Are you speculating or did you see this somewhere?

Speculating

Why put the top prospect with an elite level shot on the top line when you can put Tom Kuhnhackl there instead? Zero stars smh

I hope you're right. Dobson needs to start being in the lineup every night... having him sit on the bench is doing nothing for his development. But it will likely be Boychuk in their again

This sounds f*cked up, but I hope they lose tonight so Dobson can get in next game and run away with it. It’s better for the team moving forward.

I wouldn’t mind a 5-3 loss with wahlstrom scoring his 1st NHL goal.

This team drives me nuts sometimes. I love Barry but did he not see how the 1st line took off on Monday after kuhnhackl was removed ???

By the way, not to add fuel to the fire... Arthur Staple reported that the lines at practice were the same as last game, with Martin and Dobson skating as the extras, so looks like no Dobson tonight.... smh.

I don't usually wish things like this, but part of me wants Boychuk to get hurt (like Hickey last year) to give Dobson a chance to play and shine (Like Toews did) and force them to keep him in the lineup.

Yeah I saw the tweet before I replied to you - I’m not going to wish an injury on boychuk, maybe just some soreness lol - Dobson needs to be in the lineup every night. Of course boychuk had to play out of his mind the last 5 minutes in the 3rd period to cement his spot in the lineup although he was brutal the rest of the game. He was on the ice for both STL goals and he was getting bullied by their forwards - so much for a physical presence.

I know it’s a small sample size, but the islanders are much better when Dobson is on the ice. His underlying metrics are at an elite level in his 2 games with the team - that’s just more of a reason to play him.

Haha, unfortunately I don't think just "some soreness" will do it. Him being out of the lineup for a handful of games won't change much, he needs to be out for an extended period of time for Dobson to cement is place in lineup lol.

My concern is they are playing Boychuk to try and get a team interested him for a trade, as that's the only logical reason. Dobson is the future of this team and Boychuk as no place on this team past this season, keeping Dobson on the bench does nothing for him or the team. Sitting Boychuk also shows other teams the he's not good enough to play on the Isles, so why would anyone trade for him. At least if he plays, the Isles can argue he's still serviceable... I don't know.

I was saying that Boychuk keeping the puck in the O zone with 30 seconds left cemented his spot in the lineup despite his awful play in the 1st and 2nd period. If the isles lose that game, Dobson plays tonight IMO

I just don’t understand how Barry can watch the game against the canes (one of the worst games by the isles I’ve ever seen) and still play boychuk. The islanders were outmatched and couldn’t keep up with the canes , one of the reasons being they have multiple mobile defenseman that can move the puck/skate it out of the zone efficiently. Pelech and pulock are both shutdown defenseman, they can skate the puck out of the zone but aren’t as effective with their passing but that’s fine considering they’re very good at what they do. Toews is an elite puck mover, Mayfield is decent , leddy fell off a cliff I’m not sure what happened to him. Dobson can skate the puck out of the zone and is the 2nd best puck mover behind toews. The islanders desperately need help with their transition game and they roll out a pylon over Dobson, I just don’t get it lol. Also, Leddy+ boychuk advanced metrics were very good in the games that they were paired with Dobson.

I for one am shocked that Boychuk was too slow to break up ehlers goal