Should the New York Islanders Look to Re-Sign Pierre Engvall This Offseason?

It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I just learned to discover credit cards do something pretty awesome. At the end of your first year they automatically double all the cash back you've earned. That's right, everything you earned doubled. All the cash back from meeting at your favorite soup, dumpling restaurant, doubled. All the cash back from the trip where you sorta learned how to snowboard, also doubled. And the best part, you don't have to do anything ridiculous to get it. Nope, Discover does it automatically. Seriously though, see terms and check it out for yourself at discover.com slash match. Pierre Engvall is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent, but how important should it be to the Islanders to bring him back? You've got that and a whole lot more to come on today's Lockdown Islanders podcast. Slides it out for Engvall. Back to Hoffman, one by the whole Lockdown Christ, another spectacular stop. For Sartis, it up and a save is made by Mabrovsky Nelson. Lars Elle with the Open Entity Scars! Hi and welcome to the Lockdown Islanders podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm your host, Gil Martin. I'm an Islanders columnist and historian and I wrote the book Ice Wars, which covers the complete history of the Islanders' rivalry with the Rangers from 1972 to the modern era. And welcome everybody to the Monday edition of the Lockdown Islanders podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I want to thank everybody for making Lockdown Islanders your first listen every day. Don't forget to subscribe on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts to get new episodes as soon as they drop and we are now available on SiriusXM Radio on the SXM app. Just search for Lockdown Islanders. Today's episode is brought to you by Game Time, download the Game Time app, create an account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. We have got a lot to discuss on today's show, but first if there's something Islanders related on your mind, if you have a question or comment, maybe something you'd like us to talk about on a future episode, feel free to send us an email, the email address locked on Islanders at gmail.com and if you leave your first name and where you're from, we are happy to mention you on the show when we discuss whatever it is that's on your mind. You can also follow the show on Twitter at Lockdown Isles and you can follow me, Gil Martin on Twitter at Ice Wars, NYR, VSNYI, will keep you up to date on all things Islanders throughout a very important off season from trade rumors, hiring, firing, free agency and of course the NHL draft. So again, make sure you join us for that. All right, we have got plenty to get to and we're going to start off with this. Here, Angvall, clearly a player who made a positive impact on the Islanders after he arrived played 18 games in the regular season with the Isles, five goals, nine points, a plus seven plus minus and then six penalty minutes. And here's the thing about Pierre Angvall. You look at what he did and you know, Angvall was a player who added something to this team when he came over and yeah, he had two points in the playoffs, one goal, one assist, but he also was part of the only line the Islanders had that was really producing in the playoffs on a consistent basis. And I know that's kind of a low bar, but for Angvall being able to do that, being able to get to the point where he was able to contribute to the team's success was definitely an important piece of the puzzle and that opening round series against Carolina, it would not have been as close if not for the contributions of Pierre Angvall. So that definitely is part of the equation. All right now, essentially is going to be an unrestricted free agent come July 1st. He is coming off a year where he made two point two five million dollars as his cap hit, two and a quarter million dollars. And here is a guy who is in his prime right now, he will turn 27 on May 31st. So still, you know, still right in the thick of his prime at the age of 27. He's six foot five to 20 and he gives the main reason I feel the Islanders should try to resign Angvall is that he gives them a badly needed element that this team doesn't have and that is speed. And we talked on this show throughout the off season about the importance for the Islanders to get younger, faster and more skilled. Well, I'm going to grant you that Pierre Angvall is, you know, not the most skilled guy, never had more than 17 goals in an NHL season, never had more than 35 points in an NHL season. But he's younger, he's faster and if again, assuming he has more ice time with the Islanders than he did in Toronto where, you know, those highly regarded top four players sort of kept him off the ice. I mean, he had more than two minutes per game on average more with the Islanders last season than he did with Toronto. And his production showed it. He had a point every other game, half a point a game with the Islanders. He had 21 points in 58 games with Toronto. But to me, the big reason why you go back to Pierre Angvall is speed. And I think it's not a coincidence that the Islanders acquired Angvall about a month after they traded away Anthony Bevillea. And essentially, Angvall was there to replace Bevillea and give the team a chance to really get some of that speed back in the lineup. And I think Kyle Palmeri benefited big time from Pierre Angvall being someone who can keep up with and maybe even outscape Palmeri. But he gave that line a little extra time in space and a little extra threat because Angvall is deceptively fast. Now, is he the greatest defensive player going? No, he is not, although he is responsible defensively. He had eight hits in 18 games as an Islander. He is not a physical guy. But he has the long reach. He skates very well. He's smart with the puck. And I think given if he's playing more than the 13 minutes he was getting per game in Toronto, if he's playing 15, 16, 17, maybe minutes a game on Long Island, I think he can improve on that point every other game mark. And you also have to take into consideration when he first came to the Islanders, he struggled to adjust to the Islanders system, which is not easy to adjust to. And he struggled at times also to get used to his new teammates. So I think there are reasons to keep or to resign Pierre Angvall. But I'm going to say it with this particular caveat, and that caveat is this. Do not, do not pay more than $3 million a year for Angvall. You want to sign him at two and a half? You want to sign him at three? Okay. You want to give him a bridge deal, a one or two year bridge deal. If he's willing to do that? Okay. But do not break the bank for this guy. He is ideally a third line forward. His ceiling is probably a second line forward. But right now, ideally he's a third line kind of a guy on a good, deep team. And because he adds the speed, he has good chemistry with Nelson and Palmeri and now knows the system. I think it's worth bringing him back unless you're able to make some big moves to bring in some faster players. He makes you younger, he makes you faster, and he has good chemistry with his teammates. Because he adds an element, this team lacks. I think it's worth it to bring him back again. Wouldn't sign him to a five, six, seven, eight year contract? He can go higher than three million a year realistically unless there's some incentives included. But I think it's worth bringing Pierre Engvall back for one more year. We have got a lot more to get to on today's show. We will discuss Kyle Dubas now available. The Islanders also made some signings. We'll talk about that. We've got all that and more still to come on today's locked on. The Islanders podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by Game Time. Buying tickets to your favorite events shouldn't be stressful. Game Time is the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy, and theater near you. With killer deals on last minute tickets and their best price guarantee, you could stop stressing over the tickets and start getting hyped for the fun you have. Forget planning months in advance. Game Time has deals on tickets right up to the day of the event. And you can get exclusive flash deals on tickets for football, basketball, baseball, concerts, comedy, theater, and more. And the game time guarantee means you'll always get the best price. 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Seriously though, see terms and check it out for yourself at discover.com backslash match. So it became official last week Kyle Dubas out as the GM now of the Toronto Maple Leafs. And I think it remains possible that Dubas would become a member of the New York Islanders organization. And you sort of read between the lines a little bit. And look, Dubas, he was let go on Friday. And here's what he said that he would take some time if you didn't return to the Leafs this coming season to reflect. He said I definitely don't have it in me to go anywhere else. It'll either be here at that point it was Toronto, this quote is from before he got fired. Or I'll be taking time to recalibrate, reflect on the seasons here. You won't see me pop next week pop up elsewhere. I can't put my family through that after this year. And basically Pierre Le Brun, a hockey insider had this to say that initially Brendan Shanahan in Toronto wanted Dubas back. But Dubas asked for a little too much money and all of a sudden he was out now. Here comes the big question. There is one possibility as Dubas himself said, going to take a little time off. I'm going to spend time with my family, don't want to put my family through that again. The other possibility however, which I think also makes sense, is that Dubas would sign a contract with the Islanders. Come here, be an assistant under Lulamarello for one year, maybe two. And then he's told when he signs the contract after Loo moves up to just concentrate on being president of hockey operations, you become the heir apparent, you take over as the general manager of the New York Islanders. That is a distinct possibility. And here's one of the reasons why I think it makes sense. The way this salary cap situation and contract situation for the Islanders is set up right now. It is unlikely and certainly difficult for the Islanders to make major moves this season, this off season. They should be making some moves, but it would require a lot of activity. But you have a lot of guys coming off the books after this season. After this season. Well who's no longer here? Sebastian Ajo, Matt Martin, Cal Klutterbach. Josh Bailey is completely off the books. You have a number of guys and that doesn't include right now Varlamov who's coming off the books this off season unless they re-sign them. Mayfield, Parisé, who if he is back one more year, is probably only going to be giving it one more chance. And you have all these guys coming off the books at the end of next season. And not a lot of prospects and not a lot of wiggle room on the cap, especially when you need to re-sign Elia Sorokin. Maybe Lula Marillo stays on his GM one more year, runs it back with this current group for one last try. And I'm not saying this is what I would do, but I'm saying this is a realistic possibility. Dubas spends one year as an assistant and then decides that yeah, it's time for me to take over. He and Lula Marillo are close. Lula Marillo still has input and influence, but Dubas gets a year to recharge his battery as the assistant, get to know the Islanders personnel and do, you know, gradually take over when Lula is ready to step down as GM and move up to exclusively doing the president of hockey operations. And look, a lot of teams right now are spreading out those two titles over two people. We just saw the Flyers. Breair is the GM. Keith Jones now, director of hockey operations. It is being broken up for a lot of teams. It makes sense that this is being done. And now it's a question of whether that mold fits the Islanders. And it's a little more fair to Dubas and his family because they'll know, hey, the next two years at least on Long Island, we're not moving all over the place. So just putting it out there, it's been reported in a number of different places as a possibility. And now it's just a question of whether Dubas really takes complete time off, whether the Pittsburgh Penguins, for example, could convince him to take over there or if we get, you know, the situation I described or a different team maybe interests him. So lots of unknowns out there, but we'll see. A couple of moves made by the Islanders over the weekend. They have resigned forward Kyle McLean to a one year, two way contract. The 24 year old had 11 goals and 27 points in 67 games with Bridgeport had five short-handed points that did indeed lead the team. And he is likely to spend another season in Bridgeport as one of the leaders on that team. So forward Kyle McLean back. And then Daelyn Coofler signing a three year entry level contract he has played with the Kam Loops blazers of the Western Hockey League had 30 assists, 31 goals and a plus 32 rating in 54 games. He was an alternate captain and basically was the Islanders' sixth round pick in the 2022 entry draft. So most likely with Coofler, he's either going to play or split time next season between the East Coast Hockey League or the AHL Bridgeport Islanders depending on how he does in training camp. But again, he is now officially in the Islanders organization and has signed his three year tender. So it'll be interesting to see whether he's at the with the Worcester Railers of the East Coast League or with Bridgeport in the AHL. We have got more to get to on today's show. We continue our player by player look at the Islanders. Excuse me. We have a look at Simon Holmstrem and we have our Islanders birthday of the day. All that and more still to come on today's locked on Islanders podcast. So we continue our player by player look at the Islanders roster, how they did last year, whether they met expectations, what they did well, what they needed to improve on and what their prospects are for next season. Every day is, you know, we've been doing this pretty much since the week after the Islanders were eliminated from the playoffs. So we will continue our player by player look at this team next tomorrow and every day really until we've exhausted the roster. But today Simon Holmstrem, the six foot two, two hundred and five pound native of Sweden got his first NHL action this year played in 50 games, six goals, nine points, a minus four plus minus and you know, zero count them zero penalty minutes. Two of his six goals were game winners, but here's the thing about Holmstrem. He is a former first round pick, 23rd overall back in 2019. He is actually the Islanders last first round pick and he was slated to start the season in Bridgeport and he did start the season in Bridgeport. But basically the injuries that hit the Islanders at different times throughout the season, whether it was J.G. Pajoe, Matthew Barzal, Cal Klutterbuck, a lot of forwards going down at different times over the crowd. Kyle Palmeri, they needed to bring up some wingers, they end up bringing up Holmstrem and even though Holmstrem was only, you know, 21 years old, he actually turns 22 later this week, I think he was kind of rushed to the NHL and what we saw was a guy who got ice time because he was at least for the most part responsible defensively, knew how to play the Islanders system, but offensively here is a guy who really didn't contribute a lot and you know, you look at the numbers, 50 games, 50 games, 39 shots on goal, 77 shots attempted, that's not even, you know, that's a little hair more than one and a half shots attempted per game. That's, you know, not a lot, nine hits, he's not a physical guy. And again, not every player needs to be physical, but if you're not going to be physical, you got to add other things and we really haven't seen Holmstrem develop in that way just yet. Now, I think the Islanders ideally would have preferred to wait another year to bring Holmstrem up and I think the key now for Simon Holmstrem is to keep his confidence high. He now knows what it takes to succeed in the National Hockey League. I think ideally he is on the Islanders third line next season contributing along with J.G. Pajoe and maybe either Zach Parise or Hudson Fashing depending on what other moves are made but Simon Holmstrem at this point still on his entry level deal only has a cap hit next year of 863 to thousand plus dollars and then will only be a restricted free agent after the 2023-2024 campaign. So that's what lies ahead for Simon Holmstrem but again, here's a player who needs to add a little muscle who needs to be a little more confident. I think we saw one or two games late in the season that showed that he was getting that confidence. I remember a goalie scored against Tampa Bay in their 6-1 win against the Lightning where he actually looked pretty good but I think it was telling that we did not see Holmstrem on the ice in the playoffs because at this point he still didn't prove to the coaching staff that he was ready for prime time and next year the Islanders need him to take that big step forward and show that he's got what it takes. Alright, time for our Islanders birthday of the day. We are going all the way back to the beginning of the Islanders franchise and Sunday was the 75th birthday of former Islanders defenseman Bill Mickelson. Mickelson was not drafted, made his NHL debut with the LA Kings in 1971-72 playing 15 games for them. God his first assist but then was selected by the Islanders in the expansion draft and Mickelson, really nice guy, did interview him for my book Ice Wars and his son actually also played in the NHL but he had an unfortunate distinction. He played two full seasons in the NHL and both times he played on expansion teams who set the record for the worst record up till that time in NHL history. The 72-73 Islanders who played 78 games and won 12 of them and he was a minus 53 on the Islanders and then in 74-75 the Washington Capitals selected him in the expansion draft. He was a minus 82 in 59 games, Washington won 8 out of 80 games that year and the minus 82 is still to this day the all time worst plus minus in NHL history by a player in a single season. One of his better games is in Islander February 6, 1973 at the Nassau Coliseum which was brand new then. The Toronto Maple Leafs come to town and it was Gordon McCray in goal 4 Toronto, Billy Smith for the Islanders. Islanders win it by a score of 4-2 and in this game basically you have Bill Mickelson with an assist, he is a plus 2 and he did have a shot on goal so Bill Mickelson is our Islanders birthday of the day. Alright I want to thank everyone once again for making Laptoped on Islanders your first listen every day, every day or is tomorrow on the show. We'll have the latest rumors plus, we'll discuss Ryan Polock's season, what he did well, what he needs to do better and what his prospects are for his role for 2023-2024. Until then have a great day everybody, stay safe and of course let's go Islanders. Buying tickets to see your favourite NHL team shouldn't be stressful, that's where game time comes in. Game time is the place for last minute ticket deals, forget planning months in advance, game time has deals on tickets right up to the day of the event, get images of your seat before you buy so you know exactly what to expect when you arrive, you can buy tickets in a matter of seconds, two taps in your set. 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