New York Islanders 2025-26 Preview Featuring Michael Fliegelman – WFAN Daily With Pete Hoffman

New York Islanders 2025-26 Preview Featuring Michael Fliegelman – WFAN Daily With Pete Hoffman

Kevin McFersonson, your nighttime host on the York. It’s WFAN Daily hosted by Pete Hoffman. [Music] And I know everybody’s been waiting for this. We did the Rangers preview. We did the Islander preview or the Els preview, excuse me. How do we not do the Islanders preview and I am lucky enough to be joined by a friend of mine who we had many nights together speaking for hours over how bad the Mets and the Jets played and now we get to talk a little bit hockey. Michael Flegelman, welcome to the show. What’s up, man? What’s up, Huff? Thanks for having me. Yeah, listen. I’m glad for you having all your success with the middays, but I miss you when I came in for those overnights, willing to stick around until 2 or 3:00 a.m. just, you know, chopping it up and then cutting my shift in half. Yeah, it’s funny. Nobody else wants to hear me talk but you. I go home, nobody wants to hear me talk, but I’ll go I’ll stay with you for hours. It’s great. It was amazing. But, uh, listen, Mikey, here we go. Let’s listen. The the the season started yesterday. Why don’t I get the preview in before? No big deal. It happens. We can still preview 81 games. Totally fine. You get the first game against the Penguins and first of all, let’s be honest with you, as a Ranger fan, the Penguins are pain in the ass. They’re not supposed to be good yet. They’re two and0 already start the season. Take a little glimpse of yesterday. How did it feel first of all for Hawk to be back, but what do you take from yesterday’s game? I think last night’s game is a lot of what you’re going to see with the Islanders this season. This is going to be a team that, you know, they’re not expected to be obviously a Stanley Cup contender, barely on the fringe of the wildard race and making the playoffs. This is a team that’s in transition. Obviously, it’s the first year without Lou at the helm. So, Dar is in is the new GM. Patrick W back and they had the first overall pick last year. Got lucky, won the lottery. And there’s going to be a lot of emphasis on the youth this season. While some of the veterans that are still around, some on decent contracts, some on abominations of contracts that Lou Lamarella gave out, the emphasis is going to be on watching the youth. And in game number one, I you saw Matthew Schaefer set up the first goal of the season for the Islanders with an assist on a nice pass. You saw him as just a teenager. He’s 18 years old. He did not look at all out of place on the defensive line. And he’s paired with, you know, he’s not playing with Adam Pelic or even Ryan Pulock. He’s paired with arguably the Islanders worst starting defenseman. And Scott Mayfield, I mean, there was one goal later in the game where Schaefer’s in the right position. He doesn’t do anything wrong. Mayfield gets beat. They give up a goal, but he looked right away like a pro. And then Shabinoff, who they brought in from the KHL, and there’s been a lot of buzz about him in training camp that they think they may have caught some lightning in a bottle. He scored a goal in the first game. Overall, the results are disappointing. They lose. There’s going to be a lot of that this year where they hang in the game. You know, they play teams tough. They’re right there. They they don’t have that extra oomph to get them over the hump. This is still a team that what’s been plaguing them for years is still true. They don’t score enough. They used to not score enough with elite defense. Now, they don’t score enough with not that great defense, but if you as a fan could just key in on the youth and watching the younger guys develop, you know, Schaefer, one of three first round picks in the draft this summer, then there are reasons to be optimistic, if not just for this season, what the franchise can be moving forward, kind of a a mini rebuild and not a full, you know, five-year blow it all up one. And Matt Schaefer, like you said, uh gets an assist on the first goal and he now, I believe, if I’m correct with the stat, is the youngest player to uh debut in the NHL and record his first point ever. So that’s for a defenseman. That’s crazy. That that’s that’s up there with like freaking Sydney Crosby stuff. You know what I mean? Well, and they showed uh the trivia question during the broadcast. The last defenseman to do it was Scott Nemier. I mean, you’re telling me that Schaefer can have a career along those lines? Where do I sign for that? He looked he looked great in night one. Like if if that was what you were most excited about to watch as an Islanders fan, how does the number one overall pick in the draft look? He did not disappoint at all. You know, you talk about though the the the issue around scoring, and that’s the that’s going to be the big thing with a couple of these teams locally. I mean, the best player arguably in the uh, you know, in the locally in the tri-state area. I think we pinpoint Jack Hughes being one of the top guys, but a good a big-time player. Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Haret who they brought over from Vancouver a couple years ago. Tell me, has he been uh um have you looked at him and said this is a little disappointing or has he been up to what you expected him to be when he came over a couple years ago? I I would say if I slightly disappointing but not that much. I mean it’s just it’s been an issue with the Islanders top lines for the last couple of years whether it’s poor performance or health and obviously last year Matthew Barzell misses the last few months of the season he’s out there but him and Horvat they’re not playing on the same line. There’s there’s a sense of disappointment around Corvette because I I think a lot of fans were just hoping that at some point he would be either the player that unlocked Barcel or vice versa, Barcel would help unlock him. That never came to pass. The hope would be that this is Patrick W’s second full season as the coach of the Islanders and if he can somehow get something going with those guy, they need a little consistency on these lines. whoever it is because they’ve just been ravaged by injuries the last few years. So even at the times when Horvat has played consistently when he’s been the guy that’s on the ice everybody around him is changing. So he’s never been able to really kind of get in that groove. Obviously you’d love to I mean we’d all want the elite scorer that can put the puck in the net no matter who is around him. Bo Horvat’s not that guy. You know he’s in a tier or two right below that. So, if they can just establish and develop some consistency with whoever the two guys he’s playing with as his linemates, I think he’s the guy that can have that 30 plus goalc scoring season, 35, you know, maybe even reach 40. And the Islanders are going to rely on him because you look at the rest of that team, Kyle Palmer might be the second leading goal scorer on the Islanders. That’s not where you want to be in 2025, 2026. And Palmer has been really good for the Islanders for what he is at this point in his career, but they obviously are missing that elite scoring. They yesterday, you know, they had a couple good shots late. They’re down four to three. They had a power play with about uh four minutes left in the game. W pulls Serro in for the extra skater. So, they’re skating six on four for a while and then six on five and they can’t get the puck in the net against Tristan Jarry, who we all know is good, not great. And like you said, the Penguins, the Crosby, Malin, and Latang are there for your 21, 20, and 20. Unbelievably, the rest of that team is not very good. They’re another team that’s kind of in transition. So, the Islanders desperately need somehow that that one guy to step up and be able to score in these moments. And based on the talent on the team, if it’s going to be anybody, it’s going to be Barzel or Horvat. And they brought Bo here to do that. Yeah. Uh, you know, and you talk about the there there is a a young youthfulness to certain players on this team, but there’s also that veteran status, too. You still got Anders Lee around here. Uh, Kyle Paul Mary, like you said, is one of the the leaders on this team. And listen, he finds the back of the net, which is always good for Paul Mary, but that’s not the guy you want to rely upon. Is there somebody else that’s going to be able to create scoring chances or somebody that you’re looking forward to or or hoping that they can make a major jump into that like either top two lines and and put up some some significant goal scorers for for the New York Islanders. Yeah, the hope is that it’s Shabonov and again his first game coming over he scored last night. He is the one guy, you know, they brought in the only real major acquisition of the off seasonason from the top six Gator, Jonathan Dru, and he also played well and scored on that that first goal off of the the Schaefer assist in last night’s game. So, you kind of know what he is, and you’re just hoping that a lot of his success the last couple years wasn’t just a result of skating alongside Nathan McKinnon, right? You know, Anthony Duclair brought in last year was as big a free agent bus as you could, you know, realistically have. he’s back. If he’s healthy and he’s playing right now, maybe he could do something. But the one guy that can give you that unexpected jump because we’ve seen it from those guys in the league before. So even if they go back to, you know, their best kind of career seasons are in line with that, we know what they are. The one with the biggest potential from, hey, we didn’t know what to expect at all from this guy to maybe he does score 20 25 goals is Shabonov. And and he like Schaefer first game in the NHL last night looked pretty good. Now, you know, Eler Sroken is one of the it’s always in the conversation. You know, it’s it’s Igor Shurkin is is with the Rangers. Then you got Siroken, who’s had arguably just as good a seasons as as Shist Sturken. I don’t remember if he got the payday. I think he’s still under contract. He did get a payday, but it ain’t it ain’t what uh Shurken’s making. And the one thing that I had a conversation with CEO about when we were talking about the Rangers is that kind of handcuffs your team. The expectations now also are much higher. Now, Siroken, he’s here for a while, but it’s not going to be as handcuffing of a of a contract where you could still make other moves, but give me where Siroken fit for you. Do you think he’s making a step for, you know, going to have a better season he did last year? Do you think that he’s going the defense has to be a major part of that, too? And with Schaefer being so young, you’re thinking there’s going to be some growing pains, too. But do you think Siroken is going to be able to at least perform at an elite level in the net? I do. I mean, there’s two factors at play there. One, Siroken’s play himself last off season. So, not the one this, you know, a couple months ago, the year before that, before his contract is kicking in. He was injured, missed a lot of training camp and just the first couple days of the season. So, he ends up playing most of the season, but he didn’t have that full ramp up period that you might like. He has to play better. I mean, Ilia Sroken last year was probably flirting with a top 10 goalie. The Islanders need to be have him back in the top five territory and that’s where he’s been a lot of his career. So, he’s certainly capable of it and the just the defense in front of him has to be a lot better. Obviously, no adoption is gone. That’s a big loss, but you would hope that if Schaefer has the kind of year that everybody’s hoping for and Pelican and Pulock, if these guys can stay healthy in front of him, obviously when Mayfield’s out there, you’re a little worried and when Tony D’Angelo’s out there, you’re a little worried because we know he’s more offense than anything. Yeah, he’s it’s not it’s not going to be great, but especially if they can get if they can get the top four guys, Schaefer, Pel, Pulock, and Romanov. If those guys can stay healthy, and the three veterans in that grouping have all dealt with a lot of injuries the last couple years. If they can stay healthy, the defense should be better. But this is a team, you know, take last night’s game for example. They lost 43. Ilia Sororkin and that defense are going to have to keep opponents in the two to three goal range to win a lot of games. This Islander team is not going to win a lot of games if they’re giving up four goals. What, Mike? You know, the special teams is always a big thing here, whether it’s power power play, penalty kills, you know, the penalty kill is always a major factor here. If you if you’re not if you’re going to be down penalties, if you’re going to be down five on four and you can’t prevent a team from uh from from if from putting in the back of your net, you’re not going to win games either. So, is this power play kill, the the penalty kill, is it going to be more significant or or are we looking like they’re going to have to be more on five on fours? They’re going to have to be the the men on the power play to at least be, you know, competitive in the special teams. Well, they were a disaster on special teams last year, both the power play and the penalty kill. They overhauled the coaching staff. So, obviously the Islanders had the weird situation, not last season, the one before. They fire Lane Lambert and bring in Patrick Wah during the season. It was after the new year. The team goes on the run, makes the postseason. They didn’t make a ton of changes with the coaching staff going into last year, but after last season and how disappointing it was, they missed the playoffs. They made a lot of changes. So, they brought in new assistants. They’re hoping that it can help the power play and the penalty kill. Now, obviously, it’s just one game. The power play, I thought just watching it, it looked okay. I mean, they, you know, they were able to gain entry into the zone. They got a couple shots off, shots on goal, good looks, you know, not not capitalizing on much, but from the where the Islanders power play was last year where they would spend 90 seconds of the two minutes just trying to enter the zone and it looked better. It looked better than that. The penalty kill last night was bad and the Penguins was scoring on the power play and they were scoring early. Like first look, first time down the ice, you know, gain control of the puck, gain entry, move the one or two passes, shot, score. So that has to improve. I’m not going to write them off. obviously what the coaches are doing after one game, but that has to be exponentially better when you’re a team on the fringes of the Islanders and you’re not leading the league in talent and you have to be playing smart and disciplined and clean on your special teams and game one a little more encouraging from the power play side, horrible from the penalty kill. I’m going to give them a few weeks to see if they can figure it out. But that’s probably going to be that and health are going to be the two differences in whether this team is competing for a wild card spot in the, you know, low to mid 90 point range or they kind of bottom out and are high 70s, low 80s and looking at being one of those top six or seven teams going into the lottery. Now, I mean, expectations, let’s be serious. Uh, you know, last year the Devils were the only representation from the tri-state area to be in the playoffs. Um, very sort of the the Rangers and the Islanders were both disappointed. Do you see that it’s going to turn the corner this year or is it still in like a rebuild phase for the New York Islanders? No, I say it’s still more in a rebuild or retooling phase. You know, listen, like we already talked about the talent they have and some of the contracts. Andrew Lee is in his last year and and I love Anders Lee, one of my favorite Islanders ever. Never been the same player since he tore his ACL a few years ago. Just unfortunate there. JG Pacio on the last year of his contract. Yeah, he’s lost a step the last couple years. Still a good player, but not what he was when the Islanders first traded for him. They have a couple contracts, mainly those two guys coming off the books next year. So, they’ll they’ll start to be able to turn it over. you know, how Dar is going to get out from under the the Enkvall contract, uh, the Duclair, you know, I don’t know how he’ll figure that out, but this is still a team that because of winning the lottery and getting the first overall pick, you hope that that maybe took a year or two off of how long it’s going to take to turn this team back around where maybe it looked like a a three-year proposition if they don’t win the lottery. Now, can be two years. So, I’m not expecting, again, this team’s not going out and competing for the Stanley Cup or anything, but if they stay healthy and they play well and Patrick W shows growth and some of the assistance he brought in do the job that they’re supposed to on the power play and the penalty kill, this team can be right in that mix for one of the two wild card spots. I I would be very surprised. You know, I I can’t see them finishing top three in the division under any circumstances really. I mean, unless Shabonghov is the next great thing coming over from the KHL and he’s even better than the Islanders think he is and you know Schaefer is an all-star right away, which I guess the Schaefer one is more likely, but this is not going to be a team that’s competing for one of the three division spots. If things break right, they can fight for a wild card. But I think you’re most likely going to look at them around points and record-wise, right around where they were last year. Like I don’t think they’ll be uh bottom five team in the NHL bad, but they’ll be one of those teams, you know, second or third out of playoff position most likely and hoping that they can jump up in the lottery again going from, you know, 10 to one, something like that. Well, that that gets me to the next point because Mike, during the the draft, there was talks that they were going to they were they were compiling all these picks and maybe they were going to go and try to get another top end draft pick in the beginning of of the draft and it just never happened. Are they going to potentially I if it they’re cutting it close and they’re at that trade deadline and they can make a move or two, do you think that they’d get rid of some capital to try to make a playoff push or do you think they really are focused on the retooling rebuilding? No, I think they’re focused on the rebuilding. I think the only way you would see them make a trade now. It’s funny because this organization didn’t make a first round pick for four years in a row with Lou. They obviously have three last year, their own pick and what they got from the Dobson trade and they have two picks in next year’s draft. If there’s an opportunity to get a player that is either signed long term or they can sign longterm that they think, hey, this is a difference maker for us because they they need, you know, top six skater talent if they can get it. If there’s somebody like that, they might move some of those future assets, but they will not do anything. I don’t care if they’re even in playoff position. they will not do anything that sacrifices the in the future years for a rental for the rest of this season. I would be absolutely floored if that happened. We talked about um the coaches, the head coaches with, you know, the Devils and the Rangers on my other podcast, Patrick Wall returning. I love Patrick Wall when he was a goalender. Uh I liked him even when he was a head coach at times, too. He was a bit fiery, but it is crazy in NHL where you the lifespan is so short. Like two years sometimes is really all you get. And you’re talking about a team that’s going to be rebuilding. Does Patrick W see the end of this or will he if it’s not good enough? If it if they’re not seeing some sort of growth, is he going to see himself out the door? I that’s up to him and his players. They could have fired him this season. Obviously, when you’re bringing in a new GM and overhauling the front office, the way the entire organization does business because someone like Lou is so particular, as we all know in this area from the Devils and then with the Islanders, they could have moved on from Patrick W a couple months ago. I think what Dar and the front office are hoping for is one, they like the coach. Obviously, if they didn’t like him at all, they wouldn’t keep him, but I I think they’re hoping for some of that consistency to help them. And then hopefully, you would think if that does them well in this year and maybe next year, that they would then keep him long term in the NHL, this is true in the NHL and the NBA, there’s always that chance, obviously, we see it with the Knicks, that they could say, “All right, we’re close, and the last thing we have to do is change the coach.” You know, you don’t see that in football, you don’t see that in baseball, really. No. But I think the the hope in that building is that Patrick Wall is the guy. They felt good about him when they brought him in a couple years ago and he did for as as bad as last year was and they were dealing with a lot of injuries. Roster wasn’t that great to begin with and they were old. He kind of inspired and spurred that run that sent them to the postseason two years ago when he took over in January. So there’s optimism with Patrick W. I hope he I guess with any NHL coach if you ask is he here in four years it’s like the NFL you just default have to say no but I sure hope so and I think they really hope so and I think they’re going to be patient with him knowing hey there are some built-in limitations here we’re not going to punish him for this this and this knowing he doesn’t have the personnel for it but in these other three things where you know we’re we’re looking for growth development in these areas like the special teams we talked about and bringing in his assistance of choice. If he hits on those things, he could be around for a while. Michael Flegelman, I know you I brought you in to talk about the Islanders, but you are a Mets and a Jets fan as well. I mean, you are the trifecta of hell, and I am so sorry. Uh, thank God that I I have quit the Jets. I I’ve told everyone that I quit the Jets this year. I I I I hung them up. I am a Giants fan this year. I feel bad for doing that, but I actually don’t feel bad when I’ve seen the the product that’s on the field right now. You know, I know it’s Aaron Glenn’s first season and I there’s going to be the growing pains. We just freaking talked about this with Patrick Wad rebuild and stuff like that, but a how do you feel so far with this new regime and b tell me again how good Joe Douglas was at his job? Because if this team is as bad as it is, I can’t tell if Aaron Glenn has no clue what he’s doing or the roster is just terrible. I don’t think the roster is terrible. I don’t think it’s good. I don’t I just don’t think it’s terrible. This is Listen, I I gave up on the Jets, too. They made laughably bad hires in the offseason. I I don’t want to pile on Aaron Glenn because obviously I loved him as a player when I was growing up and he was the first great Jet quarterback of my childhood, but he looks completely in over his head. I thought it was going to be a bad hire and then it’s turning out to look even worse. This is a franchise that should be already thinking now they never will. And the reason I’m done with them is because this owner is never going to get anything right. But they should already be planning in those back rooms. Hey, you know, we hired a GM that nobody else even had interest in talking to. And we hired the wrong head coach. If we have a top pick in this draft, look at what Jackson Dart did for the Giant last night. Look at the hope that that guy is bringing the organization. The goal should be what it should have been the last time they hired a head coach a couple months ago, the time before that when Robert Solo was hired. And I know some fans don’t love to hear it. Get the right offensive mind. Let him pick his quarterback. Go from there. And until the Jets do that again, you’re watching the Giants. A couple weeks ago with Russell Wilson, we thought, “Oh, this is going to be one of the worst teams in football.” Then last night, they don’t just beat, they pound and dominate the Philadelphia Eagles, who I don’t care how many problems they’re dealing with. That’s a team that just won a Super Bowl. They were 4-0 days ago. Like, that’s a that’s a good football team for whatever’s going on. And the Giants, you know, took them behind the woodshed and just destroyed them. That that’s what matters in the NFL. The rest is important, too, but it comes after that. Getting the right head coach. And I hate to say it with Aaron Glenn, it seems like the Jets do not have the right head coach. And it doesn’t make a difference what sport you you you love, what team you root for in the tri-state area. We can all agree f Philly. Like we can’t stand them. So whenever Philadelphia loses no matter what. Hell, the Dodgers, I don’t want to see them win the World Series, but to see the Phillies get knocked out yesterday was an amazing feel. Yeah. Listen, I don’t have love for the Dodgers, but you know, you’re asking me who do I want to win that series? Dodgers or Phillies? Dodgers a thousand times out of a hundred. So get the Phillies out and to watch that happen. I I feel bad for Orion Kirkering. Sure. Not I do not feel bad for the Philadelphia sports fans of course you know their teams or anything like that to watch that happen. Like imagine like the Philly fan they watch that they’re miserable. They’re sick to their stomach and they think all right well let me at least let me just turn on the football game and hope the Eagles can save my night. And then you see they’re getting destroyed by the New York Football Giants who haven’t had a game like that in prime time. It feels like in 101 15 years. Uh yeah, what what a shame those poor people of Philadelphia. We we feel so deeply for them. You know, something I got to talk about though with the Jets real quickly and and I do want to touch on the Metsu as well before we let you go. This is now the second time a defensiveminded head coach has taken over and it feels like the first year under this coach the defense actually takes a step back. Like look at Salah. I think he actually got the defense working pretty well in the you know the second third year got better progressively. Um, but that first year was awful and and right now with Aaron Glenn, it’s the same way again where it’s like, h my god, the the not saying the offense is spectacular, but the defense is crap. Can you explain why this is continues to happen? Is it the per like we said, you you think they got the they you think they have the personnel, but what about these schemes that or what about it? Is is S Gardner overrated? What are we looking at here? Well, to that to that question, yes. Sauce Gardner, I thought paying Garrett Wilson was the right move. Paying Sauce Gardner was a huge mistake because that guy show that guy showed you last year who he is when he didn’t try. We know teammates were basically calling him out for it without saying his name. So, S Gardner can be a great player, but he doesn’t seem like he’s really giving it his all to be that. I I think it’s the same, but different with the defense in Salah’s first year. one, the personnel was significantly worse, and two, a a lot of defensive uh, you know, strengths and capabilities can come from having not just good personnel, but the right personnel because of the specificity of the schemes a lot of these coaches are running. Sol is a much better defensive coach than Aaron Glenn anyway, but he was able to eventually find some of the right guys that worked with his defense. He didn’t have that in year one. Glenn might not have the kind of guys he’s looking for in year one, but a little bit more of that is on him than it is on Salah. Brandon Stevens was the handpicked second quarterback to play this man-heavy defensive scheme. Brandon Stevens is a bad man coverage quarterback. So, they didn’t have to go out and give him a big uh contract for multiple years. And as overrated as Sauce is, you know, one thing too, Aaron Glenn, unfortunately, the expectations for the Jets should have been so low, the coaching staff kind of, especially Glenn, they kind of talked up a big game. They they loved, they couldn’t wait all summer to tell you how bad Robert Salah and his staff were, and they were not great. Salah was a bad head coach, but he was an excellent defensive coordinator, and he is again back in San Francisco. and all the mistakes are there, the penalties. Obviously, all of that is, if anything, it’s worse than it was under Salah and he has guys, you know, Germaine Johnson coming back, he’s been on and off the field, but Will McDonald is there. Quinnon Williams is there. They gave a big contract to Jamian Sherwood, who was a Salah and Douglas find out of nowhere. They gave him the big contract. Obviously, Quincy Williams. They have not the best personnel on defense, but there are 11 starters. And I just named you five guys who are either, you know, former AllPros or come close to making an allp pro team or, you know, rookie secondyear players who have made the jump and had good statistical seasons. So, this defense shouldn’t be top five in the league or anything. It also should not have the most points allowed in the NFL. And a lot of that has to fall on the head coach because you brought they brought in a defensive guy once again. Amazingly, after Rex and BS and Salah, who were all elite defensive coordinators, the Jets went to a guy who didn’t have a strong track record or as strong a track record as a defensive coordinator. And shockingly, especially pairing him with a GM that nobody else had or ever would have heard of, it’s not working out. Uh, Michael Flegelman, uh, you know, you and I have spent many, many moons discussing the New York Mets and we have I would say that you and I have had the most realistic conversation about the Mets in the past decade. All fair, unfortunately, not as many on air as air as I would like to. But that being said though, now people see my optimism as like, oh, I’m just I’m just, you know, chill for the team and I love the team. I was I don’t want to say I was the first person to say that this team wasn’t going to make the playoffs, but I was up there. Uh I basically knew in the Philly series that this was going to complet be another collapse. It was going to end in that was the moment I knew too after that one- nothing loss, the MLAN game when Pete Alonzo gave Domao that quote after the game about if the playoffs started today and blah blah blah right there. That’s when it it dawned on me, oh this team has no idea the situation they’re in. The manager does. He’s kind of hinting at it, but the players aren’t catching on. Yeah. And and and that so I felt that like I was early to the party and people are like, “Oh, well now you’re just, you know, putting on an act.” I’m like, “No, that’s honestly Do you see what’s going on? Have you watched the team all year?” Uh as as disappointing as it was, do you find um optimism in a season like this? uh not in a season like that, but overall I could find the optimism because I still believe and look you and I one of the things we had agreed with off the air forever was how bad the state of the organization was and this is I’m talking you and I having conversations like 2016 as they go to the wild card game and the few years after that under under Sandy and under Brody about how poorly run the organization was top to bottom not just looking at the major league roster but the farm system and drafting and development where they are miles behind every other team in the league, including the really bad franchises. So, I’m optimistic because I do think, you know, they’ve done a good job for the most part since Steve Cohen took over and then with David Sterns with really emphasizing the development, first procurement and then development of young talent internally, especially with pitching because God knows the Mets went 10 year, you know, Nolan Mlan was great. The last exciting pitcher debut, starting pitcher debut for the Mets was 10 years ago. That’s a long time. That should never ever happen. So, I’m optimistic and and the one thing I’m hopeful for with this season as I try to look for silver linings because listen, it was horrible and this is something that that group is going to have to wear for the rest of their lives. That that’s a collapse. It’s an embarrassment with the payroll and with the talent. There’s no excuse not to be in the playoffs and we shouldn’t make any for them. you know, it’s just it completely unacceptable and a stain on all of them at least until they win a World Series and honestly maybe even beyond that. But I think there have been changes needed to this team for a long time. And I joked when Steve Cohen bought the team, I would trade to Grom and everybody else and I would just rebuild. And I knew it was never going to happen. Nobody actually wanted to do it. But I I thought this team needed a rebuild and an influx of young talent. It didn’t happen for years after that. I I understand why Steve Cohen while building the farm system, they said, “Hey, we’re going to use money to try to compete in the interim because the fans have expectations. He has the money. He doesn’t want to sit through 68, 94, you know, seasons. Let’s go try to win.” And I think in 2022 and 2024, as disappointing as the ends were, obviously more 22 than 24, I think that was kind of the ceiling of what you can do when you’re building your team on free agency acquisitions and trades and waiver claims every single year because you don’t have any of your own internal depth that you’ve developed that you’re calling up. So, they finally have that on the way. We saw it with the three pitchers at the end of the season. They finally have the beginnings of that from what Eper drafted and left to Sterns. And I think the changes are coming. Like I this team has needed to be rid of Jeff McNeel for a long time. I wanted to sell high on him after the batting title. He’s been a disappointment in four of the last five seasons. Get the guy off the team enough. Well, but you know, you say that uh you know, they have now they’re starting to get the prospects up and coming. They there’s going to be change. But David Sterns and listen, I I I’m not against the approach to trading away prospects. I’m not saying that at all. But he did just trade 12 position play or 12 players for four rentals that didn’t work out in this uh season and we didn’t get to the playoffs. So that was basically a waste of 16 players that they they they brought had this organization and are now gone. I mean the push back there is they chose to deal from quantity over quality. Some teams will take that on. Some teams, and the Mets were in this position in past years where they need to take the the three guys who maybe have a 10% chance of working out instead of the 1% or the one guy who has a a 40% chance of working out. So, they dealt from the quality. They didn’t deal from any of the top guys in the system. They got rid of the quantity. And a lot of those guys, again, as we pointed out around the trade deadline, a lot of the guys he Sterns traded away were not the guys that he brought in. So, I think they just gave up on a lot of the guys that they didn’t necessarily believe in. So, yeah, obviously it’s a different argument whether the players worked out or not, and they most certainly did not, but I still believe in the overall philosophy of this organization. And when you look at some other teams in the postseason, you know, you you have to have your own talent. And I think there one was a a lack of that with the Mets obviously forever, especially on the pitching side. You know, starting pitchers, they had gone 10 years. When’s the last time the Mets developed a reliever? This is one thing you and I always used to talk about. Why aren’t the Mets one of these teams drafting these kids who throw 99 to 103 and drafting or signing with international signing, bringing in 10 of them per year and finding the two or three that work out. They just didn’t do that under Sandy and under Brody. So, the Mets haven’t had those guys where other teams, I’m not saying you’re going to fill a team this way, but those can be one or two of the relievers in your bullpen and you’re relying on trades or free agent signings to fill four spots instead of all seven or eight. You don’t have to be as active with DFA guys because you’ll have guys on your own roster who have options. So, you can send it back and forth to the minor leagues. It’s just that there was an organizational incompetence and Sterns hasn’t nailed everything yet. Like we’ll f we’ll find out. It’s going to take a few years whether his draft picks with the Mets what they turn out to be. The Brewers would indicate, okay, the guy kind of knows what he’s doing in that department. But that there was an organizational incompetence with the Mets for a decade that nobody paid attention to. That is the root cause of almost everything you’re seeing with the team right now. and hitting on a guy like Pete Alonzo who we all love and we all should love and even I know you’re not the biggest fan but for what baseball draft picks are all things being fair they hit on a first round pick in Brandon NMO but hitting on two guys like that Brandon Nmo was drafted in 2011 Pete Lonzo was drafted almost a decade ago 2016 it’s been a while that that’s it that’s a long time ago and again no no starting pitchers in that in that time and relievers. I I guess David Peterson is the one maybe okay starting pitcher you would point to and he’s as responsible for the collapse as anybody because if he doesn’t fall apart if he has one good start instead of you know three or four horrific ones they’re in the playoffs. Hey you know if you also called Nolan Mlan maybe a game or two earlier maybe you win one more game as well. You know, there’s so many different things we could talk about this season. And D, that’s where David Sterns, I feel like, you know, is trying to be way smarter than everybody else. And I feel like sometimes it fails. It’s funny because you said it too, like, okay, now we can start optioning people more rather than just DFAing. Like the cycle, and it’s going to it’s so ridiculous. We’re going to do it on a Rico Bron podcast. The cycle with the DFA with this with the relief pitchers. I mean, it is outrageous the amount of guys that got DFAD, then got unclaimed, then came back to the team, and then got called back up again. It’s stupid. It actually should be illegal. It’s that that annoying. It is. I agree with you. It’s horrible. But I think people just pin that on the GM. No GM, no even manager wants to have to deal with that. That was a result of them not having guys that came from their own organization that they could just kind of send up and down. Yeah, that’s where that mostly comes from. Well, listen, Mike, I appreciate the time. Uh, we should do this again very, very soon. Uh, definitely when the Islanders and Rangers get together, we should, uh, do a little podcasting, but we should just catch up anyway, even off air. That’d be pretty dope. Uh, we should have one of those giant road trips where you just come and try to kill like 10 hours at the station and, you know, we end up just chatting for a while. That’s what I need. I need one of those late night flights for you. I I should have done that last night because I got home at 3:00 a.m. and I didn’t get much sleep. Um, so I should have just come and hang out with you. That that’s probably what I should have done and listen to CMAC in the background and just be BS with you for for a couple hours. But listen, thank you so much for the time uh Flees as always. I appreciate it, man. And uh let’s go Islanders. Let’s go everybody. Listen, Jackson Dart right now, we’re not Giants fans. We didn’t grow up Giants fans. He is saving New York sports right now. So thank God for Jackson Dart from a sports talk radio perspective. you and I producing that every day. Thank you, Jackson Dart Hoff. Always great talking to you. Thanks for having me, buddy. All right, guys. Listen, another episode of WF Daily. I’ll see you guys soon. Peace.

Michael Fliegelman joins Pete Hoffman to discuss the upcoming 25-26 New York Islanders season!

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