Todella mielenkiintoista juttua Islandersin joukkuekulttuurin uudelleenrakentamisesta Friedmanin 31 Thougthsissa.
15. As surprising as Vancouver’s burst is, it’s probably second to the Islanders’. When John Tavares left, no one was expecting much, but they are two points back of Buffalo and Montreal for the Eastern wild card spots with games in hand. Some of their players indicated they were pleasantly surprised to see how things were structured under Lou Lamoriello and Trotz.
“I’m a builder, I saw this as a great challenge,” Trotz said hours before the Islanders shut out the Maple Leafs in Toronto. “I told them I just experienced winning a championship, and I wanted them to have the same experience. The way you do that is you play as a team, with accountability, structure and work ethic. With Lou Lamoriello, everything is about winning. They saw how organized and detailed we were. We told them defence can be fixed, if you are willing to sacrifice the cheating in your game. All the guys bought in.”
16. When did he notice they realized it could work? “We beat Pittsburgh twice,” Trotz answered. Those were back-to-back games, 6-3 on Oct. 30 and 3-2 in a shootout on Nov. 1. The Penguins weren’t going great at the time, but they are still the Penguins.
“When John left, the others understood they needed each other if they were going to win.” He likes Nelson, given a bigger role. Same for
Josh Bailey.
Johnny Boychuk is “our pillar, a great sounding board and
Anders Lee does everything the right way.” Then there is
Mathew Barzal, who had a hat trick against the Maple Leafs. “He was trying too hard to be John’s replacement. Overhandling the puck. Too much one-on-one. But it’s part of growth. We knew he was going to be okay."
17. Trotz on his 2018: “I’ll always remember the journey of winning. I was not going to be defined by winning a Stanley Cup. It’s the same thing I said to (Alexander Ovechkin): Never stop chasing. I call it the year of enlightenment. It’s a whole life thing, the importance of giving you my best. That’s not going to change. I’m going to enjoy this journey, too.”
18. The Islanders will have some interesting decisions to make, with Barzal eligible for an extension on July 1. Unrestricted free agents include Nelson, Lee, Jordan Eberle,
Valtteri Filppula and
Robin Lehner. Not that under Lamoriello we’ll be getting a lot of updates. Many of Tavares’ old linemates suffered through a serious drop in production after leaving but, so far, Lee is an exception. Heading into last weekend, his points per game was up from 0.7 alongside Tavares, to 0.75. He’ll be 29 in July, a problem in the now-ageist world of sports, but they know his importance.
19. Lamoriello and Trotz put Filppula and
Leo Komarov around Josh Ho-Sang in the dressing room. I’d heard he had an assigned seat on the plane next to Komarov, too, but that’s not confirmed. Whatever the case, putting those two together is a great idea. The young Toronto players swore by Komarov.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/31-thoughts-whats-next-benn-seguin-dallas-stars/
