(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Top Comments: NHL 2023-2024 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-10 Tonight begins the 2023-2024 NHL season and the debut of Connor Bedard, who could become the next phenom. My team, the New York Islanders, did something this season that virtually no team has done in the salary cap era, made essentially no roster changes from the line up they had to end the season. There are exactly two changes to the 20 man roster that lost in round one of the playoffs last season. The team traded their longest tenured player, Josh Bailey, who played 15 seasons with the team, along with a 2026 second round pick for essentially nothing as a salary dump. The other change was more of a surprise as fan favorite Zach Parise opted to not re-sign with the team and take some more time to decide whether or not he wanted to play another season season. He was quoted over the summer as saying he would either retire or re-sign with the Islanders, so it is possible he returns sometime this autumn. There are three players completing for the two open spots. Oliver Wahlstrom, whose season was cut short from a torn ACL 35 games into the season and signed to a new “prove it” one year deal; former minor league mainstay Hudson Fasching, who put together a nice season last year; and one of the few new to the organization, Julien Gauthier, who has seen limited NHL action over the last 4 seasons. Some people including the general manager would not say this is entirely the same team from last season as two players were acquired around the trade deadline and are playing their first full season with the Islanders after signing long-term deals this summer. One of those acquire was Bo Horvat, the former captain of the Vancouver Canucks, in what was the Islanders biggest trades in more than a decade. After slipping into a playoff spot after winning their final game of the season, I have little expectation this team can do it again. Yes, we have probably the best goalie in the world (Ilya Sorokin) and a decent defense, but this team couldn’t score last season, and I struggle to see how they will this season. Last season’s bottom ranked power play doesn’t inspire hope as they brought back the power play coach and the coaching refused to make any on-ice or structural changes as the power play became worse and worse. Our top ten ranked penalty kill (PK) could suffer as the two players moved out were mainstays on the PK. My prediction for this season is our goalie tandem and defense will keep the team from finishing in the bottom 10 of the league, but we will fail to make the playoffs coming in 6th in the Metro division. Only 6 months to find out if I am correct. Diarist reserves all rights to his original writing only. Community material is not covered by this © Now a word from out sponsor and onto the Tops! Here at Top Comments we welcome longtime as well as brand new Daily Kos readers to join us at 10pm Eastern. We strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find! Top Comments for October 10, 2023 From Denise Oliver Velez: This comment in APR – with photos, from pelagicray on damage to wetlands, swamps and marshes. [ed. note: comment mistakenly left off yesterday’s Top Comments diary] From me (yay): ocgiii gives me a chuckle with a callback to the last Republican fluffer, I mean Meet the Press host in Joan McCarter’s diary on the Speaker’s race fiasco. TOP MOJO October 9, 2023 First comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo. TOP PICTURES October 9, 2023 Click any picture to be taken to the full comment or picture. Thank you to the wonderful dKos staff who made it possible to continue this feature in memory of jotter! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/10/2198539/-Top-Comments-NHL-2023-2024?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/