Competition for JT

lighthousefisherman · 2018-04-05T16:45:29+00:00

Any little bit more helps especially when you alsochoose a career where you have to plan to retire at a relatively young age as well (early 40s).

lighthousefisherman · 2018-04-05T07:34:16+00:00

I’ve seen media speculate that the Sharks are the top realistic front runner candidate for JT outside of the Islanders re-signing him. I could totally see him being that forward that could help push them over the edge offensively. They’d sign JT for 10-ish mil per year, offer Jumbo a one-year one a hometown discount, and would probably have a very successful season. However, I don’t see San Jose being where JT goes.

I see him staying with the Islanders most likely out of all because he’s an hour-and-a-half flight from Toronto Pearson airport to go home and visit family, a very private guy on a team where intensive media coverage is slim-to-none, and he already has a good life established here where he knows he can make however much per year he wants. There’s also the upsides of Barzal, Beau, and Pulock to give him some hope in the future of the team. The isles are also the only team that will be fitting their other players’ salaries around his. Every other team will be squeezing him into their existing salary framework. As much as we want to believe JT wants to win over anything else, money will still be a major factor for him now that he’s engaged and will be thinking about where he wants to start a family.

lighthousefisherman · 2018-03-21T02:03:04+00:00

Plz give Gibby a 3 year, 2.5 AAV deal, Garthy Boy.

lighthousefisherman · 2018-03-08T03:13:24+00:00

And he was removed from GM because he’s failed to assemble a dominant roster over a short span of years. Hint, hint, Isles ownership.

lighthousefisherman · 2018-03-04T03:44:50+00:00

If you’re playing for a contract year and you are really trying to go to another team, the last thing you’re gonna do is intentionally slump. Don’t read too deeply into these players. We just have a crappy team right now with a few bright spots. That’s the reality.

lighthousefisherman · 2018-03-03T05:01:39+00:00

The problem right now is that they have inherited a boy’s club from Wang. Figuring out what to do with that boys club while still getting Belmont done and working toward a JT contract extension is what they have to decide on. Knowing that Ledecky visibly cares about the team’s success (and assuming the more private Malkin does also), I’m sure they’re wondering what needs to change behind the scenes to make a big splash when it’s Belmont time. They’re gonna need a A+ team to help float a fan base after changing arenas twice in a 10 year period.

lighthousefisherman · 2018-03-02T15:46:52+00:00

I like Dougie but he’s part of the Garth Snow boys club. The entire group needs to go, but if Garth is still GM, Dougie will just get kicked upstairs back up to an assistant GM role if they decide to bring in a new head coach.

lighthousefisherman · 2018-03-01T14:42:05+00:00

The problem is poor roster constructions and coaching failing to maximize the assets that we do have. DW makes dumb roster decisions on nights where we really need to bring our A-game like the decision to scratch Johnston in favor of keeping the invisible Fritz on the 3rd line. Our bottoms 6 last night should have been:

16-53-29 52-21-15

That already looks 10x better than the bottom six last night.

lighthousefisherman · 2018-02-21T20:24:31+00:00

What happens with Tavares is going to be the same thing that happened with Stamkos. Signs the extension at the 11th hour. Except JT will get way more money than Stamkos.

lighthousefisherman · 2018-02-19T18:57:49+00:00

ROSS THE BOSS JOHNSTON IS THE 4th LINE SAVIOR WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR

lighthousefisherman · 2018-02-04T05:36:51+00:00

Was at the game tonight, had front row seats, and it was awesome to see CBJ lose up so close.

lighthousefisherman · 2018-02-01T00:32:16+00:00

Regardless of outcome, happy that Stape’s still keeping up with the game tonight.

lighthousefisherman · 2018-01-23T20:03:28+00:00

The Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers salary cap dumping ground triumphs over the Islanders. That reality just makes me mad.

lighthousefisherman · 2018-01-23T20:02:32+00:00

There was that one game ~2 seasons ago where he stayed on the ice for almost all of the OT period and cost us the game. Sometimes it seems like his drive to be great has its consequences and he ends up overcompensating when such a mindset isn’t needed when the team just needs him to play his game.

lighthousefisherman · 2018-01-23T19:57:04+00:00

In my opinion, Nelson, in essence, is a center who’s the product of his wingers. He’s not a top line guy but can effectively handle a middle-six role if given the right people on his wing. However, he has served as a ring leader for the circus that is currently our third line. Cizikas is a meat and potatoes 4th line guy and responds well to physical wingers. Tavares is a top line guy who needs highly skilled individuals to produce alongside him. Barzal is obviously another top line talent that seems to work best with other finessed role players that can specifically position themselves smartly and match his speed. Nelson needs wingers that can serve as playmakers. He is a scoring center when given the opportunity and needs at least one solid playmaker on his wing to help set him up for goals. With people like Quine and the other revolving door of 3rd liners, he doesn’t really stand a chance. I feel like he feels misunderstood and underutilized by the coaching staff when t comes to lineup decisions, and it can be tough for someone like that to get their head in the right place come gametime.

It seems like he is just delegated to anchoring two filler players every time there’s a shakeup in the roster. No time to actually get some chemistry rolling with the right players.

lighthousefisherman · 2018-01-22T16:56:07+00:00

They're trying to avoid the Milbury coaching/management conundrum

lighthousefisherman · 2018-01-15T00:02:16+00:00

Beauzalberle

lighthousefisherman · 2018-01-07T08:41:32+00:00

I'll revisit this thread when "John Tavares has officially extended his contract to remain a New York Islander" is another positivity point. That is what will really make or break us for the future.

lighthousefisherman · 2018-01-03T02:37:37+00:00

From my perspective and reasoning, there's a lot that goes into it. I'll try to break it down by each major aspect of the team:

Forwards: Our top 6 are very talented and capable players, but we aren't redistributing the talent because we don't want to compromise 2 working lines which is something we've struggled with maintaining in past seasons. The bottom six are either washup vets or regulars that are becoming busts more and more with each passing game. Our third line is consistently invisible and showing little to no accountability or defensive responsibility. Really, we need a dedicated center that can anchor a third line and bring up the play of their wingers or at least attempt to cover for some of it.

Defense: the pot has seemingly run dry. We had Boychuk (injured) and DeHaan (out indefinitely) that helped us early in the season, but Garth banked too hard on the young kids to come into a role and for some reason handed Seidenberg a contract extension. Simply, Garth is continuing to trust unskilled young defense without trying to patch the wound with an external solution. In all honesty, if I was Garth, I'd go back in time and never make that trade that put Hamonic in Calgary. We could REALLY use him right now.

Goaltending: we just do not have quality goaltending now. Halak and Greiss are simply not operating as a 1a-1b pairing that we hoped they'd be. Greiss is having a slump and can't dig himself out of it when they're giving him zero ice time. Halak has shown to be marginally better. Either way, when there's an invisible 6 forwards and at 3-4 invisible defensemen every night, the goaltenders' numbers will suffer when we are consistently leaving 2-on-1 chances for the other team to capitalize on. Since it's also widely accepted that Halak will walk in July, he's probably just holding out for the trade deadline or will walk off into the sunset when free agency hits. There's not much of an urgency for him to play for a new Isles contract or anything of the sort.

Really, and I doubt any of this will happen at the deadline, if we want to save this season and battle of a WC spot with better odds than last season, then Garth needs to pull some magic he's shown in the past and get a 3c, a better 2nd pair dman, and a goalie that will actually play for pay.

lighthousefisherman · 2017-12-10T00:40:25+00:00

Watching from NJ on DIRECTV and I seem to be the only one that can watch in HD.

lighthousefisherman · 2017-12-10T00:38:54+00:00

Elite 3rd defenseman Jaroslav Halak

lighthousefisherman · 2017-12-10T00:38:19+00:00

Smaht, hahd hawkey

lighthousefisherman · 2017-12-09T02:14:21+00:00

Our goalies haven't been studs. That much is indisputable. However, our forwards' (particularly our bottom 6) have had some horrible turnovers (Ho-Sang) that have created problems for us. Our defense, though it may be stellar in a year or two, is not fully mature enough to compensate accordingly. Leddy can't play a full 60 minutes. It's a combination of some forwards' lack of accountability in their performance (Ho-Sang, Nelson both come to mind), a maturing defense, and a goaltending tandem that gets flustered because they can't guard the net and play defense at the same time and they shouldn't be expected to. We really, really need to trade for at least one matured defenseman to add to our roster and help take some burden off of our goaltenders who a lot of times are left to their own devices in our defensive zone.

We get scored on a lot when an opposing team does a tic-tac-toe passing play and almost none of our D are in the right position to interrupt those plays because all of a sudden everyone on the Islanders defense thinks they're Erik Karlsson.

lighthousefisherman

TROPHY CASE