The Islanders return to home ice tonight to take on the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Los Angeles Kings in a pivotal late March matchup. The Kings are on the outside of the playoff picture looking in right now despite going 7-3-2 in their last dozen games. The Islanders are playing the second game of a brutal four game stretch after coming off a 2-1 shootout defeat Tuesday night to the Wild. The Isles have to start scoring. Their offense has dried up and gone cold. Despite playing perhaps their most complete game in months Tuesday they were unable to solve Devon Dubnyk. The team need to get to the dirty areas and the crash the net. Yes, New York is getting shots to the net and yes they are generating chances but this team needs to collectively get more traffic in front of the opposing netminder and win those battles in the paint. The Islanders desperately need more production from the likes of Kyle Okposo, Brock Nelson, Ryan Strome and Frans Nielsen. This is a team that has had its secondary scoring come to a grinding halt. Nielsen is a guy that I want to focus on. We can talk about the struggles of Josh Bailey until we are blue in the face but I want to look at Nielsen.
Frans has been banged up throughout the year and I’m hoping he is trying to play through it and that is what is effecting his play. He quite frankly has been invisible at times. In my opinion he is not the Selke caliber defending forward that some praise him to be. Nielsen is good defensively but not great. He is average in the faceoff dot and too often I see him on the half boards. I like Frans Nielsen, a lot. He has been a stabilizing fixture in the lineup for years but as I look to him entering his last year of his contract, I believe it may be time to consider other options.
Let’s concede that Ryan Strome will be the team’s second line center moving forward. If this is the case we have to look at Nielsen’s value. Nielsen should hit around 45 points this season and would have some trade value come draft day. This is simply my opinion but I would rather pursue a defensive specialist third line center that can win faceoffs and pencil him into the third line. Now if there is a player that fits that criteria come July 1st then perhaps this is something the team should explore. I’m not suggesting we run Frans out of town, I am merely suggesting a different path if this is the plateau of his play.
As for the game tonight, the lineup will remain the same and Jaroslav Halak will be in goal for the Isles. The team has a busy week as they will face the Ducks on Saturday and the Red Wings on Sunday. New York has struggled at the Coliseum as of late and now is a good time to find its winning ways and regain its scoring touch. I thought overall the team played good against the Wild and if that effort is replicated moving forward I do believe the goals are bound to go in and this team will return to the win column.
One quick team related transaction. The Islanders AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers have signed college goalie C.J Motte to a minor league deal. Motte is a finalist for the Hobey Baker award and posted a record of 21-9-3 at Ferris State this season. As always for more on all things hockey please follow me on twitter at @DanDanNoodles78.