We Know the New York Islanders Are Better Than Last Season, But Where Do They Rank in the NHL?

We Know the New York Islanders Are Better Than Last Season, But Where Do They Rank in the NHL?

we know the New York Islanders are a better team on paper than they were a month ago but how do they compare right now to the rest of the NHL we’ll take a look at the offseason Power Rankings all that and more coming up on today’s locked on Islanders podcast you’re locked on Islanders your daily podcast on the New York Islanders part of the locked on podcast cast network your team every day welcome everybody to the Wednesday edition of the lock on Islanders podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day I want to thank everyone who makes locked on Islanders your first listen every day don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast so you never miss an episode today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more as playoffs are in our rearview mirror this Sports Stop sportsing the way we want them to but this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long visit fanduel.com to get started we’ve got a lot to get to on today’s show but first if there’s something Islanders related on your mind if you have a question a comment maybe a topic you’d like us to discuss on a future episode you can email us at lockon Island ERS at gmail.com and if you leave your first name and where you’re from we’re happy to mention you on the show whenever we discuss what’s on your mind you can also follow the show on X at lockon Isles you could follow me gil Martin on X at ice Wars nyr vsny we’ll keep you up to date on all things Islanders all year long during the offseason that includes hirings firings trade rumors free agency the draft if it’s happening to your New York Islanders we’ll cover it here on the locked on Islanders podcast and it’s always great to talk a little Islanders hockey with you game time or anytime so I wanted to start off today’s show discussing the offseason Power Rankings because we know the Islanders with the rigning of Mike Riley and the free agent addition of Anthony duclair are a better team on paper than they were at the end of last season now instead of four top six forwards this team has five ideally you want six maybe more but five is better than four and essentially the Islanders took a second round Talent paid him like a third liner and inserted him into the Top Line most likely so it was a good value it’s a good addition I’m happy with duclair and you know let’s uh let’s hope he adds something to the lineup but the iers improved on paper but what about the other teams across the National Hockey League well Bleacher Report recently released their offseason Power Rankings done after the uh free agent Market opened and we’re going to talk about you know where the Islanders fit in there and you know whether we agree or disagree I think they generally have it right now I’m not going to focus on the Western Conference for now so sticking with the Eastern Conference because those are the teams the Islanders are battling for playoff spots against number one overall in the league and obviously first in the Atlantic division the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers can’t dispute that the defending Champions belong at number one until they’re dethroned but I mean yes they’re not as good as they were a year ago but they’re still a darn good hockey team at number four in the league first in the Metropolitan Division the New York Rangers again the Rangers did lose some talented players they’re not expected to be as good as they were a year ago when they won the President’s trophy but still number one in the Metro according to Bleacher Report at five overall and second in the Atlantic division the Boston Bruins even without lenus Omar who they traded away in the number nine spot the Carolina Hurricanes second in the Metropolitan Division again lost Jake gunel lost Brady Shay Brett uh Brent pesy to V terraine and yeah they added a couple of guys in Shawn Walker and Shane go despar but on paper again Carolina not as good as they were at the end of last season in third place in the Atlantic and 12th overall the Tampa Bay Lightning even though they no longer have Steph Stam Coast but Hey Jake gunel a good addition at 14 the Toronto Maple leavs a team that may or may not have John Taris as their Captain they would be fourth place in the Atlantic and therefore the first Wild Card according to this scenario at the 15 overall spot and third in the metropolitan the Washington Capitals and look they added Pierre Luke dubuis they added Andrew mangiapani they they got a new goalie in Logan Thompson and of course Jacob Chan also added they were just behind the Islanders in the standings last year now according to Bleacher Report they are expected to be just ahead of them in 16th in the league which is by the way dead in the middle and fourth in the Metropolitan Division your New York Islanders and look let’s face it I think this is about right you can argue the Islanders should be ahead of the capitals maybe you know you want to argue that uh you know there are other teams that have fallen more or risen less but I think this is where the Islanders roughly are in relation to the rest of the league that would get the Islanders according to this poll the second wild card in the Metropolitan Division and they would open the playoffs in theory against the Florida Panthers with the Panthers having home ICE advantage again it puts the Islanders in the messy middle not good enough to be legitimate Stanley Cup contenders but a team that’s going to finish somewhere between seventh and 10th in the conference either just gonna make or just gonna miss the Stanley Cup playoffs and a team that yeah if Yia sokin gets hot if certain things break their way can they upset a team maybe even two yeah but to win a Stanley Cup you’d have to upset four teams on the way and that’s easier said than done by the way closing out the Eastern Conference 17th overall fifth in the Atlantic the Red Wings uh the Devils 19th overall fifth in the Metropolitan Division the Buffalo Sabres 20th overall sixth in the Atlantic they’re followed by the Flyers who would be then sixth in the metrop litan division the Penguins seventh in the Metro 22nd overall on the list and the Ottawa Senators 26th overall they’re seventh in the Atlantic 28th overall eighth in the Atlantic the Montreal Canadians and then last in the league as of right now according to Bleacher Report and eighth in the Metro the Columbus Blue Jackets we’ll see again if anything changes and look players are going to get hurt players are going to surprise players are going to disappoint things will happen but the Islanders remain a team that is not good enough to be considered a legitimate Stanley Cup Contender and is not bad enough to be getting that next generational Talent at the top of next year’s draft so it keeps them in the messy middle at and as you know every Dar this is something I feel absolutely must change and L larell continues to try to win now that is his Mo that is where he stands all the time it seems but at the end of the day unless this team can take this core and become a Stanley Cup Contender or whether this core kind of falls apart and they become a team in need of a major rebuild they’re going to be stuck in the messy middle and I don’t think that is really the it’s just a frustrating place to be organizationally now the Islanders Prospect pool has gone up in its rating after the draft we will have coverage of that later on uh this month but that being said they’re still in the bottom third of the league easy and and you know there are not a lot of prospects who are NHL ready now to step into this lineup and give this team a big boost all right we have got more to get to on today’s show including why another move and not just the trading of Oliver walstrom which we’re expecting but another actual move is likely for the New York Islanders before the season starts we’ll talk about that plus which teams may want JG Paso in a trade or who could take him on and for our Islanders birthday of the day one of the most popular Islanders players in the 70s who happens to be the team’s alltime shutout leader even to this day we’ve got that and a whole lot more coming up on today’s lockon Islanders podcast today’s epode is brought to you by your friends at eBay Motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you’re into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you’ll always find exactly what you’re looking for and with eBay guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back because with eBay Motors your burning rubber not cash with all the parts you need at the prices you want it’s easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions apply eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers are you watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all day have to turn down the volume with all that shouting make the switch to locked on sports today a free 247 streaming Channel programmed for you every day to bring you the biggest Sports stories without all the screaming locked on sports today brings you C Miss analysis opinions and news and it’s streaming 247 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day so I’m G to give you a reason now as to why the New York Islanders are likely to make another move before the start of the regular season hopefully before the start of training camp but definitely before the start of the regular season here’s why right now the Islanders have about a million dollars worth of cap space left depending on whether or not you count Maxim C plov on the uh NHL roster or uh you know some you know some other player whether they bring back walstrom or ishkov it’s likely going to be Holstrom but as of right now the Islanders have 900 in change in cap space guess how many players the Islanders have right now at the NHL Level under contract try 20 if you add Simon Holstrom you know assuming he signs his qualifying offer get you to 21 that means that you’re you’re allowed to have a roster with 23 players at the NHL level usually there’s three players who sit out a game for the Islanders it’s mostly been two forwards and a defenseman sometimes it could be two defenseman in the forward you could have a backup goalie you know as a black Ace but whatever the case may be if the season started today the Islanders would not be able to field a full roster they would actually only have if you’re dressing six defensemen two iies 12 forwards that’s 20 players for a game if you have 21 players on your roster you have exactly one extra player and you don’t have enough cap space to bring up another if somebody gets injured let’s just say a forward gets injured so you can plug in one guy whether it’s Hudson fashing or Julian goate whoever’s not making the team uh in the starting lineup you plug in one guy and that’s it uh that is not the way you want to go when creating an NHL roster in fact it would be ill advised unless someone is so badly injured that they go on LTI you don’t have a way of getting another player on your 23an roster without some additional cap space so again if you assume Simon Holstrom signs with the New York Islanders signs his qualifying offer the Islanders are all but out of cap space and realistically in a bad spot to start the season especially if injuries hit now this is why I will say that if the Islanders trade Oliver walstroms rights or sign and then trade Oliver walstrom either one is possible they are most likely not getting a player in return unless it’s part of a bigger deal if the Islanders just want to trade Oliver walstrom for another player who is also making you know less than a million dollars a year roughly the same salary as Oliver walstrom you are over the cap and unable to make anything happen without either putting someone on waivers or sending someone to the miners or making some kind of a deal so most likely if walstrom is traded it’s for a draft pick a player they could stash in the miners without having to expose him to waivers and possibly lose him or it’s part of a bigger deal that gets the Islanders a little more cap space they cannot even resign Oliver walstrom right now to the well okay they could because you can go up to 10% over the cap before week one but if they were to sign both you know if they were to sign Oliver walstrom today and keep him for the coming season they couldn’t also sign Simon holmstrom without making another move before opening day to free up cap space this cap situation is so bad right now that the Islanders cannot even fill in a 23 man roster to start the season unless another move is made and let’s face it if you want to do that you want to add two more players you’ve got to at least move on from $2 million roughly in salary and you know you can’t just get rid of one guy you got to get rid of two or you got to get rid of one guy who can free up that much money since Lou larell became the general manager the Islanders have always filled out a 203 man roster it is rare rare that a team mismanages the cap so badly that they cannot fill in all the available spots on an NHL roster it is just poor cap management now on July 10th which is today that’s not that big a deal but come October 10th and by the way that means the season is now exactly you know three months away come October 10th this team has to fill in some spots and again there’s time you can make that trade the day before training camp you could put someone on waivers uh you know the day before the season starts and clear out the cap space but right now this team is just not in a good position cap wise and again if we go back to what we were talking about in our first segment they are still in the messy muddy middle good enough to fight for a playoff birth but not good enough to be considered a top 10 cup Contender and the lack of cap space and the lack of NHL ready prospects kind of keeps them there the Islanders organization is taking some steps forward but in the big picture it feels like they’re on a treadmill which means you could run fast and make a move but you’re not getting very far and that is frustrating for fans hopefully before the season gets underway Lam marelo finds a way to turn that around and if he doesn’t it’s got to turn around by next off season check out every day as you know we talked about it a couple of days ago if you didn’t get a chance to see that episode talking about the 20 25 cap situation a year from now make sure you check that out we have got more to get to on today’s show we will talk about some teams that might be interested in JG Paso we’ll also talk a little bit about well we’ll have our Islanders birthday of the day one of my favorites uh when he was with this team all that and more coming up on today’s locked on Islanders podcast so the New York Islanders basically again JG Paso probably the player most talked about if the Islanders are going to move on from somebody and it makes sense on a certain level although if you want to maximize the asset yeah they probably should have traded them last at the trade deadline or you know maybe at a different point but here we are so in order to take on what is admittedly right now a bad contract for JG Paso $5 million a year for a guy who gave you uh 11 goals and 30 you know barely 30 points uh over the course of a of a season especially over the course of a season where he played all 82 games 11 goals 33 points you know not going to get it done you know you need a good team that has a little extra cap space that they’re willing to take on some bad contracts so generally speaking there’s two categories you’re looking at a team that is in a rebuild and needs a veteran to try to help uh Mentor some of the younger players in their rebuild or you need a team that feels like a bottom six experienced forward like JG Paso could be the last piece of their puzzle and whoever it is they obviously need cap space so if we do this in alphabetical order you got the Anaheim Ducks there’s a team that is definitely in a rebuild and guess what the Ducks still need to get to the cap floor so they could take on a bad contract or two to do that they have some promising young players in their core who Pou may be able to Mentor he would certainly be playing every day and he certainly could help them on the penalty kill and as a checking forward a team that struggled defensively you want to show those young players hey this is how you back check this is how you tie people up in your own Zone this is how you take a face off in the defensive Zone this is how you kill penalties all of those things make sense uh and again you may have to sweeten any deal with Paso by adding a draft pick to the equation the Calgary Flames are also there they’ve lost a lot of talent including Jacob markstrom their goalie they’re in a a rebuild now they were kind of hesitant to admit they were in a rebuild they still have some talent I mean you got nazm Cadre and Jonathan hubero and McKenzie weager Still on the roster but you know Pou they have the cap space to take on pageo they probably would want a younger player in addition to help with their rebuild maybe a draft pick would do it but a prospect probably be something they’re more interested in Islanders don’t have a lot of them that are NHL ready but I got to put them on the list next on the list the Seattle Kraken the NHL’s youngest team they struggled boy today struggle to score Hao not going to give you a lot of offense but he might be able to help some players uh learn what to do at the NHL level they did add Chandler Stevenson so that helps their offense a little bit and Dan BMA is their coach but a third line player like pageo could be a good addition to the Kraken and again they have the cap space the blues St Louis Blues would be the fourth and final team on this list realistically they’ve got to do more of a youth movement Pou well again could help if the Islanders throw in a pick or a prospect and he could help them transition from the veteran team that you know has only a few players left from their 2019 Stanley Cup win to a team that realistically could get that rebuild going and add a few assets while giving them a confident NHL bottom six forward in the short term we’ll see whether or not a Lou makes a deal this off season waits till the off season or does nothing uh and keeps JG Paso all of those are possibilities we’ll see what he decides to do but those are some teams who have an incentive and the cap space to possibly take on his deal time now for our Islanders birthday of the day and uh well today is the 76th birthday of former Islanders goalie Glenn Chico rash Chico only 59 165 pounds in his playing days got the nickname Chico because he looked a lot like Freddy Prince from the TV show Chico and the Man joined the Islanders for a couple of games in 7374 before emerging as one of the team’s most popular players 7475 he was really the bigger part of that amazing playoff run uh just last week every dayers may remember we talked about the one- nothing uh shut out in game seven against the Penguins in that 75 quarter final series that helped the Islanders come back from a three nothing series deficit they were only the second team in league history to do that Chico got a shut out in the seventh and deciding game he remained with the Islanders through through the middle of the 8081 season when he was dealt to the Colorado Rockies uh in a deal that netted the Islanders Mike mckuin among other things but Chico really a just a great player one of the first goalies to paint their masks he had a map of Long Island on the front of his plexiglass mask still to this day the Islanders alltime shutout leader with 26 including seven in the 1975 76 season after leaving the Islanders played for the Rockies they became the Devils finished his career with the flyers in 8687 Chico played in 571 games ended up with a 328 career goals against average and an 891 save percentage obviously playing for some of those Rockies and Devils teams in the uh early to mid 80s did not help his statistics one of his better games an Islander how about October 23rd 1975 Islanders hosting the flyers in a Patrick division showdown at the Nassau Coliseum Wayne Stevenson the goalie for Philadelphia Chico rash obviously the goalie for the Islanders as usual some rough stuff in this game back then the Broad Street Bullies among the toughest teams in the league but goals by Bob nrom Dennis potman and JP Paris helped the Islanders win this game three to nothing a 30 save shut out for Chico rash and the fans used to chant Chico Chico anytime Rush made a big save Glenn Chico Rush uh worked many years still working for the devil’s organization in their broadcast Booth one of the nicest guys you ever want to meet somebody who I could talk hockey with all day long and uh just a class act so happy birthday to Glenn Chico R today he turns 76 and Chico is our Islanders birthday of the day lockon has launched the first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel on YouTube and now it’s also available on Amazon Fire TV in the free Fire TV channels app locked on sports today is here for you 247 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local Experts of locked on plus our national shows covering every League find locked on sports today now available in the free Fire TV channels app we will have more tomorrow some more of the latest Islanders news notes and happenings uh again during the rest of this offseason we will take an indepth dive of the Islanders prospects their draft class and a lot more so make sure you join us for that until then have a great day everybody stay safe and of course let’s go Islanders

We know the New York Islanders are a better team on paper than they were at the end of last season, but where do they stack up against the rest of the NHL? Today, we look at some offseason power rankings and see where the Isles rank in the Eastern Conference and in the league as a whole.

Plus, one reason the Isles will almost certainly make another move before the start of the regular season, even if it isn’t a huge one.

And four teams that may be interested in JG Pageau if Lou Lamoriello decides to trade him this offseason.

All this and more on today’s Locked On Islanders Podcast with Gil Martin.

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