Keeping players such as Staios is exactly why this franchise is going nowhere. I hope he reaches 1000 games as an Islander but after that he needs to go. I'd resign Reese to a two way deal but the other UFA defensemen has to go in order to improve this team.
Staios was never a top 4 defender in this league.
He is 38 years old and if given too much ice time or reponsibility will not be useful.
I woould not be too despondant f we can not find a better upgrade and Staios and Reese are the 6 & 7 defensemen next year.
I expect Donovan to make the team as a #5.
Snow will have to find and sign a top 4 guy someway. Juice and Eaton should not be re-signed.
If we want to improve the D, Niklas Grossmann should be a target.
Also, we should take a shot at Mike Lundin. He had an injury-shortened year this year, so he won't cost much, but it would be a decent gamble to bring him in.
It could be
Streit - Grossmann
Hamonic - Donovan (balance out the younger one with the steady young one)
McDonald - Reese
Staois - Alexandrov (?)
Lundin -Katic
I would keep Staois as a 6/7. Jurcina / Eaton both have size but never use it( ie Boyle standing in front of the net in the last Isles Rags game). On a contender Jurcina / Eaton could be useful
Please keep only one of jurcina, staios and eaton as a number 6-7.. pick your poison but personally i prefer jurcina just because of age, shot and maybe he has a bit of potential upside if he ever learned to use the body.. staios has given his all but his all just isn't enough anymore, father time has caught up and he should only go downhill from here. Sign reese as the other 6-7. That leaves 2 holes in the top 5 to fill with UFA, draft, BST players..
Nice to hear Staois wants to stay. Also still in shock over Nobokov re-signing. I'm with many of you, I like Staios and he's a capable NHL player in a limited role. The minutes he gets on the top pairing are bad for Staios, bad for Streit, bad for the NYI - not really Staios' fault.
He plays hard, tries to make the safe play, he's mis-cast - but I don't mind having him back.
It's Jurcina that I think is the weak link on that defense and I was disappointed they brought him back this year. Even in a limited role he's a hug liability out there. I think Eaton is serviceable and Reese is pretty good as well.
The Isles defense sucks...but not because any one or two defensemen don't belong in the NHL, it's because they lack the 1-2 "very good" defensemen to play big minutes against top players. Hamonic is the best of them and he's young and still prone to mistakes, but the fact he's a +6 on this team is borderline miraculous. MaDonald as well. These two players are "very good" but they are asked to go up against some MONSTER teams in the east and that's just too tough a task for these guys. They perform admirably under some really tough circumstances.
The bottom pairing dmen and that horrid 4th line are at risk every time they are on the ice. They have the stats (offense and +/-) that reflect it, even Snow must see that.
What does he do about it this next off-season????? I hope history doesn't repeat itself.
Nice to hear Staois wants to stay. Also still in shock over Nobokov re-signing. I'm with many of you, I like Staios and he's a capable NHL player in a limited role. The minutes he gets on the top pairing are bad for Staios, bad for Streit, bad for the NYI - not really Staios' fault.
He plays hard, tries to make the safe play, he's mis-cast - but I don't mind having him back.
It's Jurcina that I think is the weak link on that defense and I was disappointed they brought him back this year. Even in a limited role he's a hug liability out there. I think Eaton is serviceable and Reese is pretty good as well.
The Isles defense sucks...but not because any one or two defensemen don't belong in the NHL, it's because they lack the 1-2 "very good" defensemen to play big minutes against top players. Hamonic is the best of them and he's young and still prone to mistakes, but the fact he's a +6 on this team is borderline miraculous. MaDonald as well. These two players are "very good" but they are asked to go up against some MONSTER teams in the east and that's just too tough a task for these guys. They perform admirably under some really tough circumstances.
The bottom pairing dmen and that horrid 4th line are at risk every time they are on the ice. They have the stats (offense and +/-) that reflect it, even Snow must see that.
What does he do about it this next off-season????? I hope history doesn't repeat itself.
I really think we can live with a top 4 of Streit, AMac, Hamonic and Reese. Reese gets better each game, he is a smart player. MacDonald has regressed a little this year, but has shown his brilliance every other game, Streit coming back from injury.... We just need to build a solid bottom pairing that does not set us back, it really needs to be one of the rookies paired with a physical dman, that is why DeHaan/Colin White makes sense.
I would rather have Staios back than either of the other two dinosaurs. (Eaton and Jurcina) Only thing is Staios HAS to be a 6 next year, not Mark ******* Streit's partner.
