The Gotham Isles Mailbag

After seeing some of the great work done by Fitz with his Rangers mailbag, I figured it was past time Isles fans had somewhere to shout their questions other than directly into the abyss. Consider this the abyss shouting back, here we go!

First mailbag question I’ve ever received and I know it’s my all time favorite. Brock Nelson is 100 percent Sleepy, for what I think are obvious reasons, but why stop there? Seven Dwarves for seven Isles:

Sneezy: Josh Bailey
Happy: Casey Cizikas
Doc: Garth Snow (thanks to the new beard and glasses look)
Grumpy: Doug Weight (Murderous Ragey would fit better but we make due)
Dopey: Josh Ho-Sang
Bashful: Thomas Hickey

And that leaves John Tavares as Snow White, our misunderstood princess trapped with a group of misfits.

DELTA. He deserves nothing less than three cancelations, an overbooked flight and a seven hour delay at the gate. Also, happy birthday to Erik Gudbrandson who turns 26 today. He’s not my number one trade option but I’d ring Brock Nelson for every ounce of trade value he’s worth as soon as possible.

Milbury is probably next in line for Gary Bettman’s job, so once he moves up lets assume everyone takes their next career step. Can’t wait until Ilya Sorokin follows Greiss as GM in 20 years.

This question, or something like it, has been circling Twitter for the better part of a week as the Islanders struggles get worse. I have a hard time using the word blame with Tavares, but as captain of a floundering team Tavares will face criticism. What’s clear is that the Isles front office created a thin roster, poorly suited to handle injury and incredibly weak after a handful of top tier players. The team’s failures are not on Tavares, who has done everything he could to drag this franchise from the dregs for nearly a decade. These shortcomings are on the management that failed to put together a good enough team behind Tavares. People forget that the Titanic sunk despite having one of the best naval captains of the era. Some icebergs are too big.

Every time I watch Brock Nelson, I can feel hours of my life wasting away. Nelson is a possession black hole, a worthless even strength forward, and potentially the most listless and scared 6 foot 3 “power forward” the league has ever seen. He currently ranks last on the team in goals for per 60 minutes. The Islanders should do everything in their power to trade him, but Garth will probably extend him for four more years by the end of the month.

Because we get to watch future Isles #1 center Mat Barzal every night! He’s all we’ll have until he inevitably jumps ship. Unless of course you can get an angle where your head is in the oven and you can still see the TV, because that sounds like the only logical way to watch the Isles anymore.

I heard purchase of 5+ tickets for the rest of the year comes with free therapy sessions. That, or a John Tavares bobblehead. Both ease the pain.

Friend of the program and Gotham’s resident photoshop master with the real question. I think we’ve seen across IslesTwitter that as the quality of play has decreased, the quality of the memes has skyrocketed. They say every time a door shuts a window opens, every cloud has a silver lining. We’ll always have the memes, friends.

This question is actually invalid because Alan Quine scored in the playoffs three years ago. Double overtime, was kind of a big deal. The real question is when will the rest of the team step up and score double overtime playoff goals. (But also zero).

This question actually becomes a lot harder to answer when you realize that other than Nick Leddy, the only players the Isles have locked up past 2020 are Ladd, Cizikas, Clutterbuck, Boychuk, Pelech and Mayfield. WOOF. I still think the priority needs to be stockpiling assets if they do decide to sell, but at least the Clutterbuck contract should be moved if possible at any time. Selling Tavares, and possibly Bailey, pushes your playoff window back past 2021, so almost every bad Snow-era contract will be up by the time the Isles could compete again.

If only we started this in November! The Isles are in a particularly awkward situation because it seems as if both first round picks they own (theirs and the Flames) will be in the lottery but fall outside of the top five. Dahlin seems like the consensus #1 pick, but that doesn’t mean the Isles shouldn’t #SuckForTkachuk.

At this point I’d be surprised if he didn’t make the roster. For those who don’t follow the World Juniors, Bellows just lit it up for the United States, setting a US tournament record with nine goals. After a disappointing freshman campaign at Boston University, Bellows moved to the WHL and joined the Portland Winterhawks, where he’s posted 19 goals and 40 points in 31 games this season. His skills were on full display at the WJC, as his patience, vision, and wicked shot allowed him to stand out among the most talented prospects in the world. The Isles desperately need cheap bottom six help next season, and a Ho-Sang — Beauvillier — Bellows line sounds sweeter every day.

Absolutely. I thought Jagr would have been a great signing during the offseason. The Flames have not been a good fit for the future hall of famer, due to a few injuries and limited ice time, but he could seriously help the Isles. Jagr has just 1 goal and 7 points in 22 games this season, and while he is 45 years old, he’s still never had a season in 24 NHL campaigns where he posted less than .5 points per game. He’s better than almost all of our bottom six forwards currently, and brings leadership and experience that no other player in the league can offer.

That marks the end of the first (of hopefully many) Isles mailbags. I hope it was as good for you as it was for me folks. Thanks to everyone who sent in questions. I hope to do these every Sunday for the rest of the season, so have questions, rants, concerns or ramblings ready, and I’ll see you next week. Stay golden, Isles Twitter.