Mentally Crushing
The season has worn down Barry Trotz and his team
Good Morning, Islanders Country.
For months the Islanders and their coach did their best to stay positive and speak a turnaround into existence despite the grim reality of the NHL standings. But after practice on Tuesday, Barry Trotz was a coach acknowledging his team’s fate, the toll this unforgiving season has taken, and the reality of a lot of hockey left to play for a veteran group with a lot of pride in the logo they wear.
"We want to do better, but it’s been a very mentally crushing year so far. This group has ground really hard for two years. A little more than that, actually. Since I got here, I’ve demanded a lot."
With 29 games left to play, Trotz finds himself in an unfamiliar situation. He hasn’t missed the playoffs since coaching the Nashville Predators in 2013-14 and hasn’t coached a below .500 team in a full 82-game season since 2002-03.
Coming up, Barry calls a coaching rival and has praise for Scott Mayfield’s play. Plus, Varly is drawing interest, Noah Dobson has some Cale Makar in him and remembering Mike Bossy’s final hat trick.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: The two days off between games against Colorado and Columbus are the only two-day break in the Islanders’ schedule until April 7th. Given the opportunity, the team got a rare practice in during their condensed second-half schedule. Zdeno Chara returned to the ice and practiced in full, a sign that he could be back in the lineup Thursday against the Blue Jackets. Meanwhile, Mathew Barzal doesn’t appear to be quite as close as he skated on his own but did not practice.
☎ CALLING MR. COOPER: In Newsday, Neil Best writes that Barry Trotz recently spoke to Lightning coach Jon Cooper, whose Tampa Bay team failed to reach the playoffs in 2016-17 after being in the Stanley Cup Final in 2015 and the Conference Finals the year after. It would be two more seasons ending in disappointment for Tampa - including a President’s Trophy campaign ending in the first round, but the team clearly bounced back from their playoffs miss.
"He said no matter which way they turned, it just seemed to blow up in their face," Trotz said Cooper told him of the 2016-17 season. "We’ve had a lot of that. There’s no excuses. It just happened. It hasn’t been a great season for us.”
🏒 GREAT SCOTT: When asked about the versatility of Scott Mayfield now that Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech are reunited. Trotz went out of his way to call ‘Scotty’ a ‘top-four defenseman’ for the good part of 2-3 years.
“We saw he was a good penalty killer, I think he’s one of the top penalty killers in the whole league, said Trotz of Mayfield. He’s grown in importance and leadership. He’s more of a stay-at-home, physical, hard defender with length. He’s really grown from where I originally saw him.”
Trotz noted that when he took over a team that had allowed the most goals in the league, he initially thought the defense was the problem, but quickly learned the defense core was the team’s strength and it was the forwards that needed to provide more support to the backend. Mayfield has been an integral part of the defensive turnaround for the team. With one-year remaining left on a team-friendly deal, Trotz’s comments make it clear that losing Mayfield would leave a big void if the Isles can’t retain him.
🤨 VARLY INTERESTED: Following last night’s 44 save performance, Seymon Varlamov is drawing interest from teams - including Monday’s opponent, the Colorado Avalanche according to James Nichols of The Fourth Period.
Varlamov doesn’t come as a pure rental, however, and owns a hefty $5 million cap hit for the remainder of this season as well as the 2022-23 campaign, which likely diminishes his value a little. If the Islanders want to maximize the return, they may have to retain some salary.
“I think they can get two picks,” said a source if the Islanders retain salary. “A second and third-round pick might be the most, no one is giving up a first.”
Varlamov does own some control over the situation as he has a 16 -team no-trade list. The Islanders netminder carries a $5 million cap hit for next season, meaning the Isles likely would need to retain salary to get a better return.
⏭ NEXT UP: Another day off for the Islanders before back-to-back games against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Winnipeg Jets at UBS Arena.
📊 STANDINGS:
🥃 MAKAR’S MARK: Having just a little Cale Makar in you means you are a really good player. Former Islanders’ goaltender and current broadcaster for ESPN Kevin Weekes had complimentary things to say about Noah Dobson, a player “on the rise and not getting enough shine.”
Dobson has a career-high ten goals this season all of which have come after December 5th. The only two defensemen with that many goals since then are Dobson and Cale Makar, two ahead of Devon Toews and Victor Hedman.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, the Isles scored three goals in the third period on Monday yet were outscored in the session for only the second time in club history and the first since February 6, 1990, in Pittsburgh (Outscored 4-3 in 3rd; Isles won 8-7 in overtime). The Isles allowed 49 shots for the first time since March 11, 2018, in Calgary (when they allowed 52 in a 5-2 win for Christopher Gibson).
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: Mike Bossy scored the 39th and final hat trick of his career on March 8, 1987, to rally the Islanders past the Chicago Blackhawks 6-5 at Chicago Stadium. All three goals for Bossy were scored in the third period as the Islanders overcame a 3-0 first-period deficit. It was the 100th hat trick in team history. After Bossy’s hat-trick tied the game at the 17:59 mark of the third, Bryan Trottier stuffed in the game-winner with just 23 seconds left on a play from behind the goal.
''It was nice to actually achieve something I'd been telling myself I was capable of doing,'' said Bossy, who was attempting to complete his 10th consecutive 50-goal season. ''I'm not saying that scoring three goals tonight will make me overly optimistic about getting 50, but it certainly improves my chances.''
Bossy would only play six more games that regular season, finishing with 38 goals. He would retire after the playoffs at the age of 30.
🔗 It’s been a mentally crushing year’: Islanders’ realization of disappointing campaign coming into focus by Joe Pantorno, AMNY “The rash of hurdles, pitfalls, and hazards certainly didn’t help the Islanders meet incredibly lofty expectations heading into the 2021-22 season where many — including this writer — chose them to represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Final.”
🔗 Kevin Weekes Compares Islanders Defenseman Noah Dobson to Cale Makar by Matt O’Leary, Eyes on Isles “One of the things that didn't go wrong though is Noah Dobson. In Fact, his play since December 4 has been downright insane. In 35 games he has 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists). For some context, that's an 82 game pace of 61 points (23 goals, 38 assists)”
And we leave you with this…to commemorate International Women’s Day the Islanders celebrated the women on their team with this photo of them at UBS Arena Also, AJ Mleczko remembers MSG’s all-female broadcast in 2020 on an episode of Talkin’ Isles
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