REVELATION: New York Islanders Prospect Pool SURGES | Has Darche FINALLY Fixed Lou’s Muddy Middle?

REVELATION: New York Islanders Prospect Pool SURGES | Has Darche FINALLY Fixed Lou’s Muddy Middle?

It’s been a very eventful off seasonason for the New York Islanders. A new general manager, winning the draft lottery, three first round draft picks, a major trade, a free agent signing. But today, we’re going to take a look at what it all means and what we can expect from this team this season and beyond. All that and more on today’s Locked On Islanders podcast. You’re Locked on Islanders, your daily podcast on the New York Islanders, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Welcome everybody to the Tuesday edition of the Locked On Islanders podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. I want to thank everyone who makes Locked On Islanders your first listen every day. Don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss an episode. I’m Gil Martin. I’ve been covering the New York Islanders for almost two decades and I wrote the book Ice Wars on the history of the Islanders rivalry with the Rangers from 1972 to the modern era. So glad you could join us today to talk a little Islanders hockey. We have got a lot to discuss today. We’re going to start with where is this team now after all the things that have been happening this off season. What can we expect this season and beyond from the Islanders? We’re going to answer a couple of your mailbag questions and please send as many as you want during the off season because we will uh tackle those. And we will start our playerbyplayer deep dive into the Islanders draft picks with Jacob Kevas Nika, the seventh round pick of the Islanders this year. I I got to start with where this team is right now. And look, Matthew Dar has made some changes. There’s only so much he could do at once. You know, Lou Amarello, as everydayers know, I’ve said so many times, has left this team in the muddy middle. And it’s a tough place to be because you’re not good enough to be a cup contender. You’re not bad enough to get that really high draft pick and and and make a difference in the future. And it’s hard to get out of the muddy middle. So when Matthew Dar took over, his responsibility was to gradually get this team out of the muddy middle and move forward with hope for the future. And I think he’s on the way to doing that. Look, it is far too soon to say with certainty who won the trade for Noah Dobson. Okay. The Islanders ended up with Amal Heinman. They ended up with two first round draft picks. And you know, we don’t know whether one or both or neither of those first round picks will end up making an impact on the island or they could be traded for another asset. There are a lot of possibilities with regard to that. We also don’t know how well Noah Dobson is going to play in Montreal. Uh so we don’t know that. We do know though that by not signing Noah Dobson, you freed up a lot of cap space. cap space that this team definitely badly needed because let’s face it, uh, Lu Lamarello, as far as the cap was concerned, always seemed to be putting out fighters. Didn’t seem to have any surplus cap space. Uh, and that was an issue. But you look at the lineup now. You look at where this team is, and there are still a lot of questions. Last year, the New York Islanders finished 27th out of 32 teams in goals scored. You’re not going to win consistently unless you get elite goalending. And oh yeah, goals against the Islanders were 20th in the league out of 32 teams. The power play and penalty kill both next to last in the league. We talked about that a lot over the course of the season. They need to be better. You now, however, Matthew Dar has done some things to address special teams. You’ve got new assistant coaches. You’ve got players who can handle, for example, Tony D’Angelo can help quarterback the power play. Obviously, uh Jonathan Duan can help on the power play. If he’s healthy, Anthony Duclair can add something to the power play. There are additions that can help in some of these areas, but I think there are some questions still. for example, where are the goals coming from? Uh, I don’t think you’re going to get significantly more production out of Anders Lee or Bo Horvat or Kyle Palmary. You need to replace Brock Nelson’s productivity. Simon Holmstrom can probably move up a little bit uh and help. A healthy Matthew Barzal helps. Maxine Ciplov might help in his second season in the NHL. Uh Anthony Duclair if healthy helps. Jiruan if healthy helps. But you look up and down this lineup. If I’m listing all 32 teams in the NHL, the Islanders are not going to be offensively in the top 20. maybe not even in the top 25. They’ll probably finish somewhere in the low to mid 20s and depending on who’s healthy, depending on who takes a step up, depending on who takes a step back. But while I think this team is better than they were a year ago on paper, uh I don’t think that they are significantly better yet. And that’s the thing I think I want to say about where this team is right now. 2025 2026, this upcoming season is going to be a transition year. And I know ownership says they want to be competitive and they think they can make the playoffs. And look, the Metro is not the strongest division this year on paper. Could the Islanders make the playoffs? Yeah, I think they could. It’ll take, you know, a little more health, a little more productivity. You got to have a reliable backup goalie, something this team isn’t sure it has. Uh, you’ve got Vley if he’s healthy, but we don’t know if he’s healthy. I don’t know what Riddic is going to add. He wasn’t great in LA last year. He was very good the year before. I don’t think Marcus Hogberg is viewed as a legitimate long-term solution as the backup goalie. Although, if you need him for a game or two, if people are hurt, maybe he fills in and does okay. uh you have no idea how you know new players are going to fit into the lineup whether or not Ciplov takes a step forward this year or not. Uh you you certainly have no way of knowing what if anything Maxim Shabbanov adds. I look at this team, I see a lack of elite scoring talent. I see realistically I don’t see a legitimate top line uh to score at, you know, a high level. Kyle Palmary better off on the second line. Matthew Barzal maybe a legit first liner if you have a sniper with him. Anders Lee probably better off on the second line. Horvat, Drewan, Holstrom. These are not elite goalcorers. They’re solid, but I I still see this team having to try to win more games, you know, 3-2 and 2 to one than trying to beat teams six to five. So, I think this team is still in the middle. I think this team is still at a point where their ceiling on paper as of right now is probably either just making or missing the playoffs. The best they’re going to do is, you know, in a weak metro, maybe third place, more likely a wild card is the best realistic expectation for this team. The difference is this. While the Islanders clearly remain in the middle right now, it isn’t as muddy as it was. The muddy middle means you’re stuck there. Okay. When you two two years ago are ranked dead last in the NHL in prospect pool by the athletic and then this year after adding Cole Eisermanman went up to 25th. Now with the addition of Matthew Schaefer and the other two first round picks and a number of other solid draft picks and the addition of Cal Richie, all of a sudden the Islanders are probably, you know, above average in prospect pool. There is hope for the future right now. Six months ago didn’t seem like there was a lot of hope for the future to be that different or much better than the present. A year ago it looked like it was just getting worse. So my expectations is are that this is a transition year and maybe they can sneak into the playoffs during the transition year. Maybe they can’t. But I think this team will be more entertaining. And I think for the first time in three or four years, there are reasons for optimism from Islander fans that two years from now, three years from now, this team has a real chance, a realistic chance, if they play their cards right, to be better. I see more competition for roster spots. I see less uh of the country club atmosphere. I see young talent coming up the ranks. And remember, two first round picks in a deep draft coming up this year to add to that prospect pool. Yes, it will take time, but the goal if you’re any hockey team, but especially now the New York Islanders, you don’t want to be the second wild card or miss the playoffs every year. You don’t want to just miss or just make the playoffs. Matthew Dar addressed this in his press conference, his opening press conference. I want to set up a team that is good enough to contend year after year after year. And his model was the Tampa Bay Lightning, who for more than a decade have been a contending team, and they’ve won cups over that time period. You don’t get there by barely making the playoffs. You get there by building a strong core. And it takes time, especially after all the bad contracts that Lu Lamarello added to this team with the no trade clauses and the seven-year deals on guys who were over 30 and guys who were bottom pair defenseman and bottom six forwards. It’s going to take time to undo some of that damage. Thankfully, Brock Nelson forced lose hand on one trade. Noah Doppson was dealt away by Matthew Dar. It’s happening. It’ll take time. And I think before this year is over, we’ll see more moves to free up space. And I think the future looks bright, even if the present is maybe only a little better than it was a year or two ago. All right, we have got a lot more to get to on today’s show. We’re going to answer your mailbag questions about this team. Plus, we’ll have our scouting report on Jacob Kavashnika, the Islanders seventh round pick this year. And for our Islanders birthday of the day, uh a former Buffalo Saber who was with the Islanders for part of two seasons and then was part of a major trade that helped the Islanders get a lot better in their early days. We’ll talk about that and more coming up on today’s Locked On Islanders podcast. Today’s episode is brought to you by your friends at FanDuel. Summer sports are in full swing. And whether you’re all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green, or high stakes soccer action, FanDuel is the best way to make every game more exciting. You’re already following the action. Why not make it a little more thrilling? With FanDuel, you can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburned at the beach. I’ve been using FanDuel to track my favorite matchups, and the app keeps it fresh with new daily promotions and fun ways to bet. It’s easy to use, fast to pay out, and it makes even regular season games feel like much events. Whether I’m placing a same game parlay or watching a bet ride into the ninth inning, FanDuel makes it feel like I’m part of the action. New to FanDuel, new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. That’s a $5 bet. First $5 bet. If it wins, you get $150 in bonus bets. Open the FanDuel app today or visit fanuel.com to get started. So, let’s go to the mailbag. We have two mailbag issues to talk about today. Uh the first one is from an anonymous person. He wanted to remain anonymous. A Long Island native. That’s all I’m going to say. Uh, thank you so much, Gil, for your hard work and consistent content on a team that’s constantly consistently under represented. Going back to the Dobson trade, looking at not just assets, but how the cap was converted into I don’t know how many players. What are your feelings about the trade and dar? It kind of feels like the Islanders uh just robbed the bank without a gun. Do you feel this is a fluke and we got lucky or do we finally have a true force multiplier? Thank you for all you do and your time. Uh thank you uh to uh this anonymous listener and uh viewer and I appreciate the email. Look, I I think it’s too early to fairly judge Matthew Darsh. We don’t know, as I said in the first segment, how the two players, the two first round draft picks that the Islanders got in the Dobson trade, where they’re going to be in three years, five years, seven years. They could be on the Islanders. They could be traded for other assets. They could never pan out. We don’t know. I’ll say this. If one of them pans out and lives up to expectations, I think the Islanders did well because you freed up about 7.5 to 8 million in cap space by making this deal. And I wasn’t comfortable paying Noah Dobson, who was just very inconsistent. I wasn’t comfortable giving him $9.5 million a year for eight years. I know that’s what the market says he’s worth. I respect that. But that doesn’t mean that if I’m running a team, I have to pay that if I don’t think he’s worth it. And I think the big difference that I see at this point between Dar and Lou or one of the big differences is that Matthew Dar sets a limit and if if the player isn’t going to fit the value he is assigned, they’ll move on from him. And Lou always ended up signing guys for too much money and too much term. He even said that and it ended up creating cap crises one after the other after the other and it resulted in some bad contracts. So, I like that fact. I think you’re right. The Dobson deal has the potential to be a great one for the New York Islanders. And I’ll even say this, it could be a great deal for both teams if Noah Dobson becomes a consistent 60 65 point a year right shot defenseman and helps the Canadians and maybe his defense gets average or at least consistent enough that could be great for Montreal. And if either of the picks and Heinman end up doing well for the Islanders and the cap space that the Islanders then turned into Druan and maybe also used to sign Gatkam and whoever else they’ve signed, all of that works and makes sense for the Islanders. So I think it can be a win-win. Uh but as far as Matthew Dar is concerned, I am happy with what he’s done so far. But we have to see whether or not it actually pays off in the long run. One other question. This one is from Thomas from Queens. And Thomas says, “Do you see the Islanders making a trade before the regular season starts or is it more the trade deadline?” Thomas, thank you so much for your question. I could see the Islanders making a trade or two before the season starts. I’m not anticipating anything big. If they make a move, I think it is more designed to free up a little cap space to maybe move on from a player or players that don’t fit Matthew Dar’s vision or who have too high a salary. Uh maybe who don’t fit what Patrick Wah is trying to do. I’ll give you an example. If Pierre Angal comes into training camp and isn’t playing the style that Matthew uh that Patrick Wah rather wants him to play and when he does that he can be a useful player, he doesn’t do it consistently. So if he continues to be inconsistent and you could either put him on waiverss or make a move, I could see it. With the addition of Shabbanov, you’ve got a surplus of forwards. You’ve got 14 forwards by my count and eight defenseman and that doesn’t necessarily even include Matthew Schaefer. So, could I see them making a move or two, probably a small move before the the season starts? Yeah, I could uh hopefully it would be something that frees up cap space and helps them move on from a player that doesn’t really fit with the long-term plan. I think guys like JG Pacio, who Matthew Dor said, “I’m not trading,” or, Anders Lee, if they’re getting moved, I think it’s closer to the trade deadline. Um, and that may also depend on where the Islanders are when we get close to the trade deadline. And to me, again, anything you do this year to me is a bonus. And if I think the priority is more to free up cap space and create a situation that improves the future rather than trying to sneak in as the eighth playoff team again this year. If you can, by all means do it. I’d love to see it. I think this team will be more entertaining this year, but hopefully the big picture remains the ultimate focus of Matthew Dar. That’s how I see it. It is obviously subject to change and that’s going to be it’s going to be a fun ride between now and October 7th when the season gets underway. We have got more to get to on today’s show. We start our playerbyplayer deep dive into the Islanders draft picks. Jacob Kavashnika, seventh round pick. We start with him. We’ll have that plus our Islanders birthday of the day. All that coming up on today’s Lockdown Islanders podcast. I know I’ve been promising Everydayers for a while now that we’re going to start looking at the Islanders draft picks and how they fit in and and their potential. And today we’re actually going to start that process. So, seventh round, the New York Islanders with a 202nd overall pick in the 2025 NHL entry draft picked up right-winger Jacob Kavashnika, native of Plymouth, Minnesota, 5’11, 175 pounds. He will not turn 18 until August 10th, which is hard to believe. Uh, spent last year on the US national development team. five goals, 14 points, six penalty minutes in 27 games. And look, when you’re picking a a player in the seventh round, you’re not expecting immediate help at all. And you you’re basically taking a flyer on a guy. So, first of all, Kavashnika is committed to the University of Minnesota. But not this fall. Next fall. The fall of 2026. So he’ll be in the WHL with the Pentagon V’s who just acquired his rights. And here is a guy who his game is speed and he’s really good on the forche. And I think, you know, that is something that Matthew Dar talked about that the Islanders are looking for being more difficult to play against, poor checking, fast, physical. These are things that, you know, they’re looking for. Now, his speed on his skates is really good. But in the Islanders, as as everydayers know, we’ve talked about younger, faster, more skilled. He’s faster, but his shot and his puck skills need more development. So, he’s got one more year in the WHL. One year there, then he goes to college hockey. Um, his ceiling is probably a fourthline player who will, you know, do kind of a a a Matt Gatkam kind of a Mark Gatkam kind of a role rather, uh, or a Casey Sazikas kind of a role. He’ll kill penalties. He’ll forch check. He’ll be aggressive. Uh he’ll make things a little tougher for opposing players, but you’re not likely, unless his skill set really does upgrade, you’re not going to expect a lot of offense from Jacob Kavashnika and certainly not right away. Look, here is a kid who is still only 17. He’s going to need some time. Anything you get from a seventh round draft pick is a bonus. So, if he makes the NHL and gives the Islanders something three, four, five years down the road, or if the Islanders manage to trade him for other useful assets at some point, or even if he just ends up in the AHL and does a solid job as a as a veteran there, and maybe you call him up for a game or two, if somebody gets hurt or an opportunity arises, if he earns it down in the A, all of these things uh are not unrealistic. So that is sort of where he’s at as of now. Always subject to change. You never know how players grow mature both physically and skill-wise, but uh you know that’s how he projects according to most scouts as of right now. Time now for our Islanders birthday of the day. And today is the 75th birthday of former Islanders center Doug Ramba. And uh Ramba unfortunately passed away in 2015 at the age of 64. So this uh this is the anniversary of his birthday, but obviously he’s not here to celebrate it. Uh originally an eighth round pick in 1970 by the Sabres. made his NHL debut in 7273 with Buffalo and midway through 7374 traded to the Islanders. 7475 started with the Islanders got traded to the North Stars as part of one of the two deals that got the Islanders Jude Druan and JP Paris. Two separate trades like two days apart with the same team. Ernie Hickeyi also heading to Minnesota as part of those deals. Ramba played parts of two years with Minnesota and then finished his career in the AHL and CHL. He played 150 career NHL games, 24 goals, 51 points, 80 penalty minutes. Never did play in a playoff game, but one of his better games as an Islander, March 24th, 1974, Islanders visiting the Omni in Atlanta to take on the Atlanta Flames. The goalenders, Jerry Dejar Dan for the Islanders, Phil Mir for Atlanta, and with the Islanders up two to one late in the first period, an interference call on goalie. Phil Mir sets up an Islanders power play and Doug Ramba, our Islanders birthday of the day, scores his eighth goal of the year. Ralph Stewart and Dennis Potman with the assist. Isles up 3-1 after one. Bobby Lighter scores for Atlanta early in the second period to pull them to within a goal. And then the Islanders power play goes back to work. Jacqu Rashard off for elbowing. And Doug Ramba, our Islanders birthday of the day, scores again. Ralph Stewart and Dennis Potvan with the assist. In the third, Ramba and Billy Harris set up Dennis Potvan for the final goal of the game. Islanders go on to beat the Flames by a score of six to four. for Jerry Dejardan, 32 saves to earn the win. For Doug Ramba, two goals and an assist. He was a plus one. He had two penalty minutes and he had five shots on goal which tied him for the team lead with Ralph Stewart. Doug Ramba is our Islanders birthday of the day. I want to thank everyone for making Locked on Islanders your first listen today. For your second listen, check out the Locked On NHL podcast. There is no offseason. We’re bringing you the daily leaguewide stories that matter most with the local coverage you love from Locked On. Find Locked On NHL on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. It’s part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. If you have a question, a comment, maybe a topic you’d like us to discuss on a future episode, the mailbag is always open. Send us an email to lockedon [email protected]. And if you leave your first name, where you’re from, we’re happy to mention you on the show when we discuss whatever’s on your mind. You can follow the show on xlocked. You can follow me, Gil Martin, on X at Icewars NYRVSNY. We’ll keep you up to date on all things Islanders all throughout this important off season. And it’s always great to talk a little Islanders hockey with you anytime. Every day, we are back tomorrow uh as we continue our player by player look at this year’s Islanders draft class. We’ll also have the latest news, notes, and happenings. Have a great day everybody. Stay safe and of course, let’s go Islanders.

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOIslanders?sid=YouTube

Locked On NHL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Prospects & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNHL

And follow the show and Gil Martin on Twitter where he’ll share the latest news on your New York Islanders and will talk with fans like you.

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/LockedOnIsles
and https://twitter.com/icewarsnyrvsnyi

#Islanders #NYIslanders #NHL