Good Morning, Islanders Country.
My lovely wife and her friend went out last night to see Dogstar perform live in New Haven. “Dogstar?” you ask. That’s Keanu Reeves’ alternative rock band. The venue sold out in minutes; the new album came out last week, if you didn’t know.
That left Dad at home with his precious two girls and not so much precious time to write the newsletter. Anyway, it was a great show, so I was told. It also had me go down a Keanu rabbit hole and learn that before he learned to act or play the bass guitar, he was a hockey player.
He was raised in Toronto and played hockey at De La Salle College; he even has a page at EliteProspects! My half-fast internet research says Keanu was nicknamed “The Wall” and had aspirations for the goalie of the Canadian National Olympic team. Who knew!? Then, one of his movie roles was in the 1986 film “Youngblood,” starring Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze, about a Canadian junior hockey team.
Onto the Isles (with some Keanu inspiration). We’re now just two more sleeps from the 2023-24 season, which will be most definitely an excellent adventure. Something’s gotta give this season after GM Lou Lamoriello reloaded his roster with known quantities, but the question remains whether they have enough speed to keep up with the rest of the league.
While the naysayers insist this is the same team as last year, I’ll play devil’s advocate and point out that the team has turned over quite a bit. It’s another prove people wrong season where the Isles core will aim to red-pill the pundits into believing that their style is a winning one.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Coming up, why having rotating wingers is nothing new for Bo Horvat and Jon Ledecky is feeling good about the season. Plus, the Mets/Yankees let us focus on baseball, a cap solution for the Senators, and the Isles earn their first-ever win.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: The Islanders were off on Wednesday, a day after they lost “beloved” big brother and enforcer Ross Johnston on waivers to the Anaheim Ducks. The decision to waive Johnston was a vote of confidence for 2019 1st-round pick Simon Holmstrom, who will be recalled from Bridgeport and possibly inserted on the top line with Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat.
Fans are frustrated that the Islanders won’t boast a top line of three proven NHL scorers, something that was the case throughout the John Tavares years. But that isn’t exclusive to the Islanders, and Horvat says it’s nothing new for him.
“In [Vancouver], honestly, I think I played with every single player on the roster on a nightly basis,” said Horvat in Newsday. “I never had a solid or locked-in winger, I think, my entire nine years there. So I’m used to having rotating wingers. But it’s nice to have [Barzal] on my wing solidly throughout a full camp.”
We’ll soon find out if the coaching staff feels that Holmstrom showed enough to warrant getting the first crack with the duo. They may feel it’s the best way to unlock the scoring potential Holmstrom continues to insist he has, but we still need to see it on a consistent basis in the NHL.
The 22-year-old had six goals and three assists in 50 games as a rookie last year.
◾️ No owner breaks out the pom poms like Jon Ledekcy. The Islanders co-owner was on-hand at the “Invest in Sports” conference presented by Sportico on Wednesday and was his optimistic self with the season days away.
“We’re very excited about the new season,” Ledecky told Newsday. “I think that the leadership that Lou and Lane [Lambert, the coach] have shown with the hockey team and camp, they're ready to go.”
As for year three at UBS Arena, Ledekcy says that the feedback from fans keeps coming on a continuous loop as they aim to improve the fan experience further.
“The great thing about Islanders fans is they know they can talk to us and they're not shy with their opinions,” he said. “So I think we've improved a lot of the game experience and the arena experience because of their input. And that input continues to fly at me, which is great.”
◾️ Ledecky also had some interesting commentary about the team’s six home games in October. Usually, having a lot of home games isn’t great business this month as the hockey teams are competing with the NFL and playoff baseball (most always the Yankees and occasionally the Mets). That’s not the case this season, meaning hockey fans can turn their attention toward the ice earlier.
“We love the other New York teams, but when you have competing sports that are in the playoffs, sometimes the hockey teams in New York can be a secondary story,” Ledecky said. “Now they’re a primary story, and that's very exciting to us. We have the stage if you will. Basketball is in preseason. Here comes hockey.”
⏭ NEXT UP: It’s the regular season! The Islanders open up the 2023-24 campaign at home against Tage Thompson and the Buffalo Sabres. Face-off from UBS Arena in Elmont is at 7:30 PM EDT.
📊 STANDINGS: The Metropolitan Division champion Carolina Hurricanes won their opener last night, 5-3 love the Ottawa Senators.
◾️ For The Hockey News, Stefen Rosner put a lot of thought into whether the Islanders and Ottawa Senators could be a fit as the Sens try to create the necessary cap space to sign Long Island’s Shane Pinto.
Rosner concedes that it’s unlikely but floats the possibility of the Sens creating cap space by moving 24-year-old third-pairing defenseman Erik Brannstrom and his $2M cap hit to the Isles in exchange for the less experienced Samuel Bolduc.
Coincidentally, Brannstrom was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights with the 15th pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, a pick that was acquired from the Islanders so that Vegas would select JF Berube in the expansion draft.
📚 SOUND SMART: ESPN said the Blackhawks-Penguins on Tuesday night game drew 1.43 million total viewers, a network record for a regular-season game.
🎥 ISLES REWIND: After losing their NHL debut to the Atlanta Flames, the Islanders were back at it on Oct. 12, 1972, hosting the Los Angeles Kings at the Nassau Coliseum. Germain Gagnon broke a 2-2 tie to give the Isles a late lead and hung on in the final 69 seconds to earn their first win in franchise history.
After their first win, not many more followed. After beating LA, the Islanders went 0-5-1 in their next six games and wound up with a record of 12-60-6.
🎧 Talkin’ Isles: Cory Schneider: Former Islanders goaltender Cory Schneider joins Greg and Cory for Episode 49 of the podcast after announcing his retirement from professional hockey in September
🔗 Is Ilya Sorokin a Good Bet for the Vezina Trophy? by Colby Guy, NYIHockeyNow “ With Ilya Sorokin secured to an eight-year contract over the summer, the New York Islanders now have one of the best goaltenders in the league secured for the foreseeable future. But can he solidify himself as the best in the league?
And we leave you with this…you didn’t think there would be only one day of images of the Islanders and the puppies, did you?
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Remake Slap Shot with Keanu