The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 222: Stranded On An Island Defensively

Episode Date: February 22, 2018

Arthur Staple joins the show to discuss the New York Islanders, their solo mission to fix any goal scoring concerns the NHL may still have, and how the high level of uncertainty that looms large this summer has them rapidly approaching a crossroads.  0:30 Contextualizing the Islanders defensive woes 6:00 Looking ahead to the Trade Deadline 10:20 Tavares uncertainty and Barzal's emergence 22:15 'The Chiarelli Line' 27:15 Paying Josh Bailey and Anders Lee 35:50 Finding longer term solutions in net Sponsoring today’s show is SeatGeek, which is making it easier than ever before to buy and sell sports and concert tickets. They’re giving our listeners a $20 rebate off of their first purchase. All you have to do is download the free SeatGeek app and enter the promo code PDO to get started. Every episode of the podcast is available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Google Play, and Stitcher. Make sure to subscribe to the show so that you don’t miss out on any new episodes as they’re released. All ratings and reviews are also greatly appreciated. Thanks for listening! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

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My name is Dimitri Filipovich. and sitting across from me in a swanky Toronto-based hotel room is my good buddy Arthur's table. Arthur, what's going on, man? It's good to be here, which is a surprise since I thought we'd be somewhere else taping this, but in a couple weeks' time, but I am excited to be here nonetheless.

Yeah, well, I mean, the Islanders are playing in Vancouver, as you're alluding to in two weeks, I believe, and we were initially planning to record then, but we couldn't wait. Honestly, with this Islander's team, there's so much to talk about, and I feel like, in two weeks, you might have to have another conversation,

based on how it goes here, but it's good to have you back on the show. I know we had a, I think we had a good chat last year when we did this. Around this time of year, I got really good feedback. I feel like Islanders fans just really want someone to like vocalize their visceral emotions that they feel with this team. And so when you and I kind of talk freely about it, I feel like they're pretty excited about that. They are. I think you're kind of an honorary member of fighters.

Iles Twitter now with the way that you jump in and out. So I think that gives you. do some legitimacy with them as well. Yeah, I guess I'm technically a quote unquote national writer. I have to focus on the entire league. Obviously, my bosses like it if I prioritize the Canadian teams since that moves the needle mostly around here. But I think I spend an ordinary amount of time watching this honors team this year.

It's hard to look away sometimes. When they're playing well, it's amazing. And they're one of the finest teams to watch. And then when they're playing poorly, it's also equally amazing just in the opposite direction. Yeah. I mean, I've talked to a bunch of players on other teams who use. to play here, some for a story that I did on John Tavares last week and just some in general and they all say like, wow, it must be fun. And I'm like, I can detect the note in their

voice that also the unspoken part being, I'm glad I'm not there anymore to experience that kind of fun because it's the sort of fun that, you know, the guys that are the high end guys love it. Obviously, you know, you see a guy like Matthew Barzell and I think any fan, NHL fan, hockey fan, Islander fan must be, has to be enthused by seeing him play the way that he plays. He's not being forced to be put in a box and play a certain way. And, you know, he's obviously, there's a lot of coach cliches about being a rookie and responsibilities. But Doug Waite lets him go and do what he does. And that's, that part is exciting. But I think you also have a lot of risk at the other end. And really, it's, it's astonishing to see some of the defensive breakdowns that they have.

And I'm no hockey structure expert. Right. Yeah. Well, that's, the thing and we'll talk about this in great detail in just a second about the trade deadline and whether they're going to do anything whether they should do something but it's really tough because I don't think it's necessarily as simple as you know bringing in one defenseman or one goalie obviously anything would help at this point I feel like just warm bodies but uh there's like a deeper rooted issue and I feel like you know you're kind of missing the forest for the trees if you think that just one guy suddenly going to fix all these problems yeah I agree you know when they got off to the 15 7 and

to start through the end of November, it was in spite of some bad breakdowns and in spite of some worst goaltending. You know, Thomas Grice, his last big shutout notwithstanding has been really bad all year. And it's kind of come out of nowhere for them. And I think there's been a lot of frustration and head scratching from the front office on down about a guy who, you know, they sent Yarra Halak to the minor, put him on waivers and sent him to the minors in January. And almost immediately gave Thomas Grice a three-year extension last year. And now that could be the worst contract in the NHL right now.

because you're just completely hamstrung yourself with Golton. So beginning of the year, they're winning because Barzell's being Barzell, Tavaris is being Tavaris. Josh Bailey is now Josh Bailey, which is I'm sure we'll get to as well. But their top six arguably was the best top six in the league for the first two months of the year, just the way that they were producing. And they were able to outscore their problems. And then get into December and obviously, you know, the slog of the year, the scoring is obviously going to tail off. they were, I think they were shooting like 11 or 11.5% which is kind of insane. Right.

So you knew something was going to give and then the inevitable injuries, Calvin DeHan, Johnny Boychuk, Nikolai Kulamon, who has been a fan target for many years because of his contract. All of a sudden people were saying like, our defense stinks now because Nikolai Kulman is gone. And they started to get better goaltending. And it's, you know, it's hard to tell because of the shots and the breakdowns. But yeah, this is this is. is a team-wide issue and, you know, when you, when I hear from the fans, when you see the

reaction online to not claiming Cody Fronson or UC Yokinan or, you know, even today Yerebeck gets moved or Taylor-Tron. You know, you have to step back. I know the fans don't need to do this, nor should they most times, but you have to take a step back if you're advocating for change and say, is this a change that's going to make any sense? And I think as much as Garth Snow is in rightly on the hot seat for the team that he's put out there. I agree. One small fix trading a fifth round pick for a number six defenseman is not going to make this problem go away.

Yeah. No, I mean, with Thomas Grace, it's, I believe he's on IR now, right? Yeah,

he managed to get his first shot out of the year. A 50 save shot out in the second of a back to back. His was only 45. Oh, that's true. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah,

we can round that out. It's fine. Yeah, no, it's, I think this team's on pace for three. 300 goals against or something this year. And I've been monitoring that closely just because, I mean, obviously it's a nice round

number. And if they wind up with like 296 or something, it doesn't make any difference. But it's just so rare in today's day and age to give up that much offense. And I don't know what the fix is. So let's kind of use that as a launching point here for a trade deadline discussion. We're a few days away now. We're recording this on a Wednesday afternoon. So I think this is running on Thursday.

So if anything happens between then. I think we're safe. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, good. So obviously fans really want something, anything at this point, kind of just some sort of life raft or something to cling on to for hope. First off, I didn't think, do you think this team's going to do anything between now and Monday?

And second of all, do you think they should? You know, I think should really depends on what the market is. And when you hear the kind of the sellers saying, well, yes, you can have Eric Carlson, if you give us six different items and possibly take Bobby Ryan's contract or, you know, the Rangers say we're selling everybody and you can have Ryan McDonough or you can have Matt Zuccarello if you give us a first round pick and a prospect and a roster player and possibly something else. So I think once the market tells these teams, no, you're not getting everything you want, even for an Eric Carlson or Ryan McDonough, then maybe there's, you know, not a discount,

but something that sounds reasonable that you can do by 3 o'clock on Monday. Do I think that's going to happen? No, not with the kind of guys that the Islanders are looking for. When I talked to Garth Snow a couple weeks ago for my kind of first story with the athletic, he said we're not, we're looking for hockey deals. We're not going to give up our assets for rentals. And really their assets, that's another thing that hamstrings them in going all in this market. Their assets really are their draft picks that they have coming up in June.

They've got their own first and second. They've got Calgary's first and second from the Travis Hammack deal, which I still think was the right move to me. Especially with how he's play this year. Yeah, I mean, I think he's a guy who is a, like, well-liked guy in Calgary on Long Island. Certainly a salt-of-the-earth guy to have on your roster, but I don't think he would be solving their defensive woes right now, as much experience as he has. So they've got their Calgary's first, which could be a lottery pick the way things are going right now. They're kind of bobbing along the same way the Islanders are on the cut line.

So you've got potentially two lottery picks to work with. excuse me is that certain right now probably not i would imagine that if you're garth snow and you're talking to teams about guys with term left that can help you whether it's a top nine forward or more pressing for them a top four defensemen right um i think teams are asking for their pick because it looks a little bit more certain to be a lottery pick and i don't know that garth snow can gamble on that right now like you're you're going out to get a guy who's going to help you make the playoffs and you give up your own pick, and if that's, you end up missing

and you've just given away the ping pong ball for Asmus Dahlene, who could help your defense for a long time. Right. I don't know that that's a gamble he's willing to take, especially with the uncertainty around John Tavares and the core parts of their roster. So long way of saying,

no, I don't think anything major will happen. They've made a bunch of minor moves at the deadline over the last few years. I could see them filling in, you know, Tanner Fritz has had a couple of nice games and got his first NHL goal, the other night, but that kind of third line right wing is a spot that's been a big hole for them since they had Jason Chmera there. He's out of the lineup now. Tanner Fritz is Tanner Fritz,

who's 26-year-old H.L. Player. Do you think Ross Johnston should be looking at her shoulder? I think Ross Johnson is having the run of his life. I mean, the fact that Matt Martin, who's arguably the most popular islander of the last decade beyond Tavares, beyond Hamannick, is basically available for nothing right now. And they could reunite that Don Cherry, best fourth line in hockey. Yeah. But now fans are actually saying like, well, we've got Ross Johnson. And that's amazing to me, but Ross Johnson has contributed exactly what he needs to be

contributing. And the hard part of the last five or six games is that those bottom two lines are doing more than they've done all season in terms of driving play and at least not being caved in possession-wise. And it's the top two lines that are producing intermittently, but also getting run over. possession-wise. And that, you know, if you're Garth Snow and Doug Wade, I think you just stare at each other across the desk and say,

now what do we do? Yeah. Because you're not, you know, you're not filling in with guys that you need to put in the top six. You already have a pretty set top six. I know that you're probably pretty tired of talking about this at this point. And I'm sure Islanders fans are tired of listening to people talk about it at this point. But, you know, you mentioned John Tavares there and how that sort of uncertainty that's looming in the air could influence their to,

decision-making here. And I guess you could look at it both ways, right? Like maybe you don't want to commit too much of this current team because all of a sudden if he's not in the picture anymore, you know, you might want to start from scratch, we're going a different direction. At the same time, you know, you really want to do everything you can to convince him that you're building something here that you can actually spend the rest of his prime years competing with. And that's what I keep coming back to. And I'm not necessarily sure that, you know, a random third liner or third pairing defense when they pick up is going to be the be all end all or the deciding factor for him but I feel like this team is talented enough to get into the playoffs and you know at that point they can

certainly score enough to let anything happen and I think they're doing themselves with a service by just kind of sitting back here and being patient and and that's coming from someone who generally preaches patience with this sort of stuff I know fans always want something to happen for them to talk about and for people to write about but I think I don't know every day the passes here. I'm just, I'm scratching my head wondering what's going on with this roster. Yeah, and I think as it pertains to Varis, the temptation is to say, you know, this is the situation they're in. And obviously every day that passes without adding somebody or getting on a roll means there's, he's one day closer to the door. And I'm not so sure that there's a direct

correlation between those two things. He's the guy who has said all along, he's going to think about everything and consider everything. You know, I had heard before the season started, the arena situation was very high on his list of concerns. They've got an arena. It may not be for the life of his contract if he stays. In fact, it'll probably be about halfway through when they finally get into this new building. But I think it's more about the credibility of the team that he's playing for. They've got a home. Even if in the next three years they're going to be having two homes that are both sort of temporary and not really great for hosting hockey games, you know, I think he is a big picture guy and he's a very, you know, he's focused on the minutiae when he's playing and the

details and his attention of that stuff is second and none. But I think he's also a guy who has understands his place not only in the game, but with this organization and where it's headed. So, you know, I think the arena getting settled with the, with their new building coming in Belmont Park in a few years is important to him. And now I think the focus turns to can he win with this team, this franchise? And, He's certainly close enough to Garth Snow to have had any manner of conversations. He's close with Doug Wade. I'm sure that, you know, John Tavares doesn't initiate a lot of that stuff, but I'm sure it's talked about.

Right. His agent, his agent Pat Brousan, has had lots of meetings with Scott Malkin, the principal owner of the Islanders over the last year that they've kept Pat Bresson and by extension, John Tavares, up to date on everything that they're doing and that they want to do. So I think that kind of consideration, you know, I just, feel like he's going to weigh so many things. And really, one of the things that he must be weighing is he would probably love a quick fix and to trade a first round pick and a prospect and, you know, a couple of other assets for somebody great. But that hamstrings them in the future when he's going to sign for whatever. It's 11.5, 12, 12.12 million dollars a year. So I think he understands the situation they're in right now. I think knowing what I know of him, he takes it personally that they're not better than

they are. So I think when the season ends is really the time he's going to consider all that stuff. And, you know, if he, you know, he's not going to have made a decision in all likelihood by the time the draft rolls around. And that's really the time when the big moves get made. So I think, even if it's not done by Monday, Garth Snow has a chance to still put a roster together or make a change that's big enough before John Tavares makes his decision that may make him say, oh yeah, this team is committed to winning and I look around and I see pieces that are appealing enough to me to want to stay. Yeah.

Well, and I'd say that, you know, Matt Barzal's emergence this season can't be overstated because for the first time, it feels like, you know, there's actually sort of a one B to Tveras as one A or however you want to put it. And now they have these two scoring lines and, you know, it's conceivable as good as Barzal's been right now. He's only going to continue to get better over the next couple of years. And I feel like that is a huge thing that, you know, if he developed as a regular prospect or maybe didn't go through this sudden emergence that he has this year, I think we'd be having a different discussion entirely here right now. Yeah, I totally agree. You know, and that, that's a huge

consideration, too. He's going to, you know, John Tavares is going to get to as close to July 1 or into a few minutes into July 1 as is going to, you know, as he's going to get. And it's, going to make every Islander fan as uncomfortable as they could possibly be if they can get more uncomfortable than they've been the last few years. But I can't imagine that there's any scenario where he doesn't at least hear from some pitches from other teams. And once he hears the pitches and understands who has made space for him or who can offer him something that's comparable to what the Islanders can give him, I assume the second thing that you think of is, is there a guy like Matthew Barzo who's going to take the heat off me? Right. And there's not that many teams

that have it. There's the one here in Toronto, but whether they can make it work is going to be some serious tap dancing going into July 1. You think about teams that could offer him 11 million a year. I mean, he could go to Tampa, I guess, and take a discount, but that doesn't seem like his style. Yeah. So really, when you look around the league, I don't think, you know, Matthew Barzell is going to win the Calder Trophy, barring any crazy things that happened in the last 20 games. And he is a singular talent. He's the kind of guy that hasn't come around. in the NHL in a while and certainly not in the Islanders in a while and even before Tavares because they're not really the same style of player. So I think the idea of playing a few more years with him

taking a lot of the heat off him at even strength and playing with him on a 22% power play that the Islanders have always seemed like they should have but haven't until this year. That's got to hold a lot of appeal to him and I think if he decides to stay, that's going to be a big factor in why he does. Yeah. I mean, there isn't anything really new to say about Barzan that he's having at this point. We all sort of know everything that's happening in the five-point games and the Calder Trophy and everything, but just watching these games. I mean, I haven't been in the building to see him live yet, but, you know, just watching on my laptop, it translates where, especially at these home games when he's kind of dancing around in the

offensive zone with a puck on a string. Everyone is, it's like, it's a weird mix of, there's this buzz where people are waiting for something to happen, but everyone's also kind of holding their breath because you never know what's going to happen and it's that's that's the thing that I look for with with young skilled players when they're finally making it at the stage is sort of that patience right because in in in the NHL far too often we see sort of it preach to get the puck in deep and get it off your stick and you know keep making another place you don't make a mistake and then you have these transcendent guys that come along every once in a while and they're comfortable and creative enough to keep the puck for like 40 seconds at a time skating around and at the

three on three overtime. We see him leave the zone and come back in and it's, I don't know, just I imagine for you, it's made you a job a lot of fun or watching a guy like that on a day-to-day basis. And he has a ton of personality too. He's a guy who, you know, they lost a game against Nashville where he had about roughly half a dozen chances either. They were up four to in the late in the second period and he had a bunch of chances then or created a bunch of chances. They were in overtime and he had a million chances. Pecker-Renade denied and Nashville ended up winning. I think he came, you know, I wasn't there. He came off the ice and smashed his stick. and was screaming at the top of his lungs.

And there's probably like kids that are, you know, charity kids that are hanging out by the walkway thinking, like, who is this lunatic? Yeah. But I think that's all, you know, as long as he's not hurting anybody, that's all good stuff. Yep. He's a guy who, you know, reminds me a lot of guys that I covered in the NFL

and my time covering there where, you know, I covered a guy named Antonio Pierce who won a Super Bowl with the Giants. And he went undrafted his draft year and kept a legal, like a legal note pad of linebackers that were taken in that draft. And when one of them would get cut or retire, he'd just cross him off the list. Right. And I'm like, some people need that kind of drive.

And Matthew Barzell has that same mentality of, I need to be the best. I think it started, you know, he's kind of McDavid's draft year. You're never going to be considered the best of that draft class ever. And he doesn't care. He wants to be considered up there. You know, he's kind of had moments of geeking out

playing against Sidney Crosby, who he's definitely in Patrick Cain. two guys that you can see elements of his game in. And he just wants to outdo them all. And it's, you know, I think it's led to a few, you know, let's pump the brakes here, kid moments from some of the veterans in the locker room. And I think they have fun with it because they know that there's no need to rein him in because they're not even the mediocre spot that they're in right now without the way that he's

played this year. Yeah, I forget where it was. I think it was Elliot Friedman's 31 thoughts, but he had an anecdote in this. about how I guess at the combine a team asked him why should we draft you and he said because you'll regret it if you don't or something like that and you know and I feel like in hockey and NHL sometimes people look at that as as having that that much sort of passion or confidence in yourself as you know you're putting yourself ahead of the team and it's all that's like frowned upon but I I personally love when we see guys with that type of personality and that type of self-belief

and I'm all for it. I wish more guys are like that. Yeah, I think, and getting back to some of his on-eye stuff, I think, you know, you expect to see a guy like that get turned over a couple of times or get crunched along a wall and then a two-on-one or a three on the one the other way. And it really hasn't happened as much as you would think. You'd think with all the goals the Islanders have given up that he'd be a culprit in the defensive zone. And he has a bit of a liability.

He clearly forgets where to be or he's not terribly concerned with sinking down low and wrestling with the opposing center. in front of his own net. But when he loses the puck, he goes to get it back, and he usually does. And I think that's an element of his game that's pretty underrated for a guy who looks kind of flimsy for, you know, a 20-year-old kid. He's not as physically developed as some other guys. He just, you know, he circles back into his own end.

It looks like, you know, like a Red Army training video at times. He'll go behind his net. He'll kind of take the puck off or whatever defenseman is just like, kind of like, all right, go do whatever you're going to do. And he'll go the length of the ice. and kind of survey everything and get guys chasing after him. It's been pretty remarkable to see. And really, it wasn't even from day one.

The first four or five games, he didn't have a point, and he was really tentative. And then I think he scored a highlight real goal for his first NHL goal on Henrik Lundquist in the Garden in October, and that opened the floodgates. And I think Doug Waite really kind of gave him the green light and encouraged him to be more aggressive and more creative. and that's probably where having a coach with a pedigree like that definitely helps.

Yeah, I'd say that I don't know how over the past however a long month or two or we're happy, especially at 515, that second line has really been playing like their first line. I love, I love Islander's fans calling at the Shirelli line, by the way. That always cracks me up. What have you thought about Jordan Eberle's game this year? You know, as advertised, I think when they sign guys or trade-frizzly, for guys, you know, you always get asked by fans. Like, what do you, you know, what do you project for this guy? And I'm sure I said 25 goals for Andrew Ladd or 30 goals for Angel Ladd, which ended up

last year being close to the truth, shockingly enough, or whoever comes in, you know, guess points for guys. But when Jordan Everly comes in, you say, like, this guy's kind of been a metronome, his whole career, except for last year. And as you astutely pointed out, his shooting percentage was way down last year. And he was kind of playing a different role with a more beef. up top nine that they had in Edmonton. And it showed. And, you know, here's a guy, obviously, he's benefited from playing with Barzal, and that's Barzell's ascension also kind of happened right around the time that

Josh Bailey and Eberley swapped right-wing spots on those top two lines. But, yeah, you know, to be on pace for, you know, 27, 28 goals and 55, 60 points, it just you sort of feel like this is not a great team, and he was on some far worse teams, in Edmondson and was able to produce that way. And I know that there's always the dead cat bounce when you're out of it. You get guys that pile up the stats. But he's very consistent. And Doug Waite has a lot of time for Jordan Eberley at five on five that he's a guy who

is not just a guy who pops into a position when Barzell's doing his thing. He's pretty responsible in his own end. And he's a hard worker. And yeah, I think that trade certainly stands out as much as the, as the trade to get the 16th picked for Barzal, for a lot of Islander fans and certainly for the way that they're playing right now. Yeah, I mean, especially when you see the reports now that the Oilers are in the market for help on the wing and scoring talent.

And it's like, well, you had some good players there over the past couple years that aren't there anymore. But, yeah, it's, you know, you mentioned the student percentage, and it's remarkable because I wish it always work this neatly. But he's really, like, if you look at anything, um, his number. is this year basically pacing at his career averages for everything prior to last year. And it's just remarkable how that works. And as smart as teams are getting smarter after a met around the league.

But I think you could still build a pretty nice team if you just call every GM who had a player who kind of had an unfortunate shooting percentage season and see if you can get him on a discount rate because it seems like that still happens in today's league. Yeah. Yeah. And obviously, you know, the fact that the snow, Shirelli, whatever sort of guru like hold Garth seems to have. Do you think Garth's like texting him every day? Like, hey, Peter, what's going? Yeah. You know, I know that they've had some scouts at some Edmonton games in the last

couple weeks, and I kind of went over it in a trade deadline piece the other day about, you know, what could they possibly, you know, it's like robbing the same bank for the fourth time. Like, what else can you, can you turn, you know, can you grab and shake out of them? And obviously, you know, if the Oilers are somehow interested in trading, you know, one of their three good young defensemen, I'm sure the Islanders would be happy to listen on Oscar Clefbaum or even Adam Larson, probably Dornnell Nerson, Clefbaum more than Larson. But, yeah, I can't, I would imagine that if you're someone who works in the Oilers' front office and you see, you're screening the calls.

You see Garstnaud's name come up on that. You're just like, nope, sorry, we're just going to hang up on that one. All right, all right, let's take a quick break here to hear from a sponsor, and we'll pick this up on all the other things. Buying tickets to sports and concerts can be complicated and confusing, but there's a better way to buy, and that's with Seekkeek. Here's the thing about Seekkeek. It's designed to save you time, effort, and money. Whether you're searching for a last minute deal,

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And I'm sure I'm going to be treated to at least a couple of goals. And honestly, these days, I'm so swamped with work and obsessively checking my Twitter timeline to make sure that I haven't missed anything and something hasn't happened. And I was able to go through this entire process so quickly and easily that I didn't even have to miss a beat. Since sharing is caring and I care so very deeply, obviously, about all of you, my loyal listeners, I'm going to let you know a little secret. You're going to get $20 off your first purchase with Seekek if you just go on and let them know that I've sent you. To claim that deal, all you have to do is download the Seekek app and enter the promo code P.D.O. That's promo code P.D.O for $20 off your first Seek purchase. Now let's get back to Arthur Staple.

Okay. We haven't really talked about Josh Bailey and Anders Lee yet, and obviously they get lost in the shuffle a little bit attention-wise, just because obviously Tavares and Barzal and even Eberle are taking up a lot of the storylines, but both guys have been incredibly productive with the past two years playing with John Tavares on that top line, and I wonder, you know, they're both coming up,

I believe, is Bailey a free agent this year and Lee the following year? Yes. Yeah, and they're both making peanuts right now based on how they're producing. But now the question is, you know, how much of that is the situation they're playing in and who they're playing with and how much of that is actually their own true talent. And the reason why you ask that question is because, obviously, if it's a lot of just who they're playing with and where they're playing, you know, you don't really want to devote

heavy resources into that. You can probably fill that elsewhere, maybe internally or maybe bring someone else in. So I wonder with those guys, like, do you think that those are the type of players that the Islanders will commit in because we've seen in the past few years that and it's actually worked out for the most part whether it's been with Franz Nielsen or Gaelic Poe or Matt Martin where guys who were useful contributors for them they had to make the difficult decision not to be the ones that pay them in free agency and now those are looking like smart decisions that I wonder it seems like with those two guys they're more likely to be Islanders for a long time ago

you would think you never really know I mean I think a lot certainly a lot for Josh Bailey because he's a UFA this year hinges on what what they do with Tavares. And, you know, I think Josh Bailey with John Tavares is certainly a 60, 70 point guy and a six, six and a half million dollar a year player. Josh Bailey without John Tavaris, which is who he was for the majority of his Islanders career because they rarely played together over the, you know, the previous seven years that Bailey was here, is a very good middle six guy. who can kill penalties when you need him to, and obviously now it can show him that he can be on the top power play unit

and be not just a guy who's out there, but contribute. So what is that worth without John Tavares? I think that's a big question for Garth Snow to answer, and one, he probably doesn't want to answer because that means that John Tavis is gone. But even if John Tavis stays and Josh Bailey says, okay, well, John Tavis got 12 million a year, I'm worth 8 million a year.

I think you still have to negotiate, and you're coming down to the wire with Tavares, so there's going to be a lot of balls in the air, I would imagine, with that. I think Anders Lee holds a little bit more appeal for them because he doesn't really seem to care who he plays with. He plays the same style. And whether that's a style that's, you know,

those guys who park themselves in front of the net who are bigger or not the greatest skaters, obviously wear down a little bit faster. So whether you want to commit major years to a guy who's not as young as, You know, he's young in the NHL, but he's older than John. He's older than John Tavares by a couple months. So, you know, I think they have a lot of time for Anders Lee and they have a lot of time for Josh Bailey. But I imagine that with Bailey coming due this year, which is really their big year when a lot of money comes off the books and a lot of decisions have to be made.

I think it's a little bit more fraught with Bailey than it is with Lee. I think, you know, they've tried Andrewsley with Barras Al too. And I think they maybe see that that that's a little bit more fraught. if there's that kind of possibility that Lee may have a longer shelf life with this team than Bailey, depending on what happens this summer. Yeah, I like Lee's game a lot. I mean, you're right, you know, the aging curve for those type. That guy's a profile, like Anders Lee isn't the greatest.

I feel like even though, you know, he does spend a lot of time around the net and he's big in stature, I feel like he doesn't necessarily play like that sort of super physical game elsewhere around the ice. So maybe his body will hold up better as he, as he, gets, you know, approaches 30 and gets into his 30s. But I think for now, right now, I mean, for my money, it's him and Wayne Simmons as the two best sort of net front guys. I don't even know who else would, I'm sure there's someone right now. And someone's sitting at home and just yelling, uh, this guy on my favorite team is, it should be in that discussion. And I'm, I'm just missing out on them. But, uh, so I apologize for that. But those two guys from my money

are the two best net front guys right now. Yeah. Yeah. I think, uh, I think Lee brings a certain style to his game that's, that's as consistent as can be. And he's been a score at every You know, whether he back playing for John Cooper in the U.S.HL and at Notre Dame, where he was, you know, supposed to go play football in college. And even when he was kind of squeezed out in a numbers game, you know, his first full year with the Islanders, he went to Bridgeport and scored 22 goals and 50 games. That's just what he does. And the consistency in the way that he's been able to develop a little bit more of his game around just being a, you know, like a power play specialist or a net front guy has been good to watch. and, you know, I think he's a guy who fits well with Tavares too. So maybe if you can't keep both of them or you lose Bailey, at least you've got him.

And maybe his numbers, his contract numbers go up because you've got some space still left over after this summer's over. So what are the next five days here so looking like for Arthur's April? What are you, what do you, you know, around this time of year, you know, you're pretty dialed in with the team. you've got your sources, you got sort of checks and balances. Like, what are you trying to stay on top of stuff? Or do you think you're at this point of your career, if something's going to happen, you're going to find out one way or another, and you don't have to necessarily be as proactive as maybe a guy

who was just starting up in the industry? Well, since Garth has kind of an unblemish record of making trades while I've been on airplanes the last 18 months or so, including last year's trade deadline, maybe it was two trade deadlines ago that I mistakenly scheduled a flight right for like the last three hours going. to Dallas, I believe, and they, that was, missed a couple of ones there. And I was also flying to the draft when, and had my phone on with the Wi-Fi, and then when we went to go to send was

right the minute they made the Erily Strom trade. So it sounds like you're the wrong guy to talk about this way. But I like to keep up. I mean, I think, I don't think you can ever kind of sit back and say, oh, well, they'll definitely let me know. You know, you have to have to remind your sources and the people that you're in contact with that you're there. And I think you'd be doing a disservice to the people that read your stuff if you didn't do that. And I think just the conversations that you have too. I mean, it's not, you don't want to be a rumor mill guy and just say like, well, they almost did this. But that stuff fascinates me that when you get past the trade deadline and Garth in general doesn't love talking about this stuff.

And the stuff that he has told me over the years will stay in the vault. for all the fans out there. But, you know, the near misses and the things that you'd get close on or, you know, the rabbit holes that GMs go down this time of year. That stuff fascinates me endlessly. And I just like talking about it because it can inform other stuff that you do, even past the trade deadline, where you know that they've got their eye on so-and-so and it didn't come to fruition and it's not going to come out now. But obviously, they're going to get another crack at making some deals when you get close to the draft. And I think you always have to keep on top of that stuff. I mean, if it makes you feel better, I was on a plane without Wi-Fi for both the Taylor Hall for Adam Morrison Trade and P.K. Sub-Ban for Shea Weber. So I remember landing, and I believe I was taking a few days just kind of to decompress and I was going to Mexico with some friends and I'd look at my phone. I was like, oh, my God. I have some work to do right now. Yeah, that's always a good feeling too. And you know, you'd like to unwind and, you know,

take your shoes off and stretch a little bit. And it's like, no, put the laptop down, get in the hotel room, go right to work, especially when you started a vacation. I did that. When the Islanders were sold to their current owners, my wife and I had just arrived in Prague for about a 10-day trip, and I opened my laptop out of whatever pathological need that I have to sign on when I get into a hotel room and was greeted with an email that said, call me immediately from a friend with the Islanders. And so I was able to break the story, which was a good feeling, but I was able to break the story, which was a good feeling, but also when you have your wife standing over your shoulder,

tapping her feet and saying, we're on vacation, you better get moving. It's also good deadline pressure. Yes. So we're 35 minutes into the show here, and we haven't even mentioned John Francois Abrube's name yet. I don't even really have anything to say about him at this point, but I feel like for everyone that's listening, they've been just waiting with bated breath for us to mention him, so I had to throw that name out there. I appreciate that. I mean, it's certainly we can talk about their goaltending, which is in as much of a... We talked about Thomas Grice a bit. We haven't really talked about Yarrow Halak, who, you know, has had a very interesting career, I'll say, with all the ups and downs and even just his Islander's career alone.

And this year, you know, he's been playing a lot better lately, and especially his 5-15 numbers are very respectable. And it's, yeah, with the Grice contract and everything that's unfolded in that position for them over the past year and a half or so, it's, I feel like, you could, if you just focused on their goal-tending, you could be like an Islander's goalie beatwriter and not focus on anything else and have a really busy day-to-day job. Yeah, for about the last 30 years, I think. Yeah, it's been, it's been an interesting year in net for them

that this was finally the year that JF Burubay got, was freed from the three-goly cage and got to go where he wanted to go. Well, it looks like he's going to be planning for the Blockhawks now. I know. I mean, it's unfortunate for him that it's in basically season-long mop-up duty, but hopefully that'll get him a job somewhere next year. Co-hosting the P.D.O. I think so. And now, you know, it was Halak and it was Grice, and it was supposed to be, these are the

veteran guys that were going to kind of carry them through this year, and then they'd figure it out in their summer of huge decisions after this season, preferably with, you know, one of them emerging in a decent playoff run. And, and yeah, I mean, The shutout that Grice had the other night pulled his goals against under four, but I kind of looked back and, you know, NHL.com is not great for a lot of things, but the fact that you can look up some of those seasons really quickly is great. I think it was, I think it was 95, 96 was the last time a goaling made 20 starts

and had given up four per game. I believe it was Mike Bales from the Ottawa Senators. But, and that's astonishing to me that it's that you, you know, the numbers we talked about, the goals that they're giving up but the goals they're scoring are unprecedented, you know, since really right after the full year lockout. And those were bad teams that were given up those kinds of goals. But just even you wouldn't think that you'd hang on to a goalie that long

who's playing so poorly. And, you know, I think it shows it's a new goalie coach. They've got two new goalie coaches, Freddie Brathaway at the NHL level, and Chris Terreri kind of organization. organization-wide. And they've got a couple of guys. One of them is here now, Christopher Gibson, who's a former Leafs draft pick, who played a few games in the NHL for the Islanders a couple of years ago and is considered to be a decent prospect. They've got Latvian legend Krista's Goodlevskis, also in the minors.

But this is still a position that has no real direction, especially now that Grice, you know, it certainly seemed like an overcommitment at the time. And I'm not going to try to armchair quarterback it, but it just sort of, you know, a 30, one-year-old guy who's never been a starter to get guaranteed three more years at a decent number, too, a number that's too big for your automatic backup. And so I think that explains a lot of why they're still tied to Grice in the way that they are. And Halak, being a free agent at the end of this year, I'm sure he's going to look around. And the way that he's playing, you know, it kind of reminds me of the way that he played in the in the World Cup, that was kind of an NHL career-saving stretch for him

because I'm sure the Islanders would have been happy to dump him and whatever salary was left or even eat it after the way that the previous season had ended. And after last year with spending three months in the minors and then coming back and nearly getting them back, getting to the playoffs in the last seven games of the year, you still wouldn't have expected him to be the guy. And so I think he's played well enough,

and I think his attitude and his demeanor has changed enough that you could even see, if nothing else shakes right for them, see him come back in a one-year deal. And it would be, I think the fans would riot as they usually do if it was Halak and Grice again to start next season. But they're just not in a position. You know, they've got a couple of prospects that they love from Europe, Linus Soderstrom, who's actually been in the States on Long Island the last six weeks after he had surgery and rehabbing with the team.

And Ilya Sorokin, who's sitting on the bench, possibly going to win a gold medal for Russia, or whatever they're calling themselves. The Olympic athletes from Russia. Right. And Sorokin has, you know, signed a three-year extension before this year with CSCA. So those aren't guys that are really close to contributing here. And it just seems like they're on that goalie treadmill once again,

and they're going to have to, whether it's Halak or some other veteran that they trade for, whether, you know, you'd think maybe Jimmy Howard becomes available in the offseason. Is he really an upgrade with one year left? I would imagine that if Vegas were the team that everybody thought it was going to be, Mark Andre Fleury might have been the most attractive guy to try to pry out of there, but that's clearly not happening. So, yeah, it's going to have to be another offseason of figuring out what direction they're going and with their goaltending. And that, you know, we talked about John Tavares. Maybe that's a factor, too, that he's thinking about like if we can't get this this very important position solved.

Yep. Do I want to be here to, you know, have to dig more pucks out of my net next season? Yeah, the, uh, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the Rocah contract extension, uh, with this KHL team kind of bummed me out because I'm, I'm, I'm a huge fan of his and you obviously never know, um, you know, how goalie numbers are going to translate or how, how he look in the NHL, it's a completely different game, but, uh, you know, just everything you read up on him when you watch and play it at some of these tournaments, uh, the talent is clearly there.

and I would have loved to see him in the NHL. I'm always disappointed when, you know, I just want the best players in the world playing in the best league in the world. And, you know, selfishly, I want to watch them as often as possible. And so we'll have to wait a few years for that. But I'm kind of curious, I mean, maybe they were in on him, as you were mentioning earlier with Garstnow. And, you know, there's a lot of stuff,

a lot of discussions that happen between GMs that nothing really comes to fruition, so we never find out about it. But when you see the price, a guy like Petter and Razick went for to Philly, especially who Philly being a direct competitor with the Al, Islanders right now for a playoff spot out there and they desperately needed a goalie and I really paid peanuts for a guy who has been up and down but you know has the upside shown at this level to get hot and win a bunch of games for you I would have thought that be an interesting fit for

the Islanders but I guess they're just going to ride with Halakna I mean I believe that they're either done or they have very few back-to-backs left coming up here so I think it's just going to be a lot of Yarrowlack and see where it goes after that yeah I mean I had thought maybe about a month or so ago when they really started to take a nosedive in terms of allowing shots and good chances, that that was the time to either make a trade, put Grice on waivers, and obviously he wouldn't have been claimed and just send him to the minors and figure out the minor league goalie logjam and just bring in a new face, somebody who might not feel as shell-shocked by being playing behind this team for so long.

Yep. or even just to bring Gibson up who had been playing pretty well, not lights out at the H.L, but well enough. And a guy who's got some NHL experience and, you know, he lost all the last season with knee injury. So I understand the caution organizationally with him that they don't want to just throw him to the wolves. But just to change something up to kind of remind the other guys on the team that, like,

you know, we're going to make this move, but also you guys need to realize that you're playing in front of a guy who's been in the minors. or somebody who's been a backup somewhere else and tighten it up a bit. And then things really started to fall off a cliff. And I was kind of like, well, now I guess it's, you know, Halak is getting pelted and he's standing up for himself and for the team. And maybe there's some benefit to that down the road. But yeah, it's curious to me some of their inactions.

I think Marazek, you look at his numbers, even straight, the same percentage. He's right around where Halak is, and he plays behind a much better defensive team than the Islanders are. Well, I mean, you and I could cobble together a handful of random people on the street and have a better team. I think I would know where to be in the defensive zone more than the Islanders most of the time. So I think it's just at that point, it's do we even want to surrender what amounts to a third round pick for a guy that we're not going to necessarily keep? Right. who's not necessarily going to make us better. And we, you know, I think the, we like our guys syndrome is endemic to all teams in all

sports. And as much as it frustrates the fans who are not face to face with these human beings that they're rooting for, you know, you understand the idea of chemistry and togetherness on a team, especially this deep into a season. It would be a move that's, that's anathema to what Garterness. Garth Snowp breaches, which is definitely he puts a team together and he feels like he wants guys that want to be together. Right. And he's not going to change it up unless it's, you know, unless they're super desperate. And I guess they just felt like a third round pick wasn't enough to get to that point. All right.

Let's, one final thing. So since we last spoke, obviously you have a new job title, which is really exciting. I don't know, let's talk a bit about sort of what's next for you and what people can expect from, from the island whose coverage of the athletic yeah it's been you know

it's only been a couple of months really since they first made contact with me and it was a quick it was a quick negotiation and a quick departure from Newsday relatively speaking

after 20 years there and so I you know I think it's still sort of sinking in that this is my new professional life and you know I can drive home

after a game without having to bang out a story in 20 minutes that probably won't is fairly incoherent and relied a lot on Newsday's copy desk. So you're not doing gamers anymore? You know, I do, I do stories that post the next morning that are, you know,

that touch on a lot of things in the game. But I think it, you know, to have the time to listen to all of my, all of the quotes that I've gotten and to look at natural statric and kind of dig in a little bit and watch some clips of the game, you know, I've only done it maybe three times so far. and it's just given me a hugely different perspective on what I put together. And, you know, I'm not someone who said I always felt like I needed, you know, my voice needed to be heard in more words. You know, there was a reason that newspaper stories are the length that they are. And it worked well for me for a long time.

But to be able to have a thousand or 1100 words and kind of, you know, finish a thought as opposed to jumping into, well, then this happened and then that happened. And it is kind of a mind-expanding experience without making it sound too intense. I just think about what I'm watching in a different way. And I can ask more targeted questions and seek out guys that maybe didn't have a big night on the score sheet. But to my mind, we're kind of key factors and focus on those kinds of things. And it leads to other stories, too, where you're talking to someone about a play that they made or something that clearly looks structural but doesn't make any sense to me. And there's certainly some guys in this room, as there are in a lot of rooms,

that can explain that stuff to you without making fun of you too badly. And I appreciate that kind of stuff. And then also having the time, as I did, kind of in a 10-day span before the New York site launch, to do a story like the one where I talked to a bunch of John Tavaris's friends who are guys that people know in the game, and they were all great to talk to and just kind of let them say what they were going to say. And, you know, I think I'm always a person, certainly as a grumpy middle-aged dad, who doesn't love to read and read and read stuff on my phone or on the Internet,

but I feel like you write the story until it's done. And I think people have responded pretty well to that so far. And, you know, Newsday is still going to cover the Islanders. So I'm going to have some competition, which I've never really had before. And I think that's a fun challenge. too to kind of go back to the days of making sure your your quotes aren't overheard by someone else and not running out of the locker room before your time and you know that kind of stuff I did it a lot when I first started when I wasn't covering hockey and it was you know it's it's energizing

yeah it's always a good good good good healthy friendly competition absolutely um yeah no it's awesome man I'm really happy obviously I'm a huge fan of everything that's going on over the athletic and you were a logical fit to be spearheading the Islanders coverage. Do you think Islanders fans are feeling better or worse after listening to this podcast? Well, I hope they always feel better after listening to your podcast because they know, they know you have a soft spot for them. It's true. It's true.

Even if sometimes it comes out as a little bit of subtle sarcasm. And it's really hard to resist because it's a very, I'm a naturally sarcastic, unpleasant person. online. Right. And, you know, very earnest fans who, whether they give terrible trade suggestions or, you know, fans are not expected to have cap-friendly memorized or know that there's only 50 contracts that are allowed, you know, on an NHL, on NHL contracts. That's the maximum. Or all these ins and outs. And, you know, God love them that they all want to know what's going on. And you can even see, I think just as a result of our talk last year when you kind of dipped a toe

into the Isles' Twitter world, what the response is and how passionate they all are. And it makes my job a lot more fun. Yeah, I want them all to know. I'm coming from a loving place, even if I'm sometimes critical, or I'm fantasy booking different destinations for John Tavares to land this summer.

It's all from a good place. No, you're right. I mean, we talked about this last time, so I don't want to get too deep into it, but obviously for someone like yourself who is more of a, you know, a beat reporter. spending every day around the team and, you know, you're talking to the guys and the front office

types and you sort of have to be much more careful, I imagine, online about limiting the snark or criticism or being overly sarcastic because, you know, there's a human element to it and people sometimes take stuff personally, even if it's not meant that way. So you have to be more careful. It was someone like myself. I mean, I feel like if you're following me online, you probably already know the deal and you know what's going to come. I would love to think that after all these years, but, but yeah, it's, you know, I think we said it last year that I could write 10,000 words breaking down somebody's awful game, and if I tweet one sentence about it, that's when they're, that they're going to read that one sentence, whether someone in their family or a teammate or

somebody tells them, they're probably not going to read the 10,000 words. So, you know, it can be a dangerous place that's fraught with some, some bad moments, but part of the job is showing up the next day. And if somebody wants to yell at you, you, you get yelled at and that's just the way it is. I mean, I've certainly had a lot of interactions with Doug Wait so far this year in post-game press conferences or asking uncomfortable questions that have gotten some heated responses. And, you know, I try to make light of it because I know he's not necessarily singling me out. It's because I'm pretty much the only one there who's asking those questions.

So it's, it just becomes part of the landscape and I'm not looking for sympathy or, or anything like that. But, you know, keeps you on your toes. guess. Yes, it does. All right. Arthur, it's been a blast. Thanks for taking the time to chat. And good luck with the trade deadline here. And the Islanders rest of their season, I feel like we're in for a flurry of goals for and goals against the rest of the way. Yeah, it's always going to be a wild ride, whether they're in or out of the playoffs. So, yeah, this is great. Thanks a lot, Demetri, as always. The Hockey P.D.O. cast with Dmitri Filipovich. Follow on Twitter at Dim Philipovic

and on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com slash HockeyPedioCast.