Will Nolan's favorite players be next?

New York Islander Fan Central | 7/16/2008 06:40:00 AM |
A little irony to the circumstances Jeff Tambellini got his one-way contract into the NHL the day after Ted Nolan and Garth Snow parted company but that was all about the calender and the July 15th deadline for qualifying offers.

But the big question we do not know is who were the veterans who are still here are only because the now former coach wanted them here?

Is a player like Andy Hilbert or Richard Park who the coach gave more opportunities to (which they earned) next to be leaving so the club can get a little younger on a roster who's average age is still far too old at the top and a bit young at the other end with not enough productive players inbetween?

Who knows.

Plenty of ways to go with this.

Anyone ever think Ted Nolan's system held back what Hibert was able to do in Pittsburgh? I know that's a reach because you cannot teach good hands and finishing skills which he left somewhere between New York and Pittsburgh or did Nolan insist last summer that Hilbert's defensive skills were too important to lose?

It's obvious Mike Sillinger was in Nolan's corner. I blogged on this the other day about a potential Sillinger trade before the coaching decision. At his age will he want to stay without Ted Nolan and will that change Frans Nielsen's status or Ben Walter or for that matter Josh Bailey?

This decision is something that will filter through the roster and I expect some of Nolan's favorites will not be back in favor of the roster being more complete and what I mean by complete is some faster players with some potential we have not seen and a little size.

As well as a Richard Park can play, as hard as he works and for all the big shorthanded goals he can score in the end at his best he will max out at ten-fifteen goals and go at least twenty games between goals. As well as an Andy Hilbert can play defense, work in the corners and kill penalties he's going to go twenty games or more without a goal.

You add that to a Trent Hunter who has more overall upside at a young age can you afford too many players who do the same thing and not score?

Of course we now know for sure along the way this became Garth Snow's roster, we have a new coach coming with his own ideas of who can help the club improve and will have his favorites as well.

I could go up and down the lineup on that with the exception of Weight and Guerin who will be the core veterans when this begins.