It’s impossible to objectively say that the Islanders are any better than #5 in the Metro. Which means that we better hope that Boston falls flat on their faces without Bergeron, because, assuming Carolina, NJ, NYR, Tampa, Florida, and Toronto are locks, there’s two playoff spots up for grabs between the Bruins, Pens, Sabres, Sens, Red Wings, and Islanders. And the Red Wings had one hell of an offseason.
Realistically, it’s hard to say the Isles are any better than a coin flip just to be the 8 seed.
crazyhotwheels
Whoever made this list must think this is the NBA where having a couple of stars makes you a title contender. The Rangers are thin outside of their couple of big name guys and NEED Shesterkin to have at least a near Vezina caliber season to be a top 3 team. The Penguins are in the same boat but with a dogshit goalie. Neither of these teams scare me, and acting like they are for sure better than the Isles is just lazy analysis.
rgautz2266
The Rangers and Pens are thin. Jersey is the team to beat.
wikipuff
Caps are betting big on the youth system, who just won the Calder Cup btw.
Slipperee99
They’re better because of a subtraction and not an addition. I said what I said.
Tniz15
People are so high on the rangers. They’re pp merchants who had the least injuries in the league last year
FirstLineLeo
Has anyone questioned the Penguins top-4 RD situation being Letang and Karlsson?
Two players with nearly identical profiles. Aging PP1 top-4 all-offence RDs who have severely regressed on defence and for whom any year could be the first big step-back when it comes to offensive production and play-driving. Petterson is a really good complimentary defensive LD1, but Graves is not a stellar LD2, and assuming Petterson is paired with Letang and Graves with Karlsson (or vice-versa) the Graves pairing could be really questionable. Letang and Karlsson are really nice pieces on different teams, but having them on the same one is just as ineffective as having Burns and Karlsson was just two or three years ago.
So I can’t see Pittsburgh being discernibly better than the Islanders, especially if the O’Connor-Eller-Carter line flounders and Guentzel doesn’t come back soon. Sullivan’s worked injury magic before but it can only last so long. (Also not sold on Jarry-Ned, but that’s another story)
liguy181
The 2022-23 Islanders played at a >100 point pace when Adam Pelech was not injured
On one hand, it’s not nice that this team really seems to ride-or-die on one guy who has a history of being injured. But on the other, the Islanders are a pretty good team that should not be taken lightly by rankings such as these
Whatever ig. It’s more fun when the rest of the league doesn’t expect much from this team
9 Comments
It’s impossible to objectively say that the Islanders are any better than #5 in the Metro. Which means that we better hope that Boston falls flat on their faces without Bergeron, because, assuming Carolina, NJ, NYR, Tampa, Florida, and Toronto are locks, there’s two playoff spots up for grabs between the Bruins, Pens, Sabres, Sens, Red Wings, and Islanders. And the Red Wings had one hell of an offseason.
Realistically, it’s hard to say the Isles are any better than a coin flip just to be the 8 seed.
Whoever made this list must think this is the NBA where having a couple of stars makes you a title contender. The Rangers are thin outside of their couple of big name guys and NEED Shesterkin to have at least a near Vezina caliber season to be a top 3 team. The Penguins are in the same boat but with a dogshit goalie. Neither of these teams scare me, and acting like they are for sure better than the Isles is just lazy analysis.
The Rangers and Pens are thin. Jersey is the team to beat.
Caps are betting big on the youth system, who just won the Calder Cup btw.
They’re better because of a subtraction and not an addition. I said what I said.
People are so high on the rangers. They’re pp merchants who had the least injuries in the league last year
Has anyone questioned the Penguins top-4 RD situation being Letang and Karlsson?
Two players with nearly identical profiles. Aging PP1 top-4 all-offence RDs who have severely regressed on defence and for whom any year could be the first big step-back when it comes to offensive production and play-driving. Petterson is a really good complimentary defensive LD1, but Graves is not a stellar LD2, and assuming Petterson is paired with Letang and Graves with Karlsson (or vice-versa) the Graves pairing could be really questionable. Letang and Karlsson are really nice pieces on different teams, but having them on the same one is just as ineffective as having Burns and Karlsson was just two or three years ago.
So I can’t see Pittsburgh being discernibly better than the Islanders, especially if the O’Connor-Eller-Carter line flounders and Guentzel doesn’t come back soon. Sullivan’s worked injury magic before but it can only last so long. (Also not sold on Jarry-Ned, but that’s another story)
The 2022-23 Islanders played at a >100 point pace when Adam Pelech was not injured
On one hand, it’s not nice that this team really seems to ride-or-die on one guy who has a history of being injured. But on the other, the Islanders are a pretty good team that should not be taken lightly by rankings such as these
Whatever ig. It’s more fun when the rest of the league doesn’t expect much from this team
Btw isles off season was the trade deadline.