It’s a U.S. holiday, so don’t expect much action.
It’s the 4th of July — Independence Day in the U.S. — when we celebrate the bold declaration that all humans, er, well all men are, er, well all men who own property — which included other humans — are created equal…ish.
Never mind, let’s continue arguing about hockey! But we don’t expect much news today.
If you follow along in comments or on the Twitters or wherever you get your Islanders cyclical debates, you know there was a general lack of optimism heading into the draft and free agency, but Lou Lamoriello surprised some by 1) holding on to his picks, 2) getting a “best shooter” in the draft all the way down at 20, then 3) made a couple of reasonable signings in free agency.
The implicit readiness to move on from long-timers Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin is also generally viewed as a positive.
Left to solve, however, is how they’ll complete a 23-man roster while staying under the cap, with a currently projected just over $1 million in space after accounting for 21 guys. Low-cost but not-zero RFA re-signings of Simon Holmstrom, Oliver Wahlstrom and Ruslan Iskhakov need to be completed and accounted for.
It seems like a trade of a larger salary is still necessary, though Lou theoretically has all summer to do that. Hopefully he doesn’t have to pay a draft pick to move out salary, like he’s done multiple times with (gulp) Devon Toews, Nick Leddy and Andrew Ladd.
Islanders News
- Dan and Mike had lots of fun wrapping up this season — until major news breaks — with a look at the draft, free agency, and The Troub(le)as in Manhattan. [Islanders Anxiety podcast]
- Lou’s options to further improve this team may be limited…for now. [Post]
- A bunch of dudes were reportedly signed for Bridgeport, some of them even announced by the team, several of them are clearly made-up names: Fredrik Karlstrom, Marc Gatcomb, Justin Gill, Brian Pinho and Wyatt Newpower. [THN]
- Breaking down the 2024-25 schedule. [Isles]
- Andrew Gross looks at how the Isles stack up after free agency’s main events. [Newsday]
- He also points out a pretty crappy part of the Isles’ schedule for 2024-25:
Very interesting stretch for #Isles comes Dec. 28-Jan. 2 with back-to-back home-and-home series:
Dec. 28 – vs. Pitt, 7:30
Dec. 29 – at Pitt, 5:30
Dec. 31 – at Toronto, 1
Jan. 2 – vs. Toronto, 7:30Two faceoffs w/in 22 hours and three w/in 65 1/2 hours w/travel is very grueling
— Andrew Gross (@AGrossNewsday) July 2, 2024
NHL News
- The Rangers may have hemmed themselves — or pulled a Lou, if you will — into a corner after failing to jettison Jacob Trouba. Teehee. [Post]
- Vladimir Tarasenko signed a two-year, $9.5 million deal with the Red Wings, who probably should’ve kept David Perron instead. [NHL]
- Cup teammate Anton Lundell has stayed with the Panthers on a six-year deal. [NHL]
- The Panthers added Nate Schmidt on a one-year deal, too. [TSN]
- Her-story: Jessica Campbell is the first woman behind an NHL bench, taking on an assistant coach role with the Kraken and Dan Bylsma. [NHL | Sportsnet]
- Macklin Celebrini will decide “pretty quick” whether to leave college and jump to the NHL. [NHL]