Sure they’re not playing, nor doing anything (from the outside anyway), but plenty of Islanders-related items to catch up with on a Friday.
- After their darkest podcast in memory, Dan and Mike roll through their memories for happy times: recalling Stan Fischler highlights and their own stints as interns for the Maven. [Islanders Anxiety]
- The draft lottery results will be revealed Saturday, and Eric Hornick runs down the odds and how they work, including the impossible dream: Technically the Islanders could “win” twice and land the first and second pick. But you know they’ll get neither. [NYI Skinny] Lottery overview from Newsday too.
- They won’t announce the top three picks until the first intermission of San Jose-Vegas Saturday, but we’ll already know if the Islanders have any of them when they announce picks 15 to 4 before the game. [NHL]
- Do the ties that bind have Lou Lamoriello leaving the Leafs (where his time as GM may be set to expire, though his contract does not) and joining his son with the Islanders? Media wonder and connect the dots, which are only dots. [LHH | Newsday] (Boy, putting him and Garth Snow together would make the Isles the most tight-lipped organization in sports.)
- Andrew Gross reviews the Islanders defense, including the status for the first handful of prospects in the AHL. [Newsday]
- Arthur Staple runs down the Isles’ top 20 prospects and how they are viewed by the team and a couple of pro scouts or an AHL coach who faces the Sound Tigers. That coach on Ho-Sang: “almost like he doesn’t identify the situations and be able to cut his losses. [...] he catches your eye with his ability to skate, move it, make plays but it’s the defensive part where you know he’s a liability [...] only time he’s going to go into traffic is to beat someone with the puck. He’s not going to defend inside the dots. He’ll let someone else do the work.” [The Athletic]
Elsewhere
- The rest of Elliotte Friedman’s 31 Thoughts were about the Leafs and stuff. [Sportsnet]
- 1st overall picks Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Taylor Hall were finalists for the Ted Lindsay Award as voted by players. [NHL]
- The second round began last night. The Capitals carried a 2-0 lead in the third period of their annual bout with the Penguins but then...welp. [Japers’ Rink]
- Aaaand Vegas absolutely blasted the Sharks from the get-go in Game 1, 7-0. [Fear the Fin]
If this score holds, it will be the most one-sided loss in #sjsharks playoff history.#Vegasborn have matched their total goals from 1st round (7).
— Eric Hornick (@ehornick) April 27, 2018
Evander Kane did a really stupid thing:
So, Evander Kane will probably get suspended for this pic.twitter.com/aio4CdMXpC
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) April 27, 2018