Folks know I'm very measured with my posts/hockey views/whatever. Despite my lack of enthusiam for having any games at this time, my twitter feed expressed my thoughts on this team. What we saw last march is who they are. What they did in the second game is who they are, the slop fest against Bruins they squeaked out of is who they got away with for one day. What Devils did was no fluke in Newark, and Caps with 1/2 team sick/hurt got 72 shot attempts one game, and came back down 3-0, in a game Varlamov was looking at his glove/angles, with only 22 shots allowed.
This is a bad team, we know the look, they find ways to lose, can't score when they need it. Is that harsh? No, just a contination of what we saw last March. No, they are doing their best, and a good character group of people.
Too old, slow, inconsistent scoring, with a record high payroll, it's a formula for being bad over many years. Varlamov's goaltending has several weak stetches which also catches up with him which it finally did vs Caps. Sorokin after a year off, and seeing no NHL work ever is not ready, and Greene is a big downgrade from Toews. (like Dobson) Pageau is not a scorer, he's even less of one with Komarov/Johnston on his wings.
What you saw at Covid Cup was Martin score five goals, Brassard score huge goals, Greene pinch in with big goals, as Beauviller has his hot streak, this is not how you survive long-term, this group is loaded with players who go 10 games or more without producing, it's powerplay has been terrible for years.
The answer is backup the truck. Bailey, Eberle, Varlamov, absolutely Cizikas, Clutterbuck (no value) & go all in with Wahlstrom, Dal Colle, Bellows, & call back Ho-Sang, if you can unload Pageau, do that immediately, he's never been a goal-scorer beyond 10-15 or thirty points. Aho should not sit for Greene, it's time to look at moving Leddy.
These owners are taking it on the chin financially, but Lamoriello makes player call. I'm sure the end game has been just to get to UBS/Msg2 as Dolan's tenant, this cashgrab was a throw-away for 56 games our owners did not want.
Long story short, they are clearly not good enough. (and were in big trouble last March as a tired team)
There is no more hiding, it's not working, the 4th line gave them a ton of good years, this team needs to get younger, faster & take their lumps with the best coach in the NHL. Holmstrom, Timashov, Bolduc, Koivula, let's see what they can do because the speed, skill, scoring has to improve here.
#NYI #isles I'm very big on players being at their natural position so don't like Beauviller at center, but they are left wing heavy.
— New York Islander Fan Central (@NYIFANCENTRAL) January 30, 2021
27-13-trade Eberle
Bellows-Nelson-Wahlstrom trade Bailey
Dal Colle-Beauvillier-Ho Sang
Martin/Johnston-Pageau- trade Cizikas/Clutter-Holmstrom
#NYI #isles So if Ubs/Msg2 is selling all these tickets it claims to be why not put a grandstand all around the top deck, sell more tickets like 31 other teams do & forget the standing tailgate arena with no seats? No one built an arena w/25 percent of upper deck missing.
— New York Islander Fan Central (@NYIFANCENTRAL) January 30, 2021