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
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 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.
Why even make a jinx thread like this?? YOU GUYS KNOW BETTER
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.What is this? Setting realistic expectations?
That isn't what this thread is for!
::puts blinders on::
SUCK ISLANDERS SUUCCCCKKK
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.Why even make a jinx thread like this?? YOU GUYS KNOW BETTER
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.
I could see them being better than those teams.
Offseason report: They added some skill up front, with Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin, and Cory Conacher.
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.
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.
I feel filthy for knowing how invested in this thread and its successors I'm going to be for the next six months.
Risk Factors: New York Islanders edition
1. Defense
2. Coaching
3. John Tavares’ health and line
@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.
@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.