News Article: Who We Might Lose to Waivers

[rikker]

http://www.lighthousehockey.com/201...y-place-which-islanders-might-become-the-ones

- CMac, Strait, Conacher and Brennan are on a 1-way. $675,000, $775,000, $600,000 and $600,000.

- Skille has an AHL salary of $300,000 and an NHL salary of $750,000

- Zolnierczyk has an AHL salary of $300,000 and an NHL salary of $650,000

my guess is that these all guys will be sent down, and will all pass through without being claimed. Conacher has the best chance of being claimed, IMO. no one will claim Strait, for sure, as he also has a 1 way next year, of $925,000.

seems like Snow had to pay the piper, and has given these tweeners pretty good contracts.

Click to read more...

 

[CaptDenisPotvin]

I wouldn't lose sleep if any of these guys were claimed...of course it would be nice to have depth with all these guys, Strait would probably hurt the most but in my eyes it would be less players in the way of Reinhart...Conacher and Cmac? Less players in the way of Strome and Lee.

Would like to keep them all but i dont see this as to much of an issue

 

[kasper11]

I think Strait could get claimed. The salary doesn't matter near as much as the cap hit...$775k isn't bad for a #6/7 guy with some experience. Especially if another team suffers an injury on D.

I doubt he gets waived, personally, as I think the team will go with 13 forwards and 8 d (Hamonic, de Haan, Visnovsky, Hickey, Reinhart, Brennan, Carkner, Strait).

If someone does get waived, it could be Carkner, who would almost certainly clear as his salary is too much for a #7.

 

[SI90]

No body to be worried about. I think Brennan makes the team thiugh and I could see Griff starting out in Bport.

 

[Metnut]

I think Strait's best role is injury insurance. I'd like to see him sent down to start the season to give two of Brennan/Donovan/Reinart shots to play. I'd also like to see CMac sent to AHL to give Conachar a chance.

 

[bigd]

I think Strait's best role is injury insurance. I'd like to see him sent down to start the season to give two of Brennan/Donovan/Reinart shots to play. I'd also like to see CMac sent to AHL to give Conachar a chance.

I think Strait should be kept up and Reinhart should start in the AHL. There's no guarantee any of them are going to pass through waives so why give up on any of them just yet. Let's go 10 games or so and see what we've got. We had crummy NHL Depth on D last season so hopefully they learned from that. They can be waive any time and Reinhart won't be hurt by starting in PB, except for maybe his feelings.

 

[CREW99AW]

I think Strait should be kept up and Reinhart should start in the AHL. There's no guarantee any of them are going to pass through waives so why give up on any of them just yet. Let's go 10 games or so and see what we've got. We had crummy NHL Depth on D last season so hopefully they learned from that. They can be waive any time and Reinhart won't be hurt by starting in PB, except for maybe his feelings.

I think everyone's been told that jobs are up for grabs in this camp, that players need to bring their best.

I have no complaint sending youngsters to Bridgeport if they've been outplayed in camp. However, I am not in favor of a youngster and keeping a vet who has been outplayed.

Let Strait outplay Reinhart.

 

[crasherino]

I think Strait could get claimed. The salary doesn't matter near as much as the cap hit...$775k isn't bad for a #6/7 guy with some experience. Especially if another team suffers an injury on D.

I doubt he gets waived, personally, as I think the team will go with 13 forwards and 8 d (Hamonic, de Haan, Visnovsky, Hickey, Reinhart, Brennan, Carkner, Strait).

If someone does get waived, it could be Carkner, who would almost certainly clear as his salary is too much for a #7.

I agree re Strait - good chance he gets claimed. He's unspectacular but he can definitely help a team's bottom pairing - especially a team that suffered an injury or two.

Strait may even have some trade value. Nothing crazy, but I could see a team throwing a pick at the Isles if their depth wasn't good.

With our forward depth, I hope we can carry 14 forwards. Boulton is taking up a spot and CMac can sit in the press box too. I'd feel bad if we ended up sending down Carkner as he's a solid veteran presence, but, at the end of the day, you need to have the best players on the roster and Carkner - at least to me - is clearly the one on the outside. His fighting ability is not needed with Boulton ready to go and as big as Carkner is, he doesn't really play a good physical game without taking a penalty. His idea of moving a guy from the front of the net is a cross check and then complain to the ref.

 

[bigd]

I think everyone's been told that jobs are up for grabs in this camp, that players need to bring their best.

I'm sure that's said in every training camp of almost every team. That doesn't mean the coaching staff doesn't already have a good idea of what 90% of their team is going to look like.

 

[BroadwayJay*]

Why is Matt Martin's fighting ability so insufficient that we require Boulton to also have fights? Isn't one fighter enough?

 

[CREW99AW]

I'm sure that's said in every training camp of almost every team. That doesn't mean the coaching staff doesn't already have a good idea of what 90% of their team is going to look like.

We don't go into every camp with ..

1.The head coach on what the press calls a short leash.
2.Pressure on the GM from the owner.
3.Top core players publicly saying, some teammates were too comfortable, did not work enough the previous season.
4.Pressure on Wang/Snow from Ratner/Yormark to ice a competitive product to help Brooklyn tix sales.

I don't think Cappy, Snow or the core players who have publicly called out teammates, care whether Strait/Donovan/etc are lost on waivers if they come to camp knowing their jobs are on the line and don't produce.

 

[_illicit_]

Why is Matt Martin's fighting ability so insufficient that we require Boulton to also have fights? Isn't one fighter enough?

I think as long as other teams continue to carry a 'Heavy' or two, Boulton or someone of his ilk, will continue to sit in the box until needing to be called upon for certain games. Martin is not really at that level of pugilism.

 

[BroadwayJay*]

I think as long as other teams continue to carry a 'Heavy' or two, Boulton or someone of his ilk, will continue to sit in the box until needing to be called upon for certain games. Martin is not really at that level of pugilism.

I just don't understand why we need TWO of those guys. What else does Martin bring? He's just a Boulton that can actually play hockey.

 

[InformTheMasses]

I just don't understand why we need TWO of those guys. What else does Martin bring? He's just a Boulton that can actually play hockey.

If they need a second goon, it should be a callup like Johnson was last year. Those guys can bounce back and forth all season on an as needed basis.

Wasting two roster spots for Bolton and carkner is worse than useless. Its a major negative.

 

[13th Floor]

If they need a second goon, it should be a callup like Johnson was last year. Those guys can bounce back and forth all season on an as needed basis.

Wasting two roster spots for Bolton and carkner is worse than useless. Its a major negative.

I honestly don't get why we resigned Boulton, especially when we have like 5 4th liners that can all at least play hockey. On the most successful teams over the past 3-5 years, where are the fighters on those teams? The Kings aren't wasting roster spots on that crap.

 

[Tampacuseforever]

I think as long as other teams continue to carry a 'Heavy' or two, Boulton or someone of his ilk, will continue to sit in the box until needing to be called upon for certain games. Martin is not really at that level of pugilism.

This reasoning is crazy, let our skill players "skate by" the other teams slugs and see how much ice time these slugs get for the remainder of the game. If we don't dress a Boulton we just have more weapons than the other team.

 

[Darth Milbury]

Boulton, Simon-like lunkhead that he is, putplayed both Martin and CMac ladt year.

 

[13th Floor]

Boulton, Simon-like lunkhead that he is, putplayed both Martin and CMac ladt year.

Matt Martin had a terrible year, IMO. There's no defending it. But he played in 79 games and a total of 950 minutes. Boulton played in 23 games with a total of 150 minutes. I don't think it is a fair comparison. Boulton would have been abysmal if we played near 1000 minutes last year.

And that was my overall point. Teams don't employ a guy like Boulton anymore, and I think it is asinine if he is 'guaranteed' a roster spot in the eyes of our management because 'we need a guy like that on our roster'. I'd rather spend time letting all of our 4th liners who can play hockey fight it out for spots. If that is Skille or Sundstrom or Conacher instead of Martin, fine.

 

[_illicit_]

This reasoning is crazy, let our skill players "skate by" the other teams slugs and see how much ice time these slugs get for the remainder of the game. If we don't dress a Boulton we just have more weapons than the other team.

I really don't think Boulton dresses all that often for this to be an issue.

 

[crasherino]

I really don't think Boulton dresses all that often for this to be an issue.

But he takes up a roster spot. A spot that could be used for Conacher, Skille or even Lee.

I personally don't mind having an every 5th game goon like Boulton on the roster....provided we have the room for him. I think this year might be the first time where we may not have that luxury. It would be a shame if we have to waive someone - and ultimately lose them - in order to carry Boulton.

I like having the option to bring in toughness, but in and ideal world, we would be tough enough that we wouldn't need to rely on him.

 

[_illicit_]

But he takes up a roster spot. A spot that could be used for Conacher, Skille or even Lee.

I personally don't mind having an every 5th game goon like Boulton on the roster....provided we have the room for him. I think this year might be the first time where we may not have that luxury. It would be a shame if we have to waive someone - and ultimately lose them - in order to carry Boulton.

I like having the option to bring in toughness, but in and ideal world, we would be tough enough that we wouldn't need to rely on him.

And I would rather not have Lee sitting in the press box. I really am not advocating for Boulton, just stating the most likely reason he is still carried. Any of Boulton, Skille or Conacher are fine with me as the extra skater.

 

[Richie Daggers Crime]

This reasoning is crazy, let our skill players "skate by" the other teams slugs and see how much ice time these slugs get for the remainder of the game. If we don't dress a Boulton we just have more weapons than the other team.

Hockey is entertainment.

 

[A Pointed Stick]

This reasoning is crazy, let our skill players "skate by" the other teams slugs and see how much ice time these slugs get for the remainder of the game. If we don't dress a Boulton we just have more weapons than thbe other team.

I am not for staged fights, but I find the number of posters here forgetting the abuse our merry band of skilled Mary's had to endure at the hands of teams like Philly to be staggering. Did everyone forget Tavares picking his teeth off the ice thanks to Pronger? And it isn't so much a matter of having a pugilist like Boulton, but having middleweight agitators like Martin that is important to counter teams that have them or to go after the skill guys on other clubs as a sound a practiced strategy which is important. If you lump Boulton and Martin together you missed something in their roles, to be honest. We need both because this is the NHL and the other teams in our division are going to go after our skilled Mary's with their jerks. Best to have a few of our own to counter with. I would argue that we have some of the better ones too.

 

[fishstick]

I like that we now have a thread discussing who we might lose to waivers and not who we might pick up

 

[crasherino]

And I would rather not have Lee sitting in the press box. I really am not advocating for Boulton, just stating the most likely reason he is still carried. Any of Boulton, Skille or Conacher are fine with me as the extra skater.

Agree with the Lee point. And I'm OK with having Boulton take up a spot ultimately, considering the position we find ourselves in (i.e. unlike the Kings - who can take care of themselves without dressing a goon - we don't have that luxury).

But I dont' think we can afford to carry, and more to the point, dress, Carkner AND Boulton. If we carry Boults, OK. But I think Carkner has to go. If that happens, it would indicate this team has taken a step forward as far as talent goes.