New York Islanders Woes & Possible Free Fall.
Make no mistake, I don't want to bash the New York Islanders when they're down, but with the way they've been playing, it makes it difficult not to.
The way the Isles have been the last month and a half or two has been absolutely depressing. There's no sense of urgency, no heart and it doesn't feel and look like this team is playing to win. In my honest opinion, it feels like this team is playing not to lose. You don't see them generating chances, taking shots, scoring goals, taking advantage of opportunities, shooting, but along the boards and to be frank, it's like they don't care!
The month of January, they went 4-5-2 and in February, they went 6-6-3 and so far in March, they are 0-2-1. While their record may be 35-23-9, teams like Carolina, The Rangers and even the Panthers are quickly catching up to the Isles. The win column is good at 35 wins, but the losses and Overtime Losses are piling up and fast.
The Islanders started the season 16-3-2 which was incredible, went a franchise high 15-0-2 which was unbelievable and were racking up points left and right. But since November 21st, they've gone 19-20-8. A Miserable record for a supposed team that was allegedly built to "Win now".
While I give Lou Lamoriello props and praise for moves such as trading for and signing center Jean-Gabriel Pageau in which the team desperately needed a 3rd line center, acquiring defenseman Andy Greene which was key with Adam Pelech being out the rest of the season due to an Achilles injury suffered during a pre-game match of soccer, re-signing captain Anders Lee, Jordan Eberle and Brock Nelson, as well as signing Valtteri Filppula and goaltender Robin Lehner and giving Artemi Panarin an offer, which at the time, were moves that had to be made in the situations that the isles were in. For that, he gets praise and a round of applause.
However, I hold Lou Lamoriello responsible and criticize some of his moves. One of his moves that are criticized is the Leo Komarov contract that has a 7 team no trade Clause and getting 3 Million Dollars for 4 years, signing Derick Brassard, a guy who I wanted but has been absolutely miserable for the team and letting goaltender Robin Lehner walk after being a Vezina Trophy finalist, Masterton Trophy winner and Jennings Trophy Co-winner who stated publicly his desire to stay with the Isles. The replacement for Lehner would be 31 year old Semyon Varlamov who would be signed to a 4 year 20 Million Dollar deal (5 million per), a Full no trade Clause the first two years and a 16 team no trade Clause the final two, an over-payment by one year and 1 Million Dollars.
The signing for Varlamov was all circulated around getting KHL goaltender and isles prospect Ilya Sorokin to the NHL because him and Varlamov share the same agent and are friends. If Sorokin doesn't come to the NHL or if he doesn't live up to the hype, it'll look really bad on Lou. If Sorokin comes and lived up to the hype, then I'll give Lou praise and the credit he deserves.
The signing for Varlamov was all circulated around getting KHL goaltender and isles prospect Ilya Sorokin to the NHL because him and Varlamov share the same agent and are friends. If Sorokin doesn't come to the NHL or if he doesn't live up to the hype, it'll look really bad on Lou. If Sorokin comes and lived up to the hype, then I'll give Lou praise and the credit he deserves.
Going back to the end of the off-season and towards the beginning of the regular season, Lou was asked by reporters about the lack of goal scoring depth on the team in which he responded (Going to paraphrase): "I don't worry about goal scoring, I worry more about Goal differential". Those comments may be starting to haunt him. The teams goal differential is at "0" and just 2nd to last as of right now for teams who are in a playoff spot with only the Columbus Blue Jackets having a lower Goal Differential of "-8". For a Team that's battling for a Playoff spot, having trouble scoring goals and having difficulty on the defensive side of the puck (Something the team was built on), It's hard to blame head coach Barry Trotz for the Struggles of the team.
Trotz's system is built primarily on defense which is meant to incorporate offense as well, but focus primarily on defense. With the Islanders having problems converting on the Power Play last season, Scott Gomez was let go and the team brought in offensive "Guru" Jim Hiller from the Toronto Maple Leafs and was put in charge of the Power Play. This season, The Power play is very bad, if not worse than last season, even though last year, the Team's power play was ranked 29th but is ranked 23rd in the NHL. In all honesty, it makes you wonder if Hiller is implementing his own Power Play scheme or copying the exact scheme that Scott Gomez had last season.
It's very difficult, frustrating and depressing to watch the Islanders go from virtually a guaranteed Playoff spot to two points away from losing their spot in the Playoff picture entirely. I'm not going to say Lou Lamoriello failed this team, but if the Islanders don't make the playoffs, I will say that he failed to build off the success of the 2018-19 season. The Islanders are not taking Advantage of games in hand, not beating teams they need to beat such as The Rangers, Montreal, Ottawa, etc. They really haven't been showing fans and themselves for that matter why they deserve to be in the Playoffs. The 4 game losing streak on the 4 game road trip to Nashville, Vegas, Arizona and Colorado really hurt the Islanders where they only scored 2 goals in 4 games and allowed 11 all in regulation losses. This current 6 game losing streak, the Isles managed to rack up 3 points and scoring 12 goals and allowing 24 goals. To go through this kind of stretch is unheard of in a Barry Trotz/Lou Lamoriello ran team.
If the Islanders miss the Playoffs, it will be a horrible look on how the team was constructed in the off-season, but the "Saving Grace" of the season will be the acquisition of Jean-Gabriel Pageau. The 17 game point streak will be overlooked and the season will be looked at Isles inability to score goals and failure to overcome adversity after losing the 17 game point streak.
During this 19-20-8 stretch, it is very fair to say that some losses were "tough luck losses" where the Isles played great games, but just came up short, but some were ugly and not worth remembering. I'll leave you to determine which were tough luck and which were not worth remembering. For this team though, any result that doesn't involve making the playoffs after a successful 2018-19 season will be viewed as a failure.
Yes, there are injuries to some key pieces in Casey Cizikas, Adam Pelech and Johnny Boychuk, but every team has injuries and we all know in the NHL, Injuries aren't an excuse to play terrible, uninspiring hockey.
The Islanders have another 4 game road trip coming up this week: 3 in Western Canada against Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, then finishing it off in Pittsburgh against the Penguins. Casey Cizikas is believed to be joining the team on the road trip and if he's able to return to game action, it will be a major boost for this team! Hopefully he's able to. If the Islanders do not come away with 2 or more wins on this road trip or get a minimum of 4 points on said road trip, I doubt that this team will be able to make the playoffs and will lose their place in the playoff race.
No matter what the result of this season is, Lou Lamoriello needs to make some significant changes to this roster. It can not be virtually the same squad as this season. This team needs a shake up and needs new faces. With the Announcement that the Islanders will be playing at the Nassau Coliseum full-time in the 2020-21 season and having only 1 home arena, There will be high expectations to acquire and/or sign a top 6 goal scorer. This team needs another Top 6 goal scorer and with the cap going up anywhere up to 84-88 Million Dollars, The Islanders need to make some trades to Free up cap space to acquire some goal scoring, but also to sign Restricted Free Agents Ryan Pulock, Devon Toews and most importantly Mathew Barzal. In Total, they're projected to make around 18 Million dollars. I have confidence that Lou Lamoriello will be able to sign all 3 Restricted Free agents, but I want to have confidence that he will make the necessary changes on the ice needed to help this team go over the hill to be a Stanley Cup Contender.
I'm not so worried about the Defensive side of the puck as much as I am offensively. Goaltending will be a question mark going into next season. It's a given that Semyon Varlamov will be back, who his backup goaltender will likely be different with Thomas Greiss being a Free agent after this season. The question is, will KHL Goaltender and Isles prospect Ilya Sorokin be an Islander in the 2020-21 season? That still remains a Mystery.
Understand, I'm not rooting for the Islanders to miss the Playoffs or do terribly, I'm simply pointing out the flaws the team has while at the same time, I'm rooting for them to play well and want them to make the Playoffs, Hell even win the Stanley Cup! However, I continue to hold my stance on this: If the Islanders continue to ply the way they've been playing which is Playing not to lose, They most likely won't make the playoffs. I've said this multiple times on my Post Game show on YouTube "The Risorto Report" and continue to make that point here.
So, Until the next article my friends,
LETS GO ISLANDERS!!!
Trotz's system is built primarily on defense which is meant to incorporate offense as well, but focus primarily on defense. With the Islanders having problems converting on the Power Play last season, Scott Gomez was let go and the team brought in offensive "Guru" Jim Hiller from the Toronto Maple Leafs and was put in charge of the Power Play. This season, The Power play is very bad, if not worse than last season, even though last year, the Team's power play was ranked 29th but is ranked 23rd in the NHL. In all honesty, it makes you wonder if Hiller is implementing his own Power Play scheme or copying the exact scheme that Scott Gomez had last season.
It's very difficult, frustrating and depressing to watch the Islanders go from virtually a guaranteed Playoff spot to two points away from losing their spot in the Playoff picture entirely. I'm not going to say Lou Lamoriello failed this team, but if the Islanders don't make the playoffs, I will say that he failed to build off the success of the 2018-19 season. The Islanders are not taking Advantage of games in hand, not beating teams they need to beat such as The Rangers, Montreal, Ottawa, etc. They really haven't been showing fans and themselves for that matter why they deserve to be in the Playoffs. The 4 game losing streak on the 4 game road trip to Nashville, Vegas, Arizona and Colorado really hurt the Islanders where they only scored 2 goals in 4 games and allowed 11 all in regulation losses. This current 6 game losing streak, the Isles managed to rack up 3 points and scoring 12 goals and allowing 24 goals. To go through this kind of stretch is unheard of in a Barry Trotz/Lou Lamoriello ran team.
If the Islanders miss the Playoffs, it will be a horrible look on how the team was constructed in the off-season, but the "Saving Grace" of the season will be the acquisition of Jean-Gabriel Pageau. The 17 game point streak will be overlooked and the season will be looked at Isles inability to score goals and failure to overcome adversity after losing the 17 game point streak.
During this 19-20-8 stretch, it is very fair to say that some losses were "tough luck losses" where the Isles played great games, but just came up short, but some were ugly and not worth remembering. I'll leave you to determine which were tough luck and which were not worth remembering. For this team though, any result that doesn't involve making the playoffs after a successful 2018-19 season will be viewed as a failure.
Yes, there are injuries to some key pieces in Casey Cizikas, Adam Pelech and Johnny Boychuk, but every team has injuries and we all know in the NHL, Injuries aren't an excuse to play terrible, uninspiring hockey.
The Islanders have another 4 game road trip coming up this week: 3 in Western Canada against Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, then finishing it off in Pittsburgh against the Penguins. Casey Cizikas is believed to be joining the team on the road trip and if he's able to return to game action, it will be a major boost for this team! Hopefully he's able to. If the Islanders do not come away with 2 or more wins on this road trip or get a minimum of 4 points on said road trip, I doubt that this team will be able to make the playoffs and will lose their place in the playoff race.
No matter what the result of this season is, Lou Lamoriello needs to make some significant changes to this roster. It can not be virtually the same squad as this season. This team needs a shake up and needs new faces. With the Announcement that the Islanders will be playing at the Nassau Coliseum full-time in the 2020-21 season and having only 1 home arena, There will be high expectations to acquire and/or sign a top 6 goal scorer. This team needs another Top 6 goal scorer and with the cap going up anywhere up to 84-88 Million Dollars, The Islanders need to make some trades to Free up cap space to acquire some goal scoring, but also to sign Restricted Free Agents Ryan Pulock, Devon Toews and most importantly Mathew Barzal. In Total, they're projected to make around 18 Million dollars. I have confidence that Lou Lamoriello will be able to sign all 3 Restricted Free agents, but I want to have confidence that he will make the necessary changes on the ice needed to help this team go over the hill to be a Stanley Cup Contender.
I'm not so worried about the Defensive side of the puck as much as I am offensively. Goaltending will be a question mark going into next season. It's a given that Semyon Varlamov will be back, who his backup goaltender will likely be different with Thomas Greiss being a Free agent after this season. The question is, will KHL Goaltender and Isles prospect Ilya Sorokin be an Islander in the 2020-21 season? That still remains a Mystery.
Understand, I'm not rooting for the Islanders to miss the Playoffs or do terribly, I'm simply pointing out the flaws the team has while at the same time, I'm rooting for them to play well and want them to make the Playoffs, Hell even win the Stanley Cup! However, I continue to hold my stance on this: If the Islanders continue to ply the way they've been playing which is Playing not to lose, They most likely won't make the playoffs. I've said this multiple times on my Post Game show on YouTube "The Risorto Report" and continue to make that point here.
So, Until the next article my friends,
LETS GO ISLANDERS!!!
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