Islanders Gameday News: Wildly optimistic

The New York Islanders continue their two-game road trip tonight in Minnesota, where former Isles captain Bill Guerin is a mid-round pick broker for cap-strapped trading teams.

The Wild are in playoff position with six points to spare, but that won’t keep Guerin for dealing a little side action. Because you never know when a fourth-round pick will be your lucky ticket.

First Islanders Goal picks for tonight go here.

Islanders News

• Mike and Dan have a special announcement about the future of Islanders Anxiety and Associated Podcast Non-industries. All good. Thanks in advance for the support. (Also, in their weekly turn they mock Penguins water carriers.) [LHH]
• Butch gets most of the notoriety, but Stan Fischler notes there were several “missing pieces” to make the Dynasty a reality, and one of them is Anders Kallur. [Isles]
• “The most likely approach for Lamoriello could be to wait this out and shop for some bargains. There is no move the Isles could make to push them over any proverbial hump, so please Lou don’t buy, just take what comes. [Athletic | Post]
• But the Isles are focused on the next game (which is tonight), not the trade deadline. [Newsday]
• Yesterday in Isles history: Jaroslav Halak breaks the record for goalie wins in a season. No idea where he is now... [Isles]
• Prospect Report: A bit of Odelius with a side of Maggio. [Isles]
• Direct service: 31 minutes from Grand Central to Elmont. And they said it couldn’t be done. [Isles]

Elsewhere

The only score of relevance to the Isles last night was Detroit’s loss to the Senators, bringing Ottawa to within two points of the Wings. Also: Anthony Beauvillier had another two-goal game, and also set up the OT game winner.

• Yes, it was time for David Poile to retire after years of trying to get the Predators back to the summit. But is Barry Trotz the answer? (By the looks of it, whatever Trotz learned from Lou, having dumb rules about facial hair isn’t one of them.) [Athletic]
• Gary Bettman says the trend of sitting players for potential trades that may or may not happen is “on [his] radar.” [Sportsnet]
• Erik Karlsson says he’s not been asked to waive his no-trade clause and it would be totally uncouth to do it now. [NHL]
• The Maple Leafs made another trade, sending lots to the Hawks for Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty, and they sure hope their culture is now changed enough to actually win a round. [NHL]
• Kyle Dubas says the Leafs may not be done yet though. ‘Cause he’s desperate. [Sportsnet]
• A bunch of rules that GMs should mostly follow at the trade deadline, though few do. [ESPN+]
• The Wings are “listening to interest” in Tyler Bertuzzi, which I don’t believe is news but is treated as such. [TSN]
• The Rangers and Blackhawks would both like to get a Patrick Kane trade done sooner than later, but it’s complicated. [Athletic]
• Connor McDavid reached 50 goals...but the Oilers still lost, to the Bruins. [TSN]