The Official "Isle's Draft Position" Thread Pt 1: (13-6-0), Bah Hambug

[Jame]

Me too.

Plus, somebody has to fall on the Jame grenade.

Don't you mean Jame-ade?

Or is that a beverage you drink after bashing sekera?

i'm here

 

[sba]

Why even make a jinx thread like this?? YOU GUYS KNOW BETTER

 

[Zip15]

I think they'll still be towards the bottom of their division by the end of the year, possibly beating out New Jersey for the second last spot, ahead of Carolina of course. They're not better than Washington, Philly, or Columbus.

I think the Metro is the most wide open division between Pittsburgh being at the top and Carolina being at the bottom. You could give me just about any permutation of the other six teams, and I could believe it. While you can look at the rosters of those three teams and conclude they're better than the Isles, you can also throw in the RyJo/preseason injury fiasco that could sabotage CBJ this year, Philly having lost its best defenseman, and the question marks about how Washington's roster will adapt to Trotz's system. Though I think they're a playoff team, you can also ask yourself who's going to play center for the first month of the season for the Rags (Brassard as your 1C? Yikes.).

That division is going to be entertaining to follow.

 

[TehDoak]

Why even make a jinx thread like this?? YOU GUYS KNOW BETTER

No such thing as a jinx.

 

[Woodhouse]

What is this? Setting realistic expectations?

That isn't what this thread is for!

::puts blinders on::

SUCK ISLANDERS SUUCCCCKKK

Oh, you want me spin those included preseason games?! Look at that sorry Halak outing! Okposo's pointless, can you say slump? Only four GF and one was an absolute gift from Kinkaid! Conacher on the first line? Haha.

Why even make a jinx thread like this?? YOU GUYS KNOW BETTER

I won't confirm nor deny that there's a mole on the Isles forum ready to exclaim shutout every game to ensure at least one GA is tallied.

 

[Jim Bob]

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2...ders-detroit-red-wings-columbus-blue-jackets/

New York Islanders

Last season: 34-37-11, 79 points, 13th in the East, missed playoffs

Offseason report: They added some skill up front, with Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin, and Cory Conacher. But the big move was replacing goalie Evgeni Nabokov with Jaroslav Halak in a trade with whichever team it was that he was playing for by the end of the season.9

Outlook: Nabokov was awful last year, posting a .905 save percentage, and backups Kevin Poulin and Anders Nilsson were even worse. Halak is a career .918 and posted a .921 last year; if he can do that again, the goaltending upgrade alone would put the Islanders back into playoff contention.

Outside the crease, there’s some good young talent here, including Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey. The signings of Grabovski and Kulemin added two useful players, albeit on a slight overpay, and while Conacher is small, he’s shown enough skill to at least be worth a look. Oh, and did we mention that John Tavares, who played just 59 games thanks to an injury suffered at the Olympics, is healthy again?

So the goaltending looks good and the forwards are intriguing. We should probably stop there, because, man, this blue line looks ugly.

Key number: 1 — Jack Capuano’s rank among the eight Metro Division coaches in seniority with their current team. He was hired less than four years ago. The Metro is weird.

Best case: Tavares wins the Art Ross, the team’s young talent takes a step forward, Halak is his usual dependable self, and the blue line is better than expected, which is to say merely bad instead of completely awful. In a weak division, the Islanders soar all the way to second place.

Worst case: After years of playing behind an excellent defensive unit in St. Louis, Halak sees more rubber than a dead skunk on the Trans-Canada Highway. He doesn’t handle it well, and his play dips to Nabokovian levels. The forwards can’t score enough to make up for all the goals against, and the team plummets into the Connor McDavid sweepstakes — except they don’t even have their own pick, having traded it to the Sabres in last year’s Thomas Vanek deal.

Bold prediction: This has regret written all over it, but I’m onboard with the Islanders this year, so here goes: They don’t just make the playoffs, they win a round for the first time since 1993.

 

[labbatt]

I could see them being better than those teams.

Can you lie to us please?

 

[TehDoak]

Offseason report: They added some skill up front, with Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin, and Cory Conacher.

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things does not belong....

 

[Beerz]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/hocke...857?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Cory Conacher is a guy you root for.

The 24-year-old made it to the NHL in 2012-13 as an undrafted, undersized (5-9, possibly in skates) free agent who has suffered from Type 1 diabetes since age 8. He nearly made the Lightning out of training camp in 2011-12 but went to the AHL and earned MVP honors with 39 goals and 80 points for Norfolk.

He made an impact in 2012-13 with the Lightning and then the Senators after a trade but was waived by Ottawa last season and finished the year a free agent again after closing out the season with the Sabres.

He signed with the Islanders on the first day of free agency into a seemingly open field of forwards; the next day, the Isles added Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolay Kulemin, making things difficult for Conacher before training camp even began.

 

[sjci]

Season Predictions:

Sportsnet: 21st Overall
SBNation: 6th in Metro (Above Philly and Carolina) (But 8 of 11 rankers had them 5th)
Hockey News: 6th in Metro
EA Sim: 91 pts, 14th selection (Last team to miss playoffs)

 

[30Yonge]

You guys are horrible people.

If they were really horrible people, they would want the Islanders to finish in the 10th/11th spot for the draft lottery and win under the improved odds.

 

[Paxon]

If they were really horrible people, they would want the Islanders to finish in the 10th/11th spot for the draft lottery and win under the improved odds.

Unless you mean versus finishing 10th/11th and staying there, finishing there and winning the lotto would be much better for them than finishing in the bottom 3 which I believe the posts he's talking about were saying. They don't have their pick no matter what happens, at least that way they'd show improvement as a team. It'd be a disaster to wind up being bottom-level bad and not having anything to show for it.

 

[Clock]

I feel filthy for knowing how invested in this thread and its successors I'm going to be for the next six months.

 

[TehDoak]

I feel filthy for knowing how invested in this thread and its successors I'm going to be for the next six months.

It's rooting for a high draft pick without rooting against your own team. It's all the fun of rooting for failure without actually having to deal with the consequences of failure.

It's pretty much the most awesome thing ever.

 

[Djp]

A dollar and a dream....

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

Tank related:

Does anyone have a link for those WW1/WW2 era posters remade for the Sabres Tank? I couldn't find them through the HF search.

 

[TehDoak]

 

[LaFontaineToMogilny]

Tavares right now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRxuAvA0220

 

[Jim Bob]

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2014/10/03/risk-factors-new-york-islanders-edition/

Risk Factors: New York Islanders edition

1. Defense

2. Coaching

3. John Tavares’ health and line

 

[Woodhouse]

New York Islanders @NYIslanders 1h
#ISLES TRANSACTIONS: Sebastian Collberg and Brett Gallant have been recalled from @TheSoundTigers

Arthur Staple @StapeNewsday 1h
#Isles injury updates: Pulock (lower body), Cizikas (back) both skated with groups today, de Haan (upper body) skated on his own.

Arthur Staple @StapeNewsday 1h
Visnovsky (back), Grabner (upper body), Carkner (upper body) did not skate. #Isles

 

[Beerz]

Brock Nelson hurt tonight.


Edit: Nevermind.

Arthur Staple ‏@StapeNewsday 5m5 minutes ago

Five stitches for Nelson, #Isles say he'll be back out for 3rd period. Deep, cleansing breaths, everyone.

 

[sba]

@StapeNewsday
Breaking: #Isles have acquired D Johnny Boychuk from the Bruins for a 2015 2nd, a 2016 2nd and a conditional 2015 3rd round pick.

 

[Beerz]

@StapeNewsday
Breaking: #Isles have acquired D Johnny Boychuk from the Bruins for a 2015 2nd, a 2016 2nd and a conditional 2015 3rd round pick.

That's a lot for Boychuk.

 

[sba]

Same return (+ a 3rd) that Doug Murray, Leopold and Regehr got at the deadline as UFA's - Boychuk has a whole year left...it's not THAT awful.

 

[Paxon]

@StapeNewsday
Breaking: #Isles have acquired D Johnny Boychuk from the Bruins for a 2015 2nd, a 2016 2nd and a conditional 2015 3rd round pick.

Garth's doubling down.