The Offseason Is Just a Week Old But Rumors Are Already Linking the New York Islanders to Top Free Agent

It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today we take a look at a big off-season trade rumor plus we have our awards episode as we look at the best and the worst the aisles had to offer in 2022-2023. All that and more on today's Lockdown Islanders Podcast. ♪♪♪ Slides it out for Egglaff. Back to Hoffman, Lockdown twice! Another spectacular stop! For Sarti's hit 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 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 Friday edition of the Lockdown Islanders Podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Want to thank everyone for making Lockdown Islanders your first listen every day? Be sure to subscribe to Lockdown Islanders on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast so you can get the first, the new episodes as they drop, and we are now also available on SXM app, SiriusXM Radio, so check us out on there as well. We have got a lot to get to on today's show, including a offensive-minded player who really could help the Islanders' rumors already spreading that that player may very well be interested in coming to the island, but first, if there's something Islanders related on your mind, if you have a question, a comment, maybe a topic you'd like us to discuss on a future episode, feel free to send us an email, the email address, Lockdown Islanders at gmail.com, and if you leave your first name and where you're from, we're happy to mention you on the show when we talk about whatever it is that's on your mind. You could also follow the show on Twitter at LockdownIsles, and you could follow me, Gil Martin, on Twitter at Ice Wars, NYR, VSNYI, we'll keep you up to date on all the latest Islanders' news notes and happenings, and I'll be keeping you trade rumors, free agency, the draft, hiring, firings, whatever happens this offseason, we'll have it here on Lockdown Islanders. Alright, already we're less than a week into the offseason, and there are rumors being discussed by some hockey insiders who think that a particular player who can add some juice to the Islanders' offense may very well be interested and available for the Islanders. On the Jeff Marichaud ESPN's Greg Wyschinsky, discuss that maybe, just maybe, unrestricted or potential unrestricted free agent, Vladimir Terasenko, could be headed for Long Island, and here's what he said when asked whether or not Terasenko coming to the Islanders would make sense. He said, I think they do. You look at that series against Carolina, it was a really bad draw off of the Islanders. The Islanders want to do what the Hurricanes did to the Islanders to other teams. It's just that Carolina is the best at it. It was still a situation where they were scrapping and clawing and trying to eke out goals in the playoffs, which has normally been their struggle. It's a matter of getting finishers sometimes. Say what you want about Terasenko, what he does or does not bring to a team, but the man can finish a play. Now you've got yourself Horvat, you've got yourself Barzal, you've got guys who certainly could score themselves, but also set up chances for others. And I think having more finishers on that roster is something Lou Lamarello has chased, and Terasenko is definitely one of those guys. Well, look, here's the situation. There are a lot of good reasons why you would want Vladimir Terasenko on your team, and there's a lot of reasons why you would think twice about it. First things first, Terasenko will not be an unrestricted free agent until July 1st, and the Rangers who he was traded to right around the trade deadline, they have until July 1st to sign him before he hits the open market. So we have to see whether or not Terasenko signs to stay on Broadway. Hopefully, if you're an islander fan and you want to see Vladimir Terasenko on the island, he does not. But let's talk a little bit about Vladimir Terasenko. Good news, bad news. Good news. Vladimir Terasenko is a wing. And we talk before the trade deadline, and every day there's, you know, what I'm talking about, how the islanders needed a scoring wing. They got Bo Horvat, who was a center, and we've been talking about the need for a wing who could put the puck in the net, even dating back to last offseason, when, you know, there were all kinds of rumors about Nazim Qadri, and I said, look, Qadri would be great to have, but he's a center, not a wing, and they need, you know, they need a wing. They're deep at center. Well, they end up getting Horvat this year at the trade deadline. He's a center, they move far as all to the wing. It wasn't as smooth a transition. So there is that. The other good thing about Terasenko, obviously he can put the puck in the net. And, you know, he's had a 40 goal season, a 39 goal season, a 37 goal season, a couple of 33s, and a 34. So we know this guy is capable of scoring, and you look at his shooting percentage, 12.7, over the course of his career, and it's been pretty consistent, barring a couple of years that were affected by injuries, and, you know, again, for the Islanders to get a sniper, a guy who could put the puck in the net, a man with seven career NHL hat tricks, that would be huge for this team. But there are drawbacks to Vladimir Terasenko. Number one, he'll turn 32 in December of this year. He's not young. Now, maybe that makes him more attractive to Lula Amorello, if Lula Amorello is indeed the decision maker. We do know that Vladimir Terasenko also has a large injury history. He only played 10 games in 2019, 2020. Played only 24 games in 2020, 2021. Last year, splitting time between the Blues and the Rangers, he played in 69 games, only had 18 goals and 50 points in those 69 games. Not quite the point of game guy you want. Now, again, you would do a physical, you would want to make sure he checks out okay physically. He should be another year removed from all the injuries, and hopefully that helps. Another issue about Terasenko. He is not really defensively the kind of guy the Islanders think would be a great fit in the system. He's not back checking aggressively like the Islanders prefer. He's big, 6'1", 228. But, you know, if you bring in Terasenko, do you make an exception? Does that cause the system to break down? Again, we're assuming the system stays similar or the same depending on who the coach is, depending on who the GM is it may or may not. But, Terasenko, we do know, by the way, Lula Amorello has been interested in Terasenko in the past, and we know that Terasenko, when he was with the Blues, had a no trade clause, so he listed teams he would be interested in going to, and one of the teams who was on his list was the New York Islanders. And that's a good sign. As a free agent, Terasenko right now, he earned $2.75 million last year and had a cap hit of $3.75 million. At $31.00, going on $32.00 before the end of the year, you can't give him the seven or eight year contract and believe me, the problem with free agency, it only takes one team to make that offer in order to, you know, get past that line and, you know, hey, Terasenko says, Islanders are offering me five years, some other team is offering me seven or eight, that's better for my family, I'm going to go there. Here is an opportunity though, realistically, if he only earned $2.75 million last year, and had a cap hit of $3.75 million, would $5.5 million get it done? If that is the case, Terasenko would be affordable for this team, so very interesting to hear Greg Waczynski mentioning that, and Horvat Barzal and Terasenko, what a great first line that would be, is it the perfect fit? No, but it checks a lot of boxes, and it is something to keep an eye on, even if Lulamarello stays, this might be one of the free agents he could bring in for this team. All right, we've got more to get to, we're going to answer some of your questions, and we're going to talk a little bit about the Islanders' post-season awards. Every day or is tomorrow on the show, we will also be, excuse me, Monday on the show, we will be discussing our player by player review of this team, we will start that on Monday, so make sure you join us for that. 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Let's ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers, eligible items only, exclusions apply. The following message was written by chatgpt. Get the inside scoop on everything NHL playoffs with Lockdawn NHL. Join our expert hosts as they break down the latest news, games, and predictions. From the hottest players to the biggest upsets, we've got you covered. Don't miss a beat this postseason, Lockdawn NHL, available on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Lockdawn Podcast Network, more team every day. So, I wanted to get to your questions. I had two emails that I particularly wanted to discuss. The first one comes from Damian in Buffalo. He's part of the Buffalo Isles meetups, and a shout out to all of those Islander fans up in Buffalo. Hi, Gil. Every day are here, and thank you very much, Damian, for that. I agree with you that the Islanders need to sign Sorokin. But are you concerned with how much of the cap would be eaten up by us contract, considering the goalies that are left in the playoffs this year? With the exception of Sergey Babrovsky in Florida. Most of the high-dollar goalies are out, and the teams that are left are young, fast, and have a plug-in goalie system. This is going to be a tough-off season for the Islanders. I'm not sure what direction they should go, but they definitely need to get faster. Damian, thank you so much, first of all, for the question. And, you know, if you look at the teams that are left with the exception of Sergey Babrovsky, most of the high-priced, you know, most of the goalies are not the high-priced variety. And, you know, Omar, out, Boston, out. You know, a lot of the teams with the so-called elite high-priced goalies are no longer in the playoffs. Here's the reason why I think Sorokin may be an exception. And it's a little... it's a little roundabout. But here's the thing. If the Islanders plan to continue to play this style of hockey, the defense first shut them down, win two to one, they've got to stick with Sorokin, or get somebody who will be a really, really good goalie. If this team gets younger, faster and more skilled, maybe they can get away with instead of spending $8,000,000,000 on a goalie. Spending $4,000,000,000 on a goalie, and adding those talented players around them, you get a good goalie, not an elite goalie, and that goalie gets hot at the right time in the playoffs. And you score enough goals, and you can go on that long playoff run. So, there is sort of that if, and to me, it has to do with the way the Islanders are going to play. So, if they stick with this defense first system, you need an elite goalie like Sorokin to just be competitive. But if they're willing to get faster, younger, and more skilled, you may not need Sorokin. I still would like to keep Sorokin, but the cap situation is a mess, and we'll have to see how that ends up playing out. So, Damian, thank you. Next one is another every dayer. This is Frank in North Patchog. Great job on Wednesday's podcast, breaking down the player's salary and how it affects the cap. I know it's not a pretty picture, Frank writes. The Islanders will be in a bind if they want to trade for a younger player. I heard that Alex Debrinkett is not happy in Ottawa. He would be a great fit for our team. He's young, he's quick, he has skill, but the Sens would want to draft pick a young prospect, something we don't have much of. Our 30-something guys won't help make this trade happen, or for any other trade. For that matter, we would need a savvy GM to pull off trades and to manage the salary cap. And Lou is not the man for that job. We need a young, quick and skilled GM. Frank, thanks for the email. Look, I think Lulamarello is savvy, but I don't think his goal tends to be younger, faster, more skilled. And that's the problem. If I was confident that Lulamarello was, you know, set on making that the goal, I think he could do it. And I think he could make some savvy trades to free up cap space and get younger. But I don't think he will. And I'd love for him to prove me wrong if he ends up staying. But, you know, we got to get there first. And I don't think necessarily that that will be the case. So, Frank, another every dayer. Thank you so much for the email. I hope that does answer your question. And again, please send emails. If you have questions, you want us to discuss two locked-on aisles at gmail.com. And I'm happy to answer them on the show. I wanted to start our Islanders' awards, post-season awards. And we're going to start this and do this today. It's, you know, my personal opinion and feel free to comment on YouTube or on Twitter or DM me. And let's hear your opinions as well. But I'm going to start this segment with the team most valuable player. And, you know, to me, it's got to be Ilya Sorokin. The way this team plays, they are very dependent on their goaltender. And, you know, Sorokin played in 62 games, started 60. We went over the statistics yesterday every day. As you know, led the league in shutouts was top three and save percentage and top six in goals against average. But ninth in wins without Ilya Sorokin. This Islander team doesn't even get close to the playoffs. And to me, you know, that speaks volumes. Unsung Hero Award. I'm giving it to Zach Parise. Here is a guy who played mostly on the third line this year. Played for the league minimum and is what, 38 years old? 21 goals, 34 assists. And that's without playing top line minutes. Yeah, he got some time on the second power play unit. He was also playing short handed. I had two shorties, which was second on the team. To me, Zach Parise is just a guy who goes out there, plays the game the right way, works hard, leads by example. And to me, you know, if you end up finishing. Third on the team in goals. And, you know, sixth on the team in points. At the age of 38, you give them 21 goals. You play for the minimum. You hustle all the time. Unsung Hero definitely going to Zach Parise. Top newcomer. Really can't go with rookie because rookie is a tricky status these days. But to me, the top newcomer would be Hudson Fashing. Gets his chance when injury strike the team plays 49 games in a third or fourth line role most of the time. 10 goals, 19 points, a plus 10 in just 49 games. And again, just plays the game right. Does things the right way. So to me, Hudson Fashing will be the top newcomer for this team. And by newcomer, you know, I'm not saying just new to the Islanders. I'm saying, you know, new to the league. I know Fashing had a couple of cups of coffee before. But the 49 games he played this year more than he had played combined in his entire career. He had spent almost all of his pro career in the AHL. So to me, he can get that award. Biggest disappointment. And this could have gone a bunch of different ways. But I'm going this way. It's going to be no adoption. Yeah, I know fourth on the team in points with 49. But boy, you know, defensively, Dauber regressed. And I think the way he finished last season in particular from like mid February on, there were really high hopes for Dauber and offensively, he didn't really take another step forward. He didn't regress a lot offensively. But defensively, he just kept coughing up the puck, didn't make good decisions, didn't skate the puck out of his own consistently well. And he was now the power play of the quarter, excuse me, the quarterback of the power play. And for a power play that was ranked 30th in the league that really failed the Islanders in the playoffs and to his credit, Dobson afterwards said, yeah, we do take it personally and I do take it personally and we need to get better. But to me, Dobson after all the hype disappointed, I give him the award slightly over Bo Horvat because Horvat only played 30 games with the Islanders. He did other things very well, even though his scoring was certainly a disappointment. But because Dobson played 78 games and Horvat only played 30. And because Horvat's big contract doesn't kick in until next year, that's why I gave this biggest disappointment award to know Adopson and hopefully he can bounce back. We've got more to get to, we're going to finish giving out our awards plus, we have our Islanders birthday of the day, all that and more still to come on today's Lockdown Islanders podcast. Tampa Bay Rays are for real this season and they just swept one of the best teams in baseball to prove it. The Pirates, they have not run into a bus, saw a team like the Rays and I think it got to them. The Warriors bounced back in game two against the Lakers, can they keep this momentum going as the series heads to LA? And just like that, it's a best of five. And the Vegas Golden Knights are looking to build on a high scoring game one victory in their second round series against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. That's the way this team had played back in the inaugural season in the playoffs. For all these stories head over to Lockdown Rays, Lockdown Warriors and Lockdown Golden Knights. Then check out Lockdown's new series, Paving the Way. Each episode will highlight a different voice from around the network, a Lockdown host whose journey in the industry has helped pave the way toward creating a more inclusive and diverse media landscape. That's Paving the Way presented by State Farm, available now on the Lockdown Presents podcast feed. So continuing our awards, best defenseman to me, Ryan Pollock has got to get that award for this year. Start with the fact that he played in all 82 games and only had 14 penalty minutes. Yeah, the five goals and 26 points were a little disappointing, but he was also a plus 10, which places him pretty close to the top. Adam Pelock could have won the award, but only played 61 games and the games he missed, boy did the team feel it. So I give it to Pollock slightly ahead of Pelock. If Pelock was healthy, he probably would have gotten it. Best defensive forward. This win was tough. More on reputation. I'm giving it to Jay-G Pajoe. And you know, Pajoe still kills penalties, takes big draws, and ends up checking the opposing team's best skating players, offensive players. I thought about Casey Sizekis as a possibility, but I ended up giving the award to Jay-G Pajoe. Basically, the most physical player award has to go to Matt Martin. 295 hits. 97 more than the next highest islander who was Alexander Romanov. And Martin doesn't play as many minutes as Romanov does. Now, had Cal Klutterbuck played 81 games like Matty Morz did, his hit total probably would have been around the same, but Matt Martin to me, you know, seven goals, 19 points, a plus four, and 295 hits, he gets the award to me for most physical player, or at least contributing the most physically. And then finally, there's the Ouch award. This one goes to the player who blocked the most shots, and by a wide margin, it's Scott Mayfield. He blocked 168 shots this year. 39 more than Alexander Romanov, and he only played six more games than Romanov did. And Mayfield, you know, he was a plus eight. He did take a few too many silly penalties this year, but he was fearless at blocking shots, and I give him credit. And oh, by the way, which islander forward was first in block shots among the forwards? Yeah, how about Zach Parisse, another reason why I gave him the own song Hero Award. Love to hear what you all think about these different awards, and if there's another award you want to add, feel free. But those were my awards for the year, and I think that it would be, you know, great to hear what our everydayers and all of our listeners feel should be the choices. Alright, time for our islanders birthday of the day, and well, Saturday is going to be the 58th birthday of former islander center, Bob Bassett. Bassett wasn't drafted, but made his NHL debut during the 85-86 season with the aisle stayed on the island till early in the 88-89 season, was never a big offensive guy, only scored a career high of 16-90s. And then in the 87-88, six goals, 22 points. He was physical, had as many as 99 penalty minutes with the islanders, went to 183 penalty minutes with the blues, played for the Blackhawks, blues, and the Quebec Nordiques, then the Dallas Stars, Calgary Flames, and briefly with the blues to have closed out his NHL career after the night. And then he was in his career after the 1999-2000 season, and you know, Bassett, like I said, never a goalscore, 88 goals, and 232 points in 765 games, but you know he could check, he could play solid defense, and he was smart with the puck. He was 10-180 pounds, but he did not back down. One of his better games with the islanders, January 10, 1987, at the Nassau Coliseum, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the visitor can regget their goalie, Billy Smith in net for the aisles, and Bob Bassett with a goal and an assist, scoring on his only shot as the islanders, edged the Maple Leafs by a score of 3-2, so islanders win 3-2 and Bassett was in on two of the goals, scoring one and setting up another. I want to thank everybody again for making lockdown islanders your first listen every day, every day or Monday, we're going to start breaking down this roster, player by player, analyzing what the expectations were, what the highlights and low lights were for each player, and taking a look ahead at what to expect from that player in next season, whether they'll be back and what role they are likely to play, so make sure you join us for that, have a great weekend everybody, stay safe, and of course, let's go islanders! Buying tickets to see your favorite NHL team shouldn't be stressful, that's where game time comes in. 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And the Vegas Golden Knights are looking to build on a high-scoring game one victory in their second round series against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. That's the way this team had played back in the inaugural season in the playoffs. For all these stories head over to Locked On Rays, Locked On Warriors and Locked On Golden Knights. Then check out Locked On's new series, Paving the Way. Each episode will highlight a different voice from around the network, a locked on host whose journey in the industry has helped pave the way toward creating a more powerful role. Toward creating a more inclusive and diverse media landscape. That's Paving the Way presented by State Farm, available now on the Locked On Presents podcast feed. Hello Nix fans, I'm Gavin Shaw, host of your daily New York Nix podcast, Locked On Nix, part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day. Locked On Nix brings you the latest Nix news and analysis and breaks down all of the action. Locked On Nix is everything a Nix fan could want all in one 30-minute daily podcast. So subscribe now to Locked On Nix wherever you get your podcast. Search Locked On Nix and get your daily New York Nix podcast. Locked On Podcast Network your team every day.