New York Islanders Daily: Updated Defensive Pairings Prediction

With the New York Islanders most recent signing we’re going to have to update our original prediction on what the defensive pairings will look like.

With the Adam Pelech deal, the New York Islanders have eight defensemen who need to be on the roster. Now, a lot can change before the season starts but you have to believe the defensive pairings would be slightly different now.

Originally our plan looked something like this:

Leddy – Boychuk

de Haan – Pulock

Hickey – Seidenberg

with Mayfield and Pelech as the seventh and eighth d-men.

With the recent Pelech deal, there’s almost no way that he doesn’t find himself in the starting lineup consistently. Garth Snow loves this kid, there’s no secret there, he protected the 22-year old in the expansion draft for goodness sake.

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It was an odd move, nobody saw that coming and once he put pen to paper on a four-year deal he all but locked in his spot in the starting lineup.

You don’t extend a seventh d-man for four years, there’s just no reason to. Now, I think Seidenberg and Pelech switch spots as a result.

Seidenberg put up great numbers last year, but remember he was brought in as a seventh d-man initially so he should be fine serving that role. If anything it’ll likely be a revolving door for the sixth d-man of Hickey, Seidenberg and Mayfield.

Thomas Hickey had a down year last year and is a free agent to be at the end of the year. Chances are he doesn’t return to the team with their plethora of prospect depth at the position.

Figure the opening night pairings to look something like this (assuming there are no injuries)

Leddy – Boychuk

de Haan – Pulock

Hickey – Pelech

with Mayfield and Seidenberg as healthy scratches.

There’s always injuries so expect Mayfield and Seidenberg to get their time eventually. Heck, Devon Toews may even get a shot at some point. He can’t hide in Bridgeport forever.

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