Tony DeAngelo

He did say that he's going to, you know, he might tweak some things in game, but his whole game plan was the way he broke it down was he wanted a defensive defenseman with a puck moving defenseman.

So you have Stanley with Schaefer, you have Pellick with Pulak, and you have Mayfield with D'Angelo.

D'Angelo playing the left side of the offside.

So I get it in a sense why they did it.

The question is, can Stanley handle D'Angelo Those minutes that Schaefer's going to play, Stanley did joke with us.

I think he said he played 28 minutes at some point last year with Morrissey out.

So he's proven that he can do it in stretches.

Where do you go from here? Do you go now Schaefer-Polak? Or do you go, you know, I mean, Logan Stanley and Mayfield would be too slow of a third pair, I think.

Do you go Logan Stanley-Kessel, Schaefer and Polak, and then Pelek? and D'Angelo.

I mean, there are different options, I guess, as far as pairs.

However, if you don't like those two options, you can always send Kessel down to Hamilton.

And, you know, the young guys got the old ones.

We got Dave here saying D'Angelo drew two power plays.

Yeah, he did.

He did really good work there.

D'Angelo drawing the penalties.

Yeah.

You know, flopped a little on them.

I still don't know why Ranger fans boo him so much.

So, uh, for Dravecky, uh, Dravecky to do so, it's Dravecky, um, that's the correct pronunciation, but it, it's a really good sign for his development, and so far he's looked pretty good for the Gulf Storm.

I will be keeping a close eye on this prospect in particular, but so far everything is really encouraging, and I just hope he can really develop a defensive game so he can potentially be, I think his ceiling is an upgraded version of Tony DeAngelo.

I, a puck-moving defenseman from the right side.

There is a lot of value in that, especially when your team is already built really solidly down the left like the Islanders are.

They just looked a step behind, and it, it's kinda disappointing to see how they played.

By the way, Tony DeAngelo, and he, he also turned a few pucks over.

But I gotta say this about Tony D. [coughs] The fans at Madison Square Garden booing DeAngelo every time he touched the puck.

Y-you know, he's gotta be the most popular Islander at Madison Square Garden since Dennis Potvin, and Dennis Potvin retired in the late '80s.

I guess Pelech is trying to send a message, so, so be it.

But the thing that I think overall hurt the Islanders most in this game, the blue line lacks speed.

And, you know, other than D'Angelo and Schaeffer, Schaeffer obviously being the fastest, uh, of the defensemen out there.

But besides D'Angelo and Schaeffer, this is not a, a blue line corps that is super fast.

I do think, I mean, every single Islander besides Logan Stanley w- had a minus goal differential.

Pelech minus one, Pulock minus one, Romanov minus one, D'Angelo minus one, Schaeffer minus two.

Um, and, you know, I do think the defense looked okay early on in the game.

They were closing gaps well.

Uh, you know what you're gonna get from him.

Not great defense, but it is what it is.

And, uh, I'd have no idea why the Rangers fans keep booing, uh, Tony DeAngelo.

I've never seen a player who's, you know, not a big name guy getting booed as much as Tony DeAngelo, uh, by the Rangers.

Uh, I, I do wanna point out when he didn't do the bank play, he was standing on the left side of the ice where he would normally play.

And during the last play of the game, right, where they gave up that empty-net goal, uh, Schafer was playing the left side, because when the Islanders go six on four, uh, or six on five, they put Tony DeAngelo on the right side, so Schafer plays the left, right? So not saying that, you know, there's not any pains when it comes to his transition or anything like that, but to kind of point at him playing on the right side and be like, "That's why he had a little bit of an off game," that's silly.

I think the Islanders are missing Matt Barzal.

As a result, players like Schafer, like Horvat, are trying to do a little too much.

Uh, last year I'm really starting to wonder if perhaps more of these signs of regression were there, and we just didn't quite notice them because he was playing with Schaeffer.

That, that's definitely a possibility.

Uh, so w- maybe that's something they try, right? And then on the second pair, uh, you run Pelech and DeAngelo.

For, and for all his faults, um, I, I will always believe that Pelech can make up for DeAngelo's faults.

But, um, yesterday, having Romanov as your third-best defenseman and now having Ryan Pulock, it- it's a big blow to this team.

And, uh, the second pair, uh, I'm a little less concerned about that one, right? We saw last year, Tony DeAngelo is going to make his mistakes, but Pelech is the best defenseman, uh, he's one of the best defenseman in the league, in my opinion, at mopping up those mistakes.

And, uh, for Pelech, um, I, I don't think this changes his role.

This is just what he does.

Hopefully, hopefully he can shake up that rust, but, but I'm not overly concerned about that.

It's just more all of a sudden this defense, all three of the pairs are kind of just below average of what a team would have, right? Because as incredible as Schafer is, Pulock just is not a first pair defenseman.

Uh, D- DeAngelo and Pelech, the chemistry really works, but DeAngelo, really his role should be what he has been doing recently, playing on the third pair.

I think that helps limit his mistakes, but we'll see what happens.