Lou was never a man of excuses; he was a man of results. He will not give his players an excuse. He grades the results. That being said, Lou has all the tools in place. Lou's number one priority is to build around his core. For argument's sake, I believe the core is Centre Matthew Barzal, Goaltender Ilya Sorokin, Defenceman Noah Dobson, and the fourth and final piece, Centre Brock Nelson. These players are not going anywhere.
The Isles' younger players have a strong base. Leading the way is Oliver Wahlstrom, a power forward in the making. Everyone knows Aatu Ratty, a gifted playmaking centre the Isles stole in the second round. William Dufour is a powerful forward who likes getting dirty in the corners. He can snipe garbage goals with the best of them. There are plenty of other prospects; these are my top 3.
The Isles need to get more out of their big guns for next season. A healthy Barzal really needs a sniper alongside him. He needs someone to dish the puck to Lou, who needs to address that issue this season.
The Isles have plenty of cap room to go big game hunting in the off-season. If they decide to trade Varly, things could get even more interesting.
I have watched Lou for many years. He will investigate every avenue possible to improve this team. So hold your heads up, Isles fans—there are reasons to be optimistic for next season.
Randy
No comments:
Post a Comment