DarthEbriate

GM Sheevyn kicks up the presser with the announcement that RaKru has a vote of no confidence. Then, he begins maniacally screaming, "Unnnnlimited Powwwwwerrrrr!"

The concept of PoHO is good. I still think PLF had way too many red flags (if I recall the story correctly, the single dinner "great idea" became the hire + the whole he ditched the Islanders after just a few months as well in a previous position). It didn't have enough due diligence and PLF didn't have the track record. But... an experience PoHO that allows the Pegulas to just donate money and let the machine run is a good idea. That person could also be the GM if the GM is good/experienced enough. What that person should not be is the coach who should be solely focused on the team and winning of games today and tomorrow and the next day. A GM needs the 3- and 5-year plans, and the PoHO needs the franchise-M.O., the 10-year and community-building (and stadium-building) vision and act as the owner liaison.

In the NFL it's easy. Replace whoever it was with Josh Allen. Fixed. Replace Jameis Winston with Tom Brady. Fixed. The best back-to-back-to-back example: Peyton Manning 10-6, Curtis Painter 2-14, Andrew Luck 11-5. Maybe Hasek could get this team more wins, but he would need them to be able to create a rush/counter goal and they seriously look like they don't practice that. Edit: Of course, given the schedule -- they aren't practicing. But you'd think they'd at least try running a bunch of rushes during their morning skate on game day, just for giggles.

Also, this is a beautiful, terrible article.

Rieder has played his role and is a solid pickup. I still like Staal for MoJo simply so Cozens can play with a center and not a left-wing at center; by April I expect to see Cozens taking faceoffs as it's obvious that Staal retires after this season. Thompson's contract should have instantly protected him from waivers and he should be in ROC. Girgs is overpaid but incomplete. Sheahen has been pleasantly surprising as I expected him to be a taxi squad guy all season so either Thompson or Mitts could be ROC. It's Hall that I don't understand now that I've seen him in RaKru's alleged system. You want an offense-first puck carrier to play with Eichel, except that's Eichel. Now he's on the second line with a slow-footed center, and NOW with Okposo too, rather than Cozens... So he's not being re-signed. Why would he sign here? Which means he's got to get moved. We're paying the price for our lack of vision.

We're also seeing it with the NFL Texans where a motivational sub-coach guy has the owners ear and has destroyed an up-and-coming franchise with a stud young quarterback and now all the best players want out.

If into the security recordings you go, only pain will you find.

Absolutely. Cozens was recently coached by Team Canada's staff... all those lessons will fade. Bryson still looks good, presumably a lot from Chris Taylor... but that won't hold forever. We'll have to horribly overpay (Skinner style) to keep Hall, or Ullmark. Or McCabe once he's healthy. And GM Sheevyn can't do anything because the coach doesn't report to him. That was his failure in his coup... he didn't get power over his fellow Sith Lord RaKru. Which is the Master and which is the Apprentice? Trick question! We put them both on Council, but did not give them the rank of Master!

Alright -- I may have disappeared for dinner for 15 minutes, but now it's time to disappear from indifference to the team. Y'all hang in there and keep your heads up. 'Night 'Spacers!

I guess we could offer Eichel for the Isles entire 4th line. I think they'd refuse the trade.

Do you think either could get the standard veteran playoff rental trade value of a 2nd? Three 2nds would be nice whenever this next draft occurs to get free of Montour and Miller, and see what Borgen and Bryson can do.

Remember his rookie year, where Dahlin would attempt some silly pass nonsense that isn't going to work on smaller ice against NHL-caliber players and it'd turn into an opposition chance... Except... Dahlin would fly back and break it up out of desperate grit and determination? That Dahlin is gone. He's a step slow and pinched on that goal rather than going after the true threat: Beauvillier.

Meanwhile... Eichel, Hall and Reino on ice. We get the opportunity for a break... Eichel can't find the puck. Then he stops moving forward in order to make the pass, by which time all NYI defenders are rushing back. We get nothing. Then a 3 on 2 possible, and our shot ends up at low percentage and caught in the glove outside the net, not even on goal.

Wow. That was pretty. Risto got pinned at the blue line, and while the Sabres were twiddling their thumbs, 3 Islanders attacked. Such beautiful transition. All too easy. And here I was about to say... just one random carom and we would be tied... and how ridiculous would that be?

If we trade Hall at the deadline... can we still get his #1 overall draft lottery luck? https://www.nhl.com/news/hall-tabs-himself-lottery-ball-specialist-after-devils-win-top-pick/c-289179752

TPeg says 8x10, please. Gotta land the biggest UFA!

Back when we had... like Drury and Stu Barnes, heck even Drew Stafford, it felt like this was hockey 101.

Hey! Look at that. Shoot it off the pad, go to the net... you see one of these goals every few games for a regular (non-us) team.

The really disconcerting thing is that the Isles can turn it on for a 9-minute burst and outplay us in either end, get a couple goals, and then go into an Alamo that won't feel like an Alamo against us. And yet we have Eichel, Hall, Skinner, Olofsson and none of them even pose a threat.

They're so beautifully patient and practiced in their counter rushes. Even if the spacing isn't perfect, the trailer is where he needs to be before the backchecker. It's a counter machine. If HCRK wants to play low-event, then our transition/counter game needs to look like this. And yet we're always offsides, or stepping on each other, or slowing way down for the backcheck to catch up, or unwilling to shoot....

So... you don't score goals on contingency?

Now is our chance! We can have Guhle, Montour, and maybe trade for Brayden Tracey (whom ANH selected at #27). Win-win-win.

I think we're all fearing a prequel era series. But that's why we watch. The anticipation. The escape to another galaxy arena. The awesome single spectacle in the game we otherwise roll our eyes at. The victory so filled with flaws that you cannot explain it except via luck (if you have experience in luck).

An Islanders trilogy! Ahh, but will it begin with a War (aka Hope), or a Menace, or an Awakening?

The fight was a short-term release and reprieve. Fighting is being legislated out of the game; kids are growing up without fighting in the first place, AHLers are not having to fight to make it. These are good things because the talent level of hockey is off the charts at this level and watching a goalie make an amazing save and wondering how in the world... or seeing the tape to tape from 80 feet away while player X is moving 10 mph at this angle and player Y is accelerating to 22 mph... and they snare the wobbling puck out of the air and turn their head up ice... It's a thing of beauty. But all team sports or 1:1 sports (heck, even golf but it's internal) are about human confrontation. What will you do when are pushed? Will you defend yourself or will you capitulate? Will you lose the battle for the puck? Will you stand up for your teammates or are you going to skate back to the bench? Will you continue to knife through the defense and force them to take a penalty on you lest they give up a goal, or will you let the puck roll away to the corner and go for a change? We saw it 2 nights ago at the end of a drubbing -- a Flyers guy docked Dahlin in the head and they confronted each other and Dahlin backed down, gave up, folded, and turned away. And the Rangers had won. Dahlin didn't have to fight, he had to stand up for himself. As long as a team or a player tries to intimidate you and you fold, you've lost. The greatest finesse teams might be able to win a game, but I have yet to see a finesse team win that didn't also intimidate the hell out of the opposition. And often those finesse teams are surprisingly gritty (at least the ones that win). This team has been being pushed around since Miller got ran by Lucic, and financially they were operating out of fear before that. A spark of toughness in standing up for yourself is cathartic, and Cozens provided that tonight. It may not amount to anything, but I'm reminded of that @ Arizona game back in Eichel's rookie year with the brawl to close the game. Eichel, Reino, Bogosian walking back to the dressing room and laughing/smiling. They didn't back down. And that team had hope --- they came back from 3rd period deficits a bunch. It didn't carry over to the next season, regrettably, but it was a team that started to come together down the stretch. This team needs that. This franchise needs that. They need to stand up for themselves. It doesn't have to be a fight, but it has to be the willingness to fight if it comes to it.