Will the Islanders Ever be Good Again?

[Puck082]

Why the heck was Anders Lee scratched, btw? I admit to not watching consistently for the entire series, but, he had a dang good year. 25 goals? And goals were impossible to come by, so...healthy scratch. To me that's a major failure. Just looked up the guy's fancy stats, and he's elite at producing shots and opportunities. Meanwhile the Isles just got a dozen shots in a game 7.
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This is full season, but still. Lee may not be elite on the defensive side, but again: generates offense. And that's just one example. The offensive generation from the likes of Clutterbuck, Martin, Cizikas is uglier.

Capuano benched Lee (25 goals) over Colin McDonald. To me, there is no other answer than to fire the idiot who made that decision. He played Brian Strait and benched De Haan for the last 20 games of the season. Again, fire him. He benched Grabner over TYLER KENNEDY. Fire him.

There was not ONE set line throughout the season with the exception of the 4th line.

 

[pixburgher66]

Capuano benched Lee (25 goals) over Colin McDonald. To me, there is no other answer than to fire the idiot who made that decision. He played Brian Strait and benched De Haan for the last 20 games of the season. Again, fire him. He benched Grabner over TYLER KENNEDY. Fire him.

There was not ONE set line throughout the season with the exception of the 4th line.

 

[DevilishWon]

He's past his expiry date. Hitchcock time?

No I see him as a Lamoriello kinda guy

 

[DevilishWon]

Torts time so he can take on Brooksie again.

THIS!

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

I'll be very surprised if Capuano is let go. If he is Babcock better be the next head coach.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Photos: Nassau Coliseum Ice Removed For The Final Time

 

[Puck082]

Photos: Nassau Coliseum Ice Removed For The Final Time

Pass the box of Kleenex, please.

 

[dare2be]

Me like in the comments:

"Proving once again, if you know how to break the ice you get all the hose."

 

[mattola]

I thought wang wasn't owner anymore?

 

[DevilishWon]

Photos: Nassau Coliseum Ice Removed For The Final Time

The place was a dump....but great memories for Isles fans

 

[esls79]

Apparently John Spano has pleaded guilty to forgery charges for a scam he was running in Ohio. When sentenced, he will be sent back to prison for the third time.

 

[dare2be]

Amazing that a criminal can get 7 years for stealing $300 from a home/car, yet if you steal millions of dollars you only get 71 months.

Scamo should be castrated.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

What's amazing about Spano is he almost pulled it off. Bettman & the league never talked to the Dallas Stars people. If Bettman & the league had, Spano NEVER would have had a chance to buy the Islanders. I'll say this for Spano though, he did get a great TV deal for the Isles.

 

[esls79]

Spano gets 10 years this time and unfortunately the Coyotes will have to look elsewhere for new ownership.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Just thought I'd bump and point out the Isles had yet another fantastic draft weekend. The depth this team now has up the middle is astounding. Tavares is one of the best players in the league yet in 3 years time if he were to leave they might not skip a beat.

A lot of it is the "been so bad for so long" thing but you do have to give a nod to Snow. Even when he made a bad pick (taking Reinhart in a draft where Rielly, Lindholm, Dumba, Pouliot and Trouba went immediately afterwards) he managed to turn it into two great assets (Barzal and Beauvilliers). It's not that he hasn't made dumb moves - Neiderreiter and that whole Vanek thing still smell bad - but he seems to know how to get the ship back on course and make it look easy while doing so.

My only knock would be that they haven't done the best job of drafting defencemen, headlined by the above-mentioned Reinhart pick. They went D-heavy in that draft using all 7 picks for defencemen and it seems like only Adam Pelech is going to be worth anything near a damn. Took 5 more d-men this year but that won't help them short-term unless they can be used as trade assets.

On top of that all, they're a fun team to watch. Really feel Garth owes it to the guys in the room to get in some help before the season starts and really take a run at the Cup.

 

[BGDave]

If NYI ever gets a goalie....

 

[Nasty_Magician]

If NYI ever gets a goalie....

Halakness Monster not doing it for you? They need to stay healthy and someone needs to step up with the secondary scoring.

 

[BGDave]

Halakness Monster not doing it for you? They need to stay healthy and someone needs to step up with the secondary scoring.

Once upon a time I would have called Halak a "sieve"...now I will just say he has a propensity for sieve-like behavior.

He is OK but I would like to see the Isles get a top tier goalie, not an average one. Halak will do, but if they want to be a Finals/Cup contender, I think they need a little better between the pipes.

And yes, secondary scoring will help them tremendously. Maybe even enough to get by with Halak...

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Halak lacks consistency. He can be lights out when he wants to be, but then he'll have a string of starts where you're begging for a change.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

Keep in mind a Halak brain fart let the tying goal in the final game against the Blue Jackets, cost them home ice. Who knows how the playoffs would have gone if they had home ice.