the salary cap giveth and it taketh away
So I'm on a plane right now and I have only got touchscreen typing, so please forgive any really bizarre typoes that slip past me in the course of this post. I can fix/clarify on Terra firma with my laptop.
Talking/writing has basically been my go-to to feel better lately so I'm just gonna throw a bunch of feelings about the Islanders in particular and hockey in general under the cut here. (Somewhat relatedly, it only dawned on me very recently that becoming a fan of both the Blackhawks and the Isles was a really poor reward for the beloved friends (and Flyers fans) who got me into hockey in the first place. Oops. Uh. Sorry about that. Thanks again for getting me into this though. I don't know how much the excellent seats we got for Phantoms-PBruins due to the NHL being locked out contributed to my enjoyment, but it definitely meant we got to see guys in the A who wouldn't normally have been.)
Me, at G/T in Wellington, in the first week of October, 30% joking: "ha ha fuck, guess I'm an Islanders fan now :|"
and then Tui and I moped at each other all morning and I drank lunch because it seemed like the thing to do.
[The context here is that for several reasons, in large part also to do with the Blackhawks being hard up against the salary cap, one of my favourite defensemen got traded to the Islanders. Who made out like bandits on the deal, might I add.]
Me, four days ago: *at Nassau Coliseum, watching the Isles shut out the Sabres*
...even by my standards of being slightly unhinged in the pursuit of my passions, that one escalated quickly.
I've been trying to explain to people why this took over my brain to an extent even the Oilers and Canes - my lower level cheering interests in the NHL - hadn't, and obviously my heart eyes for Nick Leddy help contribute a LOT**, but man, the Isles are also just fun*** to watch.
They're doing well offensively for the most part, and like ten guys on the roster are having career years for points. Their PK has improved by leaps and bounds since the ASG (there was like 90s of the PK on Saturday that my only reasonable response to was to slide down in my seat and think "omg that was HOT"), they have a really promising lineup of young dmen, although jfc I'm gonna fly back and yell at people if they keep playing Brian Strait over Cal de Haan, lord have mercy. My Leddy feelings probably go without saying, I had no idea until now what the Bruins had had in Boychuk, even though I would say he's slightly less defensively responsible than Leddy. But daaaaaaamn that shot. And his instincts are usually really good. I'm pretty high on Travis Harmonic, despite the fact he had a rough game when I saw them. His contract is a fucking steal, he's great in that second pairing when not anchored by Inexplicable Cappy Roster Moves, and he seems like a decent dude in general. (The fact the Isles got his brother to come along on the dads-and-mentors trip gave me a lot of feelings.)
Forwards wise, John Tavares is John Tavares. He's a fucking treat to watch and I have pretty much always enjoyed him as a player. I was gutted when he got hurt at the Olympics last year. I also bandwagoned the hell out if the Isles last time they made the playoffs and they were fun to watch then, even though their goaltending was rough (sorry, Nabokov, but... yeah.) Halak has been mostly awesome this year - one admittedly spectacular fuck-up last night doesn't diminish that. Neuvirth had been solid in his outings, too.
I really really like the kid line both as a line and as its individual components. Brock Nelson has had a couple tough stretches, but is pretty reliable. Ryan Strome is a delight. Anders Lee is having a spectacular rookie season with very little fanfare. Kyle Okposo is fucking awesome and I am so so glad that he's back and hopefully set to recover okay from a detaching retina, jfc. Plus I'm all kinds of *____* over Frans Nielsen and his everything. (Please don't be injured :( :( :( ) As a mostly western conference person until this year I had no idea what i was missing there. I could actually keep going through the forwards (hey Matt Martin, inexplicably over-performing in fantasy hockey, lol), but I'll spare you all.
I also keep realising just how often my careless "free player I like from a terrible situation" comments had wound up being "X and Y to the Isles!" over the past couple years, so once again I'm going with "lol, my subconscious knew what was going down years before the rest of me." I am so bad at this self-knowledge game. :D
I'm really hoping I can get my shit together sufficiently to go see them in Brooklyn in the 16-17 season, and NGL, I wanna sit closer to where ever section 328 (iirc) relocates to, because I've listened to so many radio calls where I've not been able to make out what they're chanting and I'm curious. (I did figure out ONE of the 3rd period ones in-arena, at least. Heh. O:) )
I love the engagement I've got to see from fans this year too - I've been in some really loud barns over the last four years, and that really was one of the loudest. I mentioned this to someone - admittedly, possibly my mother - but, like. I think the usher in my section might've been working there the whole 43 years as well? And he was great too. Helpful, nice, quick on the draw with grabbing people who tried to come back without waiting for a whistle, and he got really excited every time the Isles scored or had a good shift too. Plus at one point we both got wildly indignant at the officiating at the same time, heh. ...I did also enjoy the organist busting out Hallelujah when the Sabres got their first penalty.
It was - despite my ridiculously fast and frustrating descent back into being a headcase about travel either side of it - a really fucking awesome experience, and I am so glad I talked myself into doing it.
I may have mentioned to most if you already, but if I hadn't, the current plan involves me not travelling at my 'usual' time next year and holding off till more like Oct if then, for many really good reasons. But being aware of that while I planned this trip did make me a lot greedier than usual, which is why I jumped at stuff like travelling to Raleigh to see the Canes at home and adding this NY side trip. I actually surprised myself a little with how emotional an experience it was, partly I'm sure because I'm a sucker for sentiment and all the stuff about it being the last season at the Coliseum hooks right into all my easy buttons.
Plus I've spent this season listening to radio calls and loving their colour and pxp (far less problematic on occasion than Troy and John, tbh, although they're not perfect, but they are excellent at vividly setting the scene), and watching them on the MSG network, so getting to be in the stands to experience that fully was surprisingly affecting.
I mean, don't get me wrong, the total lack of conflicted feelings I had from the moment the puck dropped on Isles-Hawks at the UC proved to me that I wasn't wrong about which team has my primary loyalty. But fuck is it ever closer than I would have thought.
...and it's probably for the best that the Isles team store was super packed AND had no women's jerseys because I probably would have made very irresponsible decisions****.
I'm sort of winding down now on having much more to say than "it was fun and i love them and they need to get their shit together please FFS"***** and to be honest I'm a bit too wobbly brained to remember where my point was anyway, so. Hockey. I like it.
**I know. 2012!Claire can't believe I feel this way. I suspect a combination of how 2012!Claire knew even less about hockey than I do now and it being difficult to judge how someone will develop.
***Except for right now. Right now they are VERY STRESSFUL, oh god, by hook or by crook please GET A DAMN POINT AND CLINCH ALREADY. ETA: as of my editing this post for hyphens etc, THE ISLANDERS ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS \o/ :DDDDDDDDDDDD
****stating the obvious here but holy shit is it nice to not look at merch that doesn't have a problematic logo. I would love the hawks so much more if they changed theirs. :(
*****Offer valid in both Chicago and Long Island, lbr. SIGH.
This entry also posted at dreamwidth.
comments/ view comments at dreamwidth.
Talking/writing has basically been my go-to to feel better lately so I'm just gonna throw a bunch of feelings about the Islanders in particular and hockey in general under the cut here. (Somewhat relatedly, it only dawned on me very recently that becoming a fan of both the Blackhawks and the Isles was a really poor reward for the beloved friends (and Flyers fans) who got me into hockey in the first place. Oops. Uh. Sorry about that. Thanks again for getting me into this though. I don't know how much the excellent seats we got for Phantoms-PBruins due to the NHL being locked out contributed to my enjoyment, but it definitely meant we got to see guys in the A who wouldn't normally have been.)
Me, at G/T in Wellington, in the first week of October, 30% joking: "ha ha fuck, guess I'm an Islanders fan now :|"
and then Tui and I moped at each other all morning and I drank lunch because it seemed like the thing to do.
[The context here is that for several reasons, in large part also to do with the Blackhawks being hard up against the salary cap, one of my favourite defensemen got traded to the Islanders. Who made out like bandits on the deal, might I add.]
Me, four days ago: *at Nassau Coliseum, watching the Isles shut out the Sabres*
...even by my standards of being slightly unhinged in the pursuit of my passions, that one escalated quickly.
I've been trying to explain to people why this took over my brain to an extent even the Oilers and Canes - my lower level cheering interests in the NHL - hadn't, and obviously my heart eyes for Nick Leddy help contribute a LOT**, but man, the Isles are also just fun*** to watch.
They're doing well offensively for the most part, and like ten guys on the roster are having career years for points. Their PK has improved by leaps and bounds since the ASG (there was like 90s of the PK on Saturday that my only reasonable response to was to slide down in my seat and think "omg that was HOT"), they have a really promising lineup of young dmen, although jfc I'm gonna fly back and yell at people if they keep playing Brian Strait over Cal de Haan, lord have mercy. My Leddy feelings probably go without saying, I had no idea until now what the Bruins had had in Boychuk, even though I would say he's slightly less defensively responsible than Leddy. But daaaaaaamn that shot. And his instincts are usually really good. I'm pretty high on Travis Harmonic, despite the fact he had a rough game when I saw them. His contract is a fucking steal, he's great in that second pairing when not anchored by Inexplicable Cappy Roster Moves, and he seems like a decent dude in general. (The fact the Isles got his brother to come along on the dads-and-mentors trip gave me a lot of feelings.)
Forwards wise, John Tavares is John Tavares. He's a fucking treat to watch and I have pretty much always enjoyed him as a player. I was gutted when he got hurt at the Olympics last year. I also bandwagoned the hell out if the Isles last time they made the playoffs and they were fun to watch then, even though their goaltending was rough (sorry, Nabokov, but... yeah.) Halak has been mostly awesome this year - one admittedly spectacular fuck-up last night doesn't diminish that. Neuvirth had been solid in his outings, too.
I really really like the kid line both as a line and as its individual components. Brock Nelson has had a couple tough stretches, but is pretty reliable. Ryan Strome is a delight. Anders Lee is having a spectacular rookie season with very little fanfare. Kyle Okposo is fucking awesome and I am so so glad that he's back and hopefully set to recover okay from a detaching retina, jfc. Plus I'm all kinds of *____* over Frans Nielsen and his everything. (Please don't be injured :( :( :( ) As a mostly western conference person until this year I had no idea what i was missing there. I could actually keep going through the forwards (hey Matt Martin, inexplicably over-performing in fantasy hockey, lol), but I'll spare you all.
I also keep realising just how often my careless "free player I like from a terrible situation" comments had wound up being "X and Y to the Isles!" over the past couple years, so once again I'm going with "lol, my subconscious knew what was going down years before the rest of me." I am so bad at this self-knowledge game. :D
I'm really hoping I can get my shit together sufficiently to go see them in Brooklyn in the 16-17 season, and NGL, I wanna sit closer to where ever section 328 (iirc) relocates to, because I've listened to so many radio calls where I've not been able to make out what they're chanting and I'm curious. (I did figure out ONE of the 3rd period ones in-arena, at least. Heh. O:) )
I love the engagement I've got to see from fans this year too - I've been in some really loud barns over the last four years, and that really was one of the loudest. I mentioned this to someone - admittedly, possibly my mother - but, like. I think the usher in my section might've been working there the whole 43 years as well? And he was great too. Helpful, nice, quick on the draw with grabbing people who tried to come back without waiting for a whistle, and he got really excited every time the Isles scored or had a good shift too. Plus at one point we both got wildly indignant at the officiating at the same time, heh. ...I did also enjoy the organist busting out Hallelujah when the Sabres got their first penalty.
It was - despite my ridiculously fast and frustrating descent back into being a headcase about travel either side of it - a really fucking awesome experience, and I am so glad I talked myself into doing it.
I may have mentioned to most if you already, but if I hadn't, the current plan involves me not travelling at my 'usual' time next year and holding off till more like Oct if then, for many really good reasons. But being aware of that while I planned this trip did make me a lot greedier than usual, which is why I jumped at stuff like travelling to Raleigh to see the Canes at home and adding this NY side trip. I actually surprised myself a little with how emotional an experience it was, partly I'm sure because I'm a sucker for sentiment and all the stuff about it being the last season at the Coliseum hooks right into all my easy buttons.
Plus I've spent this season listening to radio calls and loving their colour and pxp (far less problematic on occasion than Troy and John, tbh, although they're not perfect, but they are excellent at vividly setting the scene), and watching them on the MSG network, so getting to be in the stands to experience that fully was surprisingly affecting.
I mean, don't get me wrong, the total lack of conflicted feelings I had from the moment the puck dropped on Isles-Hawks at the UC proved to me that I wasn't wrong about which team has my primary loyalty. But fuck is it ever closer than I would have thought.
...and it's probably for the best that the Isles team store was super packed AND had no women's jerseys because I probably would have made very irresponsible decisions****.
I'm sort of winding down now on having much more to say than "it was fun and i love them and they need to get their shit together please FFS"***** and to be honest I'm a bit too wobbly brained to remember where my point was anyway, so. Hockey. I like it.
**I know. 2012!Claire can't believe I feel this way. I suspect a combination of how 2012!Claire knew even less about hockey than I do now and it being difficult to judge how someone will develop.
***Except for right now. Right now they are VERY STRESSFUL, oh god, by hook or by crook please GET A DAMN POINT AND CLINCH ALREADY. ETA: as of my editing this post for hyphens etc, THE ISLANDERS ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS \o/ :DDDDDDDDDDDD
****stating the obvious here but holy shit is it nice to not look at merch that doesn't have a problematic logo. I would love the hawks so much more if they changed theirs. :(
*****Offer valid in both Chicago and Long Island, lbr. SIGH.
This entry also posted at dreamwidth.
comments/ view comments at dreamwidth.