3 Reasons Why Expecting the Isles to Make the Playoffs Is Not Crazy At All

This team absolutely has the horses to make the playoffs, especially on offense. The only thing holding them back will be related to the players’ medical statuses. Even missing the league’s average amount of man games would be an improvement.

Regarding the mess in goal, maybe I’m an optimist but I think the fact that DiPietro finished the season healthy for a change makes a big difference. He went into the off-season without a need for surgery, rehab, voodoo witch doctor, Vulcan mind meld or anything other than a good old fashioned summer work out like everyone else has.

Obviously, Ricky’s history is not encouraging. But, for some reason, this off-season has given me renewed hope for him.

In a few years, we’ll have forgotten about these (still unconfirmed) third jerseys like other fans have forgotten about the Flames’ fire-snorting horse jersey, the Lightning’s rain storm jersey, the Canucks’ it’s-purple-down-here-and-blue-up-here jersey and every other fly by night cash-in Sunday sweater that’s ever been introduced and quickly discarded.

Looking at that lineup from the losing streak, its no wonder we couldnt win a game to save our lives

but you put it to “paper” better than I ever could. Biggest question mark, remains goaltending. Am I the only one to hope for a Nabokov miracle this season?
Also, did anyone read Penguins celebrate 20th anniversary of ’91 Cup ?
The whole article I kept thinking: “This could be the Islanders”

I enjoy reading your posts and fanshots, they are very informative.

I believe in this as well. I think that the D is better (read: Healthier) and the O is stronger (read: full year of KO, Nino, and Grabs, who took a while to come out of his shell).

Our biggest concerns are health (which is a concern to every NHL team, but more so to us it seems) and goaltending (which Francesca and others mentioned above).

Someone posted a while back (I forgot who it was) that if we can get good averages from whatever 2 (or even 3) man combination of goalies we use and a healthier roster then last year, the playoffs should be a lock.

thanks for the post dude. i like your analysis…to start off, yes. this team can be a playoff team with what they have now. of course, keeping the injuries to a minimum and getting the best out of our young players gelling together. this team has good chemistry of scoring and work ethic on our offensive lines. i’m not worried about goal scoring, but may have over-expectations that can be unrealistic. but hey, i’m a fan…

the isles have the word “breakout” written all over them not just as a team, but individuals as well. i can’t wait to see these analysts quickly turn into bandwagon apologists…

the D is the only concern i have. yes, streit is back and we have some legitimately good NHL Dmen. the isles are another big name Dman away from having a solid D-corp.

here’s what i don’t understand about the goaltending of this team: why all the question marks? there’s no need to view it as a “situation”. honestly, i view it as a reason to be excited. let’s look at this: DP is coming into this season without surgery or anything drastic. yes, he may not be the same as before, but we really don’t know that. Poulin is coming off injury, but is still one of the top young goalies in the game. Nabokov hasn’t played in the NHL for a little while, but he’s a capable starter. Montoya spiked his value from last season with how great he played down the stretch. I’m excited to see his full potential with a given season which he earned and hopefully fulfilling the expectations of a top 10 draft pick….so look at it this way: the isles have 4 capable #1’s. all can be utilized during the season whether one gets injured or having a solid goalie-by-committee. who says there needs to be a clear #1? i’d rather have 2 or 3 #1’s.

hurry up october.

I am not going to make the very difficult task of jumping from 14th to 8th as easy as some, but they do have a chance. If the games in March are meaningful we will have taken another great step. Here’s where I see some questions:
1. Obviously goaltending. DP was horrible last year and if returns to THAT form he MUST be set aside immediately. Part of that 20+ game slump was the organization force feeding this team less than adequate goaltending. Not that Roloson would have given them a winning record, but he wouldn’t have lost 20 in a row. It was done to FIND OUT..well..we FOUND OUT… let’s not do that again.
2. Defense. We get a huge part of the defense back with the return of Mark Streit. But there are still lame duck defenders and prospects in transition that will comprise the opening night lineup(most likely). We do like to "pr*j*ct, but when it comes down to it we are looking at some holes, especially given the fact that four of the top six are returning from surgery or extended absenses due to injury.
3. Competition. This team has not done well against its divisional rivals. They are in the toughest division in hockey. I am biased, but I see them as having improved more with the small moves that they’ve made just through maturation and taking advantage of upgradable opportunities. Their competition has done same, and has done so in high dollar fashion in some cases. THIS MEANS SQUAT… but the Isles need to prove that their improvement strategy is better… and they will do that by playing solid hockey in the first 6 weeks.
4. Health. When you have a $60M lineup health is an issue. When you have a $48M lineup health is a MUST. They should have positive depth at D by mid-season as they will have at least four capable replacement players in Katic, deHaan, Donovan and Klementyev. (I assume Streit, Eaton, Mac, Ham, Juce, Wish, Mottau and Reese will start the season with the big club). That depth does not really exist for top six forwards. The bridge will have Ullstrom, Rakh and some AHL lifers… This may be a huge question if asked. And we all know what a seven man goalie-go-round looks like…
All I’m saying is to keep this in the back of your mind as you root this team on this year. What we should EXPECT is a good effort every night. If that brings playoffs, great. If not… we are still taking steps in the right direction.

There’s no denying that after taking the helm, Capuano connected with the players and lit a spark after the slump. Most (all?) knew him well from Bridgeport or as an AC under Nolan, and he had been teaching the go-go Gordon system for a few years and was able to tweak it a bit to increase its effectiveness. You can argue that he’s not in the same league as other available coaches with playoff/Cup wins, but I maintain that he was the right coach for this Islanders team.

This reworked system kept the Islanders to a great post-slump record, and—I don’t really have the stats on this—it seems that mangames lost to injury were down from Scott Gordon’s record-breaking pace. Plus, the players bought into the system, young and veteran. I think that some measure of the Islanders’ success this year will come from whether Capuano can continue to develop his young players, gel his team, milk their full effort, keep the groin and lower-body injuries (and all injuries) to a minimum, and effectively implement his system, and I think Cap’s role in the playoff equation can’t be overlooked.

Great post. I feel that this team most definitely has the talent, experience (in the fact that most of the top two lines has played together for the last 2-3 years) and most of call, THE COACH. I think Cappy is gonna be something special for this team, the way they gelled and played for him last year certainly caught my eye.

I think the other thing that has to be considered (and this was brought up last week in another post) was teams that are on the decline in our conference. PITT comes to mind in that it looks like the Isles won’t be seeing Crosby(lingering concussion effects) and Malkin is coming off his knee injury. Another plus would be the team somehow learning to beat Philadelphia… that would be a huge mental victory.

If the Islanders can avoid the mid-season losing streaks of the pass few years and the devastating injuries that have plagued this team the last 3 years, there’s no reason why we can’t look at a 6-8 playoff spot.

I think the players will have a better season due to the coach. I think he is well liked and his system is better for our talent. I think Nino will look different in Capuano system during preseason games

D-men (in no particular order):

1.Streit-How good can he comeback? Can we expect the same 2-way play we saw from him in the past? Can we expect 10goals/45pts? I hope so.
2. Eaton-Can he still be relied on as a #4 d-man after his injury? Is he even still capable of a bottom 2 role? I expect him to do well in a bottom 2 role, not sure more then that.
3. Jurcina-Injured on and off last year, team did great with him in the lineup but corsi argues he did more harm then good as a bottom 2 d-man. Paired with Eaton(or Mottau for that matter), I expect decent bottom pairing play from him.
4. Mottau-Coming back from injury, pre-injury his stats say he was a good/decent bottom 2 d-man. Can we expect that if he’s back? Hopefully and likely, but health is a big question with his eye and leg.
5. Wishart-Played amazing in a bottom 2 role last year, according to stats. He should be able to excel in a bottom 2 role, or possibly even do well in a top 4 role(that isn’t overbearing on him given his experience in the nhl. He is a wildcard, but with what he did in the nhl last year, we can hope. But this guy is the biggest gamechanger for us this season because what he “could” be capable of, imo.
6. A-mac-also coming back from injury, what to expect?
7. Hamonic-The top 4 rookie d-man phenomenon. Wanna hear something scary, he beyond excelled last year in a top 4 shutdown role, he was ranked 35th among all starting d-men for the toughest quality of competition faced too. And to toot his horn even more, he was on the verge of a 7goal/34pts season in his rookie year in 2nd PP unit minutes. That pts total would have put his as, ironically, 35th in pts among d-men in the nhl. Can he repeat and get better? Likely, but not sure if he will get better next year. But Hamonic “could” really be the Isles future #1 d-man if he gets his offense together/repeats and learns how to man a point. We saw the monster slapper, we saw the defensive abilities(hopefully not overly padded by A-mac, and according to corsi, not likely), and we know what he is capable of.
8.Donovan/DeHaan-2 big prospects that should be getting their ahl seasoning this year. Eventual call-ups and hopefully productive nhlers. Not a ton of weight is on their shoulder unless injuries(knock on wood) happen to one of our top 4 d-men or if one of our top 4 d-men are underperforming. Can they be productive nhlers mid-season is likely the big question? Hopefully is the logical answer.
9. Is there random top 4 d-man XXXXXXXXX being added? Would it help? Yes, more then one would think because of our injury-plagued d-core, but is it likely is the question?

Goalies: (in no particular order)

1. Montoya-coming off surgery. Was mostly sub-par in his ahl career before he was brought here. Overperformed, but in a small sample of play. Now coming off injury, what the hell should we expect? Personally, average at best goaltending as a starter imo.
2. Nabokov-Don’t expect much, even if he stays with the team to start the season.
3. DP-An offseason without an injury or surgery or rehab. This could be our lucky year. But given what he did overall last year, even average play from him next year would be a miracle. Logically expect sub-par but bearable goalkeeping from him if he can stay healthy.
4. Poulin-coming off surgery, let him get his “rehab” starts in the ahl and continue to solidify his game there. Don’t rush the “likely” future #1 goaltender of the team. Possibly expect a call-up eventually, but hopefully and not likely until at least December.
5.Mikko-Definitely needs more ahl seasoning.

Otherwise as stated by numerous people(as above info has been in other words). Our offense should be great, our PK should be great, and our PP should be above average so it all lies on the shoulders of the D and goalies.

i get the feeling that every team in the league is still going to treat the isles like a joke. well, good. when they’re unprepared for the unexpected, it’s only going to be a whole heck of a lot sweeter. we need to remember that this team is a blue-collar, hard-working, grind-it-out, need i say more hyphens? team. this team likes playing for capuano. he gets them to play and allows them to still get creative. this is exactly the type of hockey fans deserve to root for. i believe most of my nights spent at home watching the isles this season will be well worth it (followed by a celebratory beverage at the local drinking saloon, while boasting to my fellow rangers fans and engaging in rants on why devils fans know nothing about hockey and don’t deserve a team by properly citing how they fail to sell out a game 7 stanley cup final).

umm…i just said that out loud didn’t i?