Stanley Cups this year as those other losing teams. Congrats.

So unless you win the Cup, you are exactly the same all the other teams? I'm sure that philosophy is comforting to fans of the teams that can't make the playoffs.

 

[robertmac43]

Wow am i ever happy they did not make it to the SC.

 

[tailgunner]

I installed a fence post the other day...watching the cement dry was more interesting and exciting than watching the islanders play hockey

 

[Discipline]

Game 5 was boring (I was emotionally drained so I felt more boredom than anxiety), but the ECF series was fun and interesting to say the least.

Before the series started, Isles had a higher goals for than Tampa Bay too.

Isles - 3.38 GF
Bolts - 3.00 GF

 

[dlawong]

Actually, what is the point about this thread anyway? Boring hockey and boring NHL teams will stay until they make blocking shots go way in hockey and takes all the hitting out so all talented players can avoid injuries. Better yet, they should all wear cages masks like in college hockey.

Do the fans want Isles to be dismantled or kick out of NHL because their boring style will hurt NHL revenue??? Can any of the fans suggest some great out of the box ideas to help the Islanders to trade or draft more star players to be less boring or suggest that they should fire both their GM and Coach who have both recently won NHL awards?

The Isles is going to be in Belmont in 2 years and this kind of PR does not help and guess what? NHL revenue is shared so if a team suffers financially it will hurt the league as a whole unless they can either get rid of the team or help it to improve substantially by fixing the draft picks.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Actually, what is the point about this thread anyway? Boring hockey and boring NHL teams will stay until they make blocking shots go way in hockey and takes all the hitting out so all talented players can avoid injuries. Better yet, they should all wear cages masks like in college hockey.

Do the fans want Isles to be dismantled or kick out of NHL because their boring style will hurt NHL revenue??? Can any of the fans suggest some great out of the box ideas to help the Islanders to trade or draft more star players to be less boring or suggest that they should fire both their GM and Coach who have both recently won NHL awards?

The Isles is going to be in Belmont in 2 years and this kind of PR does not help and guess what? NHL revenue is shared so if a team suffers financially it will hurt the league as a whole unless they can either get rid of the team or help it to improve substantially by fixing the draft picks.

I guess the point is for people who don't like the Isles to complain about the way the team plays, and to try to minimize their success.

Personally, I don't see a huge difference between a forward or defenceman blocking a shot and the goalie doing the same thing. I understand that some people are only interested in goals, but don't understand why preventing them is so bad.

I don't think taking hitting out of the game would be good. It's one of the biggest selling points of the game in the less sophisticated markets, which is where the league is struggling most. I do agree that the league should seriously come down hard on the type of hits that are most likely to cause injuries.

One of the best ways to attract better players is by having success. It's also the best way to attract fans and increase revenue.

These past two years, where the team has been much more successful, are a good sign, and the new arena will be another huge plus for the team. Team revenue went down in both the 16/17 and the 17/18 seasons. It was up, and the highest ever, last season. Winning is good, and most of the team's fans, who are the ones who generate most of the revenue, certainly don't find it boring.

 

[T REX]

I wouldn't mind making the ice a little wider to open up the game. Dudes are getting bigger and bigger...only natural to give them a little more space to work. I hated the late 90's. Never go back.

 

[Pure Slaughter Value]

I wouldn't mind making the ice a little wider to open up the game. Dudes are getting bigger and bigger...only natural to give them a little more space to work. I hated the late 90's. Never go back.

Hasn't it been proven overseas and during Olympic competition that a larger ice surface doesn't equal higher scoring, it's actually less scoring?

Regardless, I can imagine the groans coming from Owners not wanting to expand the ice and lose seats. That's a lot of money to spend on renovation only to ensure you're not going to be seeing any additional revenue. That's usually a "no-no" in business (to put it mildly).

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Hasn't it been proven overseas and during Olympic competition that a larger ice surface doesn't equal higher scoring, it's actually less scoring?

Regardless, I can imagine the groans coming from Owners not wanting to expand the ice and lose seats. That's a lot of money to spend on renovation only to ensure you're not going to be seeing any additional revenue. That's usually a "no-no" in business (to put it mildly).

Yeah but the increased parity/competition, and importance and sample of games at olympics probably factors into that.

My guess would be there would be no meaningful impact on scoring with the slightly bigger ice. Those few more cycles or few more seconds of zone time you get with the bigger ice would be negated by those couple less turnovers odd mans heading the other way on smaller ice, and scoring would essentially remain the same if everything else stayed the same.

 

[KevFu]

Last time I checked, the Islanders haven't won the cup yet, so maybe slow your roll on putting this team in the winner's circle before it happens.

If it makes you feel better, I also found the 2019 St. Louis Blues to lack entertainment value, I was glad Lou's 2012 Devils lost in the finals, albeit to a defensive LA team, but liked Trotz's 2018 Washington Capitals for sentimental reasons.

By all means go and enjoy your team's run, but I'm not surprised a lot of people don't find it to be very entertaining.

Wow, you drastically misunderstood the whole Cup winning teams/Copy-Cat league part. The whole reason everyone is happy the Islanders lost was because IF THEY WON, everyone would copy their style of "making hockey boring." That was the argument. It wasn't anointing us champions -- especially when we were down 3-1 in the series and I've included "Tampa is just better" in like, 90% of my posts the last two weeks.

I'm glad you found the Blues not entertaining, because THAT was the point. All good teams who win have to play good defense. It's been half the game for 125 years (Even if your "good defense" is nothing more than having Fuhr or Hasek save your bacon 60 times).

So when I see 10 Cup Champions playing better defense than us, but we're the ones called boring; it's a little frustrating... An example of that would be THIS POST:

This is such a stupid take. I hate the penguins more then any team in the league but no one is calling them boring. I hate at least 10 teams more then the islanders possibly 15 depending on the season and still dont call any of them boring. Your entire argument is made up and stupid. The only reason i am raging against the islanders now is because its a copy cat league and if a boring as f*** paint drying grass growing boring ass team wins and people start copying that boring ass style its going to be annoying. 31 teams in the league. 29 aren't boring. 1 is because they are rebuilding and have no assets that can drive a game. The last is the islanders who are in the ECF. NO EXCUSE TO BE THAT BORING. none.

I hate the Penguins, too, And when they were good and winning, they limited shots, limited zone access, blocked shots, held teams to 2.2 goals per game and scored slightly more than their opponents.

This is why exciting Edmonton, exciting Toronto, exciting Colorado all lost. And why after exciting Tampa lost in the first round last year, they spent their entire 2019-20 season working on adding defensive structure to their game and becoming GOOD defensively. They switched from being a "Let Vasilevskiy bail out the skaters 40 times a game like Hasek's Sabres" to "let's play a COMPLETE game."

We all know the Islanders forwards aren't dynamically gifted like Tampa, Toronto or Colorado. Tampa tried playing Freewheeling Beautiful Offensive Hockey last season and it did not go so well. So this season, the Lightning are basically playing "ISLANDERS HOCKEY with gifted scorers" and we're playing Islanders hockey with hard-working forwards. And because of that, we're boring and they remain exciting.

 

[Johnny Tomala]

Islanders are boring team with no star power. I'm glad they lost to Lightning.

 

[The Macho King]

Game 5 was boring (I was emotionally drained so I felt more boredom than anxiety), but the ECF series was fun and interesting to say the least.

Before the series started, Isles had a higher goals for than Tampa Bay too.

Isles - 3.38 GF
Bolts - 3.00 GF

Tampa played really good defensive teams. And Tampa is a known quantity. They play to score, not to hold on. Anyone that's watched 3 games of either team can attest to that.

 

[The Macho King]

I wouldn't mind making the ice a little wider to open up the game. Dudes are getting bigger and bigger...only natural to give them a little more space to work. I hated the late 90's. Never go back.

Wider ice doesn't open the game. It forces more action to the perimeter.

 

[majormajor]

The Islanders aren't boring. They had some beautifully executed counter-attacks this playoffs.

The teams playing against them are boring. They can't do fancy plays against a team that is protecting the middle of the ice and doesn't trade rushes.


So it's really tricky telling the Islanders to play differently when it obviously works. The Jackets do the same thing, they guard the middle of their zone, and they don't trade odd-man rushes. You can't force a team to play run-and-gun. It would require a major rule change to the game - a "maximum number of men in the paint" sort of rule, and I have my doubts that would be a good change.