A Quick Lesson in Chemistry: What Ails the Isles?

Really seem like dead weight to me now. Atleast Weight had a big part of coaching while he was hurt and helped JT get comfortable but these new guys just don’t seem to do anything. But I don’t know if you can blame Pandolfo for the offensive woes like you can Rolston.

Rolston sits for DiBenedetto (11 pts in 10 gms) and Okposo or Comeau sit for Niederreiter. I think DiBo will bring an edge and wake up the team. Montoya should start. Nothing against DP and Nabby but the team plays better in front of Al.

It seems like Rolston is a locker room virus. I think all he cares about is getting his paycheck, not giving a flying f**k about how he performs on the ice. If anything, I think we should waive him, if someone claims him, oh well, we have plenty of players in the minors who can probably do as good of a job he is doing, or even better. If he clears waivers then he can be a “veteran” presence in Bridgeport.

In Cappy’s interview after the game yesterday he mentioned the possibility of going with 5 defensemen and 13 forwards, if thats the case then sit out Eaton and have Gillies play his 3 minutes a game and get in the face of anyone who tries to go after anyone. Once Nino gets his skates back under him, have him play with JT and MM, put Paranteau on the 2nd line with Grabs and Frans, put KO on the 3rd line with Bailey and Matt Martin, and have a 4th line of Reasoner, Comeau, and a 3rd forward to change depending on the situation.

I have to agree with what Chris wrote, this isn’t an issue with “line chemistry” but actual chemistry on the team. The old guys aren’t doing it for this young team and they have to go

our Defense is too slow – this affects the Offense

our Offense is apparently overrated – why are FNGO performing so poorly? do we live & die with JT – if he scores, we can win – if not, we lose? that’s not ideal – we need 4 functioning lines – only the 4th line is doing the job

Bailey & Comeau on 0 points is not acceptable

the coach may be an issue here, of course – we are playing like a team without a clue

and our Goaltending should be Nabokov 1, Montoya 2, DP 3 going forward

many problems, few answers – but they should call up Dibo-Cizikas-Wallace as a line, even if only to make a statement

Bailey & Comeau should be released – zero tolerance Friday

My thoughts, feel free to chime in and tell me off or agree, here goes:

Last couple of years the Oilers SUCKED as much as we did a couple of years ago. This led them to picking 1st overall for the past two years.
Last year the Avalanche SUCKED as much as we did a couple of years ago. This lead them to pick 2nd overall and in the top five in the draft. Just like us.
Last decade the Panthers have SUCKED as much as we did a couple of years ago.
Fell free to add a few other teams that were worse off than the islanders were 2 years ago.

So were are these three team now? How are they doing?
Well, the Avalanche are playing hard, every night and getting results.
The Oilers are playing hard every night and just beat the Red Wings for the first time in a while.
The Panther’s who were projected to be one of the NHL’s worst, guess what they outworked the Islanders in their last two meetings. They beat us to every puck, won just about every battle on the boards and fore checked the crap out of us in two games. In all they beat us like a rented mule!

So I look at this current Islander team and what is lacking? Talent? NO! We have had the benefit of picking in the top five in what seems the past ten years. What is lacking is the fight back, effort, fore-check, battling for loose pucks, crashing the net. To put it simply EFFORT!
 The Oilers, Panthers and Avalanche give a total team effort just about every night, and it shows in their record as compared to ours.

So how to fix what is lacking, EFFORT? Get veteran players that will motivate the youngsters? Re-structure the line combinations? Bench non-performers? Bring up guys from Bridgeport? The truth of the matter is that I don’t have that answer. What I do know is this: as a coach I am REQUIRING my players to give a total effort every night! Win or loose I am still going to require this total effort the Oilers, Panthers and Avalanche coaches seem to be getting this from their squads. So what gives with the current Islanders?
Why can’t we get this total team effort at least 90% of the time? Who is there to stop guys from being passengers and become drivers?

What I know about this team is this: Talent, yeah we got that right now. Effort no way we have that right now! HOW DO WE FIX THIS EFFORT PROBLEM?

We’re missing the fire in the locker room. We discussed it, and management didn’t hear our cries. Think you can put a value of Zenon now? Sure, he’s a grunt, not the typical hockey skills, but it seemed the players in the locker room reacted to or with him. He taught them a sense of pride and we’re missing that now. How’s Ottawa doing now? Yep, they’ve improved, and I believe Konopka is a big part of that.

This post kinda sounds like the voices in my head.

"" The Islanders seem to be falling into the same pattern as last year — fast start that has everyone buzzing, followed by painfully long losing streak where they can’t seem to buy a goal, ultimately knocking them out of playoff contention before the new year. Granted, it’s a little early to start panicking and way too early to be thinking the Isles can’t make the playoffs, but you can’t deny the similarities between this year and last.""

I posted in the game thread on October 21 ( the first pittsburgh game) about the similarities to last year and got nothing but grief…followed up by an additional comment in the +/- follow up thread…

Thanks

Dibo and Haley are in that mold. We definitely need a guy like that who is NOT AFRAID to go to the net. Guys like Rolston and Comeau almost always go to the boards or in Comeau’s case all the way around the net and back to the blue line.

bc he definitely deserves it. The only thing that made me decide against it is putting Rolston and Pandolfo on the same line whose main objective would be to play a defensive role. Both are slow and not very physical. And then with a not so physical Bailey in between them, it would be a really weak defensive line. Its not fair to Martin, but it seemed to make more sense keeping him on Bailey’s wing on the 4th line.

with all of this line talk and bringing up/moving guys around, etc. the REAL problem with this team is DEFENSE. you cannot tell me that these D pairings are gonna help us get to the playoffs. that’s definitely not happening. if there should ever be a number one concern, it should be bringing in actual, reliable defensemen who can play a solid game night in and night out. mottau, eaton, and staios may be veterans, but they get exposed too easily and make too many mistakes. staios i will give the benefit of the doubt since he’s playing top pair minutes that he no longer should be playing. he’s a 3rd pair at best, but how can you stick him there when your other defensemen are worse than staios? this is why i’m casting my vote for komisarek. bring him and anyone else in who can help this team solidify a desperate blue line.

as for offense, i’m going to stand pat with my previous argument that these ex-devils (pandolfo & rolston) are lousy and got to go. i’m disappointed in reasoner because i really thought he was going to be some sort of breakthrough catalyst that’ll provide a spark in this team, but he has yet to impress me at all. i hope he gets his ass in gear.

bailey may be 22, but he’s gotta start shining somehow. i’m sick of this confidence bs. if you have a “confidence issue”, then you shouldn’t be playing professional hockey. plain and simple. the reason why almost every player in the league worked hard to get to where they are now is because of having the confidence to believe they can do so. josh bailey knows he has the talent to be a difference maker. all he needs to do and worry about is going out on the ice and giving it his all every night. not hard to grasp that concept.

i’m concerned about okposo. if there’s a guy on this team that needs to step up, it’s him.