New York Islanders Daily Insight, 5/15/17: Offseason Oblivion
Mar 7, 2017; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Edmonton Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) tries to screen New York Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss (1) during the third period at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

It’s been an uneventful number of days in Brooklyn as the New York Islanders climb deeper into the offseason.

So… yesterday was interesting.

The talk of the town wasn’t the epic Ducks/Predators game, or Anders Lee’s performance at the IIHF tournament, or Linus Söderstrom’s inspiring ascension to the professional ranks.

Rather, it revolved around Thomas Greiss’ social media accounts, and whether the mainstream press’ obsession with his ‘likes’ of certain posts was ‘fake news’ or a big deal. Mostly, people couldn’t believe that us writers had nothing better to talk about than the poor guy’s private life.

And while they may have had a good point (as many will concede, it really shouldn’t be that big of a story), there’s another side to the story: we really have nothing to talk about.

As I put my pen to paper at midnight, trying to think of a topic — preferably something non-Nazi related — to write about in this space, I realized just how little news there actually is — and how little there will be for the duration of the offseason.

The Isles have no unrestricted free agents, no head coaching vacancy, not enough money to throw at big-name players and a relatively stable draft position. In other words… there’s not going to be much happening until the puck drops in October.

Which is a really, really long time from now.

NOTES

Alright, so… There was a lot of outrage after goalie Thomas Greiss ‘liked’ a post on social media equating Hillary Clinton to Adolf Hitler. The German Hockey Federation demanded an apology (with the Isles also putting out a statement that they “do not condone his actions”), and Greiss delivered. I, for one, was a little torn over Greiss’ actions, but Matt Di Giacomo felt that he shouldn’t have ever even apologized.

On May 14, 1993, the Isles eliminated the two-time defending champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in overtime of Game 7 of the second round of the playoffs. David Volek netted two goals, including the game-winner, as New York ended the Pens’ streak of dominance.

The Ducks erased a two-goal deficit to knot their Conference-round series with Nashville up at one. Pekka Rinne, who had been unflappable until that point, surrendered a postseason-high 4 goals en route to the loss.

There have been so many great profiles done on Linus Söderstrom, the team’s budding goalie prospect with Asperger Syndrome. He recently signed a three-year entry-level contract, which should help him continue to inspire so many people. [ LHH | ESNY | SI ]

Anders Lee had a tally and a helper as the United States beat Slovakia, 6-1, in preliminary action at the 2017 IIHF World Championship Tournament. He ranks eleventh amongst all skaters in points (4 G, 3 A, 7 PTS) through six games.

Justin Weiss is a staff editor at Elite Sports New York, where he covers the New York Islanders and Brooklyn Cyclones. In 2016, he received a Quill Award for Freelance Journalism. He has written for the Long Island Herald, FanSided and YardBarker.