I agree man, lately it seems like he's just phoning it in and not even trying to create good lines. Greene needs a game or two off as well to recharge, most of us knew at his age he wouldn't last the full schedule. Dobson should be back next game, be the perfect time to sit him. I'm also not a big fan of Martin being on the PP either. He scored tonight sure and I get why they're doing it, he's a big net front presence but still?...really?

Trotz thinks the team that lays the most hits wins. Then he loses all the time and can't figure out why.
He single handedly makes guys like Barzal disappear.
They should fire him immediately. Before he chase Barzal out killing his numbers while losing.

Refusing to reunite beau with barzal makes no sense. They were on for 20 sec last game and beau scored after barzal drove the net. Then trotz goes right back to komarov.

Yeah greene is awful. I would have gone 7D tonight. Let Aho get ozone starts and PP.

I honestly don't know what he's thinking, it almost seems like he's punishing Barzal for something. I wouldn't say Greene is awful, just the past few games he hasn't had the legs, the seasons catching up to him. He played well earlier in the year, but slowed down as the seasons gone on.

He's trolling the fanbase at this point. Wahlstrom has been scoring goals at an elite rate.

"Wahlstrom is averaging under 12 minutes per night but has been extremely efficient, specifically thanks to his strong shot. For the year he has six five-on-five goals in just 263 minutes, good for 1.37 goals-per-60 which leads the Islanders. It also ranks 15th in the league among forwards who have played 250 or more minutes, right between Pavel Buchnevich and Auston Matthews. Not bad company. Four of his eight goals on the season have come over the last six games, where he’s also added an assist." (the athletic)

Seems like the guy you want to sit down a goal

Two words: Kyle Palmieri

Taylor hall

Get Hall or Palmieri

Just get Hall out of Buffalo. Hate to see him suffer there

I know man, I'm not a big fan of the whole advanced metrics thing, but even an old timer like me can see Wahlstrom should be on his wing, not Komarov. I said that right after Lees injury, give Barzal two shooters to choose from. Leave Beau on Pageaus wing he likes to carry it in and Pageau goes for the net every time. It works. Nelson needs to stop thinking he's an elite stick handler as well, I'm sorry I like Brock but I've watched him turn it over too many times this season trying to be all fancy with the puck...lol

Nick Foligno

these aren't even advanced metrics lol , they are just rate numbers - wahlstrom makes the most of his ice time and scores at an elite rate. 8 of his 9 goals have come down a goal or tied. He's been our best player over the last month and he can't even get on the ice in the final 2 minutes down a goal. It's common sense!!

I'd take him but hes more of a 3rd liner.

I think he could play 1st line minutes, he plays a similar style to Lee, a big gritty net front presence, in my opinion a better 2 way player than Lee is and also a better skater than Lee.

My favorite thing about him is he's a big time play off performer. He excels during the play offs. I love guys like that. Guys like Dale Hunter, Claude Lemieux, the Sutter Brothers weren't big time performers during the regular season, but once the play offs started they out performed everyone. It's guys like that, that can turn around a play off series and in my opinion it's exactly what you want in a rental.

They lose all the time? Their record these last three seasons says otherwise. He’s literally the most successful coach since al arbour and you want to fire him because you disagree with a couple of lineup decisions?

Only reason I don’t want to put beau on a line with barzal is because that third line is on fire and has great chemistry

Trotz took beau off of that line to get Ross in the lineup

Yeah I know and I disagree with that I think he should put beau back on that line

I think I've come to the conclusion that no amount of blendering the lines will fix what's going on. End of the day, team lost their leading goal scorer and power forward. Can't replace that with line shuffles. Maybe they can steal a game or two by changing the lines, but end of the day only way to get the train back on the tracks is through a trade.

I disagree. What is trotz issue with reuniting beau-barzal-eberle? They were on the ice for 20 seconds the other night and beau scored a goal.

You can’t win many games when your coach is neutering your star center with one of the worst players in the NHL.

it's not just about NYI.
It's trotz as a coach. And yes, he always loses with that thinking.

Aren't you just pushing the problem to the other lines then? I think it'll win a game here and there, but the team won't dominate the way they were before. Don't get me wrong, I don't like komarov near the top line. But even with the lineup you proposed, I can't see them winning the way they did before.

No because barzal is by far the best offensive player on the team - giving him two competent wingers gives you the best chance to win. At the beginning of the season they were winning games only because the 1st line was producing.
Beau-barzal-eberle outscored the opposition 27-16 when they were a line a few years back. Every time beau is with barzal he scores a t a high rate. Plus he’s the best defensive winger on the team. It makes too much sense.

Wahlstrom has been the isles best player over the last month. Giving him more ice time with better center would probably be a good idea. No doubt pageau is a solid 3C, but he’s a defensive minded center with a great shot. Nelson is better at driving play offensively and he has better puck skills than pageau, he’d work better with wahlstrom IMO.

The 3rd line is pretty much the same type of line we had in the playoffs (brass-pageau-komarov) - czarnik plays a similar style to brass and that line can be a defensive line that chips in offensively every couple of games.

Overall they 2 scoring lines and two bottom 6 lines that can shut down opposing teams and chip in offensively. Its a lot better than having 0 scoring lines, which is what we have now. Komarov neuters barzal and beau-Nelson-bailey is deployed as a shutdown line for some reason. Bailey has regressed and has no chemistry with beau, that line has the lowest goals per 60 min among all lines with 100 min+