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Modred's Preseason Scouting Report


1st Line -  Moulson-Tavares-Nino   - Moulson and Tavares look good. There is no issue there at all. JT is looking like he did in the 2nd half of last season. Whatever clicked last season in January is still there. Nino has not looked out of place but, has only showed a few flashes of what can be expected of him. His injury will be a nagging one unless he does not play for a couple of weeks. I would rather have him sit for now, then have this bothering him for months. Good help me for saying this is to put Parenteau back on the 1st line until he is 100%. (Everyone knows what I think about Parenteau). So parenteau fans you have your wish he is back on the 1st line by default.

2nd Line -  Grabner-Nielsen-Okposo    -  Basically left off from where they were last season. Nielsen and Grabner are making some awesome plays, but Okposo still can't find the net. Otherwise the line is where it needs to be, Okposo needs this season to put it all together or needs to become a 3rd liner.

3rd and 4th Lines  - The Islanders have no Idea what they want to do. There is no cohesion on who is on what lines, what position, or what their role will be. This is not a good sign. Yes Reasoner and Rolston on paper were an upgrade and Reasoner has been hurt, But that 4th line last season had something to it. Gilles is still a waste. There would be no need for him if they would have left well enough alone. What we lost is toughnes. I am not talking goonish I am talking Toughness. The Islanders are a very soft team. In the 2nd half of last season that 4th line looked great. Martin-Konopka-Haley they had eveything you needed for the 4th line, but now adding Reasoner and Rolston to the mix it softened us. Rolston has not impressed in camp. He is 38 years old and is looking every bit of those 38 years. Maybe there is a reason why NJ wanted to get rid of him. Bailey and Comeau look lost. Again here we go Bailey playing wing and Comeau looks like he has lost some confidence. Bailey and Comeau have been switching from 3rd and 4th lines. All in all it looks very bleak. Parenteau is bound for 3rd line duty once Nino is healthy but in truth it will just magnify all of the issues on those 2 lines. The Islanders have many pieces that are not fitting together on those 2 lines.

Defense - MacDonald was hurt but I am not worried about him. Streit looks good and will make a very good Captain. Hamonic is also playing up to par. Jurcina is hurt again surprise, surprise.If he can not stay healthy he is not worth anything to the Islanders. Also Eaton and Mottau look worse than they did last season if that is possible. The Defense again is looking like it will be our weekest link on this team as we all knew it would be. Straios is not the answer and DeHaan is not ready either. Reese is not NHL material but still looks better than Eaton and Mottau. The smallest defenseman in camp is Ness and he looks better than most. Not a very good sign.

Goaltending - DiPi has looked good so far but can we count on him to last more than 20 games, I would not bet on it. Nabokov and Montoya also have looked fine in goal. But here is the issue because we can not rely on DiPi we have to keep 3 goaltenders in the NHL. If we trade one of them for the defenseman we so desperately need we run the risk of loosing DiPi and having to bring up Poulin which I believe he should stay in BP at least until the trade deadline.

Outlook for season . The islanders 1st 2 lines will score that will not be an issue.  IF, BIG IF, the Islanders can figure out what to do about the 3rd and 4th line, and make a trade for a legit top 4 defenseman and DiPi continues to stay healthy they will compete to the end of the season for the last 2 playoff spots. If all three of those ifs do not happen it will be a very long season again. It might be entertaining because o the scoring but the Islanders are going to give up alot of goals and be a lottery team again.

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