Islanders working to close gap on NHL’s elite teams

Islanders working to close gap on NHL’s elite teams

Islanders GM Lou larell made some roster moves during the first couple days of free agency and my man ain’t done yet so let’s talk all things ows with our New York Post Islander beat Rider Ethan Sears Ethan Sears in the building what’s going on my man thanks for hopping on with us uh season over draft over the I guess big part of free agency over so let’s do a quick recap to get you out on vacation my man uh new guy Anthony duclair Patty wild one of him Lillo went and got him so what are the Islanders getting with duclair well Brandon uh first of all thanks for having me and and with Anthony declair they’re they’re getting speed and they’re getting scoring which is exactly what they’ve needed this is someone who you know when he’s healthy has pretty regularly scored you know between 20 and 25 goals a year uh he’s going to slot in right on that Top Line uh next to Bo horad and Matt barzal uh that’s a roster hold they’ve had for a long time uh he signed a pretty Team friendly deal three and a half million a year that’s probably a you know a pretty solid number for them um and he should fit in pretty well with those guys um you know most of that scoring has come at five on five that’s you know that’s where they have uh struggled to score um I’m curious whether he will end up being on the power play or not but regardless uh a strong signing for them he and Patrick gu have some familiarity with each other as well right yeah yeah so he um when he was uh in junior hockey that’s you know well over a decade ago you know we’re talking I I I think 2011 through 2013 he he played for Patrick W uh with the with the Quebec R parts and he actually said that you know Patrick called him and you know was a was a big reason why he came to the Islanders you know he Lo he loved playing for him he thinks he you know he knows what he’s going to get with Patrick and you know he said when when someone like that calls you and says that they want you it’s pretty hard to say no all right Quebec my favorite province in uh in in Canada so uh what and who’s left on uh Lou lar Riddle’s offseason to-do list yeah well the big question is are they going to try to make you know some kind of trade that is going to you know further you know change the makeup of this roster in a big way or are they going to just you know resign their restricted free agents and probably call it a summer um so that would be you know Simon holmstrom uh rousan isakov Oliver walstrom those are their restricted free agents um and Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck I should just add are they’re still out there as unrestricted free agents um it would be a surprise if they came back to the Islanders but that’s technically still a possibility at this point um and you know if they make some kind of trade then then that’s where you would maybe see uh something that that would further you know really change what what this roster looks like it it would have to be via trade all of the big name free agents are gone and the Islanders don’t really have the cap space to to go after one of those anyway so assuming there’s no big trade let’s look at the roster right now where does this team Stack Up on paper against other teams in the met and have they upgraded they’ve definitely upgraded I I think without a doubt they are they are better now than they were uh two weeks ago or you know at the end of their season um what I am less sure of is whether or not they you know have fundamentally changed their ceiling right um you know if the bar is beating Carolina right because that’s the team that that beat them in the first round of the playoffs two years in a row I don’t know whether changed like I I am skeptical that they would now beat Carolina in a playoff series but they would certainly have a much better chance you know declair makes them better um having a full season under Patrick W makes them better and you also have to remember that they are hoping that ilas soken will will bounce back and look a lot more like the 2022 23 version that was you know keeping them in every game that was contending for VZ a trophy than you know the version last year who was you know struggling down the stretch and and got benched in the playoffs so you know if those two sort of I guess internal things happen then okay maybe they’re you know maybe they do change that equation a little bit um but that’s something that we can’t know until until it happens all right we’re about three months away from the opening week in the uh NHL new season Ethan enjoy your vacation man and we appreciate the reports thanks so much I appreciate you Brandon

Ethan Sears, The Post’s Islanders beat writer, provides New York Post Sports anchor Brandon London with an update on the Isles’ free agency period after the team added Anthony Duclair and re-signed Mike Reilly and also offers an outlook as to whether New York has closed the gap between themselves and the teams at the top of the Metropolitan Division.

#islanders #nhl #hockey #anthonyduclair #nhlfreeagency #freeagent #nypostsports

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