Islanders Need More Goals or Their Playoff Hopes Will Keep Fading

48 comments

1. This team is just stale. The way this roster is made just can't keep up with better teams.

2. Seems like the Islanders have needed more goals for several years

3. The Isles fans are tired of the mediocrity.

   Matt Barzal is not the guy, Bo Horvat is not the guy. Pelech and Pulock have fallen off a cliff. Mayfield and Engvall have long horrid contracts. Duclair is never healthy and they've committed 3 more seasons to him. Nelson's prime is ending, Lee's prime is ending, Palmeri's prime is ending, and their contracts are all ending soon. Sorokin can't carry this team (try as he might) and expect him to start 60+ games. He will wear down because we do not have a backup they trust or who is healthy. The power play is abysmal, their penalty kill is abysmal, they've given up more 3rd period goals than anyone else in the league. There is no one coming up from the AHL anytime soon. They've given up on Wahlstrom. They have no cap space.

   And they are not a tire fire? You're right…they are in a place far, far worse.

4. Seems like the same team year after year. Not enough pizzazz.

5. Is this team really trying to win a Stanley Cup?????

6. The team needs help up front. They have to improve the penalty kill. I figure they'll go in the defensive direction rather than an offensive one. They could use another top 4 D-man.

7. Now hear me out.

   Ep40 and hogs and picks for Horvat and Pulock.

   Anyone?

8. Need to get younger. Shop who they can get what they can. I don't see them in the playoffs?

9. Islanders are the zombie team. They keep getting buried but still come back. One of these days they just got to completely collapse but they still never do. Listing all those key players it seems like except for Horvath they've all been there forever. It's hard to believe that Clutterbuck & Josh Bailey are gone. Being an Islander is a lifetime job.

10. Islanders fan here.
    Out of the playoffs
    The islanders need a new GM

11. There’s a lot of mid on this roster. I think a retool might be the best option.

12. The Islanders aren’t a tire fire. They’re more like a corpse rotting in the sun, slowly decomposing as the flies start to gather around it.

13. The Islanders are in Hockey Hell, not good enough to make the playoffs, not bad enough to get a good prospect.

14. Trotz created a system for the Islanders to have a slim margin or error to win and, for the most part, they executed the game plans well enough for some decent post-season runs especially in the COVID shortened years. The issue is Lou never reloaded the team and instead he started enjoying the smell of his own shit by bringing on old, tired veterans like Chara and Parise. The team was successful despite the aging, mid-tier core, not because of them. There needs to be a new philosophy and a new identity for the Islanders because right now they're getting blown away by teams that are faster and more skilled.

15. I keep saying that the Jets and Islanders need to make a deal. The Jets need D and the Isles need O. The Jets need O as well, but they do have a lot of offensive minded / capable forwards.

16. Not a tire fire, but a lit match wrapped with a rubber band? 🙂

17. Thanks for the video! Islanders are barely out of the bottom quarter, tied with Rangers. Give it ten more games until we get to the halfway mark and we'll see where they stand.

18. The team is old and SLOW. Special teams are epically bad. Hockey Guy off the top of your head, do you remember team in recent times with combined special teams has bad as this? Thanks. I was looking at their history and I will look again. That 64.3% PK may be the worst they have ever done in their 50 plus years.

19. I’ll take a tank for Hagens with the lack of prospects

20. I always kind of had a soft spot for the Islanders specifically when they played that defensive smash mouth style of hockey a few years ago, felt very old school and no one else was really doing it and yet they found success. Clearly this team is not that anymore and needs to find a new identity instead of trying to be something in between. At least that stupid car is gone…

21. Could I interest the Islanders in one Jeff Skinner to help add some goals? (Yes, I know he'd have to agree to a trade because of his NMC.)

22. Go Toronto! Pittsburgh needs these 2 wins badly

23. They have one of the best goalies in the history of the NHL as their coach and they still can’t get their shit together. They are a lost cause Roy is going to pack up and move on to someone who cares.

24. they need a retool/rebuild too many old guys

25. "Dobson their best forward." Freudian slip there…

26. Still think the islanders make the playoffs they ain’t fare out. But if Ottawa keeps winning they might not make it.

27. Let's go Isles! Retool needed and not a full blown rebuild. Imjuries have killed them. 2/3 of top line injured majority of the season so far.

28. Need Lou and his son both to leave after the summer so we can stop being directionless and get something else going on in Bridgeport. Think everyone should be on the table for the right offer. Would love to hear any kind of statement from either of our owners but especially Malkin to prove they're actually paying attention.

29. They’re a good team that met father time. They’re old and burnt out. They need a retool. After nelson, pageau, palmieri, lee contracts end I think its time we let them go.

30. Thst is such a bizarre upcoming schedule.

31. Kyle Palemeri is this teams best player(besides Sorokin), it's rediculous how underrated he is. Hot take, this team is fine; not to say there great, god no, but im just waiting for Sorokin to go on a heater and for this team to get back to playoff contender status. I predict they'll end the season with about 85 points and miss.

32. Patrick Roy's job is safe because Lou didn't hire him. Take a look at all the HC's Lou has hired and fired over the last..Let's call it 40 years…give or take, does Roy share anything…in terms of personality or philosophy with any of the others…NO! Scott Malkin has some sort of plan for this franchise going forward but Lamoriello has really kneecapped the Islanders, I'm not sure I would want to be the next GM of the Islanders because rebuilding Bridgeport and the main club at the same time…is one helluva an ask!😮

33. Scoring has been an issue for years. But they're also not the defensive juggernaut they were hailed as during the bubble playoffs. The two games against Chicago are perfect examples. Leading 5-1 and only winning 5-4 is sure to give fans heart attacks. Then losing a 3-3 tie with less than a minute to go is the epitome of 'here we go again' moments. They can't hold leads, even when they have it. And this has been a problem that's been getting worse for a couple years, too (6-5 OT loss to the Sharks, anyone?). The only good news is that the rest of the Metro is also floundering (aside from the Penguins heating up) so if they can just string more than two wins together they could maybe still have a shot. As an Isles fan, there's my Christmas wish.

34. Shannon’s friend Michael Bublé could give good advice to the Islanders

35. I think the team is getting really old and the only players left worth much value is Barzel and Sorokin. Trade them both for 1st round picks and rebuild. Poor Sorokin is getting the Carey price treatment.

36. I think you talked about this a LONG time ago, but a video where you look at how many roster players were drafted by their team/ went through their farm system. I'm looking at the islanders on Elite Prospects cuz they've been kinda mid for so long. It's hard to say good/bad, but for a team that needs offense, they don't look like they've got a guy that's nearly ready for the NHL.

37. Imagine playing for a GM who won't let you grow a freaking beard.

38. I wish pager was still in Ottawa!

39. As a NJ diehard, I love what Lou did for most his career.
    At the end with NJ , Lou set the franchise back a decade with bust picks and garbage contracts.
    Sorry to say, his time as the premier NHL executive is at an end.
    Time for Lou to find a rocking chair & enjoy the twilight.

40. take a chance on trade for Zegras from Anaheim? other? San Jose has offense talent could trade for? Buffalo?

41. puck carrier with goal scoring would most help team scoring?

42. We have needed a retool if not a rebuild since the end of 2021. Lou has absolutely doomed us with bad contracts that are mostly immovable. I always said he never deserved those GM of the year awards, he got credit for Barry Trotz over-achieving massively with a mediocre group of players on ridiculous deals. We’re seeing the price of it now, 2 new coaches and the same problems persist since Trotz and his style was made the scapegoat. I actually wouldn’t mind seeing Roy as our GM after his front office success in the juniors, he’s a modern hockey mind in all the ways Lou isn’t. And Lou’s ego and stubbornness has us looking at a dismal few years ahead

43. Flame me if you must, but if the Isles fire Lou and go into a rebuild by 2026 – could Sorokin become available (even with a lot of term left on that 8 year deal)?

44. The Rangers and Buffalo are tire fires. The Islanders are more of a "check engine" light being on for a really long time kind of franchise.

45. Relatively healthy????? Very hard to compare years when 2/3 of your top line has played a combined 17 games and see how many games Cholowski and Hutton had to play with Pelech and Reilly hurt. Barzal is their playmaker. 80 points last year and no doubt his career stats are increased 20% if he has any other coaches besides Trotz and Lambert. This year is impossible to judge with the amount of injuries they had. The fact that they actually had 3rd period leads to blow with Barzal, Duclair and Pelech out is a testament to Roy. This season will be judged by the 2nd half of the season. And by the way, most of the Lou detractors are 35 and under and have little memory of Snow and no memory of Milbury.

46. They definitely need an injection of youth in their lineup

47. You forgot Nelson is over 30

48. Leaf fan shaking my fist at you – obviously your fault