Good Morning, Islanders Country.
Bragging rights are defined as a temporary position of ascendancy in a closely contested rivalry. For the Islanders, tonight is an opportunity for a very temporary position of supremacy over their playoff-bound cross-town rival New York Rangers who are tied for the top position in the Metropolitan Division with 106 points.
You won’t be able to walk into work or school with swagger or post boastfully on social media (or maybe you will), but you can still get some satisfaction in knowing that when the Islanders (and not the COVID/AHL Islanders) played the Rangers this year, the Islanders were the better team - with the better goaltending.
That’s what is at stake tonight. It will be the only meaningful emotional result in the final stretch of meaningless games. Also, it’s likely the last time you watch a game this season with a knot in your stomach and that’s a good thing - I think.
Coming up, the Isles can win the lottery, but probably not the 1st overall pick and this has been a hard season to evaluate for Barry Trotz. Plus, ‘Barzy’ is among the league’s best passers and another accolade for prospect William DuFour.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: The NHL announced on Wednesday that the 2022 NHL draft lottery will take place on Tuesday, May 10th at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN+, Sportsnet, SN NOW, and TVA Sports. Also announced was a reminder of a major change in the draft lottery format that lowers, or completely eliminates the Islanders’ chances of moving up to the first overall pick.
The NHL announced changes to the Draft Lottery format on March 23, 2021. Among the changes taking effect this season, there will be a limit on the total number of selections (10) a team participating in the Draft Lottery can “move up” in the event it wins one of the Lottery Draws. Thus, only the top 11 seeds will be eligible to receive the first overall selection in the 2022 NHL Draft.
The allocation of odds for the 1st Lottery Draw of the 2022 NHL Draft Lottery, which has been adjusted following the addition of a 32nd Member Club this season, is as follows:
With the change in format, the Islanders currently sit at 20th overall in the standings, or in other words the 12th seed in the draft lottery. That means the highest they’d be able (as of right now) to jump is 2nd overall. With six games left in the season, plenty can change by game 82.
🤔 TOUGH TO EVALUATE: Head coach Barry Trotz told Ethan Sears of The Post that he hasn’t had the easiest time evaluating his team this season. The reasons are obvious. There was the 13-game road trip, the Covid breakout that saw every skater not named Zach Parise miss a decent amount of games, and key injuries to Ryan Pulock and Brock Nelson.
Of course, all 32 teams in the NHL had adversities to overcome, however, for the Islanders, their long list of mishaps didn’t allow them to play on a regular basis with a full lineup until mid-January.
“Usually you’ll look at a season, you’ll play three games a week and you’ll get a really good assessment,” Trotz said Tuesday morning. “And you’ll know where your guys are, you’ll think you’ll know where they are, it’s a normal thing. This year it hasn’t [been]. Some guys take a little longer to get going. Just body type, mental capacity if you will or whatever. It’s made it a lot more difficult to evaluate.”
Luckily, he’ll have the help of GM Lou Lamoriello and other team executives this summer when looking over how to get the Islanders back on track to the postseason starting this summer. Lamoriello already stated that the remainder of the season since the trade deadline was an “evaluation period” and that “hockey trades” will be made based on said evaluations.
🍎 DISH IT: Via Sportsnet, Shayna Goldman is at it again in her latest piece breaking down who should be recognized as the NHL's best passer in 2021-22?
What’s interesting about the analysis regarding who the best passer is, Goldman explains that “not just the most frequent passer who happens to cash in all the time, we have to look below the surface and weigh all of the information.”
“How much of that puck movement leads directly to a shot attempt? No one has more primary shot assists, or passes that come directly before a shot attempt, than McDavid’s 22.8 per 60.”
“Mathew Barzal on Long Island follows with 21.8 per 60, then Gaudreau, Panarin, and Kucherov.”
The Islanders Mathew Barzal ranks a healthy second overall in primary shot assists/60 at all strengths and at five-on-five behind only Connor McDavid. He may have only half of the assists some of the best passers in the league have, but Barzal is still showing elite playmaking ability and finds himself in elite company.
🏆 S’MORE DUFOUR: Islanders prospect, William Dufour continues a historic season in the QMJHL with the St. John Sea Dogs. Dufour was named to the QMHL’s team of the week alongside projected 2023 No.1 Overall pick, Connor Bedard. Dufour racked up four goals, seven points in three games played.
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders host their cross-town rival New York Rangers for their final matchup of the season tonight. The Islanders are 2-1-0 in three matchups thus far. The face-off is scheduled for 7:30 pm.
📊 STANDINGS:
🌸 TRIBUTE FROM THE FANS: In addition to Tuesday night’s tribute to the late Mike Bossy, the Islanders welcomed fans to place flowers under Bossy’s plaque in the Islanders Hall of Fame in UBS Arena.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick via The Skinny, since the beginning of February, the Islanders’ home power play has converted at a 32.5% rate (13-40). Only the Florida Panthers (17-46, 37.0%) have had a better home power play in that stretch.
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: On April 20th, 2013 the Islanders defeated the Winnipeg Jets in a 5-4 shootout thriller, a huge win on their road to the 2013 playoffs. Michael Grabner redirected an Andrew McDonald feed past Ondrej Pavelec to give New York a 4-3 lead at 9:13 of the third period, but Bryan Little tied it with 2:01 left -- seven seconds after Islanders defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky was penalized for interference. The Islanders got a goal and assist each from Frans Nielsen and Josh Bailey, while Matt Martin also scored. Kyle Okposo and Visnovsky both chipped in with a pair of assists. John Tavares netted the shootout winner.
🔗 Schwartz: Mike Bossy was something special, by Peter Schwartz, Audacy: “Obviously, there were a lot of people in the building that saw him play live and saw him win (on) Long Island,” said Barzal. “You could see by the sounds of it that he was a pretty special human and a special player, so an amazing tribute by our organization.”
🔗 3 Islanders’ Takeaways From Loss vs. Panthers – 4/19/22, by Mike Fink, The Hockey Writers: “Sorokin saved 39 of the Panthers’ 42 shots and with the defense allowing the opponent to find plenty of scoring chances, the young goaltender stepped up and kept the Islanders in the game.”
And we leave you with this… a Brazil native that goes by the name of Gabriel (@bielvr_ on Twitter), has been releasing some mock soccer jerseys for each team in the NHL. The Islanders jerseys, obviously sponsored by none other than UBS, are quite snazzy.
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