To Win a Cup the Isles Need to Trade Mark Streit

otherwsie I believe having some stability in a veteran on the D is good. I think we may be able to trade some D, Jurcina, Eaton, Mattou and get some return for them

It looks bad, its bad for the room, you just dont do it.

I think if you’re in a vacuum looking ahead to the 13-14 season, trading Streit makes sense. However, I don’t think you can discount the repercussions moving him would have on next season. We already need to replace our bottom three defensemen (I don’t share your feelings on Jurcina, but I guess there’s a case to be made for him as a #6). Making it four would really be a difficult task. I think we’d take a pretty big step back in 12-13 without Streit, and you never know how that will affect the attitude and mechanics of a team.

The biggest problem is what we would really want to try and bring back in any trades we make is a young defense prospect who is close to making the NHL, and odds are a team would probably rather try and fit him into their lineup than trade him for Mark Streit. I guess in theory I could see a team making an offer involving a player like that for a package that had Streit and Frans in it, but again, that would be a monstrous blow to next year.

I don’t know. I don’t have a problem with them moving Streit in principle-captains get traded, it’s not that unusual. But it would have to put us in a position to at least tread water in 12-13 while gearing up for 13-14. We can’t afford to have next year end with a bottom 5 finish again.

But does that mean they should have dumped him before that “while he still had value”? After all, the team didnt look so hot when he was first their Captain- a lot of growing pains and they werent winning. Right?

But that isnt the case in retrospect. The Isles dynasty players credit EW with helping them a lot… he helped mold many of them as pros. Who knows how things might have been without a good guy like Eddie helping them grow into the players they would become and get to where they got.

I am not saying Streit = Westfall… what I am saying is that you cannot discount a player just because you dont see them as part of a dynasty team years in the future. And it cannot be overemphasized that whats happening now is important- win or lose, it is whats shaping some of the guys who this team will depend upon for years to come.

He was, literally, the only good player on the 08-09 team and one of two good players the year after (Moulson being the other one). Media laughed at Garth when he signed him and he turned in two team MVP seasons. He’s been nothing but class in his time here. I think last year goes very differently if he plays, more so than Okposo. In my estimation, his injury set the rebuild back at least one full year.

He’s either not fully recovered from his injuries or maybe it’s a mental hurdle, but he hasn’t been the same player this season. We can all see that.

I can see the logic in trading him to get back assets from a playoff team. I wouldn’t like it (I agree with TMC about trading captains. McCabe was the captain for 15 minutes before Milbury shipped him and Bertuzzi off for the ghost of Trevor Linden), but I could understand it under one condition.

That asset must be an NHL-ready high-end prospect that can step onto the ice right now for the Islanders, or there’s no deal. No picks, no projects. Someone pr*j*ct*d to be an everyday top six (or top 2 D) player for the next decade must come back this way. If Garth gets a deal like that, he has to make it. Otherwise, I’ll keep my 50% of Mark Streit and wait for my own prospects.

This trade is for the future team. Getting rid of a declining Mark Streit who will likely only stop us from getting say, a 4th overall pick vs a 6th overall pick this year is the only real decline. Yes, we are 1-less top 4 d-man next year, but who’s to say Streit’s game doesn’t change and he is still slowly turning into MAB? Who’s to say he’s gonna be worth anything next year? Who’s to say because he’s on the roster next year Garth doesn’t turn him into a loyal cap mule and give him a contract into his late 30s’ that we will all hate? Don’t get me wrong, I love what Streit has done for this team, but Streit doesn’t look the same as he did before the injury. Streit isn’t as effective offensively as he once was. Streit is only going to get worse, not better. Why not turn him into a 2nd round pick or 3rd round pick or even a forward prospect from a team with forward depth?

Point is, we aren’t going anywhere at all this year with our team. Next year is likely going to be another rebuild year too unless garth magically reconstructs this team in more ways then one, especially if we are likely starting a rookie-Strome, rookie-DeHaan, rookie-Cizikas, and should-be-rookie Nino on our roster. The “only” downfall of this trade I see is if you think we are gonna seriously no question make the playoffs next year and need streit for a playoff run to give us some offense, other then that, there is no real reason not to trade streit away while he has value and can give a nice return.

I think the recent assessments of the potential and also certain contributions have been a bit tough on the current D. Sure, they haven’t got what they expected from the D overall and that’s disappointing. And sure, most of the D have indiviudally showed a certain area where they’ve struggled quite a bit (Jurcina brain farts, Staios penalties, Streit speed/mobility, etc.) and they deserve some blame. But really, in my opinion the biggest fails happened early in the season and it’s generally been clearly better as of late. And I also think the truly terrible play of Mottau in the first 20 games and also the general struggles of Eaton have been lumped together with some much more specific weaknesses of the other D.

Streit for example showed some signs of struggles in terms of speed and mobility early on, but has looked better there in my opinion lately. He also struggled with the decision making with the puck early on, made lots of bad plays out of the own zone, but has cleaned that part up quite nicely for my liking. I think that had a bit to do with trying to do too much, which I think has often been a bit of an issue for him throughout his career. However, at EV he’s really only -6 at this point, all other minuses stem from empty-net situations or shorthanded goals against. And plus/minus would look even better for him if they had a bit more shooting luck when he’s on (just 6.8% currently) – and that of course would also help to improve his EV scoring point stats. On the PP, he’s been producing points at a higher rate than ever in his career. The whole 1st unit and especially JT as well as decent shooting luck on the PP deserve some credit there. But Streit has been elite in that area this season. And he’s been solid on the PK, as well posting career-best numbers in terms of shots allowed. He’s of course not playing toughest PK minutes at all, but he’s never done that.
Overall, well, I’m not saying I’m fully happy with what he’s done. I think he needs to be a little better, given the offensive opportunities he gets I expect him to be a plus player on this team. That said, he’s been just -1 at EV (excluding empty-net situations) over the last 22 games. I don’t know if the injury had an effect early in the season, but it could be a good guess. And lately he’s really played better, got better results and I just feel it would be very dangerous at this point to attribute his performance this season to an overall decline of his game. I understand if some are a little worried, I too have concerns especially regarding his speed and mobility. And I know no one thinks he’s useless these days anyway. But really, his underlyings didn’t look all that much better two or three years ago.

And Jurcina for example has suffered from very bad goaltending behind him (87.3% at EV – PDO of 93.6%). Also here, I understand some part of the frustration because he really made some dumb looking plays in front of the own net. And I know people who don’t believe in PDO as much as I do will say that’s why the save percentage is so bad when he’s on. Well, yeah, possible to some extent, but Jurcina’s always had that weakness and yet his career PDO is at 100.8% since 2007.

Again, not trying to find an excuse for the play of these players. They need to step it up a little. But the results they’ve got this season have, for various reasons beyond their control, been below the potential they most likely still possess. So, yeah, not quite sure certain parts of the D deserve the blame they’ve got for the Isles’ general woes this season. And looking ahead to next season or also 13-14 I think it would be quite difficult to replace what Streit is doing for them now

Streit may be an asset of declining value. He may not recover fully from his surgery… and he may never give the Islanders what they need from a 20+ minute defenseman. But why would you think that somebody would want the last year and a half of that contract given his performance this year.
WHo gives up anything more than a middle round draft pick for the off chance that Mark improves over his next 120 games… and actually plays more than 90 of them. What would you pay if you needed a 3rd pair defender who could help on the PP. Most teams that require that, won’t have the cap room to carry him next year.
Why would the islanders get rid of a $4M cap hit when they’d just have to replace it with another MULE. They don’t need another forward, and who would give them a better defenseman… it just doesn’t make sense.
I personally don’t think Streit is really any part of the problem. Nor is carrying his salary. The fact that they do not have better talent around him on the back line is the biggest problem. Streit should be used as a thrid pair guy until he recovers. They don’t have anybody else, though, to replace his second pair role. They are already asking too much of his defensive teammates.
Their tradable assets are Nielsen and Parentau. They might get something for Nabokov, but not much. They probably won’t get much for Frans or PA either, but we can at least hope that Morrow has identified a defensive prospect closer to the NHL than their current AHLers… or at least one with the size and strength they lack.

Two thoughts.

1. If you trade Streit, do it sooner rather than later or his value will be too low.

2. The team has to decide this: what is a greater value, Streit on the Islanders or the package they can get for Streit on the Islanders?