okposo 6-8 weeks ubi

[islefan31]

Absolutely nothing.

[metaldude26]

http://islanderspointblank.com/news/...rs-in-florida/

Apparently he won't play against Florida or Toronto but this is still great news. Still time to sell high on Anders Lee, btw.

[27Blue]

nobody knows what the lines will look like when okposo returns... let alone, grabovski et al.

doubt lee loses his spot on PP#1, though

[dbrzrk]

Guess Bailey looses his cushy spot?? it was fun while it lasted

[Burgundy]

I see a lot of people saying Lee will get bumped off the line but I think his size and grit are a perfect complement to JT and Okposo. I'd be very disappointed if they didn't at least give the line a few games to see if they succeed b/c Lee has been very good there for the last couple of months.

[2014olympicgold]

Lee-Tavares-Okposo could happen. Lee is a LW and Okposo is a RW, if anything Lee or Okposo moves down to even out scoring

[rataylor22]

Tough to say. Lee is obviously the better player but Bailey was on that line even before Okposo got hurt, and he was certainly at least keeping up. Probably makes more sense to drop Lee to the Nielson-Strome line and drop Grabner down to the third line, as,

Bailey-Tavares-Okposo
Lee-Nielsen-Strome

is a stronger top 6 than

Lee-Tavares-Okposo
Bailey-Nielson-Strome

[27Blue]

Lee isn't the better player. He is the better goal scorer.

There are a dozen options and the Isles have rostered about 20 different line-ups this year, so speculation is limited, at best. Capuano will likely play around a bit. Maybe Okposo is the one on the second line. Maybe Strome moves up. Who knows. Capuano's strengths do not include maximizing players strengths, so it really is a mystery at this point. Tavares with Bailey and Lee has been the Isles best top line by far this year... far better than any combination with Okposo on it. Bailey is the only player out of Tavares, Lee, Okposo and Bailey with an above average defensive game, so his importance on the top line goes beyond putting up points.

[rataylor22]

I don't think the Bailey-Tavares-Lee line has been any tangible amount better than the limited showing we had of Bailey-Tavares-Okposo. And as you said. Lee is naturally a LW. It would make more sense to drop him to L2 than it would be Okposo, and making either him or Strome switch to the left side.

[Rodgort]

So everyone sees the line changing. But what if they stay hot, could they not put Okposo on line 2 and still PP1?

Maybe:
Lee-Tavares-Bailey
Strome-Neilsen-Okposo or Strome-Nelson-Okposo
Grabo-Nelson-Kulimen or Grabo-Neilsen-Kulimen

I guess they could put the Lee-Nelson-Strome line back together too as that was a good line. Maybe a 4th line of Clusterbuck-Cizikas-Grabner too

[27Blue]

I wasn't talking about anyone switching sides. I was talking about Strome moving up to play RW1 and Okposo moving down to RW2. Most Isles fans have been drooling over the thought of Tavares and Strome playing together. Strome has rarely played center this year. Wouldn't Lee, JT, Strome be a thing of beauty?

This is what I think we will see when everyone is healthy:
Bailey - Tavares - Okposo
Lee - Nelson - Strome
Grabovski - Nielsen - Kulemin
Martin - Cizikas - Clutterbuck

though Nielsen and Nelson may be switched.

[bumchilly25]

I wasn't talking about anyone switching sides. I was talking about Strome moving up to play RW1 and Okposo moving down to RW2. Most Isles fans have been drooling over the thought of Tavares and Strome playing together. Strome has rarely played center this year. Wouldn't Lee, JT, Strome be a thing of beauty?

This is what I think we will see when everyone is healthy:
Bailey - Tavares - Okposo
Lee - Nelson - Strome
Grabovski - Nielsen - Kulemin
Martin - Cizikas - Clutterbuck

though Nielsen and Nelson may be switched.

I'd be happy with the above as Bailey has been really good the back half of this season. I know he's had a pretty good spot on that line, but he's played fairly well too.

[27Blue]

Bailey takes a lot of crap because he was a high draft pick and he hasn't (hadn't?) met expectations. He was completely mismanaged early in his career, but he has developed into a very good 2-way player over the past 3 seasons. He has been around forever and is still less than a year older than Lee, who just broke into the league.

[bumchilly25]

He's easily going to hit career highs in Goals, Pts and SOG this season. Now has 34 pts in 55 games. Pretty good numbers. I like the way he plays. He could come close to 20 G and cmaybe even 50pts if he hustles down the stretch.

[Avangard]

I see Bailey staying on that line, he is better defensively than what Lee brings there. PP will probably include Lee and Okposo. But for the moment, I see Lee going on the second line with Nelson and Strome.