Version 2.0, Build 1
Injury Frequency 1.25
Injury Frequency Training: .75 (adjusted from 1.25)
August 2015
Bigby Wolf has been named as the new General Manager and Head Coach of the New York Islanders. All assistant coaches have been retained. With the coaching staff in place for the upcoming season, Bigby turned his attention to the scouting team - several scouts were bought out of their contracts, and then replaced with newer, and hopefully better, scouts from around the world.
Season Objective: Make the playoffs.
September 2015 - Around the League
To Ottawa: Kevin Klein
To NY Rangers: Andrew Hammond, Cedric Desjardins
To Calgary: Eddie Lack
To Carolina: Deryk Engelland
To Anaheim: Dave Bolland
To Florida: Simon Depres
Bigby Wolf spent the month contacting several of his colleagues, and opened up trade talks with some of them. Officially, Kyle Okposo and Marek Zidlicky have been placed on the Trade Block. The team currently has over $7,000,000 in cap space remaining for the season, so the goal will be to acquire a top 4 dman. In the case of Okposo, GM Wolf held an exploratory contract extension discussion with the player and it was immediately determined that a settlement would not be agreed upon.
To Islanders: Patric Hornqvist
To Pittsburgh: Kyle Okposo, 2016 7th round pick
To Islanders: Trevor Daley
To Chicago: Thomas Hickey, rights to Mitch Vande Sompel (3a//4a), Jake Bischoff (2.5a//3a)
In acquiring Hornqvist, the Islanders have secured a top six forward who’s currently signed to a 3 year contract at a very reasonable $4.2M per season. The Trevor Daley negotiation was much more complicated, as the Blackhawks were adamant that (quality prospect) Mitch Vande Sompel be packaged as part of the return.
October 2015
The Islanders made two separate waiver claims - Jamie Oleksiak, who was demoted by the Dallas Stars and goaltender Eddie Lack, who Calgary had recently acquired via trade. Both players offer minor upgrades to the current roster. To make room for the new acquisitions - Brian Strait was sent to Bridgeport.
Additionally, Frans Nielsen and Brock Nelson both went down with injuries during the pre-season. As a result, Kirill Petrov and Steve Bernier will make the opening night roster. On defense, rookie Ryan Pulock outplayed the veteran Zidlicky during the pre-season so he’ll start the season patrolling the blue line with Calvin de Haan, on the third pairing. Thomas Greiss, who was signed as a free agent, to assume the back up role to Jaro Halak, has found himself sitting in the #3 hole to start the season. Eddie Lack’s casual demeanour and infectious personality could be a hit in the Islanders locker room.
Opening Night Lineup
Lee - Tavares - Hornqvist
Bailey - Strome - Bernier
Petrov - Grabovski - Kulemin
Martin - Cizikas - Clutterbuck
Daley - Boychuck
Leddy - Hamonic
de Haan - Pulock
Halak
Lack
After starting the season with three consecutive victories (including back to back wins over the Chicago Blackhawks), the Islanders ran into some hard luck during game four, against Nashville. Newcomer Trevor Daley was attempting a wrap around, in the offensive zone, when he was tripped up and sent crashing into the goal post. The result - Daley has fractured an elbow, recovery time is projected at 7 months. Ouch.
The team had a good first month, with 7 wins 3 losses and the 1 shootout loss. John Tavares earned himself the Player of the Month honour, as he and his linemates Anders Lee and Patric Hornqvist dominated.
With no real weaknesses to deal with - onto November!
