With the 6th pick in the 2017 NFL draft…..

…..The New York Jets select……..

Who?

The Jets are a team full of wholes. Any player they select with the 6th pick is going to fill an obvious need. But are the Jets even going to make a selection with the 6th pick, or are they going to trade back?

Anything and everything should be expecting from GM Mike Maccagnan in this years draft and that includes trading back, or even trading back twice.

To QB, or not to QB?

It is no mystery that the Jets have a QB problem. When haven’t the Jets had a QB problem? Their current depth chart is a mess and consists of Christian Hackenberg, Bryce Petty, and Josh McCown. That depth chart doesn’t necessarily scream success.

Hackenberg will get a year to prove himself after being a redshirt last season. Bryce Petty showed potential last season but lets be real, he isn’t the future of the Jets. And for Josh McCown who knows. He is a 37 year old veteran and that is pretty much it.

So will the Jets draft a QB? Evidently the fans are hoping they don’t. #JetsTwitter clearly doesn’t want them to draft a QB either.

With 4 “solid” options available at QB the Jets have choices, and the ball is in their court because of the early pick. We will find out tonight if they choose a QB.

Best Player Available

In Mike Maccagnan’s first draft as the Jets GM, he got the fortune of having arguably the best player available in the draft fall to them at the 6th pick. This year, that probably isn’t going to happen. Myles Garrett, the self-proclaimed best player in the draft, will not fall to the Jets at 6. However, they still might be able to pick the best player available. This player might be TE O.J. Howard.

The Jets haven’t had a good Tight End probably ever and with so many holes to fill why would they draft a TE. Well, because Howard might be the best player available at 6, and why not just draft the best player?

Trading the pick

Perhaps the Jets will pull the ol’ Cleveland Browns move and trade away their pick. The Jets suck and they are not one player away from being good. They could draft a really good player at 6, but they could also trade away this big and load up draft picks for the future like the Browns did last season.

Many teams would love to pick at 6. Perhaps even the Cleveland Browns. This CBS post explains a scenario where the Jets could really benefit from trading their pick while still being able to draft high, and draft a key player. This scenario would give the Jets 3 picks in the top 70 which is where they could find some talent to actually make a difference on this depleted roster.

Until tonight, we will not know what the Jets will do.

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For now, Cleveland is on the clock.

 

 

 

Porzingis Big Leagues Phil Jackson

The laughing-stock New York Knicks are once again making headlines for the wrong reasons. Knicks second-year star Kristaps Porzinigs blew off his exit meeting with Phil Jackson, citing his frustration with the direction of the franchise.

Porzingis was set to meet with Phil Jackson and Steve Mills last Friday for his exit meeting on the Knicks dreadful season, but Porzingis went AWOL and sent a message to the Knicks and their front-office.

This is the power move of power moves and Porzingis just gave a big F you to Phil. After a long and tumultuous season filled with drama and controversy, Porzingis has every right to be frustrated with the path of this franchise and especially with Jackson.

I have voiced my frustrations with Phil Jackson on multiple occasions. I think he is an awful executive, and has made this team worse and worse with each year. The cherry on top of my hate cake of Phil, however, have to be his comments from the other day.

Basically, Phil said that he wants Melo gone, and that Porzingis isn’t ready to be the leader of the Knicks. Just wonderful. That is exactly what the executive of a team should be saying to his young star in the biggest media market in the world. Let’s give something for every paper and talk-show to talk about every day for the next month. Real smart.

Any competent and reasonable franchise would see this as an alarm and probably think to themselves, “how can we fix this.” Well, the Knicks aren’t a competent franchise. The Knicks are the laughing-stock and punching bag of the NBA. For the NBA’s most valuable franchise to be so incompetent is mind-boggling. This falls on ownership and the front-office.

The brightest spot on the Knicks franchise is clearly frustrated. However, ownership and front-office will not hold anyone accountable. James Dolan clearly loves Phil Jackson and doesnt see anything wrong with his moves, made evident by picking up Jacksons option to keep him around for another 2 years. There is a clear disconnect between Jackson and Carmelo Anthony and Dolan chose the side of Jackson by picking up this option. If Dolan is taking the side of Jackson over the biggest star the Knicks have had in decades, why would he chose the side of Porzingis over Phil?

The Porzingis pick remains the only positive move made by Jackson in his tenure as an executive. Porzingis is frustrated and wants to win and that should make fans happy. He did what many Knicks have failed to do and that is send a message to the front-office. Hopefully the Knicks do the right thing, but when has that ever happen. If history repeats itself, Porzingis may not be in a Knicks jersey for much longer.

 

 

Silver Linings of the Islanders Season

A year removed from their first playoff series win in 23 years, the Islanders have failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

With Toronto winning on Saturday over the Penguins, the Islanders were eliminated from playoff contention. In a season that was supposed to fuel off the momentum of last years playoff success, the Islanders struggled out of the gate and were never able to recover.

There is a silver lining in everything, and although the Islanders season didn’t go as planned, there were several positives to take away from the season.

 

Doug Weight proved he is an NHL head coach

On January 17th, the Islanders fired Jack Capuano and promoted Doug Weight to Interim head coach. The Islanders went 24-12-4 under Weight and clawed their way out of the gutter of the Eastern Conference missing the playoffs by only a point. The Islanders ownership were so impressed with Doug Weight that they removed the interim tag and named him head coach.

Weight did more than just turn the Isles season around. They played extremely well under him. According to Yahoo Sports, only one team had more points than the Islanders after January 17th, and that was the Presidents Trophy winning Washington Capitals.

Weight was also getting much more out of his players. Anders Lee and Josh Bailey both posted career years this season.

 

The Andrew Ladd contract turned out ok (for now)

One of the Islanders biggest off-season acquisitions was Andrew Ladd. After a brutal start, Andrew Ladd ended the season with 23 goals. Ladd had only 3 goals in the first 25 games, and the finished the season with 23 goals, 15 of those coming after Weight took over.

With his poor start to the season, fans were furious over Ladd’s performance given his enormous contract.

More impressively, Ladd got to 23 goals without playing on the Islanders top line. Ladd spent the majority of the season playing with Quine as his center and Chimera as his other wing. Scoring 23 goals with that pairing is impressive.

 

JOSH HO-SANG!!!!!!!

The ultimate silver lining this season was Josh Ho-Sang. Finally called up after his own personal problems, Ho-Sang emerged as one of the bright spots on this Islanders season.

Ho-Sang had 10 points in 21 games this season. Whenever he was on the ice, it seems as if they Islanders were getting a boost. His quick feet and energy made him dangerous on the ice at all time, and he made other players better. His drop pass to Tavares was a thing of beauty, and not many rookies have the awareness and ability to screen two defenders.

He is a huge fan favorite and seems destined to be a force for the Islanders next season and for many more after that. Here’s to many more years of this:

 

 

From Bad to Worse

In a season full of loses, both literally and metaphorically, the Islanders have found yet another way to lose. Late in the 3rd period of Fridays win over New Jersey, Islanders captain and leading scorer John Tavares fell to the ice grabbing his left leg, and needed assistance leaving the ice.

With that, the Islanders season can officially be called a disaster.

Just when fans thought it couldn’t get worse, their captain is now out for the season. The Isles are hanging on for dear life in the playoff hunt, and the loss of their leading scorer isn’t going to help those slim slim chances.

I am not ready to throw in the towel just yet, but the season is pretty much over. The hockey gods haven’t been kind to the Islanders all season and with the laundry list of things that need to happen, it’s a long shot.

Watching Tavares fall to the ice on Friday was pretty much a microcosm of the Islanders season. To make matters worse, Cal Clutterbuck came out and said that the injury was due to Tavares catching an edge on the bad ice. Just great. The Islanders, a team trying to convince Tavares to stay, have him get hurt due to poor ice at the Barclays. It’s like everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.

For fans, it seemed as if the Tavares injury was the dagger for them. When Tavares hit the ground, so did our season.

The Lion King gif pretty much sums it up, and yes I wanted to cry too. As a fan of this team, heartbreak is all too common but don’t take our captain from us. The injury looked bad but fans held out hope that perhaps it wasn’t going to be season ending.

Yikes.

With 4 games remaining, the Islanders are 6 points behind Boston for the final playoff spot, and are now playing without their captain and leading scorer. Oh, they called up Dal Cole to replace Tavares!!! Not a chance. You will have to settle for Connor Jones. Who? Yeah, exactly.

Boy, this season has been fun.

 

 

 

Just Keep Losing

A few weeks back, I wrote how the Knicks season was officially dead. Well, with 9 games remaining in the regular season, the Knicks are tied for the 4th worst record in the league. Hate to say I told you so. Remember when Derrick Rose said the Knicks were a super-team?

Well, after the exciting first month or so the Knicks season collapsed and then came all the drama. There was the Phil Jackson comments, trade rumors, lack of team chemistry, the owner kicking former players out of the Garden, and now Joakim Noah has been suspended for violating the leagues drug policy.  What a year.

To put it all into perspective, the University of South Carolina has won more games at the Garden this month than the Knicks have. Yikes.

However, there is a silver-lining in all of the B.S. that has surrounded the Knicks this year. Thanks to their awful play, the Knicks have a shot at a pretty high draft pick.

The Knicks currently have the 4th worst record in the league and have a 10.4% percent chance at getting the #1 overall pick. The Ringer’s Bill Simmons has called this the deepest draft in years.

The Knicks have nothing to play for, only something to lose for. Winning games at this point in the season is just plain stupid. They have a chance to draft an excellent player and put another player around Porzingis and Melo, and perhaps finally get out of this hole they have been stuck in for the past few seasons.

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Above is the Knicks remaining schedule. Basically, they can and should lose each remaining game. For all the nonsense that has gone on this season, the Knicks front-office can make up for it by drafting a great player in the upcoming draft.

Nothing can go wrong, right?

 

 

Halak Called Up, Finally

With 10 games remaining in the regular season, the Islanders have called up former starter Jaroslav Halak.

Coming off of a 3-2 thriller Wednesday night versus the other New York team, the Islanders moved within 2 points of the final playoff spot. However, this time they trail Boston, not Toronto, now that Boston has dropped 3 straight.

The Islanders have needed a backup goalie ever since they sent down Halak. J.F. Berube as I have previously written, is not an NHL backup. It was Berube who should have been sent down. So, J.F. Berube will finish his season 3-2-2 with a .889% save percentage and 3.42 GAA. Those stats just wont do it in the NHL.

After spending 3 months in the AHL, Halak put up good numbers and it was time to call him back up. The call up comes at a critical time for the Islanders. With 10 games remaining this is it. If they fail to win games they wont make the playoffs. The race for the final wild-card is essentially a 3/4 team race. Either Boston or Toronto will take the 3 spot in the Atlantic which leaves the Islanders, the team who doesn’t make it in the Atlantic, and Tampa who currently has 77 points.

Halak is going to play. He has too. Greiss is clearly gassed. The Islanders starter has played nearly every game and has allowed 15 goals in his last 5 games, according to Hockey Reference. For a team trying to make the playoffs, that cant happen.

Fans across #IslesTwitter were pretty fired up with the news.

Fans should be excited. Halak was 17-7-3 in the AHL with a .925 save percentage and 2.15 GAA. Those are stats that the Islanders are going to need a lot of in the final 10 games.

Islanders beat reporter Arthur Staple believes Halak will jump right in and get the start tomorrow night in Pittsburgh, which once again in a must win for the Islanders.

The Islanders next three games are no gimmes either. At Pittsburgh, then home vs Boston and Nashville. Heres some stats to make you feel a little better about that.

Clearly there was a reason to call up Halak. Why didn’t it happen earlier? I am not sure and either are most fans or reporters. All we know is that it happened and we are thankful it did. Now will Halak translate his success from the AHL back to the NHL?

This is the home stretch. We are looking at you, Jaro. You’re our only hope.

Its on you, Snow.

If there is one constant right now in the world of Islanders fans, it is that we once again have a goalie problem. Our starting goaltender is gassed, and we have an AHL goalie in the NHL, and an NHL goalie in the AHL.

Back on New Years Eve, the Islanders sent Jaroslav Halak down to the AHL. Halak was having an awful season and with 3 goalies on the roster, he was the casualty. With Halak sent down, the Islanders two goalies on the roster were Thomas Greiss and J.F. Berube.

Islanders GM Garth Snow has always been high on J.F. Berube, and at times Berube has showed potential of being an above average goalie. However, the Islanders are in the hunt for the playoffs and fans are getting fed up with Garth Snows ego, as well as the lackluster play of J.F. Berube.

Berube is even ranked below Dipietro on short rest!

On Monday, the Islanders returned home after a franchise record road trip. Berube got the start in net, and things did not go well. Berube allowed 4 goals on just 13 shots. Fans once again were not thrilled with the homecoming.

Fans should be upset that they spent money on that.

All the while down in the AHL, Jaroslav Halak has put up ridiculous numbers, and singlehandedly carried the Sound Tigers back into the AHL playoff hunt.

Fans, including myself want Halak called up. Why not call him up? Halak is a proven NHL starter, heck he even owns the record for wins in a season by an Islanders goalie! The entire situation of holding 3 goalies was a nightmare and should have never been allowed to happen. This is on Snow, and it is up to him to fix this and make the call.

Thomas Greiss has been phenomenal this season, but he is gassed. With the home stretch of the season coming in a battle for the playoff, there is no room for error and the Islanders can’t afford to have Greiss playing every night and J.F. Berube giving up 3.46 GAA.

So please Jaro, you’re our only hope.

 

The controversy regarding #66

Over the last two weeks, there has been a lot of talks centered around New York Islanders rookie Josh Ho-Sang. Although he is averaging almost a point per game since being called up to the pros, people aren’t talking about his stats, rather they are talking about his number.

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Ho-Sang wears sweater number 66, which happens to be the same number Mario Lemieux wore. People have long loved to hate Josh Ho-Sang, but analysts and hockey fans (looking at you Penguins fans) have taken this and blown it way out of proportion.

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Is it though? Players wear Gordie Howe’s number, and people wear Joe Sakic’s number. So why is it such a big deal? Do people just want to hate Josh Ho-Sang because he is an overly confident, young, flashy player?

Ho-Sang has constantly been asked by reporters why he wears the number, and if he believes it is disrespectful. He has given a mature and appropriate response every time.

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Mario Lemieux never played for the Islanders. He spent his entire career in Pittsburgh. Islanders fans aren’t crying out when other teams players wear #22. Only one number in the NHL is retired throughout the league and that is #99 worn by Wayne Gretzky. That number is retired because Gretzky changed the game. No one will ever wear that number ever again, and rightfully so.

However, Mario Lemieux is not Wayne Gretzky. 66 will never be comparable to 99. Josh Ho-Sang and whoever else in the league who is not on the Penguins,  should be able to wear 66. and at the rate Ho-Sang is playing, Mario Lemieux should apologize to him for wearing HIS number.

 

#NOTMYGM

So remember all that fun stuff that went down yesterday? Well the fun is over. The Islanders suck again and Garth snow could go kick rocks.

After rallying together on #IslesTwitter with all our excitement and anticipation of a huge move, lame-duck GM Garth Snow did nothing at the deadline once again, and the Islanders are the same team as they were yesterday and the day before.

Fans are unhappy, I am unhappy, and even analysts are unhappy.

Chris, who started the hype around the #IslesPlane was extremely mad.

Perhaps we all just got too excited. In all reality we should have just assumed nothing was going to happen. Garth has had a history of doing absolutely nothing at the deadline. So why did we think this year would be any different?

I have wrote countless times over the last few weeks about the Islanders turnaround. They have been playing better, but they still aren’t a good team. They desperately need another star to compete in this league.

For years fans have been looking forward to the future. Well, where the fuck is it? Every off-season fans hope to have some “big name” prospect called up, and it either never happens or the player turns out to be not so great. It is no secret that the Islanders player development is an absolute joke.  So why not trade for a star?

Have  the fans not suffered for long enough? I mean we tracked a damn plane yesterday because we thought it meant something.

They had one shot to go out and make a splash and prove to their fan base, and John Tavares that they are in it to win. Speaking of that don’t even get me started on that situation. If Tavares leaves for free agency, the team has no one to blame but themselves, and if they don’t go out and get someone why would he stay?

This team has a once in a generation player, and they are ruining his prime.

But hey, at least we called up Ho-Sang. Oh wait, were too distracted to remember that.

Kidding, we are very excited for Ho-Sang. Lets just hope this cloud doesn’t effect a team who has been excellent of late. Ho-Sang has a huge upside and lets hope he translates into a star in this league.

 

 

Follow that Plane

What a day we had on Tuesday. On the eve of the trade deadline, #IslesTwitter was jumping like never before. With news and rumors dropping nearly every few minutes, the fans and analyst of the New York Islanders had one of the more fun and memorable deadlines in years.

Lets look at how this all started, with one of the most highly anticipated moves.

 

At a quarter past 9, Islanders beat reporter Arthur Staple dropped a bomb. Josh Ho-Sang had been called up by the New York Islanders. Ho-Sang has sort of a cult following by fans. Just see any @ConIsles tweets, or the Obstructed Views podcast.

Ho-Sang has also had sort of a controversial start with the team. After being drafted 28th overall by the Islanders in 2014, he claimed he would be the best player in the draft within 3 years. Well 3 years later, he has yet to play in a game. He also missed a team practice during training camp which put him in the dog house of the organization.

Fans were getting pretty excited, and #IslesTwitter began its eventful day.

Well its never too late to get that start! Here comes Ho-Sang……….

……or not. Within a few hours, he was sent back down. Fans were on a roller coaster of emotions.

Duchene you say?

There has long been speculation about the Islanders attempting to acquire Colorado Avalanche center Matt Duchene. With the deadline quickly approaching, the rumors started to heat up and reports were circulating that the Islanders were making a serious push for Duchene.

We were all aboard the Garth-Mobile, lets make this thing happen.

Then things started to get real exciting. NHL.com editor Brian Compton tweeted that nothing would happen until the Islanders team plane landed in Dallas.

So what happens next? We track that damn plane!

Fans were literally tracking the Islanders team plane to the exact point when they would land hoping for a major announcement. The Islanders, the fan base who have been punished for so long, were tracking a team plane hoping for a franchise altering trade. Reward us hockey gods, reward us.

Photoshop played its part as well.

MY GOD ITS DUCHENE!!!! DUCHENE IS TRYING TO GET ON THE PLANE!!!!!

Johnny Boychuk’s brother even got involved in the Twitter mania. It was up it was down and we were losing our minds.

If a brother of a player on the team tweets something, it has to be true right?!?!?!

As of right now no major announcement has come, but what a day it has been for #IslesTwitter