OffThePost.org

Came a week or two earlier than I was hoping, but the off-season is here for the Isles.

Lots of UFAs and RFAs and a stagnant cap. Expansion draft brings angst but potentially opportunity as well. Lou has some serious work cut out for him to keep a good core together with some big playoff performers up for new contracts.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

RFAs
Goalie- Sorokin. No idea what terms they'll work out, but I'd say he'll get a long term offer.

D- Pelech. A top D-man in the league and now everyone knows it. Hoping he signs a team friendly deal but doubt it.

F- Dal Colle and Beauvillier. Dal Colle is easily replaceable. He's turned into a good forechecker and not much else. Beauvillier is a key to this team.


UFAs
Goalie- Schneider. He never got into a game this year. Doubt they bring him back unless it's on a 2 way deal.

D- Greene and Coburn. Coburn only played in a game or two. Greene was great all year but at 38, he should be a 7th D. If he comes back for league minimum again, great.

F- Palmieri, Zajac and Cizikas. Zajac won some faceoffs and made a good save back in the Penguins series (which feels like years ago), but besides that didn't do much. Pamieri was good in the playoffs. I'd like to see him back but not for much term. Cizikas is the key to the so-called best 4th line in hockey. If he leaves the Isles don't currently have a good center for that line. Center is a place their depth isn't good. They had 4 good centers and it ended there. Bridgeport isn't good at developing them, which has been an issue for years.

Bottom line- the Isles are up against the Cap in a bad way and will have to figure out ways to shed salary. Can Lou swing a trade to send Ladd somewhere? Or maybe they leave Leddy or Eberle exposed to Seattle? Hate to lose either but they're going to have to shed salary somehow.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

#FreeHoSang

I still think he's good but I guess Lou hates him and has no plans to ever use him. I wouldn't be surprised to see him sign with Seattle and put up some decent offensive numbers. He needs to learn the puck has a defensive side, but I think it's mainly him not having Islander character that kept him off the roster.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Some notes from a Lou press conference.

Pageau had surgery on his hand. Will be ready for pre-season.
Lee's rehab is going well, will be ready for pre-season.

Pre-season games to be played in Bridgeport. I have a feeling the first 1/4 of their regular season games will be at the Coliseum, which will get it's 50th "last game".

Lou said he'd do "all he could" to re-sign Cizikas. Asked about Ladd he said "What his future is, I cannot answer. But he is under contract." He's now got a limited no-trade clause. He can give 15 team list he can't go to.

Lou said he and Palmieri have spoken and both want him to stay, but finances may get in the way. Damn you flat cap!

Asked if he'd turn over GM role to someone else he said he'd keep it as long as he's healthy.

Sorokin was asked how his first NHL season was- Wonderful! I'd agree.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

I get he didn't fit with LL Cool GM, but I don't get why they just didn't trade him.

_________________
What would Mad Max be like with EVs?

Expansion draft seems pretty clear for them:

F7: Barzal, Lee, Nelson, Eberle, Pageau, Bailey, Beauvilier

D3: Pulock, Pelech, Leddy (or Mayfield?)

G: Varly

That leaves Mayfield/Leddy the obvious target for Seattle. Maybe a youngster in Dal Colle/Bellows?

You said Eberle too? One way to clear cap room.

_________________

They tried to trade him; nobody wanted him. They waived him a few times and nobody claimed him. I think there's definitely some "good old boy" BS behind some of it, but he's clearly not well viewed by GMs. Being late on his first day of training camp was something he pretty much never recovered from.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Leddy has 1 year left at $5.5 million. Mayfield has 2 years left at $1.875 million. Different types of D-men, but especially for those numbers, I'd prefer they keep Mayfield. Leddy seemed to be hurt for most of the playoffs and didn't look anything close to himself. No surgery info, so maybe it's something that rest can heal. But Mayfield has been a beast. He's scored some big goals and has been the physical guy they've needed. I'd protect Mayfield over Leddy, even though Leddy is still good. He's 30 and Mayfield is 28 so the age isn't a big difference. Mayfield's physical style may wear him down faster, but if the Isles are looking to clear cap space, exposing Leddy may be a good way to do it. Sam Bolduc had a pretty good year in Bridgeport and while he wouldn't replace Leddy, I think Dobson could move up to Leddy's spot and Bolduc could take the rookie D-man spot. They do also have Hickey signed through next year pretty cheaply.

I have a feeling Lou may try to trade them some picks and hey, maybe there really is a chance they need to add salary and a paper tiger leader like Ladd. He may not be that good on the ice anymore, but he's a good leader. A real ass kicker! Two years left on his deal. Perhaps he could throw in Dal Colle to make that better.

Thankfully Sorokin is exempt or the Isles would be in trouble on the goalie front.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Ho-Sang should just jet off to Europe. If the NHL brass has their mind made up about him then that's that. The truth is that he's probably just not good enough for the NHL. I still feel that their approach to both him and Dal Colle were just...weird.

He did go to Europe. They set him free. He played 5 games for Orebro and then only 4 for Linkopings. The Orebro GM said Ho-Sang was out of shape.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

It's a rumor at this point, but supposedly Tarasenko has said he'd waive his NTC to go to: Bruins, Hurricanes, Knights and... the Islanders. Could be total Twitter BS, but I read it in a few places. He gets $7.5 m for the next 2 years. Isles could try something like sending them Eberle and Leddy ($5.5 m each) and wind up saving $3.5 m, which could go towards re-signing their RFAs. Would also solve the issue of leaving Leddy unprotected and losing him for nothing. Could ask St. Louis for some prospects too, to make it a bit more even. Just an idea that occurred to me. Would get the Isles a big upgrade on Line 1 with Lee and Barzal, as Tarasenko almost doubles Eberle's output every year. He's also much better on the PP, which has sucked donkey for a few years.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

If the Blues are trying to trade Tarasenko then that's a cap dump, plain and simple--you're not gonna be able to trade expensive contracts to offset that cap hit. Blues need that space to re-sign key players and retool their roster. It's very possible their window has already closed.

Also, I wouldn't go anywhere near that player and contract. He's a player almost exclusively defined by his elite release, and he's had two major shoulder operations that have effectively hampered him the last two years. He was a complete non-factor for the Blues this season and postseason. Even in his prime--which you'd have to go back at least two seasons to witness--he's a very good sniper who isn't good defensively. Probably not what Trotz wants. Wahlstrom is a better bet to bridge that gap--he has a fantastic shot and at least so far, isn't quite as injury prone.

Normally I'd say the Avs would be all for another Isles cap casualty since the last one worked out so astoundingly well, but they're not in a position to absorb any salary.

I didn't realize he had that many injuries. Oh well. At least it's nice to see players willing to go to the Isles. That's a huge change from guys holding out when traded to them.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Yeah that's true. Long Island has come a long way from those early Wang/Snow years when no one wanted to play for them.

Read this morning that the only 3 D-men the Isles have that currently fit the exposure requirements are Leddy, Mayfield and Pulock. So they have to either expose one of those 3, or sign another D-man who fits the exposure requirements (40 GP last year or 70 over the last 2 years combined and be signed prior to the expansion draft). So would they sign Greene or Pelech and then expose them? I seriously doubt it. Hickey & Coburn don't meet the criteria.

So it's either trade for a guy to expose (which is possible), or expose one of the three in the first sentence. I'd assume they'd expose Leddy to try for max cap space. Or they could always put him on the exposed list and work a trade to Seattle, which sounds like a Lou thing to do.

Leddy makes $5.5 M for another year. He's 30 and looked either hurt or to be slowing down a bit last year.
Pulock makes $5 M for another year. He's 26 and still getting better.
Mayfield makes $1.45 M for another 2 years. He's 28 and still getting better.

As much as it sucks to lose or even just expose Leddy, I think they'll do it. Can't risk losing a defender as good and cheap as Mayfield. He also brings the physical edge that Leddy doesn't have at all. Bolduc played very well for Bridgeport last year and is more of a Leddy type, even if he doesn't have NHL experience. They don't have any physical D-men in the system and I can't see Lou or Trotz being willing to part with Mayfield for that reason.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

It's a bummer they had to move Toews due to cap space, only to have to jettison Leddy a year later, but thems the breaks in a cap system.

Ultimately Pulock and Pelech make the engine go, so you build around them. Gotta make more room for Dobson anyway.

_________________

Yeah, and hopefully Bolduc can make the team and contribute like Dobson did this year. Having 2 ELCs would be great.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Leddy traded to Detroit for Panik and a 2nd round pick. Detroit retains half of Panik's salary.

Leddy will be missed. Cap/Expansion casualty.

Lou now has a new problem though- he needs to trade for or sign a d-man who is expansion draft eligible. Isles will protect Pulock, Pelech and Mayfield, but don't have another d-man who is expansion draft eligible currently signed. Maybe they'll sign Greene or Coburn to a cheap contract to expose. I don't see Seattle taking either.

The day Snow traded for Leddy and Boychuk within 20 minutes of each other was truly a great day in the Isles resurrection. When they both signed 7 year extensions, that was even better. The trades showed Snow gave a shit and wanted to win, and the signings showed the players wanted to stay with the Isles, something that hadn't happened for a while. Leddy is good on the ice, very underrated, but him and Boychuk wanting to stay made a huge difference to the franchise.

Still lots more to do, but shedding salary is a good start. Panik may figure into the plans, but may not. This is now his 5th team in 5 years. That doesn't sound like a Lou type of player.

Looking forward to more news.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Isles finally find a taker for Ladd. Arizona, of course.

They also dumped Leddy. Cap problems, but they can re-sign Beauvilier, Pelech and whoever now.

_________________