Here are the bets that could actually be safer than Aleksander Barkov won the second straight selke trophy:
So Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, was a swan song for some of the group, including Noadbuson, Scott Pernovich, Mike Reilly, Tony De Angelo and Adam Bokivist, when five of the six blue liners in the season finale were pending free agency.
Apart from Dobson, a much-known commodity, the match against the Blue Jacket reached the group’s final audition. Adam Perek and Leiamp Rock are sick in the meaningless game 82 and Alexander Romanov’s second straight game.
Romanoff is a pending restricted free agent, even Scott Mayfield. Scott Mayfield is the only defender in the islanders lineup on Thursday, the islanders lineup with five seasons left on the contract, and is unable to stretch healthy wounds frequently and handle them 100% safe.
And there are Isaiah Georges to consider, as it’s not all good.
The 21-year-old was sent after playing 33 games for the island at the end of January, but showed enough to believe there’s a good shot to put the roster out of camp next season.
Of the trio brought in when the injury was attacked by islanders at the end of January, Deangelo, Boqvist, Perunovich’s Deangelo and UFA’s Deangelo have the perfect cases to return to next season. He stays in the lineup every night and is the only person in the top pair for most of that period, averaging 23:26 while accumulating 19 points in 36 games.
This is enough to put Dobson and Dobson in a tie with Dobson for the Islander’s best scoring defenseman game-by-game this season, and it’s no surprise that players and teams will commit to each other for another season after the islanders pull back Deangelo in a show of faith in the defensive character they’ve paid for so far.
Dobson and Romanov both have put on RFAS on hold, but when paired with the summer environment that helps provide Dobson’s season set fold and seating, they create at least a bit of doubt.
Boqvist and Perunovich are similarly limited, allowing islanders to have some control over these situations, but they could be faster.
It’s hard to see them go anywhere, as their two top-paid defenders, Pulock and Pelech, have clauses and long-term deals that are not traded in hand. And while it’s possible to go in a different direction from Dobson and Romanov, it doesn’t make much sense to leave the two 25-year-old defensive men who should be in the top four of the islanders for the next few years, if not their top pair.
George and DeAngelo also throw them into the mix, and suddenly the islanders fill seven slots.
If the islanders buy Mayfield (or find a deal for him, but it probably requires the assets to be attached and he has the full trading clause), it opens the spot for either Riley, Bokvist, or Pernovich, or the team can see other locations at the free agency.
The islanders often used Bokvist as a power play specialist, but his presence rarely affected the terrible 5-4 units throughout the season, regardless of who they are. If a pending restricted free agent wants to stay as the seventh defender, that makes sense, but it’s hard to see him as the player every night.
Pernovich, who played the final two games of the season after a healthy scratching from a minus-4 performance against the Rangers on February 25th, is probably out the door.
It was a moving story of the season after returning from heart surgery, but was unable to stick to the lineup, and its offensive first role was more or less fulfilled by Deangello.
