Islanders News: Barzal ready; Oliver dreams; Lou on the way forward

A fairly quiet weekend underway as the free agency frenzy has settled down. But Lou is still making the rounds.

Islanders Reading

• Those who know Mathew Barzal say he absolutely is ready to be The Guy. He agrees. [Newsday]
• Oliver Wahlstrom models his game after Ovechkin and Laine, so that’d be nice. [Isles]
• Lou on TSN 1050 Toronto, where they spent half the segment asking stale Tavares questions: “He is a player on another team, so we really shouldn’t even be talking about him, but I wish him all the best, except when he faces the Islanders.” He also re-iterated that Ho-Sang “has a clean slate.” (Also: Stop asking him hypotheticals and “How did you pitch Tavares? Did you plan for him when you were with Toronto?” questions. He’s not suddenly going to share inner workings after 30 years.)
• More from Lou, transcribed “The only thing that matters now is pushing ahead and making the New York Islanders the best they can be.” [NHL]
• I Did Not Know That: Retiring Alex Burrows was a Bridgeport tryout in 2002. [Soundin’ Off]
• Calvin says: Cut the crap with the dude bro Tavares bashing. [Twitter]

Elsewhere

• Nothing new on the Erik Karlsson trade front. But he should remain outstanding, wherever he lands. [TSN]
• The Knights re-signed Colin Miller for four years, $15.5 million. [NHL | Knights On Ice]
• First-rounder Filip Zadina signs his ELC with the Wings. [WIIM]
• Jack Eichel is switching from 15, which he’s had since he joined the Sabres, to his favored #9, which was previously taken by Evander Kane. [Die By The Blade]
• Ray Shero is playing the long game for the Devils. [AATJ]
• Alex Ovechkin had himself some fun with the Cup in Moscow. [NHL]