NHL Playoff news & Islanders non-news: Parsing the player interviews, mulling the cap

1 year ago  /  Lighthouse Hockey  /  Read Time: 1 minute 5 seconds

And after that night, everything froze. | Photo by Michael Mooney/NHLI via Getty Images


Also: John Tavares plays a breakaway like a classic Isles shootout, but the Leafs win to survive anyway. While waiting for Islanders offseason news that shall never come, it’s an easy temptation to ponder next season, and this summer, and wonder what on earth they’re gonna do. Or can do.
Because your thrice-daily glance at their salary cap listing on Cap Friendly reminds you how they have SOOOO many players under contract. It’s not like they have a bunch of, “Well, at least HE’s coming off the books” free agents, either. Scott Mayfield, Zach Parise, even Pierre Engvall — these guys were on bargain contracts that are hard to replace at that price. Semyon Varlamov should take a pay cut if he comes back, but he’d still be a not-insignificant cap hit.
Josh Bailey? Still on the books for another year at $5 million. Ross Johnston? Not exactly pricey relative to NHL average, but he averages 20 games per season and is signed for three more years at $1.1 million per. That’s $1.1 million not available for a Fasching or Parise type, used on a guy who maybe appears in a quarter of your games.
Islanders Listening & Reading

Dan and Mike take on the range of emotions and prickliness from the Isles’ post-season interviews, and Mike discusses his moment sharing air with Pierre Maguire. [Islanders Anxiety podcast]
Maybe Lane Lambert had a tough debut season as coach and maybe he just had some bad assistants. [THN]

Elsewhere
Last night in round 2, the Maple Leafs went very defensive and enjoyed a friendly bounce off a ref to postpone their demise. They top the Panthers in Game 4, 2-1. Meanwhile, the Oilers leveled their series with Vegas, and Alex Pietrangelo did this in garbage time:


alex pietrangelo with what is most likely the dirtiest play of his lengthy careeri bet he gets a suspension for this pic.twitter.com/2GeX7ZoQNq— Josh Hyman (@joshhymanNHL) May 11, 2023



Pietrangelo was likely frustrated from a lot of things, including this, which looked worse live:


Man this did not look good… pic.twitter.com/8WVksC11bv— Pavel Barber (@HeyBarber) May 11, 2023



If you watched the Leafs-Panthers game, did you not chuckle at the clearcut John Tavares breakaway, which the poor guy played like a 2014 shootout attempt for the Islanders? Could’ve created a huge insurance goal going into the second intermission, instead just deposited it into Bob’s pads like he was returning car keys.
THIS IS NOT A DRILL (but it is kind of a joke): The Flyers are naming Keith Jones president of hockey ops, lifting the interim tag off Daniel Briere as GM. [NHL | Sportsnet | Broad Street Hockey]
Hmm...what else are the Flyers up to? Oh...:


Welcome to A New Era of Orange. pic.twitter.com/Oplfwf7u7v— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) May 11, 2023




Jordan Martinook is having himself a playoff. [TSN]
He and the Hurricanes are enjoying a balanced attack, an advantage in net. [Sportsnet]
The Hurricanes franchise is 5-0 when leading a series 3-1. [NHL]
32 Thoughts podcast: Could Mike Babcock return to NHL coaching? [Sportsnet]
Whatever happens with the Devils’ backs against the wall, that team needs to upgrade defense this offseason. [TSN]
McDavid, Pastrnak and Karlsson are your Ted Lindsay finalists, probably in that order. [NHL]
The Blackhawks have re-signed Arvid Soderblom to a two-year deal. Arvid who? He stopped 37 of 40 shots in a loss to the Islanders in December. [TSN]
Why Ryan Reynolds, Snoop Dogg and other celebrities want to buy the Senators. [TSN]
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