Islanders News: Waiting for it
Still waiting... | Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Continuing to reshuffle the players’ clean-out day quotes, while waiting for the Islanders’ brass to speak. Wednesday was another day without word/media availability from the Islanders’ brass, who did not speak publicly on the day the players did. Unless change is afoot, the next news coming from the team should be end-of-season media calls or conferences with Lou Lamoriello and Lane Lambert. But some second- (and now third-) day stories now include that caveat of “assuming Lou/Lane are still at the helm.”
If Lou is making a coaching change (unlikely but certainly possible), we won’t know until the axe has firmly fallen. If the Isles ownership is making a larger regime change (even less likely in the “in Lou we trust” era), we’ll all be stunned whenever that news breaks.
And if they emerge from their deliberations with a Personal Improvement Plan but no lead staffing changes, then they’ll all align on messaging before creating a media availability where they sing the same monotonous tune about always looking for ways to be better.
Islanders Reading/Listening
More variations on the quotes from clean-out day: The Isles will need more from Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal next season. [Newsday]
Likewise: Barzal is tired of the Islanders’ slow starts to the season, and thinks next year they need to address that so they’re not clawing to make the playoffs again. [THN]
Andrew Gross talks about the breakup day with audio from some of the players, including Anders Lee and Josh Bailey. [Island Ice - SoundCloud]
Horvat was asked why he thinks the Islanders have had a tough time drawing top UFAs, and he said he can’t imagine why, ‘cause he really likes it here. [AMNY]
Also: more variations on Horvat’s quote about the season waiting for a trade, then adjusting to the cross-country move. [THN]
Stan Fischler shares one last appreciation for good soldier Josh Bailey (and one more jab at former captain John Tavares). [THN]
Elsewhere
The other two conference semifinals kicked off last night, with Carolina breezing by the Devils, 5-1, and the Knights and Oilers continuing the Western theme of explosive first periods, while Leon Draisaitl matched Joe Pavelski by scoring four goals in a loss.
Matty Beniers, Owen Power and Stuart Skinner are your Calder finalists. [NHL]
A roundup of playoff thoughts and observations from Emily Kaplan, including Patric Hornqvist hanging around to help the Panthers despite being out with concussions. [ESPN]
Rangers clean-out day was entertaining: Gerard Gallant shared how ticked he is to deal with “will you be fired?” questions from media after two playoff years, and defended his record and the fact that several good teams lost in the first round. [lohud] (Also: Smurfs fans online crucified Artemi Panarin for yet another disappointing playoff.)
Patrick Kane said he needs to fix his hip first, then maybe he’d want to return to the Rangers and maybe he wouldn’t. [AMNY]
Vladimir Tarasenko says he has a lot to weigh in free agency. [NHL]
Ex-Flames Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett are having fun together in Florida, and you can blame Bennett for luring his linemate there through sign-and-trade. [NHL]
Andrei Vasilevskiy said his body didn’t quite recover this season, and maybe he’ll need to do some training adjustment. [NHL]
Hilariously, the Smurfs find inspiration from recent Cup winners who crashed the preceding year. [NHL]
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