Islanders Owner Jon Ledecky Shares Excitement Ahead Of Matthew Schaefer’s NHL Debut
GLEN COVE, NY --Since becoming an owner of the New York Islanders , Jon Ledecky has made an effort to talk with fans every chance again. Whether he's walking around the UBS Arena concourse or going out in the community for local events, he always wants to know what fans are thinking about the team.
Video Transcript
What is up, Islander fans?
Wow, it is warm out here.
Anyway, let's get to the game, right?
So 42, The Islanders' fall to the New Jersey Devils wasn't a great game in totality, but there were a lot of positives, and I think we should, we should definitely touch on those.
I'm going to start off here with Ilya Sorokin, right?
First game of preseason, plays the full game.
He said he's going to play two full games.
That's what he wants for the preseason here, and he does that.
And tonight, listen, the first goal wasn't great, completely off his angle, but after that he really settled in.
A couple of breakaway goals on him or rebounds after breakaways.
So I thought, all in all, a really sharp performance by Sorokin.
He's a guy that obviously hasn't played first taste of action, so you expect that rust, but the rust wore off pretty quickly.
Speaking of rust, Anthony Beauvillier played his first game with a healthy groin since what, October 18th or something like that.
So I thought he looked really good.
I think maybe it took him a little bit, a period to settle in, but I thought he was great.
He did score a goal.
Nice setup from Matthew Shaer from the point, finding him in front, but for Duclair, it's about consistency when it comes to his skating and his play down low and all that kind of stuff.
But I thought Duclair looked great.
Matthew Barzal has been flying the entirety of training camp and preseason, did so again tonight, and was wearing an A for the first time, which was cool for him.
So yeah, that that line, especially with Gatcombe too.
Gatcombe is such a smart, high IQ player that he knows what that lineup with Barzal on his wing, on his line.
And Duclair, he just has to find open ice.
He had a lot of chances off the rush.
He got stopped, but overall I thought that line was obviously the Islanders' best line.
The young guys Cam Berg, Remiiev and those guys looked really good.
They played against the Rangers and earned that opportunity to play again tonight.
So I thought overall those guys were good.
Moving on to Matthew Shafer, this was not a perfect game for him.
He got caught up the ice a couple of times, but you can see, you just the skating, that's really the biggest standout with him because there were times in this game where he's in the offensive zone and he's picking the puck and he's in every quadrant in the zone and he's making the right reads, the right plays, and it's impressive and that passing Duler for the goal.
I mean, it looked like a shot, but he knew Duclair was right there and fed him the puck, got him there.
He's so precise with his passing.
I mean, he, he knows where he wants to go with the puck and he finds a way to do that.
So I thought he was really impressive.
And again, these mistakes, I think, are really, really important for this kid because, you know, they're number one picks for a reason, right?
And you look at a lot of guys in this league that are so talented, so talented, and the problem is they don't learn or they don't evolve and develop their game the right way.
But with Schafer, it's, he's so quick to learn that when he does make a mistake, the next time he's out there, he doesn't make that mistake again, right?
And so I think that's why obviously he's the number one overall pick.
He's that good, but he understands the importance of making mistakes.
He's not scared.
To make a mistake, I think that's the other big thing too here.
He's trying things.
He's trying to get accustomed to the speed, the skill, the physicality of the NHL, but you know he's not letting one mistake I mean there were probably two goals tonight that were on him in terms of not getting back fast enough or not pushing to the outside, and you never noticed it hinder his ability to go back out there in the next shift and be at his best.
So he impressed and then Marshall Warren.
Um, this is a guy that's really stood out the entire camp, a couple of preseason games he's played.
Patrick well loved him.
He raved about him and I asked him what he liked, and I mean, I could list you the quote, but he said pretty much he said anything you could possibly say the breakouts, jumping in on the rush, the physicality, his defensive play, transitioning, he said it all, so he said that Schafer and Warren.
were the best players on the ice and they're the best defensemen, excuse me, on the ice, and I thought that it looked like it for Warren, he's probably not going to make this team.
Right?
You've got to think the 7th defenseman spot is going to Adam Beauquelin and Schafer, Schafer's making this team.
But for Warren, I mean, going down to Bridgeport and being a key player there, that's going to be so huge for him because the one thing with Juan and most coaches is once you earn their trust, they don't forget.
And I think you saw that a couple of years ago, like, you know, with Kyle McLean at training camp.
Yeah, he doesn't make the Islanders out of camp, but gets called up.
Hudson Fasching, the year that he first came in here, you know, he doesn't make the team out of training camp, and then he gets called up.
So I think there's it's huge showing what you show in training camp in preseason because those coaches don't forget, like Gleb, for example.
Gleb Verreev is not making this team.
However, if a 4th liner goes down, and again, I know they have Kyle McLean and Mark Gattens, so he's got to fight with a couple of those guys, but I guess that's a guy that, you know, he's now in the back of Patrick's mind.
Berg obviously is not on an NHL deal.
He's on an AHL deal.
Maybe he'll get an NHL deal at some point, but he's not an overly skilled player, but he's speedy and he's fast and he gets shots off.
I do want to touch on Shabanov because, you know, I think he's still finding his way a little bit.
He hasn't been explosive offensively like we saw him in rookie camp, and it's a completely different ballgame when you're going against NHL, but I think the biggest thing you notice is defensively.
One of the biggest things Watt touched on when he signed, when the Islanders signed Shabanov was that he was really good in his own zone, really smart player.
And Shabanov is really good in the offensive zone in terms of finding space, but in the defensive zone he really understands.
how important it is to take a space away and he's really smart with the puck.
He's really smart with his stick placement.
So I thought overall in that facet of his game, it's been good.
We just got to see the offensive luck and it's going to come with confidence and things like that.
But the penalty kill, last thing to hear, penalty kill.
They've been perfect the last, I think, four or five times dating back to last game.
But their structure is a lot better, you know.
Their structures; they weren't leaving the guy wide open back door.
Yes, there was one play where the guy in the low slot was wide open, and Siroki made the save, but you're starting to see certain pieces come together.
The penalty kill, obviously last year, was 31st in the league, and it just wasn't good enough.
Um, and now there's the power play, which was a little over 12%.
Which was 31st as well.
So yeah, those are important for the Islanders if they want to make the playoffs.
They have to be better, but I think tonight you saw Bogner's system really, really work.
The Islanders didn't get a power play, so they'll practice that next time.
But yeah, that's a wrap.
UBS Arena.
42 Islanders lose, they'll be off on Saturday, back on the ice Sunday for practice and Monday they host the New York Rangers for the second to last preseason game.
Thanks for tuning in, guys.
Talk to you later.
