#NYI #isles No idea how NYI will play, or if league figures them out a little bit or if some players struggle or if they just keep being hard to play against and making a run at Tampa. Best guess? See team in that 2-5 over 500 bubble for months which would mean 16-18 over at end.— New York Islander Fan Central (@NYIFANCENTRAL) January 31, 2019
Trades/big moves? Many more quality UFA than in past years, franchise set on defense with prospects coming & players signed to 3-4 year deals. Not much playoff depth in Bridgeport that can step into top six and produce. Lamoriello will do what Snow did, wait on his UFA & take his chances with 7/1, and the same will happen with the other playoff teams with UFA. Ladd/Hickey & his other NHL depth, with so many games ahead they may need everyone to take some games off.
If they qualify home rink? As much as they need to be in NYC, they set this schedule, and took Barclay's out of the mix, and made it a lame duck since 2017. Can't have a team go from 2/16 into April & change rinks again, but for now it does seem a league decision & a bad one because this fan base needs months to buy tickets. Anyone thinking 14-16k people are going to purchase tickets last minute on no notice don't understand how this tiny fan base works, some of them will never go to Barclay's, and Dolan's media has AP in on the act selling failed Nassau & their Belmont Arena scheme with Azoff, despite past games in NYC outperforming announced Nassau attendance on the same days.