The New York Islanders lack the offensive skill and scoring depth to be an elite NHL team this season. We will illustrate that with one quick fact which shows that behind Bo Horvat, Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal, this team is in need of more skill players.
Plus we answer your questions about Lou Lamoriello, the NHL Trade Deadline and what it will take for the Isles to get back on track and we have our weekly Farm Report on all things Bridgeport Islanders.
All this and more on today’s Locked On Islanders Podcast with Gil Martin.
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15 Comments
Defo need a goal scoring winger gill
One word-isles forwards SUCK. So called top line 13/14-need a proven goal scorer. 2 line-29 is being dragged down by 21 and useless 18. line 3-is hot garbage again 44 has no offensive pop anymore. any combo of 27, 26, 20, 10, 16-it doesn't matter it doesn't produce. line 4-15, 17, 53 is old as dirt. Throw 20, 16-whoever on it still doesn't produce. isles need two top six forwards. Fkn 18 is useless no matter where put. And 29 will quietly put up 30 goals-again-playing with two bums. Unfortunately 29 is isles biggest trade chip and should be moved for-you guessed it-offensive help. Young fast skill guys with a goal scorer needed to replace this aging slow fwd. group. Isles avg. 2.8 goals per game. 26th in gf. Not good enough to win even with stellar goaltending. Not to mention a spark from the blue line (parekh?) to ignite offense. '24 draft the year of d men draft-pareyk is on pace for 101 pts. which would lead all draft eligible players. So isles may not even be able to get a fwd. this draft if in top 10 and will look at d men. That's how some drafts fall. You can only get those guys through the draft. The higher the picks the better. Lotsa draft capital helps. Need a top 10 pick this draft plus a first whatever 29 can bring. Ditto for '25 draft (misa?) a better draft for fwds. Needs-draft/assets. Problem is louzer is a bum not qualified to reconstruct this team in 21st century. I pity the next gm and the mess of louzer he has to clean up. Isles d and goal are fine-isles can get by a few more years with 8, 3, 6, 28, 30 in net as 24 becomes an anchor. The fwds need big re-do. Keep 13/14. Trade 29. Say bye bye to 15, 17, 26. Buy out 21 with one year left. Stuck with 27 two more seasons. 10 should be trade bait. 44 should be moved but can't. 18 useless as fk. 16, 20, maclean just ahl'er journeymen types not the answer. ahl call ups of ish, maggio, dufour to see what they can do-unlikely. That would take spots away from louzers loyal bums up front. btw isles next opponent wings are on fire and ran caps out of lca 8-3 tonite. Yzerman's transforming of wings to playoff team complete with shrewd cat trade and kane signing and still can make a tdl deal. Too bad louzer can't make those kind of deals for offense as isles are stuck with this out of date fossil as gm who can't transform shit. No deals for you louzer. THAT IS ALL…
Yaeh!!! Pittsburg won today !! WOOHOO !!!
On paper, the Islanders have secondary scoring if the following players played to their realistic potential (Lee-28 goals, Palmieri-25 goals, Pageau 20 goals) and first round draft picks like Wahlstrom progressed like they were supposed to. Pierre Engvall had 17 goals last season and 15 the year before with limited ice time. Asking him for a 20 goal season is not unrealistic, nor is asking Simon Holmstrom to put up 20 either. My point is the secondary scoring potential is there. It's up to the players to produce! Also not allowing Sorokin to be bombarded on a nightly basis would help.
We must have the worst scouting in hockey. How many player have we had in the last 15 years who have had more than 80pts? I'm guessing 2 maybe 3. If that!
Grate show Gil Spot on thank you, Every day in the Islanders camp is anything can happen Day, no one can Call it, just have to wait and see what Lamarillo does lol
Pierre Engvall has been hurt. Still have hope for him. But Anders Lee's game seems like a throwback. Sit in front of the net and wait for rebounds while screening the goalie…is this still a good strategy in today's game? Seems out-dated. Where are the goals??? Only 4 PP goals? SAD! I'm OK with trading Anders Lee. And Pageau (7 goals) has been MIA. We can lose w/o them.
This game against the Red Wings will tell a-lot. A team that has rebuilt and where Kaner has found new life in his career. If the 2nd and 3rd line can find some scoring, maybe they can stay in the hunt.
Good analysis, Gil. And the problems are compounded when you look at the salaries of these underperforming players. Guys like Lee, Pageau, Palmieri, Engvall, and Mayfield on D are untrade-able because of the salaries and/or terms. I'd argue the Isles only have player who is outperforming his cap hit, and that's Dobson. They are really, really stuck. Lou doesn't understand the changes in the game recently, nor the dynamics of the salary cap, especially coming out of the pandemic years.
I'll paraphrase two things the talking heads have said about Yoda and the Isles this year.
'As long as your GM is focused on preserving the 4th line, he'll never build a winner'.
'As long as Engvall is on your 2nd line, you aren't a good team'.
~ AMEN ~
We had Eberle, who was developing some real chemistry with Barzal. Yoda dumped him to protect the 4th line. That meant we needed a scoring winger to work with Barzal, so Yoda goes out and gets a center to play with Barzal and Engvall to play with Nelson. WTF?
The guy is brain dead and ownership doesn't care. They rode the Isles to a new arena that sells well for all sorts of events, a shopping mall, a hotel AND a train stop to get customers to their suburban version of Rockefeller center, complete with skating rinks. They're happy, so don't expect much intervention from them. "In Lou we trust" is their cover phrase. What more could ownership possibly do? /sarcasm
Good afternoon, Gil, how are you? I know
they didn't play last 🌃, but they still have a lot of work to do. Give Patrick Roy credit for line experimenting, especially when it comes to the specialty units. Anders Lee's the Captain, he should have more goals, power play, penalty kill, or even strength. Barzal, Horvath, and Nelson can't do it all, and they know it. Al Arbour would turn in his grave if he knew what was going on, and I'm not taking anything away from Patrick Roy when I say this, HE'S DOING HIS BEST. I would identify my core, FIRST, LAST, AND ALWAYS. The Islanders have been in just about every game, except for a couple of blow outs, THE FAT LADY HASN'T SUNG YET. Look at it this way, if The Islanders don't make it to the playoffs, they can take great delight in playing spoiler for somebody else. LET'S GO ISLANDERS.
Gm Gil. When you look at the scoring by the top teams they make the Isles top scorers look pedestrian. So, the scoring below the Isles best players is minor league worthy. This says a lot about the talent in Bridgeport that there is no depth there as well. The entire org needs serious rework
definitely move pelecvh while can get something getting older slower by minute
Hey Gil – So what I'm hearing from alot of nhl insiders on TV is that certain teams are looking for both Center Depth and also Big Defenseman at the trade deadline. I picked a team who is looking for both and could help us out by taking 1 or 2 guys off this roster and here is what I was thinking – Trading with Boston and Sending either J.G. Pageau or Scott Mayfield to the Bruins in return we would get Jake Debrusk and a prospect. We need to get some scoring depth while getting younger and I think it could work or Sending Mayfield to the Maple Leafs for Nick Robertson or another younger winger who can score.
Great analysis of our current conundrum. Sometimes I feel your more in tune with the plight of this team than Lou.