2025 Off-Season

[Chris18]

Lou out. Darche in.
Albelin and MacLean out. Roy and Desrosiers still in.
Bridgeport coaches all out.
CLam reportedly still in, as there is a rumor that Lou extended him just before leaving. We'll see.

Palmieri & Boqvist re-signed.
Palmieri- 2 years, $4.75M AAV. Full NTC first year, 16 team M-NTC the next year. He'll be 36 at the contract's end.
Boqvist- 1 year, $850k. He'll still be an RFA at the end. He showed he can play in the NHL, but the question was "consistently?". We'll see.

[E.L.]

There’s no way Darche signed Palmieri to that by choice. Thanks, Lou!

[Chris18]

No word on CLam yet. Or who the new Bridgeport coaches will be.

Darche has said fans shouldn't expect him to blow up the roster, but to expect slow, methodical changes and he expects them to be a playoff team. Not a legit contender, but a playoff team. If they just straighten out the special teams they could make the playoffs, so I get that. Could have done it last year with anywhere near league average special teams, instead of both being cellar dwellers.

[Chris18]

Actual news! Ray Bennett & Bob Boughner hired as assistant coaches.
I believe Bennett was fired by Colorado recently.

[Pokecheque]

Actual news! Ray Bennett & Bob Boughner hired as assistant coaches.
I believe Bennett was fired by Colorado recently.

You would be correct.

I was going to say that Boughner and Roy were briefly teammates in Colorado but that's not the case, Boughner showed up in 2004, Roy retired the year before. Didn't realize Boughner ended his career as an Av. It reportedly came down to him and Bednar back in 2016 for the head coaching job in Colorado and they went with Bednar because his contract demands were lower.

Bennett certainly had his share of detractors in Denver, and yeah, it was definitely time after this year's failure where the power play went 3 for 22 in the postseason (though I don't really know how you fix a power play when you don't run formal practices). He's got a pretty substantial track record of power play success, but now he'll be asked to craft a viable offense, both even strength and on the man-advantage, without the benefit of a Cale Makar or Nathan MacKinnon. Roy generally doesn't like getting too technical with the offense, at least that's the way he was as Avalanche HC. He said he wanted to allow them their creativity, it was at the other end of the ice he demanded they play within a structure.

[Chris18]

I read Bennett's PP plan was basically "unnecessary pass on perimeter, into another unnecessary pass on perimeter..." which sounds like exactly what the Isles have been doing. So he'll fit right in! It would be funny if it wasn't so frustrating. I know fans often don't get the idea of needing to get a goalie or defender out of position to create a real scoring chance and just scream "shoooooot", but hearing that was like finding a turd in my morning tea.

And then I read Boughner was fired by the Wings, who ended with the only PK worse than the Isles. Aiming high! This should be a great season.

[Chris18]

LeBrun reporting that Darche spoke to Barzal & Horvat to assure them they aren't being traded. Apparently there were lots of rumors (that I hadn't heard) that Darche was going to completely blow up the team, starting with them. Horvat's NTC doesn't kick in for a few years. Barzal's is a 22 team to-trade list.

Darche has said a few times that he is confident they'll be a playoff team. Make the playoffs? Maybe/probably. Win even one round? Doubtful unless they somehow get a good matchup. I don't see them being contenders this year unless he pulls lightning in a bottle out of his ass while wearing a magician's hat that has a 4-leaf clover embroidered on the front.

[Chris18]

Isles are having a draft party. Butch Goring, John Tonelli, Shawn Bates, Eric Cairns, Steve Webb, Benoit Hogue, Ryan Pulock, Casey Cizikas, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, and Scott Mayfield will make guest appearances according to the team.
It is somewhat notable that Pulock, Cizikas, Pageau and Mayfield are attending, since there were rampant rumors that Pageau would be traded and Mayfield bought out. Not sure if this is who is available or if it's Darche's way of telling fans these guys aren't going anywhere. Although if any team would trade a guy while he was meeting with fans, it would be the Isles. They just have a knack for doing weird things.
It's also notable just that they're having a draft party. Lou never allowed fun stuff like that.

[Chris18]

Isles are rumored to be among the leaders to land KHL UFA Maxim Shabanov. He's had a point/game in the KHL but the knock on him is his size. 5'8", 157 lbs. Maybe he's so shifty he won't get hit, but it seems like if he did get hit an NHL d-man, he'd be crushed. Caufield is the same height but has 18 lbs on him. The weight is the bigger concern to me. I was last 157 in like 9th grade.

[Chris18]

Every time I post some speculation they release real news. Ryan Bowness, Rick's son, hired as AGM and director of player personnel. https://www.nhl.com/islanders/news/bown ... -personnel

No idea what a director of player personnel does but if it means CLam is closer to being gone or has less responsibilities, good.
Update- CLam reported to be staying on as Bridgeport's GM. Apparently the stories about Lou signing him and Pelligrini to AGM extensions prior to Lou's firing were 100% true. Horrible.

[Chris18]

Rumor that the Isles & Bruins are talking trade, centering around Pageau for the 7th pick. Long Island native Hagens has dropped to 7-8 in most rankings, so the thought is the Isles want to trade back into the 1st round to get Schaefer and Hagens. Would make many Isles fans happy since Hagens is an Isles fan and has said it's his dream to play for them. Would be a cool story, and moving out some salary would be a good move as well.

Another rumor- Matt Carkner (former Islander and Sound Tiger) has left Tampa's AHL affiliate, saying he was pursuing another AHL coaching job. Bridgeport has plenty of openings, so he could be heading there. Would be an improvement over the Bridgeport coaching for the last, mmmm, 20 years.

[Chris18]

Dobson is supposedly asking for $11M AAV. He's very good offensively, but sometimes I think he should just move to forward as he is so out of position in the D-zone. The Cap is up and timing is everything on contract valuation, but 11 is too high. There are rumors that other GMs are preparing offer sheets. If they're willing to go over that $9.3M AAV and give up all those picks, it might be worth it to let him go.

Darche has a lot of work cut out for him in trimming salary fat, thanks to Lou. Good thing CLam is sticking around to help!

[Chris18]

Now supposedly Darche is looking into trading Dobson since Dobson's asking price is so high. Guess that settles if they draft Schaefer or Misa.

[E.L.]

Now supposedly Darche is looking into trading Dobson since Dobson's asking price is so high. Guess that settles if they draft Schaefer or Misa.

I didn’t realize Dobson is a year away from being a UFA. Either you love the guy and you lock him up, or you deal him. With so much invested in other defencemen and Schaefer coming in, dealing Dobson for forward/draft capital makes sense.

[Chris18]

Now supposedly Darche is looking into trading Dobson since Dobson's asking price is so high. Guess that settles if they draft Schaefer or Misa.

I didn’t realize Dobson is a year away from being a UFA. Either you love the guy and you lock him up, or you deal him. With so much invested in other defencemen and Schaefer coming in, dealing Dobson for forward/draft capital makes sense.

I don't like it. I'd prefer they trade just about anyone on the team. The guys I would like to see stay no matter what are Barzal, Dobson & Sorokin. Anyone else can go. I wouldn't want to see Horvat traded, but I don't see it happening. Trouble is, Lou gave so many guys NTCs that they are handcuffed and Dobson will likely be traded vs getting market value from the Isles.

[E.L.]

Something the Montreal media pointed out: Darche, in that market, can’t really afford to fuck up his first big trade. If he trades Dobson, he needs immediate help and future picks to save face, otherwise he’ll never shake that first bad deal. So someone has to overpay, otherwise it’s just not worth the risk.

[Chris18]

Agreed.
But he’s almost screwed no matter what happens. Isles fans are a negative bunch and they hate Dobson because of his defensive zone shortcomings. I’ve said they need to pair him with a stay at home defender and live his d-zone mistakes. People tell me he just needs to go. Shrug.

I’d prefer they not trade him but also don’t want them to further handcuff themselves with an overpay.

[Chris18]

Bridgeport's new HC- Rocky Thompson, who worked with Bob Boughner in San Jose. Instead of bringing in Tampa ties, Darche is giving the Isles ties to San Jose. NOT who I wanted them to be getting coaches from...

[Chris18]

Darche interviewed today by NY press. Said he will make the #1 pick, even though he's taken a lot of calls from teams looking to trade for it. Said he expects the player they draft to be with the org 15 or more years. Yeah, sure. But he said they'll have to earn a spot out of camp, nothing will be given. Wouldn't tip his hand on who he's taking.
Said he's enjoying working with CLam and Steve Pelligrini, the trojan horses Lou left him. I guess he can't afford to fire them. Hope he gives them jobs like making paper clip chains.

Asked about trading to get a 2nd pick in the first round. Said he's spoken to some people about it, but nothing is concrete. Fans are all over the idea of drafting Schaefer and then trading back in to get Hagens, the Long Island kid. I think a lot of this is just wanting their own hometown "pajama boy".

[Chris18]

Matt Martin officially retires. 13 games away from getting a silver stick, even though he's got 88 playoff games. Damn shame. But, he had a hell of a career for a 4th liner.

He's been named special assistant to Darche. I think his job is to play bouncer, keeping CLam out of Darche's office.

Also, Chara inducted into the HoF. Congrats to him!