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New York Islanders: Add The Shootout to the List

Mar 15, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) makes a save against New York Islanders center John Tavares (91) to preserve a shootout victory at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Penguins won 2-1 in a shootout. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 15, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) makes a save against New York Islanders center John Tavares (91) to preserve a shootout victory at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Penguins won 2-1 in a shootout. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /
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NHL GMs met in Toronto just recently. One topic discussed was changes to the shootout. Something that could be of great interest to the New York Islander, if they still had anyone good at them.

NHL GMs are thinking about making a change to the shootout. Teams could, under the proposed change follow international rules and select any player, even multiple times after the first three. Too bad the New York Islanders lost their best shootout players in the offseason.

In International hockey after the firs three shooters, a coach can just keep sending the same player out there. Like when the US sent out TJ Oshie a million and a half times in 2014 and Jonathan Toews in 2007 before him.

The New York Islanders just don’t have that type of player. Well, I mean, they used to have one, almost two of them.

That’s right, the best shootout players for the Isles wasn’t John Tavares. He’s up there, but he’s not even in the top two. That belongs to Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen. From 2014 to 2015, Okposo shot at 50% on the shootout, while Neilsen hovered around 40%.

Here’s the breakdown of the Islanders shooters in the shootout in over those years:

2015

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nhl/stats/player-shootout-statistics/2015/

2014

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nhl/stats/player-shootout-statistics/2014/

So what does a change to the shootout rule mean for the New York Islanders? Nothing much. Maybe Jack Capuano can keep throwing Tavares out there. Make his life easy, three shooters and then just rotating Jonny.

It would certainly save him from having to throw Nick Leddy or Jason Chimera out there. Both are 0% shooters on the shootout.

Next: Isles Want to Make a Trade

But aside from that, it doesn’t really mean much. The Islanders have already lost both of their shootout games this season. If we still had Kyle of Frans, that would change the outcome of this decision dramatically for the Islanders

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