The Islanders took care of thier most obvious piece of business very quickly this off season dropping the "interim" title from Head Coach Jack Capuano giving him the organizations full support.
Capuano's overall numbers came in below .500 as far as winning percentage but remember he started in the middle of a losing streak that basically torpedoed the entire season.
It took the Islanders a while to get used to his new free system that he instituted which takes players abilities and allows them the freedom to use their own creativity as opposed to a strict X's and O's hockey by numbers that former coack Scott Gordon employed.
I am sure the Islander young core is supportive of this as Cappy is a very popular coach with the guys and tells it like it is.
With a young team this is very important as the Islanders can continue to grow knowing the coach that righted the ship and turned the Islanders into one of the toughest teams to play against after the All-Star Break.
The Islanders will probably also have to name a new team captain assuming Doug Weight retires and I am saying right now that man should be Mark Streit.
If not Mark Streit then who?
Kyle Okposo? John Tavares? Frans Nielsen?
It should be interesting who the team elects but from an on ice stand point is almost irrelevant.
What is more relevant is the Islanders got rooked out of the fourth overall pick in the draft by the eighth seeded New Jersey Devils winning the draft lottery with a staggering 3.9% of doing so.
Thats right people a team that just signed one of the best scorers in the NHL to a 15 year 100 million dollar contract won the draft lottery.
The Islanders will draft fifth and have another blue chip prospect to add to the long list of prospects already in the organization.
Should the Islanders stand pat at fifth and just take the best available player?
Should they trade down and pile up more draft picks?
Should they attempt to trade up and get one of the top prospects?
Or maybe, just maybe is this team ready to trade a draft pick for an established player to bolster the line up for a playoff run.
The main question is, who is available via trade? The biggest issue with that is you just never know who is available come draft day.
Odds are the Islanders will pick the best player at their position in the draft and move forward with the young core that showed so much improvement this season.
The coach is in place and the young core is stable and will all be back.
The veteran defense will be back from injury.
All signs point to the Islanders being out of the draft lottery for a long time.
3 comments:
Tavares is the Franchise and should be Captain.Can you say Jean Bealiveau? Quiet leader.also keep the pick and take best defenseman available. Someone with an edge..Hamilton? Murphy? and ditch DP...he is shot. Goes down on every shot and is out of position way too much...bad hips, knees..and either get a new arena, or plan a move to Brooklyn and the Barclay Arena...we need revenue.
what ??? no Tavares is not captain yet...he is too young and his not having a crosby or toews like inpact..he is like stamkos..( who is not a captain either) i see it its a race between Streit and Frans Nielsen. those 2 are the best hockey IQ players on that team. i pick Frans because the team love him and he can do everything!
I would pick Streit, he would be a verry good captain.. And he deserves it.. We will see..
Post a Comment