Isles slipping in WC race

Posted 9:39 AM ET | Comments 1

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During the Isles hot streak that lasted about a week or so, fans regained hope for this team but after two painful loses to the hot Blue Jackets and the Washington Capitals, things began to unravel for the Islanders. As of December 15, the Isles are 12 points out of the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference. That may not seem like a lot with 4-5 months left, but trust me, with this streaking Metro division it's going to take a miracle for this team. Speaking of the streaking Metro, the Philadelphia Flyers have won TEN straight games, but they haven't gained that much ground as the Metro has continued to win. As a matter of fact, when the Isles were on their 5-0-1 stretch, they were actually losing ground in the Metro. The Pens have won 6 in a row, Flyers 10, Caps, 4, Rangers, 2.

As they look cooked, here is a look at what should be their lineup in my opinion in the coming months:
Bailey-Tavares-Lee
Prince-Beauvillier-Strome
Ladd-Cizikas-Clutterbuck
Kulemin-Quine-Dal Colle
Extra: Chimera and Ho-Sang

Leddy-Hamonic
Boychuk- Hickey
deHaan-Pulock
Extra: Pelech/Toews

Greiss
Berube

Wheres Chimera, Halak and Seidenberg?
GONE, well not what you think.

Chimera should be a healthy scratch by January, for some games so the team knows what they have in Dal Colle, Ho-Sang and Alan Quine.
Seidenberg should be released or kept as a 7th or 8th defenseman because Pelech and Pulock both deserve shots in this league. The Isles should deal Jaro Halak at the deadline or even before to see JF Berube and see if Greiss deserves a long term deal.

An Interesting name that stands out on the Bridgeport Sound Tigers roster is Devon Toews, no, no relation to Jonathan Toews. Devon Toews, 22 year old d-man for Bridgeport is having a surreal start to the season. He has 4 G, 14 A with a total of 18 points as a defenseman. A native of Canada, Toews attended Quinnipiac
Univ and as a junior (his last season at Quinn. Univ) Toews set his career high in everything in his college career. He netted 10 goals and had 23 assists in 40 games played. His career high in everything was in the 2012-2013 season in the BCHL with the Surrey Eagles with 10 goals, 37 assists and 47 points.

Unfortunately, the Isles are full of defesemen, remember the time they had no good dmen? Yeah, I do too. If they want to see Toews they SHOULD trade, Mayfield to open up more playing time for Toews.

Filed Under: Islanders Pesek Toews