Snow's Rebuilding Tipping Point

Looking at our prospects, this must be the hope
De Haan can take over for Streit as an offensive minded Dman and powerplay QB.
Ness can turn into a 2nd line offensive Dman
Hamnoic can be a solid 3rd line Defensive Dman with size.

Love this topic, probably because it’s so wide open and perfect for napkin sketching.

Weight: I think is trade value, if there is any, will come around deadline time — or sooner if the youngsters pinch him for ice time.

Witt: I’m fine dealing him at any point if an offer arrives (but he’s a tough-to-move salary when everyone is cap-tight). If he lasts, I won’t mind his “warrior” presence — as long as he improves on last year.

Hunter: Heh, fan favorite or not, I don’t mind entertaining the thought of dealing him. His value to me, though, is the kind of player he is at that salary. Sort of a known, loyal quantity for just $2 million. But I agree by the end of his contract, his hit-heavy style may have taken a toll on his body and put him past his peak.

Bergenheim: His upcoming contract frightens me: If he shines this year, I fear he’ll want too much, and if he has an unproductive year, I fear we’ll pay too much. But I expect he — more than any of the “what is he?” guys — will come into his own this season and realize his potential.

On the blueline, I tend to agree with WebBard above, though I hope Streit and De Haan share the same blueline at some point, and I’m counting on Snow picking up some blueline upgrades either through free agency or cap trades late this season/next summer. That’d be the only way I could rationalize making no blueline changes this summer.

I think Garth will sign one more defenseman at least. We only have seven defenders currently on our roster—none of whom played in all 82 last season and only one of whom(Mark Streit) played in more than 65 games. The pairing of Sutton and Meyer combined for a grand total of 50 games played. I think he will at least sign one more to get our roster filled out. If it is only one more, it should be Babchuk. Signing Skoula as well would give Hillen a chance to get more seasoning in Bridgeport (which I think he needs). With the injury track record of our defensive roster, I am confident that he and any other NHL-ready prospects will get callups.

Now that we’ve proven the right margin works, let’s get back to business.

BC for once I agree with you. Amazing, I know.

Calvin deHaan even said himself that it will be at least another year or two before he will feel comfortable making the jump to the NHL. When we were at the Draft in Montreal [that one was for you, Dom ;-) ], he seemed pretty adamant about staying in junior and getting top pairing minutes rather than ride the pine in the NHL.

Kulikov would have been nice, without a doubt. I was rooting for him to go much higher than he actually did. But from conversations around Montreal after the 2nd day was over with many hockey personalities (not just Islander ones), everyone seemed to be in agreement about two things:

A) The Islanders were the winner of the first round in terms of talent they acquired and
B) Their move to take deHaan was widely praised as the most bold and perhaps the most fruitful move of any of the teams on the Draft floor.

Allow me to explain.

Calvin was very highly regarded by at least 15 teams going into the Draft. Despite his low 20’s ranking from Central Scouting, there were a lot of teams looking to take him much earlier than that. The Islanders identified a player that in his rookie campaign in the OHL scored 8 goals and 55 assists. A very impressive amount of production for someone who was supposed to be growing into a role on a rebuilding Oshawa team. Scouts love his potential because he still has yet to grow into his frame. When he’s completely filled out he’ll most likely be between 6’1"-6’2" and 190-205lbs; the prototypical new NHL defenseman.

(Side note: Hey, aren’t those the same height and weight numbers for another defensemen the Isles have the potential to sign as a UFA? Hmm…Dennis Seidenberg?)

As far as this season goes, Calvin will quite likely spend the first 9 games up with the big club. I don’t see any reason why the Islanders wouldn’t give the kid a taste to see how he reacts. His skating ability is on par or better with most defensemen I’ve seen at the NHL level and his hockey sense and decision-making abilities are top notch. He should be fun to watch being reunited with an old teammate…John Tavares.

In reading your comment that the Islanders have no NHL-ready defensemen outside of Jack Hillen, I challenge you to really look at the Bridgeport roster. Both Andy MacDonald (an AHL All-Star last season) and Dustin Kohn, just to name two are more than capable of growing into an NHL role by mid-season. Don’t be surprised to see one or the other up at times this season. I’m still going to hold to the credo that going out and getting someone like Babchuk is way too Milbury-esque and would hurt the rebuild more than help it. To use one your quotes:

Babchuk is not just a missing piece, he is a diamond in the rough, the kind of promising developing talent that Carolina doesn’t have time for and that could be just what we need to inject some raw young talent into our blueline.

You know, that sounds awfully familiar. I wonder where I’ve heard that before. Oh, that’s right, when Mike Milbury was describing his love affair with…Oleg Kvasha.

Rutherford still looking to trade him, in return for “a young defenseman.”