Mailbag: Lambert's impact with Islanders; Central Division race
NHL.com's Dan Rosen answers weekly questions
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The Islanders have had a pretty up and down year with a strong playoff push. Despite their current playoff position do you think Lane Lambert is the right guy to push them over the edge? This question goes for this year, regardless of playoff berth, and also going forward. -- @johnfiorino97
Where does the edge lead? If it's the playoffs, then Lambert is the right guy. He's pushing the right buttons and has the Islanders pushing toward what now seems like an inevitable playoff berth despite not having their best skater, center Mathew Barzal, for the past 17 games and no definitive timetable for his return. They are 11-4-2 and scoring 3.18 goals per game without Barzal, which is impressive. I said before the season that if the Islanders can score at least 3.00 goals per game they will be a playoff team because of how hard it is to score on them, particularly with goalie Ilya Sorokin on top of his game. They're at 2.96 goals per game and have a six-point cushion on the Florida Panthers in the wild card race, so maybe they'll even prove me wrong and get there without scoring at least 3.00 per game.
But if over the edge means taking the Islanders to a Stanley Cup championship, sorry to say but I have no idea if Lambert is the right guy for that and I can't even hazard a guess at this point. I don't know enough about Lambert as a head coach to make that argument one way or another. Nobody does. This is his first chance at it in the NHL after years as an assistant. He won the Stanley Cup as an assistant with the Washington Capitals in 2018. That counts for something. And I know the Islanders should be a dangerous team in the playoffs. They have the ingredients, particularly if they have Barzal back. They're strong at center. They can win face-offs. They can possess the puck. They're strong on the back end. They play well above the puck, and their defensemen can push for offense. They're elite in net. I might even pick them in a first-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes because of Sorokin. But I don't think they have enough speed or scoring ability to carry through four rounds. I don't think they will survive in the playoffs with a sub-par power play. It's 16.4 percent this season, 18.6 percent in 24 games since they acquired center Bo Horvat, but 12.5 percent in 17 games without Barzal. Special teams' success becomes even more important in the playoffs.
We have an unbelievable three-team showdown for the Central Division. Two questions: 1) How do you see these three finishing; 2) Which matchup would you like to see in the first round, Central second vs. Central third? -- @SoCalAvsFan
1. It's perfect that you asked me this question prior to the Minnesota Wild's 4-2 win at the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday. I dare to say the Wild will win the division, and the Avalanche second. I had the Wild winning on the road in Denver on Wednesday, and I have them finishing first in the division. The Avalanche have a game in hand on the Wild and two on the Dallas Stars. The race is tight. But the Wild have been playing better than every team in the NHL since Feb. 17, and that includes the Boston Bruins. They are 16-1-4 with a .857 points percentage. A big reason is their production. They've been scoring without forward Kirill Kaprizov in the lineup, averaging 4.20 goals per game in 10 games without him. A big reason is their goaltending. Marc-Andre Fleury and Filip Gustavsson have pushed each other in the right way and have been spectacular. I don't see why that would change now.
2. I honestly don't care about the matchup because I know it will be good. I think it goes seven no matter who plays. The Avalanche and Stars played three times so far this season with Colorado winning two, including once in a shootout, but Dallas owning a plus-1 goal differential because of a 7-3 win on March 4. The Stars and Avalanche play at Ball Arena on Saturday.
Will Luke Hughes join the Devils before the end of the regular season? If so, what does he need to do to stand a chance of being with the team for the playoffs? Not expecting Cale Makar levels, but there are high expectations. -- @droscaidh
Hughes is expected to sign with the New Jersey Devils and join them when his season with the University of Michigan is over. But that won't be for at least another nine days, if not 11 because Michigan is in the NCAA Frozen Four and will play against Quinnipiac in the semifinals on April 6. The winner will play either Minnesota or Boston University on April 8. So, the Devils can have the 19-year-old defenseman for a maximum of three regular season games because they play April 8, 11 and 13. If Michigan wins, it's two games. That's not enough time for Hughes to get acclimated to the NHL game and to make an impact worthy enough for the Devils to consider using him at least early in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It's also possible the Devils could still be battling for home-ice advantage in the Eastern Conference First Round in those last two or three games, so I'm not even sure they'd be willing to make any lineup changes from what has been working all season.
All that said, we know what Hughes is supposed to be as an NHL player, particularly with how good the No. 4 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft has been in two seasons at Michigan. He had 39 points (17 goals, 22 assists) in 41 games last season and has 47 points (10 goals, 37 assists) in 38 games this season. He's an excellent puck-moving, skating defenseman. He can run the power play. He's a left-handed shot capable of playing on the right side if necessary. Michigan coach Brandon Naurato was on an NCAA Frozen Four conference call Tuesday raving about Hughes' growth as a defender and leader, saying he is using his physical attributes such as his skating more to take away time and space and ruin a play before the opponent can make it happen. He also talked about Hughes' ability to beat an opponent one-on-one from the offensive blue line, an attribute that should work at the NHL level too.
In one year the Flyers have changed their head coach, assistant coaches, athletic trainers, equipment managers, CEO, general manager and their captain left. Aside from new owners, what else could be changed? Has anything like this happened before? What message does this send? -- @theashcity
Gritty has to be the next one to go. Right? RIGHT?
Nah, I'm kidding.
But the point at the start of your question is well taken. A lot has changed with the Philadelphia Flyers in a very short period of time. I can't speak to if anything like this has happened before. Change happens all the time even to teams that have been on a run of winning, reaching the playoffs, challenging or winning the Stanley Cup. But this much change doesn't typically happen to those teams. The Flyers haven't gotten it right in a long time. They're going to miss the playoffs for a third straight season and fourth time in five. They haven't made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons since they went five years in a row from 2008-12. That's way too much inconsistency, and inconsistency typically leads to change.
The message is simple: Let's get this right so we can be better than we've been.
If a rebuild is coming, and I mean a real rebuild filled with stockpiling draft picks and prospects, braving through some painful seasons, looking 2-3 years ahead for success, then go for it because it's long overdue. There's no sense in trying to survive in the middle of the pack in the NHL. It gets you nowhere.
We heard a lot about a potential Brock Boeser trade near the deadline. Is this something Vancouver revisits in the offseason? If so, where could an ideal landing spot be? -- @punmasterrifkin
The Canucks are going to have to figure a lot out this coming offseason and coach Rick Tocchet will have a big say in what happens, including with Boeser. The 26-year-old forward has 25 points (seven goals, 18 assists) in 28 games since Tocchet took over for Bruce Boudreau on Jan. 22 and the Canucks are 16-9-3 in that span. They have eight games remaining. Tocchet said when he was hired that he was going to use the final 36 games of the season as an evaluation period, a chance to figure out who could and should be a part of the Canucks beyond this season and who might be able to take on more minutes or a bigger role than they previously had under Boudreau. Boeser has been solid and productive.
The Canucks were reportedly checking the market on him in advance of the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline on March 3. I would expect them to do the same in the offseason, but I don't know if it's a sure thing that he's moved. We need to wait until the end of the season to hear Tocchet's full evaluation of Boeser and Boeser's evaluation of his game under Tocchet. If the feelings mesh and Tocchet believes Boeser can be a part of the Canucks' plan going forward then he might stay. If there's any hesitation or trepidation on the part of either side, then I would expect Boeser to be traded. He will have two years remaining on his three-year, $19.5 million contract ($6.5 million salary cap charge) he signed on July 1, 2022. There will be suitors for Boeser if the Canucks want to trade him, namely the Minnesota Wild, Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings. All could use another goal scorer in their top-six forward group. All will have designs on making the playoffs next season.
