Eyes On Isles
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New York Islanders Pokemon Staring Lineup Crossover

ByMichel Anderson|
YOKOHAMA, JAPAN - AUGUST 07: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Performers dressed as Pikachu, a character from Pokemon series game titles, march during the Pikachu Outbreak event hosted by The Pokemon Co. on August 7, 2016 in Yokohama, Japan. A total of 1, 000 Pikachus appear at the city's landmarks in the Minato Mirai area aiming to attract visitors and tourists to the city. The event will be held through Aug. 14. (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)
YOKOHAMA, JAPAN - AUGUST 07: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Performers dressed as Pikachu, a character from Pokemon series game titles, march during the Pikachu Outbreak event hosted by The Pokemon Co. on August 7, 2016 in Yokohama, Japan. A total of 1, 000 Pikachus appear at the city's landmarks in the Minato Mirai area aiming to attract visitors and tourists to the city. The event will be held through Aug. 14. (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)

You’ve probably always wondered what pokemon are New York Islanders players most similar to. Well, that day is finally here.

Two of my favorite things (outside of my family) are the New York Islanders and Pokemon. I remember selling my Sega GameGear in ninth grade for a GameBoy and Pokemon Blue on the first day it was available in Canada.

I was able to convince my mom to pull me out of math class to drive me down to my local Microplay to make the swap. I’m a nerd. (My wife just called me one, like right now for writing this.)

So when my two passions, the New York Islanders and Pokemon intersect it’s a pretty big deal for me. Today, All About the Jersey’s CJ Turtoro released an NHL Player/Pokemon Similarity Score tool. Naturally, my day was lost to the tool.

Islanders Starting Pokemon Lineup

I used CJ’s tool to build a starting lineup of Pokemon based on what should be the New York Islanders starting lineup. Pokemon trainers can carry six Pokemon at a time, an ideal number for an NHL starting lineup with three forwards, two defensemen, and a goalie.

But CJ’s tool doesn’t include goalies. For good reason, goalie stats don’t translate well for this type of similarity analysis. So my starting lineup will just be the five skaters.

(Look I know hockey and Pokemon aren’t on everyone’s favorite list, but it is for me so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to write this.)

Matt Barzal | Pidgeot

Other Pidegots: Zdeno Chara, Tyson Barrie, William Nylander

Lightning quick, this flying Pokemon has great endurance and has few deficiencies. Special attack is the only one of the six stats CJ looked at that was in the red. With a -1.1 PPO_AA on the power play according to Evolving-Hockey last season Barzal wasn’t as strong as we think on the PP.

Anders Lee | Seaking

Other Seakings: Travis Hamonic, Kasperi Kapanen, Jonathan Marchessault

The captain is all-out attack. With 102 goals over the last three seasons, few can match Anders Lee’s goal production in the NHL.

Jordan Eberle | Clefairy

Other Clefairys: Ben Harpur, Roman Polak, Kevin Fiala

Not a great look for Jordan Eberle. There isn’t much going for Clefairy. It rates negatively on most stats. Only health hits blue. Some of the other notable Clefairy’s don’t put Eberle in the best company either.

But after the season Eberle just had it makes sense. Maybe he can level up to a Clefable this year and give the New York Islanders so much more.

Ryan Pulock | Kabuto

Other Kabutos: Tim Schaller, Andre Burakovsky, Marcus Kruger

Great defense, tons of health and a bit of offense. That’s Ryan Pulock at the moment. The 24-year-old is molding himself a number one defenseman. With another year under Barry Trotz maybe Pulock can evolve into Kabutops.

Kabutops has a ton of offense, a ton of defense, and while not the quickest he’s far from the slowest.

Adam Pelech | Weezing

Other Weezings: Jake DeBrusk, David Savard, Jon Merrill

No one ever has Weezing in their starting lineups, but he’s surprisingly strong. He’s great defensively and his only significant weakness is his speed. That perfectly sums up Adam Pelech.

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He wasn’t valued but has surprised everyone to become a good defender across all situations for the New York Islanders.

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