Yeah that 6 game win streak really screwed up the season. Ruined tanking. Ruined selling. Gave most of us false hope.
Lou says the team tells him what to do. Did he know it was all a mirage? - chazpet
Like I’ve been saying this team should’ve been selling last TDL. Imagine no Mayfield, Engvall, yep no Horvat who has been great but what’s the point. Couldn’t be more obvious what this team needs. TIMINIG
Like I’ve been saying this team should’ve been selling last TDL. Imagine no Mayfield, Engvall, yep no Horvat who has been great but what’s the point. Couldn’t be more obvious what this team needs. TIMINIG
“I believe in this group.” Lolz - Cptmjl
Garth and Lou believed in this group. No wonder why both keep the roster mostly intact.
Garth and Lou believed in this group. No wonder why both keep the roster mostly intact. - ses111
Lou has painted this team in a corner maybe more then any other GM in this teams history. It’s to the point where it would be incredibly hard to rebuild/retool if it were even a thought.
It’s almost Milbury’esque with these unmovable contracts. Anyone we’d want to get rid of is unmovable with term. Any move over the last few years has been done with complete disregard for the future health of the organization which is laughable bcs they have not been competitive any of those three years. So the easy yet wrong answer is to “go for it” for perpetuity which condemns this team to at best mediocrity. Good times.
They’ll have to trade assets to unload some of these guys and even then I doubt they have any takers. Who is taking on six years of Engvall or mayfield. 😆
Lou has painted this team in a corner maybe more then any other GM in this teams history. It’s to the point where it would be incredibly hard to rebuild/retool if it were even a thought.
It’s almost Milbury’esque with these unmovable contracts. Anyone we’d want to get rid of is unmovable with term. Any move over the last few years has been done with complete disregard for the future health of the organization which is laughable bcs they have not been competitive any of those three years. So the easy yet wrong answer is to “go for it” for perpetuity which condemns this team to at best mediocrity. Good times.
They’ll have to trade assets to unload some of these guys and even then I doubt they have any takers. Who is taking on six years of Engvall or mayfield. 😆 - Cptmjl
You are better off signing an UFA for a year then giving out 7-year contracts to players like Pierre and Mayfield. Try to use someone from Bridge if you have to even if they are not 100% ready. Lou's comment and goal every offseason is I have to sign my guys. It not we need to get better. Lou cannot wait to keep this mediocre team together.
Lou has to understand he is 81 and it should not be all about him now. How about leaving the team in the best possible shape and especially after they hired you after the Leafs did not want him any longer. Lou is stuck in the past and does not understand today's game. It should be obvious at this point.
One thing I give Milbury credit for is he always faced the music and never hid. Milbury went on the radio and Mike and Dog blasted him and he took it. You cannot even find Lou right now.
Well, in the "less-than-negative" news department, appears Alex Jefferies will be signing with the Islanders after finishing up his senior year at Merrimack. Long shot, but he's speedy and was above a PPG his junior and senior year there.
Bridgeport Islanders
@AHLIslanders
6m
Transaction: The Bridgeport Islanders have signed forward Alex Jefferies to an amateur tryout agreement (ATO).
Lou has painted this team in a corner maybe more then any other GM in this teams history. It’s to the point where it would be incredibly hard to rebuild/retool if it were even a thought.
It’s almost Milbury’esque with these unmovable contracts. Anyone we’d want to get rid of is unmovable with term. So the easy yet wrong answer is to “go for it” for perpetuity which condemns this team to at best mediocrity. Good times.
They’ll have to trade assets to unload some of these guys and even then I doubt they have any takers. Who is taking on six years of Engvall or mayfield. 😆 - Cptmjl
I agree with you that last deadline was the time to pull the trigger...they had pieces to move, not as many mammoth contracts on the books, and maybe they could have stockpiled enough assets to use or flip to make it a shorter process. But, they didn't do that. They added a bunch more immovable long-term contracts and really locked themselves into the current group.
Given that, I'm not so sure if "going for it" is so clearly the wrong answer at this point if you look at what a rebuild now involves. Forget a two- or three-year retooling...it'd take at least that long just to tear things down, never mind building back up. We'd be talking many years of guaranteed failure during the prime years of guys they recently signed long-term, like Sorokin, Pelech, Pulock, and Horvat (not to mention Mayfield and Varlamov venturing deep into their 30s over that time). It'd pretty much be a neon sign to fans to not bother showing up for a while.
Probably the only two players that can be moved for assets, realistically, are Nelson and Palmieri (and both of them have a 16-team modified NTC). But the returns for just those two won't be enough to jumpstart a rebuild on their own, so you'd lose the top two goal scorers on the team and still have a bloated roster, a depleted system, and a long road back to competitiveness.
I'm open to the idea of pulling the plug and rebuilding if someone can map that out in a way that makes sense. But you don't just say, "OK, rebuild!" and the young talent magically materializes. They've put themselves in a tough spot where a few tweaks here and there in the offseason and crossing our fingers might be a more realistic path, even if I don't like the sound of that all that much.
Well, in the "less-than-negative" news department, appears Alex Jefferies will be signing with the Islanders after finishing up his senior year at Merrimack. Long shot, but he's speedy and was above a PPG his junior and senior year there.
Bridgeport Islanders
@AHLIslanders
6m
Transaction: The Bridgeport Islanders have signed forward Alex Jefferies to an amateur tryout agreement (ATO). - eichiefs9
I agree with you that last deadline was the time to pull the trigger...they had pieces to move, not as many mammoth contracts on the books, and maybe they could have stockpiled enough assets to use or flip to make it a shorter process. But, they didn't do that. They added a bunch more immovable long-term contracts and really locked themselves into the current group.
Given that, I'm not so sure if "going for it" is so clearly the wrong answer at this point if you look at what a rebuild now involves. Forget a two- or three-year retooling...it'd take at least that long just to tear things down, never mind building back up. We'd be talking many years of guaranteed failure during the prime years of guys they recently signed long-term, like Sorokin, Pelech, Pulock, and Horvat (not to mention Mayfield and Varlamov venturing deep into their 30s over that time). It'd pretty much be a neon sign to fans to not bother showing up for a while.
Probably the only two players that can be moved for assets, realistically, are Nelson and Palmieri (and both of them have a 16-team modified NTC). But the returns for just those two won't be enough to jumpstart a rebuild on their own, so you'd lose the top two goal scorers on the team and still have a bloated roster, a depleted system, and a long road back to competitiveness.
I'm open to the idea of pulling the plug and rebuilding if someone can map that out in a way that makes sense. But you don't just say, "OK, rebuild!" and the young talent magically materializes. They've put themselves in a tough spot where a few tweaks here and there in the offseason and crossing our fingers might be a more realistic path, even if I don't like the sound of that all that much. - UIF
Outside of getting Bo, Lou’s idea for going for it was to keep the team intact. Do we remember Lou's idea getting past Tampa was adding Chara and Parise? The #1,2,3 goals are to hire a new GM and let the new GM decide on the path going forward. Lou made this mess and a new GM will need to clean it up. Ownership needs to do the right thing now.
I agree with you that last deadline was the time to pull the trigger...they had pieces to move, not as many mammoth contracts on the books, and maybe they could have stockpiled enough assets to use or flip to make it a shorter process. But, they didn't do that. They added a bunch more immovable long-term contracts and really locked themselves into the current group.
Given that, I'm not so sure if "going for it" is so clearly the wrong answer at this point if you look at what a rebuild now involves. Forget a two- or three-year retooling...it'd take at least that long just to tear things down, never mind building back up. We'd be talking many years of guaranteed failure during the prime years of guys they recently signed long-term, like Sorokin, Pelech, Pulock, and Horvat (not to mention Mayfield and Varlamov venturing deep into their 30s over that time). It'd pretty much be a neon sign to fans to not bother showing up for a while.
Probably the only two players that can be moved for assets, realistically, are Nelson and Palmieri (and both of them have a 16-team modified NTC). But the returns for just those two won't be enough to jumpstart a rebuild on their own, so you'd lose the top two goal scorers on the team and still have a bloated roster, a depleted system, and a long road back to competitiveness.
I'm open to the idea of pulling the plug and rebuilding if someone can map that out in a way that makes sense. But you don't just say, "OK, rebuild!" and the young talent magically materializes. They've put themselves in a tough spot where a few tweaks here and there in the offseason and crossing our fingers might be a more realistic path, even if I don't like the sound of that all that much. - UIF
It’s not which is exactly my point. It’s literally the only answer because of what has been done with these contracts. Problem is good luck “going for it” with no prospects, no depth, bad players signed long term already in your lineup. Bottom line is it doesn’t work. If it did everyone would be doing it.
Outside of getting Bo, Lou’s idea for going for it was to keep the team intact. Do we remember Lou's idea getting past Tampa was adding Chara and Parise? The #1,2,3 goals are to hire a new GM and let the new GM decide on the path going forward. Lou made this mess and a new GM will need to clean it up. Ownership needs to do the right thing now. - ses111
Yeah especially with signing Mayfield for seven years. Lol but let’s not forget Engvall. There’s a “going for it” signing. Hahaha
It’s not which is exactly my point. It’s literally the only answer because of what has been done with these contracts. Problem is good luck “going for it” with no prospects, no depth, bad players signed long term already in your lineup. Bottom line is it doesn’t work. If it did everyone would be doing it. - Cptmjl
You need enough cap room, and you need to be able to sign quality UFA to go for it. The Islanders have not been able to do this even when they had the cap room.
I agree with you that last deadline was the time to pull the trigger...they had pieces to move, not as many mammoth contracts on the books, and maybe they could have stockpiled enough assets to use or flip to make it a shorter process. But, they didn't do that. They added a bunch more immovable long-term contracts and really locked themselves into the current group.
Given that, I'm not so sure if "going for it" is so clearly the wrong answer at this point if you look at what a rebuild now involves. Forget a two- or three-year retooling...it'd take at least that long just to tear things down, never mind building back up. We'd be talking many years of guaranteed failure during the prime years of guys they recently signed long-term, like Sorokin, Pelech, Pulock, and Horvat (not to mention Mayfield and Varlamov venturing deep into their 30s over that time). It'd pretty much be a neon sign to fans to not bother showing up for a while.
Probably the only two players that can be moved for assets, realistically, are Nelson and Palmieri (and both of them have a 16-team modified NTC). But the returns for just those two won't be enough to jumpstart a rebuild on their own, so you'd lose the top two goal scorers on the team and still have a bloated roster, a depleted system, and a long road back to competitiveness.
I'm open to the idea of pulling the plug and rebuilding if someone can map that out in a way that makes sense. But you don't just say, "OK, rebuild!" and the young talent magically materializes. They've put themselves in a tough spot where a few tweaks here and there in the offseason and crossing our fingers might be a more realistic path, even if I don't like the sound of that all that much. - UIF
I understand there's a human side to the business and that's probably why Scott Mayfield was extended, but with Pulock and, likely, Dobson manning the right side...committing 7 years and $24.5M to him was insanely stupid. Equally so for Engvall.
If mapping out the rebuild were up to me, it would probably realistically (ie: not "hurr durr trade everyone and play rookies" or trading players with NTC's just because we don't like them) look like:
Summer 2024:
- Lou "retires" and ownership hires a modern-day GM
- Trade Nelson for a 1st and a prospect
- Buy out Anders Lee
- Capitalize on Palmieri's strong season and trade him
That alone would create just over $15M in cap space, not to mention the expected $4M rise in the cap upper limit. So now we'd be sitting on more than $19M in cap space, with two first round picks in either 2024 or 2025. Maybe even three, depending on what they could get for Palmieri.
Then you can go out and try to sign one or two UFA's to one year deals with the plan of trading them at the deadline for more assets. You probably won't get a 1st unless one exceeds expectations, but draft picks are draft picks. You put it out there to any team that will listen that you're willing to either take on bad contracts or eat money as a 3rd party facilitator to trades in return for draft/prospect capital. You can have up to 3 retained salary transactions on the books in any given season.
The goal is to have the Islanders future draft pick count look something like this:
You pour money into the scouting/analytics departments and pray that you draft well in the first round and unearth some gems in later rounds.
Beyond offseason 2024:
You operate under a lower internal cap until you've got a strong prospect pool and it's time to start investing some money in the team in the form adding via UFA/trades. By this point, if things go well, you should have a good-or-better stable of young kids getting ready to step in and plenty of cap space.
At that point, you can go big-game hunting in UFA, trade some picks/prospects, have at it. Maybe you've been bad/lucky enough to win the 2025 or 2026 lottery and draft James Hagens or Gavin McKenna and that will majorly accelerate things.
Cap space is a weapon in the NHL and it allows teams to get creative in terms of adding draft capital which is really the only way to build a team. You don't (and probably can't) build solely through the draft, but you have to make smart value trades (See: Hurricanes, Carolina), when the opportunity presents itself, to round out your roster.
You can't get attached to players because fans like them or they've been with the team for awhile (See: Golden Knights, Vegas). You need someone willing to make uncomfortable decisions that may upset fans or players.
Obviously nothing guarantees that a retool will work, but I'd rather take my chances with that methodology than hoping that an aging, slow, below-average roster will pull of rabbit out of its collective ass and go on a run as they continue to get older.
Yeah especially with signing Mayfield for seven years. Lol but let’s not forget Engvall. There’s a “going for it” signing. Hahaha - Cptmjl
Lou's comments after every season are re-signing his own players. No talk of we really need to get better to be able to compete for a Cup. Lou loves his players more than his love for winning.
I understand there's a human side to the business and that's probably why Scott Mayfield was extended, but with Pulock and, likely, Dobson manning the right side...committing 7 years and $24.5M to him was insanely stupid. Equally so for Engvall.
If mapping out the rebuild were up to me, it would probably realistically (ie: not "hurr durr trade everyone and play rookies" or trading players with NTC's just because we don't like them) look like:
Summer 2024:
- Lou "retires" and ownership hires a modern-day GM
- Trade Nelson for a 1st and a prospect
- Buy out Anders Lee
- Capitalize on Palmieri's strong season and trade him
That alone would create just over $15M in cap space, not to mention the expected $4M rise in the cap upper limit. So now we'd be sitting on more than $19M in cap space, with two first round picks in either 2024 or 2025. Maybe even three, depending on what they could get for Palmieri.
Then you can go out and try to sign one or two UFA's to one year deals with the plan of trading them at the deadline for more assets. You probably won't get a 1st unless one exceeds expectations, but draft picks are draft picks. You put it out there to any team that will listen that you're willing to either take on bad contracts or eat money as a 3rd party facilitator to trades in return for draft/prospect capital. You can have up to 3 retained salary transactions on the books in any given season.
The goal is to have the Islanders future draft pick count look something like this:
You pour money into the scouting/analytics departments and pray that you draft well in the first round and unearth some gems in later rounds.
Beyond offseason 2024:
You operate under a lower internal cap until you've got a strong prospect pool and it's time to start investing some money in the team in the form adding via UFA/trades. By this point, if things go well, you should have a good-or-better stable of young kids getting ready to step in and plenty of cap space.
At that point, you can go big-game hunting in UFA, trade some picks/prospects, have at it. Maybe you've been bad/lucky enough to win the 2025 or 2026 lottery and draft James Hagens or Gavin McKenna and that will majorly accelerate things.
Cap space is a weapon in the NHL and it allows teams to get creative in terms of adding draft capital which is really the only way to build a team. You don't (and probably can't) build solely through the draft, but you have to make smart value trades (See: Hurricanes, Carolina), when the opportunity presents itself, to round out your roster.
You can't get attached to players because fans like them or they've been with the team for awhile (See: Golden Knights, Vegas). You need someone willing to make uncomfortable decisions that may upset fans or players.
Obviously nothing guarantees that a retool will work, but I'd rather take my chances with that methodology than hoping that an aging, slow, below-average roster will pull of rabbit out of its collective ass and go on a run as they continue to get older. - eichiefs9
This is so spot on and should be the plan going forward. Lou's biggest downfall is falling in love with these players and not willing to make needed changes. Many of us saw this coming for the longest time.
I understand there's a human side to the business and that's probably why Scott Mayfield was extended, but with Pulock and, likely, Dobson manning the right side...committing 7 years and $24.5M to him was insanely stupid. Equally so for Engvall.
If mapping out the rebuild were up to me, it would probably realistically (ie: not "hurr durr trade everyone and play rookies" or trading players with NTC's just because we don't like them) look like:
Summer 2024:
- Lou "retires" and ownership hires a modern-day GM
- Trade Nelson for a 1st and a prospect
- Buy out Anders Lee
- Capitalize on Palmieri's strong season and trade him
That alone would create just over $15M in cap space, not to mention the expected $4M rise in the cap upper limit. So now we'd be sitting on more than $19M in cap space, with two first round picks in either 2024 or 2025. Maybe even three, depending on what they could get for Palmieri.
Then you can go out and try to sign one or two UFA's to one year deals with the plan of trading them at the deadline for more assets. You probably won't get a 1st unless one exceeds expectations, but draft picks are draft picks. You put it out there to any team that will listen that you're willing to either take on bad contracts or eat money as a 3rd party facilitator to trades in return for draft/prospect capital. You can have up to 3 retained salary transactions on the books in any given season.
The goal is to have the Islanders future draft pick count look something like this:
You pour money into the scouting/analytics departments and pray that you draft well in the first round and unearth some gems in later rounds.
Beyond offseason 2024:
You operate under a lower internal cap until you've got a strong prospect pool and it's time to start investing some money in the team in the form adding via UFA/trades. By this point, if things go well, you should have a good-or-better stable of young kids getting ready to step in and plenty of cap space.
At that point, you can go big-game hunting in UFA, trade some picks/prospects, have at it. Maybe you've been bad/lucky enough to win the 2025 or 2026 lottery and draft James Hagens or Gavin McKenna and that will majorly accelerate things.
Cap space is a weapon in the NHL and it allows teams to get creative in terms of adding draft capital which is really the only way to build a team. You don't (and probably can't) build solely through the draft, but you have to make smart value trades (See: Hurricanes, Carolina), when the opportunity presents itself, to round out your roster.
You can't get attached to players because fans like them or they've been with the team for awhile (See: Golden Knights, Vegas). You need someone willing to make uncomfortable decisions that may upset fans or players.
Obviously nothing guarantees that a retool will work, but I'd rather take my chances with that methodology than hoping that an aging, slow, below-average roster will pull of rabbit out of its collective ass and go on a run as they continue to get older. - eichiefs9
I think the problem with the isles success dating back to 2007/2008 with Snow is the inability to lure top UFAs. It’s the elephant in the room. You can’t win solely on drafting, which was the route Snow had to take. I don’t think Lou was expecting that sort of difficulty and had a plan to sign top UFAs to add to his roster. After trying and failing to lure top UFAs pretty much every summer he had to take the trade route.
My personal opinion is in order for the isles to be a winning team, you have to be able to add assets without giving up any (I.E signing top UFAs).
In fairness to Lou, he inherited a team that missed on virtually every first rounder for 12 years. I don’t think ownership wanted a rebuild and so his only option to build a winner was via free agency and he just couldn’t get those players.
I don’t think Lou should continue after this season as GM, but maybe he could play a president type role. The isles are in need of a rebuild, and a retooling of their scouts. The drafting under Snow was horrific….with the exception of Dobson, or Sorokin, the isles don’t have anyone else that is considered tops at their position (Norris, Vezina, etc)…..it’s been decades.
I think the problem with the isles success dating back to 2007/2008 with Snow is the inability to lure top UFAs. It’s the elephant in the room. You can’t win solely on drafting, which was the route Snow had to take. I don’t think Lou was expecting that sort of difficulty and had a plan to sign top UFAs to add to his roster. After trying and failing to lure top UFAs pretty much every summer he had to take the trade route.
My personal opinion is in order for the isles to be a winning team, you have to be able to add assets without giving up any (I.E signing top UFAs).
In fairness to Lou, he inherited a team that missed on virtually every first rounder for 12 years. I don’t think ownership wanted a rebuild and so his only option to build a winner was via free agency and he just couldn’t get those players.
I don’t think Lou should continue after this season as GM, but maybe he could play a president type role. The isles are in need of a rebuild, and a retooling of their scouts. The drafting under Snow was horrific….with the exception of Dobson, or Sorokin, the isles don’t have anyone else that is considers tops at their position…..it’s been decades. - kindlyrick
None of this is necessarily criticism of Lou, but I think even most of his biggest supporters would admit that he's not the one to lead this team IF they decide to go the retool/rebuild route. That's not to imply that I think that route is likely.
Outside of getting Bo, Lou’s idea for going for it was to keep the team intact. Do we remember Lou's idea getting past Tampa was adding Chara and Parise? The #1,2,3 goals are to hire a new GM and let the new GM decide on the path going forward. Lou made this mess and a new GM will need to clean it up. Ownership needs to do the right thing now. - ses111
I don’t think Lou necessarily made this mess, but I do agree he’s not the guy to clean it up. Yes Engvall and Mayfield signings weren’t ideal, but there had been some trades that improved this team during his tenure.
The inability to sign a top UFA has hampered this team for decades. That needs to change.
None of this is necessarily criticism of Lou, but I think even most of his biggest supporters would admit that he's not the one to lead this team IF they decide to go the retool/rebuild route. That's not to imply that I think that route is likely. - eichiefs9
Might not be the likely route to rebuild, but it’s unfortunately staring everyone in the face.
I’m not bashing Snow, but when you have 12 years of drafting, you better have a better roster to hand off, instead of “good character” first rounders who can’t carve out a role for themselves.
Honorable mention to Kyle Okposo who was drafted in the first round and the isles let walk (like Tavares) for NOTHING in return. Okposo went on to play, what 7 more years now?!?? Awful asset management along with awful drafting, leaves you with having to sign players for more money and more term.
I don’t think Lou necessarily made this mess, but I do agree he’s not the guy to clean it up. Yes Engvall and Mayfield signings weren’t ideal, but there had been some trades that improved this team during his tenure.
The inability to sign a top UFA has hampered this team for decades. That needs to change. - kindlyrick
I'm honestly unsure whether there is a problem signing UFA's because of Long Island or because that, aside from about 3 years under Lou when they were a cap team, they've generally been average or worse.
I don't think Panarin was ever serious about signing here, I think he was just using the Islanders to leverage more money out of where he actually wanted to go.
If you want to attract top UFA's, build a good team from the draft and then you can go to them and say "look, you're a star and we feel that you're the piece that's going to push us into true contender status" and I think you'll have a lot more luck.
I'm honestly unsure whether there is a problem signing UFA's because of Long Island or because that, aside from about 3 years under Lou when they were a cap team, they've generally been average or worse.
I don't think Panarin was ever serious about signing here, I think he was just using the Islanders to leverage more money out of where he actually wanted to go.
If you want to attract top UFA's, build a good team from the draft and then you can go to them and say "look, you're a star and we feel that you're the piece that's going to push us into true contender status" and I think you'll have a lot more luck. - eichiefs9
Sadly it wasn’t just Panarin. The names are endless that opted not to sign here. It’s also why it’s imperative to have good scouting and draft well.
No one was lining up here to play with the likes of Strome, Nino, MDC, Reinhardt, Bellows etc etc etc. It starts with drafting well, which leads to attracting top UFAs. Isles have failed at both….and that my friends brings you Engvall and Mayfield contracts.
Sadly it wasn’t just Panarin. The names are endless that opted not to sign here. It’s also why it’s imperative to have good scouting and draft well.
No one was lining up here to play with the likes of Strome, Nino, MDC, Reinhardt, Bellows etc etc etc. It starts with drafting well, which leads to attracting top UFAs. Isles have failed at both….and that my friends brings you Engvall and Mayfield contracts. - kindlyrick
I mean if we're being objective, Horvat was set to become a reasonably big UFA and stayed here. May not have been on July 1st, but he was still a pending UFA that was expected to garner quite a bit of attention.
But I get it, I don't really disagree with you. But again...save for a three-ish year window where they were truly competitive but the cap was flat and they were close to maxed out...they really have never been in a true position to snag a big time UFA.
I mean if we're being objective, Horvat was set to become a reasonably big UFA and stayed here. May not have been on July 1st, but he was still a pending UFA that was expected to garner quite a bit of attention.
But I get it, I don't really disagree with you. But again...save for a three-ish year window where they were truly competitive but the cap was flat and they were close to maxed out...they really have never been in a true position to snag a big time UFA. - eichiefs9
I don’t think Lou makes that Horvat trade without a wink wink extension. I like Horvat and thought it was a good trade, but if we’re being honest he’s a 1B center in this league, and that was Lou’s biggest acquisition since becoming GM.
Your last sentence is the elephant in the room and IMO the reason the isles are a continuously bubble team.
