Ranger fan here... the combo of lou 'the don of newark' and trotz is phenomenal. Although it gets boring at times, you're guaranteed to be one of the better if not the best defensive team in the league. With that being said you're also compromising an INSANE amount of offensive talent; if Trotz could find that sweet spot it would be scary to see how good they could be. My two cents..

I think if trotz hired a more progressive hockey mind to make the lineups the isles would be in 1st right now. Now they might miss the playoffs because he needs to have a 4th liner on the first line with barzal

I think if trotz hired a more progressive hockey mind to make the lineups the isles would be in 1st right now. Now they might miss the playoffs because he needs to have a 4th liner on the first line with barzal

Could say the same about DQ, and he's a 'fresh' hockey mind in a sense (has only been coaching in the bigs for three seasons now). That is a great point though, I had an interesting conversation the other day about how these 'elite coaches' (tippet.. babcock.. vigneault.. you get the idea) are just constantly recycled through the league.

Just as a hometown example.. check what Knoblach accomplished for the Rangers while Quinn was out; literally exposed his inability to make in game changes or even significant roster changes to help development. You could go as far as to say Kris started this run that got the Rangers in a position to get there.

I think the isles will be fine. If anything; Rangers slip back to young inconsistent hockey and the B's just squeak in. End of the day the Isles are playing playoff style hockey, regardless of what they're putting in the net at the moment. Goals will come, can't have defense like that just pop up.

It’s so ridicolous. Zajac/Komarov/Dal Colle is playing regularly top-6 minutes... Coburn - Greene, the worst D-pair in the entire league? Sitting Dobson/Wahlstrom/Bellows/Hickey for these players. wtf is going on? Lou said that he and Barry had talked a lot about what the Islanders needed come deadline, surely Lou must have thought that Palmieri would replace Lee!? I’m not getting it. How the *uck can you be as stubborn as Trotz? This team is not carried by him any longer, we have enough talent to be good under another coach with a more balanced system. So tired of both Lou and Trotz. Thank you for all you’ve done, goodbye.

That's a fair point , but I think Quinn is a terrible coach lol. I wish more coaches took after a guy like John Cooper. Always puts his players in a position to succeed and when a young player gets called up from the AHL, he tries to find ways to increase their confidence.

I agree regarding knoblach , he had a good feel for the game and its a big reason why they dominated in that 1st game.

The thing with the isles is they have the personnel to make a deep run, but having komarov and Travis Zajac on the 1st line isn't going to cut it. These insane lineup decisions are holding back barzal and the team.

don't even get me started on DQ. lol

nelson - barzal - wahlstrom
beau - JGP - eberle
bailey - zajac - palmieri
martin - cizikas - clutterbuck

that's how i'd look at it for tonight.. swap leo for cal if you do anything; wahlstroms confidence would be through the roof if he were playing with those two.

It’s so ridicolous. Zajac/Komarov/Dal Colle is playing regularly top-6 minutes... Coburn - Greene, the worst D-pair in the entire league? Sitting Dobson/Wahlstrom/Bellows/Hickey for these players. wtf is going on? Lou said that he and Barry had talked a lot about what the Islanders needed come deadline, surely Lou must have thought that Palmieri would replace Lee!? I’m not getting it. How the *uck can you be as stubborn as Trotz? This team is not carried by him any longer, we have enough talent to be good under another coach with a more balanced system. So tired of both Lou and Trotz. Thank you for all you’ve done, goodbye.

don't even get me started on DQ. lol

nelson - barzal - wahlstrom
beau - JGP - eberle
bailey - zajac - palmieri
martin - cizikas - clutterbuck

that's how i'd look at it for tonight.. swap leo for cal if you do anything; wahlstroms confidence would be through the roof if he were playing with those two.

Coburn- Greene + Zajac-nelson-palmieri were the two worst line combinations by expected goals % ALL SEASON. Not one other line combination performed worse than those two.

I know outsiders think that Trotz is some god, but he really is killing the team right now. I respect what hes brought to the team since he arrived in 2018 - but now it feels like Trotz is intentionally trying to lose games. It's embarrassing. He calls out wahlstrom meanwhile zajac had one of the worst defensive impacts among isles forwards this season...Remember that lazy play that led to mantha's breakaway ? if wahlstrom would have pulled that sh*t he would have been sent to Bridgeport.

And speaking of Wahlstrom, now all of a sudden fans parrot trotz and act like its fine if wahlstrom is the odd man out moving forward. Despite not producing as of late, Wahlstrom is 100% a top 5 forward on this team and scratching him if hes healthy is criminal.

Yeah, dont even know where to start really, im just sooo frustrated with a hundred things at the moment. When we are playing great, its all because of Barry and solely him with the exceptions of one player - Barzal of course. When we loose its all on the players from Trotz own perspective and the hockey world. When Barzal isnt producing with Komarov/Zajac on his LW he is totally of his game according to a large group of the fanbase. "We need more toughness, WSH won every battle", according to a large group of the fanbase that believes Trotz is Messias, not more skill, no because the scoring is super fine and the high danger chances created.. Ugh.

That countability crap from Trotz is bull****, as you said, the veterans havent been held responsible one single time since he got here, but if Whally isnt scoring every single game he is scratched the next game. If Dobson isnt Pulock x2 with the anchor Greene, he is scratched for... Braydon Coburn. When we won 8-4 Barry must have lost it completely and forced the players to swear that they never ever would play a game based on their skill level again. Especially Barzy havent been the same after really, makes you think.

When Trotz was asked about the "first line" the other day, he went sour and sarcastically responded "I dont know what youre talking about, what first line?" Haha, I seriously believe he values the impact of a player like Martin as highly as Barzal. "Fantasy hockey" he calls the analytical side of the game... If you put your best players witch each other and in spots to succeed, they will automatically create and produce more offensive zonetime then defensive, simple as that because their hockey IQ, will lead to a sustained pressure in the opponents end. Its like Trotz expects Barzals line to be outplayed and pushed back in their own end every shift, hence why a "reliable" defensive minded forward has to play on that line.

Yeah, dont even know where to start really, im just sooo frustrated with a hundred things at the moment. When we are playing great, its all because of Barry and solely him. When we loose its all on the players from Trotz own perspective and the hockey world. When Barzal isnt producing with Komarov/Zajac on his LW he is totally of his game according to a large group of the fanbase. "We need more toughness, WSH won every battle", according to a large group of the fanbase that believes Trotz is Messias, not more skill, no because the scoring is super fine and the high danger chances created.. Ugh.

That countability crap from Trotz is bull****, as you said, the veterans havent been held responsible one single time since he got here, but if Whally isnt scoring every single game he is scratched the next game. If Dobson isnt Pulock x2 with the anchor Greene, he is scratched for... Braydon Coburn. When we won 8-4 Barry must have lost it completely and forced the players to swear that they never ever would play a game based on their skill level again. Especially Barzy havent been the same after really, makes you think.

When Trotz was asked about the "first line" the other day, he went sour and sarcastically responded "I dont know what youre talking about, what first line?" Haha, I seriously believe he values the impact of a player like Martin as highly as Barzal. "Fantasy hockey" he calls the analytical side of the game... If you put your best players with each other and in spots to succeed, they will automatically create and produce more offensive zonetime then defensive, simple as that because their hockey IQ, will lead to a sustained pressure in the opponents end. Its like Trotz expects Barzals line to be outplayed and pushed back in their own end every shift, hence why a "reliable" defensive minded forward has to play on that line.

Yeah you articulated my thoughts pretty well. It drives me insane when fans sh*t on barzal - do they realize that there's not one star center in the NHL is treated worse than barzal. Trotz literally told him to play wing ( a position he hasn't played in over 3 years) just so a 4th liner can be comfortable at center! You can't make this up. The reason for their success earlier in the season is due to these players in order:
1. Barzal
2. Pulock/pelech pairing (#1 pairing in the NHL)
3. Goaltending
4. The Kids (wahlstrom, dobson, bellows)

Trotz hates it when reporters ask him a question about barzal or any young players skill. When wahlstrom was lighting it up for a month straight and reporters brought it up he would respond and say something like "well you know we have guys on the taxi squad who work extremely hard and can jump in any time - guys like johnston , Leo, " ...He hates giving credit to the players that drive this teams success.

Do fans not realize that the reason we were an elite defensive team earlier in the year is because of the sustained pressure in the offensive zone...Spending a majority of time in the offensive zone leads to a greater defensive impact - we were winning the high danger battle and a top 5 expected goal % team. Now Trotz decided he's going to put the lines in a blender because he cares more about "his way" than winning.

the thing that drives me nuts with wahlstrom is that this is a completely different situation the Dobson situation last season and Bellows this year. Wahlstrom is already one of the best players on this team and a big reason why theyre in a playoff spot. He's earned the right to be a regular.

He's top 5 among isles forwards in:
1. Wins above replacement
2. Goals above replacement
3. Standing points above replacement

Leads the team in the shots per 60, goals per 60, and is 3rd on the team in points per 60 only behind barzal and eberle.

Now lets look how he compares to other isles forwards defensively and puck management

exected goals against per 60
wahlstrom: 1.94 XGA/60
Bailey: 2.03 XGA/60
Nelson: 2.16 XGA/60
Pageau: 2.24 XGA/60
ZAJAC: 2.42 XGA/60

So he has great defensive metrics relative to his teammates. Now lets do giveaways per 60:

Wahlstrom: .94
Zajac: 1.35
Nelson: 1.72
Bailey: 2.53 (leads team)

Yet trotz talks about him likes he a spare part - and reporters like staple and gross have been writing articles supporting trotz narrative. Wahlstrom has a few bad games and they start writing about his struggles as if he didn't carry the team for over a month...but they won't write the struggles of the worst 4th line in hockey or guys like Bailey and Mayfield.

Yes exactly, agree with every point you make. This Barzal situation gives me PTSD flashbacks from the dark Tavares era, with the exception that we now actually have good wingers to play with our superstar center, but our supposedly superstar coach simply wont do it. Its so paradoxically.

This is not a fluke, its a pattern we have seen for Trotz version of the Islanders, the system wear down on players late in season, and he cannot cope with changing things up when it clearly not working.
Another thing I have against his "perfect" system is how depended it is on every single part of it to function perfectly. If one important player goes down, it seemingly collapses into chaos and hes rumbling about chemistry in eternity. Lee this year, Pelech last (we got saved by the Covid break clearly). In a good system the system itself will take care of unseen events if youre a good team. Every good team in the league have suffered more injuries throughout the season than us and still manage to cope with it and adjust things by the current state of affairs. Not Trotz. Hes trying to fit a square peg in a round hole like he says himself. Instead of trying to create what Lee does best in every single replacement for him on that spot, atleast TRY to test something different on that line. Laviolette knows that NO one can replace what Ovechkin does, and will not even try to demand that in some other 4th line player with Bäckström/Kuznetsov.. thats the big difference in my opinion of the matter.

I absolutely hate it. But now youre just putting out some "fantasy hockey numbers" according to a laughing Trotz that will tell you that its not how it is played out in the real world of hockey. So ****ing tired of these reporters and their unhealthy respect for Barry and Lou.

barzal+eberle have been a top 10 duo in the league this season and Trotz is doing his best to kill their momentum. Eberle gets a lot of hate because he struggles to finish at time, but he is an extremely powerful play driver who is a master at generating high danger scoring chances.

The system works, it just Trotz is already one of worst coaches in the league when it comes to lineup decisions with a fully healthy roster - losing an important piece just makes matters worse because he ends up giving a much worse player more ice time in a role he can't handle. Trotz is so goddamn stubborn, I hate it. Not gonna lie its kind of hard to root this team right now. If they were actually icing the best lineup with what they have available and still lose, nothing you could do about it - but its infuriating that Trotz continues to play guys who he respects the most, not the players who give the isles the best chance to win.

Trotz will argue that guys like Leo/clutter?kuhnhackl (last year) need to be in the lineup for their value on special teams , but the same narrative doesn't apply to wahlstrom who's by far our best PP weapon. Just his presence on the ice opens up space for his teammates.

GUYS... I just had an idea... we cancel the actual game tonight and put a ring, center ice at MSG. Trotz/Lou vs. DQ/Davidson in a tag team on ice Manhattan Mega Bowl. Rangers take on Ladd's contract if they lose, Isles take on Tony D if they lose. Deal? Deal

Haha exactly this. Barry absolutely hates offense, it disgusts him.

Lol i swear these isles writers love to focus on the negative with wahlstrom, but they’ll praise Andy Greene for a blocked shot while getting burned all game

Could see Wahlstrom getting benched for a shift for not getting puck deep there. #Isles

— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) April 30, 2021

Arthur Staple today in his article: ”The Islanders need Wahlstrom to be a little more active at five-on-five to make this line a regular all through the game, but he needs to be in the lineup to goose the moribund power play, as he did Thursday”.

Haha... all this while he’s giving Komarov all the love in the world for his ability to not taking penaltys lately. I’m not even kidding with this ****. ”He’s not on the 1st line to score”... he’s earned it by not taking a lot of penalties by Staples standard.

On the 4th line; ”this line is who the Islanders are.” ”You can’t pretend to be something you’re not.” Really? So tired of this ****ing stupid narrative, stop it already please.

Also his defense depth chart for the playoffs:
1. Coburn
2. Bolduc
3. Hickey
4. Hutton
5. Aho

Aho fifth on the list, Hickey third, Coburn first, Bolduc already second... cannot make this **** up. Hickey should play over Greene as it is, Aho should definitely rank higher, then Hutton/Coburn/Bolduc in the next tier.

The funny thing is most of wahlstroms value at even strength comes from his defensive play...lol. So you’d think trotz would love that - a defensive minded forward at even strength whos opportunistic and also scores on the powerplay...Showing “more” at even strength would require wahlstrom to take risks and we know what happens if he takes a risk and turns the puck over...now that he was in the doghouse he’s being conservative because that’s what will keep in the lineup.

Staple is such a hack lol - just writes whatever will appeal to trotz. If staple is writing on recent events, he should write about the failed zajac experiment, but he won’t - and I don’t mean a few sentences in an article, he should dedicate a full article to it

The disrespect to hickey man...I’d take hickey with a minor leg injury over bolduc lol. Bolduc would get killed right now, he needs another year in the AHL. And don’t get me started on coburn.