Sitting last in the Eastern Conference with just five wins in 16 games, fans of the New York Islanders are calling for the firing of coach Jack Capuano.
But that's not the stance of general manager Garth Snow.
Asked whether that could mean a change behind the bench, Snow told TSN's Frank Seravalli, "Jack is an excellent coach. We have good players. I love our coaching staff. In fact, last time I checked, he coached in the World Cup and there were some pretty good coaching staffs."
The NHL's fourth-longest tenured coach, Capuano has posted a 215-183-59 record since joining the club in 2010, leading the Islanders to the postseason three times in six seasons. Last year, the Islanders won their first playoff series since 1993.
Earlier this month, Capuano pointed to the team's offseason changes as means for the team's sagging offensive support.
"We took 134 points out of our lineup (in free agency) and we need to find a way to get some offense," Capuano told Newsday's Arthur Staple.
Among those summer changes was Andrew Ladd, who landed a seven-year pact with the Islanders, paying a $5.5 million AAV. The veteran forward has just three points on the season, and was without a goal through the first 12 games.
As for Snow, it doesn't appear he's looking to make a coaching change. Rather, he wants more from his players.
"I see some guys just lacking in confidence. I have a lot of confidence in our players. We have a good team. I have a lot of confidence in our coaching staff," Snow added. "We're coming off two 100-point seasons. I think that speaks for itself for how good of a staff we have. It's an 82-game marathon, not a sprint. We'll keep trying to get better every day."
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Fantasy owners can often focus far too much on the positives of a player with elite production in a single category. They'll look at the nightly box scores to see a player produced a high level yet again, only to be left in shock come Sunday when realizing they're about to lose their weekly matchup.
The issue with a lot of these players is they'll produce at a high level, but in only the one category. Without contributions of any consistent type in other areas, they can often do more harm than good with a regular spot in a lineup.
Trading their elite production in one specialized category for a more well-balanced player who can contribute something in several different areas is a strategy beneficial to long-term success. Here are the players you should be trying to move:
C Alexander Wennberg, Columbus Blue Jackets
Wennberg's 13 assists are just one back of Edmonton Oilers C Connor McDavid for the league lead. Wennberg has two goals to McDavid's five, but has registered just 15 shots on goal, while McDavid has 46. With 17 hits through 14 games played, Wennberg has 14 more than McDavid in three fewer contests.
Additionally, just three of Wennberg's assists have come at 5v5. Of those three, just one was a primary assist, while six of his eight assists on the power play have been of the secondary variety, per Corsica.Hockey. The power-play points have been a nice bonus in leagues where those are counted but such a lopsided influx is not sustainable.
LW Matt Moulson, Buffalo Sabres
Moulson has six goals and two assists on the season but five of the goals and both assists have come while on the power play. His subpar play at 5v5 has led to a minus-5 rating and he has just 10 hits in 16 games. He has only one minor penalty.
Both of his power-play assists were primary, and he should remain featured on a special teams unit but with the Sabres drawing a pedestrian three power plays per game, he won't have enough opportunities to sustain his early production.
D Ryan McDonagh, New York Rangers
Representative of his entire team, McDonagh carries the most name value in any potential trade. Five of the top-10 skaters in plus/minus rating play for the Rangers. The Rangers lead the league with 72 total goals in 17 games played, 16 more than the Montreal Canadiens in the same amount of games.
The Rangers have a team shooting percentage of 13.07 percent at 5v5. Only one other team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, has a success rate over 10 percent. The Rangers led the league last season with a percentage of 9.01.
Plus/minus is inherently highly variable. With the Rangers already facing drastic regression in their goal scoring, look to sell any player not contributing in multiple categories.
LW Matt Martin, Toronto Maple Leafs
Only a true commodity in banger leagues, Martin has routinely ranked among the league leaders in hits for several seasons. Unlike previous seasons when he was able to also provide some level of offense, he has just one assist through his first 16 games with the Maple Leafs. He is averaging one shot on goal per game and playing a career-low 10:19.
Unlikely to fetch anything in a trade, Martin can be dropped in favor of someone with a similar hit count but who is also bringing production elsewhere. Only one other player - Ottawa Senators D Mark Borowiecki - has 50 or more hits and fewer points than Martin.
RW Derek Dorsett, Vancouver Canucks
Dorsett ranks fifth in the league with 33 penalty minutes through 13 games. Unlike Dallas Stars W Antoine Roussel and Maple Leafs C Nazem Kadri ahead of him, he hasn't provided much offense. Dorsett has just one goal and three assists on the season, while averaging less than two SOG per game
He is a minus-6 on the season, failing to register a plus-rating in any one game. If owners in banger leagues are routinely rolling him out whenever the Canucks are playing, they are doing more harm than good to their team. He can freely be dropped.
G Cam Talbot, Edmonton Oilers
Talbot is two back of the league lead with eight wins on the season. The Oilers 2.71 goals per game of support have largely kept him afloat. Talbot's 2.66 goals against average ranks 24th among qualified goaltenders while his .914 save percentage ranks 18th.
He does have two shutouts on the season, but owners should be trying to flip him for a goalie like Robin Lehner of the Buffalo Sabres, who has better stats, but just four wins due to a lack of goal support.
Fabbri, who was making his return to the lineup after being made a healthy scratch, also scored a goal in the win, and it's safe to say he made a good impression following the benching.
On the strength of Adam Henrique's overtime winner, the Devils have won five straight contests - the longest active streak in the league.
New Jersey has allowed two goals or fewer in each of the wins, and ranks sixth in the NHL in shots per game, averaging 31.6.
The strong play has paid dividends in the standings, too, as the Devils supplanted Washington for third place in the Metropolitan Division following Tuesday's results, and sit 9-3-3 on the season.
To get there, Marner's recorded nine points in his last six contests, and head coach Mike Babcock has taken notice of the 19-year-old's all-around impact.
"He's that competitive, he's on the puck, he's smart, he's easy to talk to, enjoys the game, wants to get better," Babcock said postgame.
"I've never coached a kid that young, that good just because we've never been in that situation before."
The 2015 fourth overall pick appears to have transferred his full arsenal to the NHL level, and the Leafs are 6-2 this season when Marner records a point.
With a 4-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, the Winnipeg Jets goaltender has put together a string of four straight victories, with impressive numbers to boot.
Opponent
Result
Saves
Sv%
Stars
W 8-2
28
.933
Coyotes
W 3-2
23
.920
Kings
W 3-2 (SO)
27
.931
Blackhawks
W 4-0
27
1.000
The win over Chicago propelled the Jets to second place in the Central Division - four points back of the Blackhawks - and the shutout helped raise the team's goal differential from even to plus-four.
In the bigger picture, Hellebuyck has now posted a record of 7-4-0 on the season and appears to be putting some distance between himself and Michael Hutchinson in the battle for the starting job in Winnipeg.
There's two factors helping Hellebuyck's cause as of late.
Forward potential realized
For starters, Hellebuyck is but one of a plethora of promising young players on the roster stepping up amid a bevy of injuries to the club's veteran core.
In the win over the Blackhawks, for example, super-rookie Patrik Laine recorded his league-leading 12th goal of the season while forward Nic Petan scored his first goal of the season, with more sure to come.
On top of that, the return of Jacob Trouba has been a boon for the Jets' defense. When Tyler Myers returns from a day-to-day injury - and with Dustin Byfuglien and Toby Enstrom also patrolling the blue line - Hellebuyck should only continue to find his groove in the crease.
2013 first-round pick Josh Morrissey scored his first career goal in the win over Chicago, and he's also quickly becoming a key piece of the team's defensive corps.
In other words, the decision to send Ondrej Pavelec to the AHL prior to the start of the season appears to have been a portend: the Jets are trending younger, faster, and ultimately up. As such, look for Hellebuyck to be the goalie of record more often than not as the season progresses.
It was the slowest shot of the game that cracked Carey Price's impenetrable armor.
The broken stick of Aaron Ekblad's overtime slap shot sealed the deal for the Panthers on Tuesday, shattering Price's - and the Canadiens' - attempt to make history.
Price entered the contest with a 10-0-0 record, one win shy of matching a Habs' record for consecutive wins.
Meanwhile, Montreal fell one win shy of joining the 1963-64 Blackhawks as the only team to win its first 11 home games.
Veteran winger James van Riemsdyk made his presence felt in Tuesday's win over the Nashville Predators, recording the second hat trick of his career.
The trio of Van Riemsdyk, Mitch Marner, and Tyler Bozak proved to be a highly effective unit in the 6-2 win:
Player
Goals
Assists
James van Riemsdyk
3
1
Mitch Marner
1
2
Tyler Bozak
0
3
For Van Riemsdyk, the four points marked a single-game career high.
James van Riemsdyk of the @MapleLeafs scored his second career hat trick (also 03/26/11) and added an assist to post a career-high 4 points. pic.twitter.com/JlpTviqffW
