The Islanders continue their Western Canada road trip tonight in Calgary as they take on the Flames in Alberta. There are no changes to the lineup as the forwards and defensive pairings are the same and Jaroslav Halak will be in goal. The Islanders followed up an amazing November with a solid December going 8-4-1. As they start the New Year it does not get any easier as the Isles are on their longest road trip of the season, spanning three time zones. After the Flames went winless through 8 games, Calgary finished the month strong winning four games in a row. This should be a fun matchup tonight featuring two young teams that are trending up and have blue lines that can contribute offensively.
The Isles played a solid road game in Winnipeg on New Year’s Eve and even though the Jets (and Isles killer Andrew Ladd specifically) kept the game close, the Isles were able to build on the lead and iced the game away with an empty net goal, defeating the Jets by a score of 5-2. After the Isles recent issues holding leads it was encouraging to see the team play a solid road game.
The play of Ryan Strome has been simply outstanding and the growth of Anders Lee continues to give the Islanders weapons up and down the lineup. This team is deep and if you look at teams around the league they may be taking notice. The Penguins badly need a top six forward and they paid for one today acquiring David Perron for a first round pick and Rob Klinkhammer. It is shows how teams will need depth come playoff time and the ability to roll your forward lines is so important.
This trade also shows you how high the cost will be for teams trying to acquire depth to their lineup and could benefit the Islanders come trade deadline. We all know the Isles will have too many forwards on their roster soon and if Perron can bring back that haul, a player like Michael Grabner might yield a solid return. While Grabner certainly wouldn’t bring back a first round pick, I believe a player like Grabner may be able to yield the Isles a second round pick and perhaps a decent prospect.
The bottom line is if you want depth heading into the playoffs you are going to have to pay for it. That’s why the emergence of Ryan Strome, Anders Lee and Brock Nelson is so huge for the Isles. John Tavares’ and the top line is simmering like a volcano and even without a monster year from his line, the Isles can easily roll four lines. If the third line can get on track and the first line erupts like it appears to be close to doing, this really could be a fun 2015.