Islanders @ Leafs - Mar. 9th, 7:00pm - SN, Fan 590

[CarltonTheBear]

@

  37-20-7, 81 points | 21-33-11, 53 points

Projected Lines

Nelson-Tavares-Strome Bailey-Nielsen-Okposo Prince-Kulemin-Lee Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck Leddy-Boychuk Hickey-Hamonic Strait-Pulock Greiss ​

Soshnikov-Kadri-Komarov Parenteau-Nylander-Hyman Michalek-Holland-Grabner Greening-Smith-Laich Marincin-Rielly Gardiner-Corrado Loov-Carrick Sparks​

Scratches

Steve Bernier Marek Zidlicky Eric Boulton Calvin de Haan Jaroslav Halak ​

Brad Boyes Byron Froese​

Line-up Notes

NYI
?Thomas Greiss likely starts for the Islanders (18-6-0, 2.20 GAA, .930 Sv%)
?Yes, that's Nikolay Kulemin playing the centre position. He moved there prior to New York's last game
?The Islanders have won four in a row and seven of eight

TOR
?Sparks will get consecutive starts
?Marincin moves to the top pairing with the news that Matt Hunwick will be shut down for the season
?Pareanteau is expected to return to the line-up, Boyes is doubtful with a pinched nerve in his shoulder

Injuries

?Marek Zidlicky - Upper Body - Questionable Wednesday ?Jaroslav Halak - Lower Body - Questionable Wednesday ?Calvin de Haan - Lower Body - Out indefinitely ?Mikhail Grabovski - Upper Body - Injured Reserve ?Adam Pelech - Upper Body - Injured Reserve​

?Stephane Robidas - Old - Out indefinitely ?James van Riemsdyk - Foot - Out for season ?Joffrey Lupul - Lower Body - Out for season ?Matt Hunwick - Groin - Out for season ?Tyler Bozak - Concussion - Injured Reserve ?Byron Froese - Hand - Out indefinitely ?Brad Boyes - Shoulder - Questionable Wednesday​

Stream Options

https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLstreams
http://onhockey.tv/
​

 

[herman]

?Pareanteau is expected to return to the line-up, Boyes is doubtful with a pinched nerve in his shoulder

Lou is from Vulcan?
That would explain how he logically shelved Robidas et al.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

[tweet]707602634123952128[/tweet]

Loov was hurt at practice yesterday, tried to go today but left mid-way. Brennan gets the call-up. Brennan has 55 points in 59 games this season, good for 3rd overall in the AHL. He has 13 more points than the next highest scoring defenceman.

A big portion of the twitter-verse likes to moan about Brennan never getting a legit chance in the NHL despite his amazing AHL numbers. When he was up for that handful of games last season though he may have been the slowest skater I've ever seen in the league since Jason Allison. Which is a shame really because even with flaws in his defensive game if he could skate he'd clearly be a legitimate offensive threat in the NHL.

 

[Kaberle15]

Go Kids Go!

 

[Highlander]

Sorry for Loov, I really wanted to get a look at the kid

 

[herman]

[tweet]707602634123952128[/tweet]

Loov was hurt at practice yesterday, tried to go today but left mid-way. Brennan gets the call-up. Brennan has 55 points in 59 games this season, good for 3rd overall in the AHL. He has 13 more points than the next highest scoring defenceman.

A big portion of the twitter-verse likes to moan about Brennan never getting a legit chance in the NHL despite his amazing AHL numbers. When he was up for that handful of games last season though he may have been the slowest skater I've ever seen in the league since Jason Allison. Which is a shame really because even with flaws in his defensive game if he could skate he'd clearly be a legitimate offensive threat in the NHL.

Lool.

Brennan is definitely not good mobility-wise, and he's not particularly hard on puck carriers when he does catch up to them. But that shot, man.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e99D9rMGxMo[/youtube]

 

[Sudafederov]

[tweet]707602634123952128[/tweet]

Loov was hurt at practice yesterday, tried to go today but left mid-way. Brennan gets the call-up. Brennan has 55 points in 59 games this season, good for 3rd overall in the AHL. He has 13 more points than the next highest scoring defenceman.

A big portion of the twitter-verse likes to moan about Brennan never getting a legit chance in the NHL despite his amazing AHL numbers. When he was up for that handful of games last season though he may have been the slowest skater I've ever seen in the league since Jason Allison. Which is a shame really because even with flaws in his defensive game if he could skate he'd clearly be a legitimate offensive threat in the NHL.

Great observation. Dave Poulin was just on TSN and commented that Brennan's issue is his defensive game, bad decisions away from the puck that end up costing the team. He was largely complementary overall, but mentioned this as an issue.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

I remember when he was up last season it looked like he had never played defense before.  He was all over the map.

 

[lamajama]

I remember when he was up last season it looked like he had never played defense before.  He was all over the map.

Stupid question but because he can't handle NHL forwards, could he be converted to forward due to his shot?

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I remember when he was up last season it looked like he had never played defense before.  He was all over the map.

Stupid question but because he can't handle NHL forwards, could he be converted to forward due to his shot?

Generally suggestions like that are the dumbest thing you can say about a player.

But yeah with Brennan I'm actually a little shocked it hasn't been attempted.

 

[bustaheims]

Stupid question but because he can't handle NHL forwards, could he be converted to forward due to his shot?

His skating woudl still be a significant issue, and, if he can't handle NHL forwards, my guess is wouldn't be able to handle dealing with NHL defencemen that well, either.

 

[Highlander]

Nice he can still do what he loves and makes pretty good money as well in the AHL

 

[ZBBM]

I remember when he was up last season it looked like he had never played defense before.  He was all over the map.

Stupid question but because he can't handle NHL forwards, could he be converted to forward due to his shot?

Generally suggestions like that are the dumbest thing you can say about a player.

But yeah with Brennan I'm actually a little shocked it hasn't been attempted.

It worked with Kaberle!

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

I remember when he was up last season it looked like he had never played defense before.  He was all over the map.

Stupid question but because he can't handle NHL forwards, could he be converted to forward due to his shot?

Generally suggestions like that are the dumbest thing you can say about a player.

But yeah with Brennan I'm actually a little shocked it hasn't been attempted.

He did play a game at forward for the Marlies this year!

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Brooks Laich fitting into his role as kinda-player-coach nicely:

[tweet]707666022225080321[/tweet]
[tweet]707666616478257153[/tweet]
[tweet]707667908718149633[/tweet]

 

[herman]

Brooks Laich fitting into his role as kinda-player-coach nicely

I laich this guy a lot. I feel bad he didn't get to watch the Caps' Cup drive from the pressbox, but I'm glad he's here and has found fulfillment in other ways. He can still contribute on the ice with this lineup (same with Greening).

 

[Kin]

Laich's sort of a perfect example of what I was saying earlier in the year re: Komarov. Things like veteran leadership and grit and PK ing  ability are things you can easily find out there. 

 

[herman]

Laich's sort of a perfect example of what I was saying earlier in the year re: Komarov. Things like veteran leadership and grit and PK ing  ability are things you can easily find out there.

Totally agreed.

Komarov does bring language skills to the dressing room for acclimatization, but that's not something to deliberately look for, or overpay a veteran for.

 

[Rebel_1812]

I remember when he was up last season it looked like he had never played defense before.  He was all over the map.

Stupid question but because he can't handle NHL forwards, could he be converted to forward due to his shot?

Generally suggestions like that are the dumbest thing you can say about a player.

But yeah with Brennan I'm actually a little shocked it hasn't been attempted.

Yup.  It was stupid of Wilson to play Ian White at forward..

 

[Highlander]

I like Brooks, he is a river to his people