Agreed - he was just speculating based on how the organization operates.

The last answer on the Q&A drives me nuts

Trotz sees Leddy as similar to toews but more reliable since he’s further along in his career. A lot of coaches see them the opposite way but this teams executives prefer experience above almost all else

Kill me 😂

100%. "Dobson was excellent, but we'd rather run with Cory Schneider as the 3rd goalie on our roster. Dobson will start in Bridgeport"

“The islanders have traded Noah Dobson for two 2nd round picks”

I’m now convinced this q&a was just a parody

Addressing the main piece of the post: I don't mind Brassard at all. I even think there are ways you could construct the lineup with him, Koivula and one of Bellows or Wahlstrom. We need to play the youth, but we also can't afford to not have a safety net in case one of those guys isn't ready (Wahlstrom) or doesn't work out (Bellows).

As for the rest of the post, both from the description and comments you've left, good lord I'm scared. I don't know if Aho is going to be Toews 2, but if they don't at least try and see what they have, I'm going to be very upset. The fact that they supposedly worked out handshake deals with Martin and Greene before knowing what was going on with Boychuk/Ladd and oh, that Barzal guy blows my mind. I adore Pelech, but I'll be shocked if he receives a reasonable contract, especially if they felt forced to trade Toews, who himself got a reasonable contract. Trotz is great and he's helped turn this organization in a positive direction in the standings, but he either needs to lighten up when it comes to playing the young guys or yeah, he may have to go sooner rather than later too. There isn't a ton of high upside youth here and probably won't be for some time. They need to focus on getting the most out of the guys they do have, rather than letting them waste away. (Reading this back it's not very substantive at all, but you know how I think, I'm just frustrated).

We don't know what it's like to be in the room with them, so obviously our perspectives are all a little fuzzy, at best and completely misinformed at worst. But you see what they do and hear what they say and it's just "Why would you do that?" over and over and over.

Not happy with that news. Brassard’s production was inconsistent, and if you’re going to have an inconsistent skater on the team, can’t he at least be a young sniper with a ton of upside? Especially when deep stats suggest that the young sniper was on the verge of breaking out?

As for the Toews trade, I’d like to see what we do with the picks, but I really liked having Toews. We have so few guys on our team that drive offense, and with Toews gone, I’m wondering what we do besides set up a neutral zone trap. Really gotta hope that what we saw from Beauvillier in the playoffs continues. Can’t stay there all game.

Lol right

You're making this up you have to be

Agree with your point on brassard. I guess I just know it gives them an excuse to bury the kids, so that’s why I’d rather have one less option lol.

I don’t think Aho would be as effective as toews, but I think it’s a safe bet he’s a #4 at worst - but it doesn’t look like he’ll get an opportunity to prove himself. Makes no sense - it’s almost as if trotz wants to get rid of any player with finesse in his game. Having barzal on the team is enough for him, so he wants the rest of the roster to play a full style.

Are you saying that they’ll overpay pelech? Btw it seems like regardless they were done with toews lol - staple said it was inevitable he was getting traded.

I actually think there is a lot of high upside youth in the organization (the high upside, low floor prospects is what makes it hard for scouts to evaluate our prospect pool) but you need a coach willing to put those players in a position to succeed.

Aho - not a trotz player, won’t get a shot

Bellows - solid year in the AHL, entering his D+5 season but organization isn’t high on him lol

Koivula - improves every year, NHL ready entering his D+5 season, but they won’t waive johnston or komarov to accommodate him

Wahlstrom - great during his call up - pretty good year in the AHL as a 19 YO considering who he plays for , but trotz hates young skilled players

Ho-sang: best defensive forward on the isles last year, but only had two points in 10 games because komarov couldn’t finish his passes. Lou/trotz are done with him no matter how good of a camp he has.

Nope...I wanted to smash my phone when I read it

Yeah that’s a good point on brassard. Unfortunately this organIzation hates young players.

Thank you ....people don’t realize that toews was one of the best play drivers on the team. Even though Dobson’s underlying numbers were nearly identical to his, the goal should be to get better. Now Dobson and to a lesser extent pulock, are the only D that can drive play from the backend

Beauvillier is a stud and should be playing with barzal and eberle . Look up the number of players around his age that have more goals than him since entering the league. Not many. He was in the 88th percentile for WAR last season and was at a similar WAR/60 as pastrnak

Is the last thing we need. Thank god that trade stalled

If they end up making the parise trade I will lose my mind

Dont. Its too much i cant handle it anymore lol

I’d love to see, worst case scenario end of 21-22, a top line of Beau-Barzy-Wahl. Beau seizes opportunities well, which is exactly the kind of guy you want playing with Barzal, and if Wahlstrom can lead the team in expected goals from the 3rd line, imagine what he could do playing next to one of the league’s best playmakers.

Defensively, I’d like to see more of Aho. I don’t think he replaces Toews, but he could at least occupy the same role he did after some breaking in. I could see a Pelech-Pulock, Leddy-Dobson Top 4 as effective in the short term with Aho taking Leddy’s place in the longer term. Til then, a 3rd pairing of Aho-Mayfield would be pretty fun to watch.

I’d love to see that line. Beau is our best defensive winger in the top 9 and he’s the 2nd best forechecker behind.....Jordan eberle.

Wahlstrom was also solid defensively - his xGA/60 was above average - but he had one bad turnover so trotz said he doesn’t know how to play the game. We don’t even need wahlstrom to be a great play driver , he just needs to finish barzal’s passes off the rush.

I’m a huge fan of Aho, but after reading staples comments he’s not in their future plans. It’s such bullsh*t man lol - staple made it sound like he’s just not a trotz player although he is good enough to play in the NHL.

Yes, I do think Pelech will get overpaid. Like I said, I think he's great, but I just think they're probably going to look at him and pay him a lot more than he's worth, much like they did with Lee and Pageau.

As for your evaluation of the prospects, I guess it depends on your definition of high upside. Wahlstrom still looks like a top-6 forward for sure, maybe even with more defensive ability than was first thought. Koivula too I think could be a really, really good bottom sixer. But Bellows finally looks like he might be the guy they drafted and any upside Ho-Sang has is a moot point because he's probably never going to get a shot with the team. Same thing with Aho if Staple's musings are correct. Notice too how none of those guys (besides Wahlstrom, whose development hasn't been ruined yet) were Lou draft picks. I wonder if that has anything to do with how they've been treated under the "new" regime.

I’d be fine with 6 mill or under. Anything over 6 would be an overpayment IMO. I also don’t trust Lou to go out and get someone better than pelech for the top pair, so I don’t mind giving pelech 5.5 x 6-7 years. Brodin is a fair comparable for him, and he’s a better defenseman. Pelech is still relatively young and he’s been top 15 XGA over the last 3 seasons (even pre trotz he was great defensively). What do you think he’ll get?

Lee is definitely overpaid, but his contract is buyout friendly and I actually think he had a great season at even strength - he’s actually due for a bounce back year (he’ll score at a higher rate next season) - I think he’ll get bought out in 4-5 years.

Here’s the thing with pageau - he’s been a strong play driver 5v5 for most of his career and he’s had to carry bad players like Tom pyatt. If it were up to me , I would have made cizikas the 3C and let bardreau be the 4C . Not trading for pageau would make the team worse as long as trotz is here because he’s so stubborn and believes that cizikas is a 4C and has to be glued to clutter/Martin when the reality is cizikas carries them and would be even more dominant with better wingers. Since trotz became head coach cizikas has been playing at a level worthy of selke consideration and he’s also been good offensively as well. That’s exactly how pageau was in the playoffs - sure he had a high S% , but he was driving play at both ends of the ice at a high level. That’s what I expect for at least the next 4 years, I see him aging like bonino who is still a great C at 32 YO. I was hoping for 4.5-x 5 when we traded for him, but 5 mill x 6 isn’t bad.

I have not soured on wahlstrom at all - I’m not going to fault him for not putting up more points in BPT when the coaching staff literally told him not to worry about points - which was confirmed. Then after the season Thompson said “I’m sure he would have liked to score more goals” - yeah no sh*t lol, making an offensive minded prospect get rid of his creativity and only focus on defense is insane. I have no doubt he’ll be good enough to play with barzal.

The high ceiling prospects im talking about are wahlstrom , wilde , iskhakov, and Holmstrom. I see bellows as a 2nd liner, koivula as a high end 3rd liner. I don’t even know if I consider ho-sang a prospect anymore, but obviously he has a high ceiling and he’s shown glimpses of being an elite player in the NHL.

Wilde- his tools are insane, 6’4 and can do things with the puck that Dobson can only dream of doing - but his hockey sense isn’t great. His signature move is going end to end, doing an inside out move on the defender and scoring. Im praying his size and willingness to be physical is enough for Trotz to give him a chance - although watching Him in a Bridgeport Thompson sheltered him and barely gave him any PP time 😂 - I can’t stand that guy - but yeah wilde can definitely be the most dynamic defenseman we’ve had since streit , he just needs to work on his decision making.

Iskhakov - definition of a boom or bust prospect. His ceiling is high but he’s only 5’7. I’m sure trotz is hoping he doesn’t pan out because he doesn’t want to play anyone that small.

Holmstrom - I know injuries caused him to drop, but I was doing research on him and his D-1 season was impressive. If he never got injured he would have been a consensus top 15 pick. Not sure if you’ve heard of the scout jokke nevalainen, he worked for dobber prospects and just got a job with canes. He thinks Holmstrom has a ton of upside and im pretty sure he’s said he has star potential. That being said, tomasino should have been the pick - but I didn’t know that about Holmstrom so maybe he surprises in 2-3 years.

At the end of the day it comes down to opportunity and like I said trotz cares more about being comfortable than putting the young guys in a position to succeed.