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Should we fear the Islanders?


Derlique

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Well, it seems that Garth Snow is being aggresive this offseason by giving up a pick for Christian Erhoff's rights. I guess he believes that they can make some noise this year. Like us, they had a very strong second half of the year. If they can get Erhoff, their top 4 would be: Streit, Erhoff, Hamonic and Macdonald (a great blend of youth and vets). Then there is their offense. Tavares is gonna have a monster season imo and could easily be around a ppg. They have a nice young core of Tavares, Okposo, Grabner, Moulson, Parenteau and Nielsen. That doesn't even include 5th overall pick, Ryan Strome. If they can get decent goaltending from DiPietro, Montoya or even Nabakov, I think they could challenge for a playoff spot. Anyone else gonna keep an eye of for the Isles?

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Well, it seems that Garth Snow is being aggresive this offseason by giving up a pick for Christian Erhoff's rights. I guess he believes that they can make some noise this year. Like us, they had a very strong second half of the year. If they can get Erhoff, their top 4 would be: Streit, Erhoff, Hamonic and Macdonald (a great blend of youth and vets). Then there is their offense. Tavares is gonna have a monster season imo and could easily be around a ppg. They have a nice young core of Tavares, Okposo, Grabner, Moulson, Parenteau and Nielsen. That doesn't even include 5th overall pick, Ryan Strome. If they can get decent goaltending from DiPietro, Montoya or even Nabakov, I think they could challenge for a playoff spot. Anyone else gonna keep an eye of for the Isles?

Well, that's a few assumptions. 1) Erhoff may or may not sign there; frankly, I doubt he wants to join the Isles after making it to game 7. 2) Nabakov's story is interesting, but that's also in no way a done deal that he plays for the Islanders. I realize they own his rights and he can't play anywhere else, but I don't think anyone would make too much noise of him fading back into KHL obscurity (not that he was obscure in the NHL). 3) I think DiPietro providing anything consistent is a LONG shot these days.

Granted, I do like the premise that they have some good young guns and are certainly looking up. It's not crazy to think within 1-3 years this will be a playoff team, but that also assumes they continue to make the right moves to surround their youth.

They could really use a guy like Clarkson... eh? Hehe.

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I think the Isles, Pens (depending on how much Crosby and Malkin play), and Devs make the playoffs next year. The Flyers are a question mark to me right now because they just got a major face lift.

The Rangers are out, IMO. Brad Richards might help, but I still think they miss the playoffs.

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SMantzas: Yes. We should fear the Islanders.

I really loved the job that Capuano did after getting the job. He was able to get the players to unify and work together, in spite of the fact that they were so undermanned all season.

The key, to me in building off of last year is a more under the radar signing: re-sign Zenon Konopka. He has limited hockey talent but a great leader and team guy. He did a lot to bring the team together and under Capuano made the team play "bigger".

I don't think Erhoff is going to sign here, but they can still build around Streit, Harmonic and a very impressive Macdonald.

If they don't get Erhoff they will be in play with others.

Their forwards are young are finding themselves this is a very, very underrated team.

The only question mark is goaltending. Dipietro is not a full time goalie and will never play a full season and I don't know if Montoya was an illusion or not. Nabby is interesting.

The Islanders are a different team than years past, I could see them getting in the 7 or 8 playoff spot next year right now.

But a lot will depend on the Rangers signing Richards and Crosby's health in the division.

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For the record, id put my money on them missing the playoffs, but I wouldn't be surprised either way. I forgot to mention Jack Capuano. He is an excellent coach and it seems the players really respect him. And Tri, Tavares, Moulson and Grabner are good bets to score 30+.

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SMantzas: Yes. We should fear the Islanders.

I really loved the job that Capuano did after getting the job. He was able to get the players to unify and work together, in spite of the fact that they were so undermanned all season.

The key, to me in building off of last year is a more under the radar signing: re-sign Zenon Konopka. He has limited hockey talent but a great leader and team guy. He did a lot to bring the team together and under Capuano made the team play "bigger".

I don't think Erhoff is going to sign here, but they can still build around Streit, Harmonic and a very impressive Macdonald.

If they don't get Erhoff they will be in play with others.

Their forwards are young are finding themselves this is a very, very underrated team.

The only question mark is goaltending. Dipietro is not a full time goalie and will never play a full season and I don't know if Montoya was an illusion or not. Nabby is interesting.

The Islanders are a different team than years past, I could see them getting in the 7 or 8 playoff spot next year right now.

But a lot will depend on the Rangers signing Richards and Crosby's health in the division.

Єklund (2.3% accurate), is that you?

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I liked this team all last season. Surprised they didn't make the playoffs. This year, they might. Great passing, big and dirty. That's the winner.

Exactly what I was thinking.

I never watch the Islanders, but last year especially the second half, even after they traded Roloson they were a compelling, competitive Hockey Team

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if they stay healthy, the islanders are going to be a much better team.. they are hungry, they have players fighting for jobs as well as rising stars in tavares, grabner, nidorino(however u spell it)

and they are stocking up on good defense.. anyone knows a good defense will make your goalie 10x better plus montoya was doing pretty good last season.. the playoffs for them are not out of reach, especially if the flyers suck it hard this season... they're looking better than the rangers at this point

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For the record, id put my money on them missing the playoffs, but I wouldn't be surprised either way. I forgot to mention Jack Capuano. He is an excellent coach and it seems the players really respect him. And Tri, Tavares, Moulson and Grabner are good bets to score 30+.

What? Almost no one is a good bet to score 30. Did you know that only 29 players scored 30 goals last year, and of those 29, 22 scored 34 or fewer? Scoring is down. It's going to stay down if power plays stay down, and I have heard no indication that the NHL is planning one of their rules crackdowns. It's definitely way more likely that none of those players score 30 than that all of them do.

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The Isles struck me as a very opportunistic team last year. Especially in the games against the Devils, they'd get outplayed for significant stretches, but find a way to cash in when the opportunity was there...that seemed to happen pretty often in the other random games I was able to catch during the season.

They'll be competitive without a doubt, but whether they have enough pop to make a sustainable playoff push...I don't think they're quite there yet.

Getting Streit back is significant though...the guy is a horse.

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I don't see the Islanders as improving that much. If they stay healthy and see continued development of their young players, maybe they can make a push to sneak into the playoffs, but I don't think they'll make it. They would need everything to go right for them to have a shot. Still too young, too many questions marks, not enough experienced top-end talent.

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