Good Morning, Islanders Country.
I’m not mad, just disappointed.
It’s not hyperbole when I say this is among the most disappointing seasons in New York Islanders’ history. Disagree? Let me explain.
It’s not the most heartbreaking season, this isn’t Lanny McDonald in 1978 or John Davidson in 1979. It’s not the worst season record-wise, these aren’t the inaugural or 1999-00 Islanders. It’s not as demoralizing as Don Maloney breaking up a promising core in 1995.
But disappointing? Failing to fulfill one’s hopes and expectations? This is it. Not only will they fall short of winning a Stanley Cup, they will fall woefully short.
Whether or not you believe the team deserved their Stanley Cup projections, no one saw this coming. There are well-document reasons for it, 13-game road trips, COVID, injuries, bad luck, and so on. You may even be inclined to give them a pass, but it doesn’t make it any easier to acknowledge and accept a lost season when they expected to find themselves in Cup contention.
The Islanders’ playoff hopes are all but mathematically dashed at the halfway point. Bad teams play out the string - sometimes a very long string. But a team expected to be built for a Cup? We’ll watch because that’s what fans do, but the experience will be absent the emotion and excitement (and sometimes anger) we’ve come accustomed to in recent years - and that’s just disappointing.
Coming up, the Islanders might be losing their identity, and fans submit their trade proposals. Plus, updated projections give the Isles a 3% chance at the playoffs and a sports radio host earns his first career win in net.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: Buffalo Sabres center Dylan Cozens has been fined $2,235.42 (max allowable under the CBA) for cross-checking Isles center Brock Nelson on Tuesday night.
🔚 END OF AN ERA? After what can only be described as a failed season, it appears the Islanders are headed in a new direction as soon as the upcoming trade deadline. James Nichols via The Fourth Period writes:
“Per a source: ‘There’s a good chance that (Cal) Clutterbuck will be moved.’”
This could very well mean it is the end of an era that is the “Identity Line.” Clutterbuck has spent the last nine seasons in an Islander uniform after coming to Long Island via trade with the Minnesota Wild in the summer of 2013.
The fourth line consisting of Clutterbuck, Matt Martin, and Casey Cizikas has remained intact for the majority of Clutterbucks Isles’ tenure. With the Islanders looking like they need a new look after the 2021-22 season, Clutterbuck could retrieve the Islanders assets to work with this offseason. The pending UFA has 70 career playoff games under his belt and two deep playoff runs with the Islanders. His bottom-six services would be a welcomed addition to any team in the quest for the cup. As for the Isles, the source states “I’d say the Isles can get a third-round pick with 50 percent salary retained.”
Time can only tell if this is it for “the best fourth line in hockey.”
🙅♂️ WHO SAYS NO? Cory Pronman of The Athletic solicited fan trade proposals and brought them to NHL executives to find out which team would say “no.”
The Islanders were first up in the bundle of Jakob Chychrun trade proposals:
Exec No. 1: That is the asking price roughly for Chychrun and nobody has done it yet. It’s close, but I would guess Islanders say no. Beauvillier is pretty good, an established solid NHL player. Raty some people like, some people don’t, and a first-round pick that could get pushed to 2023. It is close but just a tad too much for the Islanders.
Exec No. 2: Islanders say no.
It’s a hefty price, but Chychrun could be worth it. However, the consensus is that Lou Lamoriello wouldn’t be willing to part with as much as the proposed offer. The interesting note is that this has been the asking price all season long and none of the 31 NHL teams have pulled the trigger. The belief is that Chychrun will be dealt by the March 21st trade deadline and if no one is offering what the Arizona Coyotes want, they don't HAVE to move him, or maybe they settle for slightly less.
➕ REASON FOR OPTIMISM? ESPN’s Kristen Shilton believes there is reason for optimism with each and every NHL franchise at its current state no matter where they sit in the standings.
RFO: Lou Lamoriello. The Islanders have good players. They have a good coach. But for whatever reason, they haven't been getting the job done often enough. To get the most out of this team, changes might well be inevitable. Fortunately, New York has savvy veteran general manager Lou Lamoriello available to crack the code. If there's a way to right this ship, trust and believe Lamoriello will find it.
Many fans have expressed their displeasure with Lamoriello’s work which has resulted in an unexpected losing season for the Islanders. Zooming the lens out a little further, though, Lamoriello has had success more often than not as the Islanders general manager.
It wasn’t very long ago that the fans had all the faith in the world for Lamoriello via The Athletic’s 2021 NHL front office rankings: Fans weigh in on every team after he successfully offloaded Andrew Ladd’s contract and locked up the Islanders’ top defensive pairing at a bargain long-term.
Mistakes happen and it’s pretty clear the Islanders weren’t well equipped to handle this season. With the unlikelihood they go on a miracle run for the playoffs by season’s end, it’s time to give Lamoriello a chance this upcoming summer to right the ship. It’ll just take some patience with a long 39-games left to play this season.
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders host the Bruins tonight at UBS Arena with Patrice Bergeron returning to the lineup for Boston and expected to skate on the top line with Taylor Hall and David Pastrnak.
Face-off is set for 7:30 pm.
📊 STANDINGS:
📉 SLIPPERY SLOPE: The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn updated his 2021-22 standings projections yesterday and well…
The Islanders officially have a 3% chance to make the playoffs and are on track to finish the season with 83 points.
The four playoff teams in the Metropolitan Division are all but locked in with the Islanders remaining the only unlikely threat to make some sort of comeback. Luszczyszyn’s model gives the Islanders a 76% chance to finish 5th in the Metro.
🇩🇰 INTERNATION AFFAIRS: In their first-ever Olympics appearance, Team Denmark recorded three wins in the tournament before finally being eliminated from the tournament Wednesday morning. Former Islander, Frans Nielsen, recorded two goals and an assist in five games played. Denmark went toe-to-toe with defending gold medal champions ROC twice and fell just short both times.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick via The Skinny, the Isles allowed their sixth shorthanded goal of the season; only three teams (LA, WSH, NJ) have allowed more. The six goals allowed this season equal the total allowed over the first three seasons under Barry Trotz.
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: On February 16th, 2001, Rick DiPietro recorded his first NHL win making 24 saves on 26 shots in a 4-2 victory against the Edmonton Oilers. DiPietro finished the season 3-15-1 with a .878 SV% and 3.49 GAA.
"Those were some really long minutes," said the 19-year-old goalie, who won for the first time in his seventh career game. "I was just praying the clock would go down faster. It was nerve wracking. I was just hoping we'd get the puck out of the zone.
"I'm more relieved than anything. It's a great feeling to get those first two points under your belt. I hope I can move on from here and be more successful."
🎧 Hockey Press Pass with Chris Botta - ESPN’s Emily Kaplan is Everywhere as a Lead NHL Reporter for the Worldwide Leader: Before ESPN got the NHL back, Emily Kaplan wrote nonstop for ESPN.com. Now you can find Emily everywhere on ESPN platforms – on game telecasts, on “The Point,” co-hosting the podcast “In The Crease,” not to mention her frequent appearances on “Around the Horn.” Get to know a lot more about this brilliant and relentless journalist in this wide-ranging interview with Chris Botta.
🔗 Big Confidence Boost For Beau? Importance For Islanders, by Stefen Rosner, NYIHockeyNow: “The 24-year old forward had struggled to provide consistent play for Trotz while on the second line and had just scored seven goals with eight assists in 35 games. He had been a healthy scratch once early in the year, a wake-up call by Trotz to see if that could get his young forward going.”
🔗 When is it time to declare Islanders’ playoff hopes dead? by Joe Pantorno, AMNewYork: “So while the Islanders aren’t anywhere near mathematically eliminated from playoff contention yet, it’s safe to say that their playoff hopes are already on life support. “
🔗 Is the grind getting to Ilya Sorokin? Islanders goalie looks like he’s hitting a wall as his workload gets heavier, by Kevin Kurz, The Athletic: “The big (adjustment) comes off the ice. How do you manage your energy? How do you keep your headspace to be playing as a No. 1 most games? He played the first nine (games) of the season all on the road, but he was coming off of training camp, a 56-game season. You’re like, ‘Let’s go!’ But how do you do it in January and February?”
And we leave you with this…we all need something to celebrate right now and beggars can’t be choosers so Happy 6 month birthday to Monte! There are better days ahead, Monte!
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