The Islanders will take on the Washington Capitals this afternoon at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Opening faceoff is set for 5PM which is for sure a very odd start time. This game much like the win in Ottawa Wednesday should be played with absolute desperation by the Islanders’ opponent. It is a must win game if the Capitals have any hope of making the playoffs. It will be interesting to see if the Caps come out hungry or resemble the Senators. For the most part Wednesday the Sens looked like a team that wanted a new coach.
While the Islanders were “officially… eliminated from the playoffs Thursday night this motely cru of mostly rookies will return to the ice tonight and play its next to last home game of the season. While this campaign has been a crushing disappointment there have been a few good things to come out of this year.
Calvin deHaan has certainty impressed in the NHL. After all the questions and even being written off by some because of his health; deHaan has shown durability and has had an impressive rookie campaign. One thing that has surprised me is deHaan’s physicality. Through 50 games, CDH leads all Islanders defenseman with 114 hits. As he continues to grow and mature as a hockey player I think we can all agree that Calvin deHaan at worst will be a second pairing dman in the NHL.
The other silver linings are the trio of young forwards; Ryan Strome, Brock Nelson and Anders Lee. This group have all show individually throughout the year that they are going to be good hockey players. Nelson adds size and versatility to the lineup and can play anywhere throughout the top three lines. Ryan Strome shows amazing vision and soft hands and without question will develop into a top six forward. Finally Anders Lee has all the makings of a classic power forward with very soft hands and should become a valuable net presence and reliable goal scorer.
Despite all the failures of this season these four players look like they are on the right track. We all know the inability to acquire or bring in quality players that is why it is so imperative that these kids pan out. In a perfect world the Isles would be able to improve their team externally. However we all know that has not happened. Right now the only way up is to hope that these kids, as well as some of the other highly touted prospects, come close to reaching their potential.
In off the ice news it has been reported that Islander’s owner Charles Wang has set the asking price for the sale of the team at 370 million dollars. Sports Business Daily writer, Chris Botta has reported talks between Wang and Philadelphia based businessman Andrew Barroway are ongoing as there is definite interest from the group based out of Philly. However this process is still very fluid and it is expected that there will be more groups making proposals to Wang. Let’s just hope that this can get resolved over the summer and not become another cloud hanging over the franchise. As always for more on all things hockey please follow me on Twitter at @DanDanNoodles78.