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by Islanders Anxiety
For fans of the New York Islanders.
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Mike and Dan return for Season 11 to run through some summer news on and off the ice, the Islanders' first preseason game and their super specific predictions for the season. From the outside, it didn't look like the Islanders did much this offseason. But sickos like us know that's not the case. There's a new captain, a new assistant GM, a new minority owner, a new (actual human) winner of the third jersey design contest, and a new streaming home for the team with the worst name we've ever heard. There's also a "luxury item" the team might be able to see again this season. Sadly, the news isn't all good, as Mat Barzal will miss most of camp with inflammation. At least, that's what we think this weirdly-worded release says. We also say good bye to a guy we talked about A LOT last season. Uh, good luck to everyone involved. In the second half, we "recap" the Islanders 2-1 preseason loss to the Devils and get used to Pete DeBoer's plainspoken pressers, which are a welcome change. We also look at some recent articles featuring Matthew Schaefer being awesome and the Islanders getting a fair, if realistic shake from an outlet that usually doesn't. Finally, we give some predictions on games, moves, awards, celebrities and other stuff we see happening around the Islanders and the NHL this season. We also pay our respects to late NHL coach and broadcaster Barry Melrose. Thank you all so much for listening all these years. We're lucky and grateful that our show has now passed the decade mark, which is rarified air for podcasts. We're looking forward to bringing you our offbeat observations about this team for a long time. Subscribe to our Patreon! Members get ad-free episodes of all our shows, bonus podcasts, written posts, chats with us and much more. Visit our friends! Vintage Ice Hockey for t-shirts, hoodies and jerseys with hundreds of classic hockey logos, as well as the full line of Islanders Anxiety merch. As always our portion of those sales go directly to the Center for Dementia Research. The Pinot Project has a Rosé, a Pinot Grigio and a Wine Enthusiast Best Buy Pinot Noir, all under $15 a bottle. Available at local wine stores and UBS Arena. Visit Lighthousehockey.com for the most up-to-date Islanders news and discussion. Islanders Anxiety podcasts are part of the Fans First Sports Network (@FansFirstSN). Our theme is "Morning Haze" by Family Dinner. Hear more of their music on Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mike and Dan reconvene after some family time to talk about the Islanders third jersey design contest and an article at The Athletic. After 80,000 submissions, a fan-designed jersey has been chosen for the Islanders to wear in the 2027-28 season. The contest was the brainchild of the Islanders Lord Business himself, Kelly Cheeseman, who can pat himself on the back for a job well done. But we expected to see a little more creativity or "funk" in the final choices, not hear more about how the 54-year-old NHL team is a "Challenger Brand." The final choice was fine but how we got there raised some questions that may never be fully answered. In the second half, we discuss The Athletic's NHL front-office confidence rankings for 2026 and the Islanders' middling place that shows the disconnect between how the public sees the roster and how fans do. Usually, it was non-Islanders fans thinking too little of them and fans having belief. Now, it's flipped, and the NHL at large sees an okay team and fans see a directionless disaster. It's a new dynamic that should raise some eyebrows in the front office and make them see how the customers are looking at their product. Thanks for listening and sticking with us all off season. Our first official episode of the season will release on Monday, Sept. 21, so we've got about a month to go before we get the machine rolling again. Subscribe to our Patreon! Members get ad-free episodes of all our shows, bonus podcasts, written posts, chats with us and much more. Visit our friends! Vintage Ice Hockey for t-shirts, hoodies and jerseys with hundreds of classic hockey logos, as well as the full line of Islanders Anxiety merch. As always our portion of those sales go directly to the Center for Dementia Research. The Pinot Project has a Rosé, a Pinot Grigio and a Wine Enthusiast Best Buy Pinot Noir, all under $15 a bottle. Available at local wine stores and UBS Arena. Visit Lighthousehockey.com for the most up-to-date Islanders news and discussion. Islanders Anxiety podcasts are part of the Fans First Sports Network (@FansFirstSN). Our theme is "Morning Haze" by Family Dinner. Hear more of their music on Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
(Please enjoy this special bonus episode of Country Club Atmosphere, our non-hockey podcast exclusively at Patreon.com/IslandersAnxiety. To hear the rest of the series and get other extras, consider a subscription. Thanks!) Mike walks us through a scandal that has rocked the world of English cricket, involving a beloved captain, a nightclub dust-up and some hasty retreats. Ben Stokes is a big deal in British cricket. He's an all-rounder who's captained the Black Caps to huge victories. He's not a buttoned-up Brit, either. He's more Oasis than The Beatles. But an unfortunate past-curfew incident in an afterhours club with (ironically) another English sports club caused the England and Wales Cricket Board to strip his captaincy, get his coach fired and cast a pall over their upcoming tests. After cooler heads prevailed, Stokes returned... only to abruptly retire in an even more disappointing and unfortunate layer to this entire shit shepherd's pie. Mike explains the whole sordid affair to us and gives us some North American analogs to help us better understand who these people are and what they represent. Along the way, we hit on the World Cup final (and its halftime show) and villains becoming coaches of teams that hate them. We also pay condolences to a recently passed cricket legend and his connection to Black Sabbath, which we just made up. Also, Dan may have found a new team to cheer for. Thank you all for listening and we hope we've sparked your interest for England's next test cricket match on August 19 versus Pakistan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In a spiritual sequel to "A Canesmas Carol," we examine Hurricanes' owner Tom Dundon's decision to put his wife and five kids - none of whom work for the team and some of whom are in elementary school - on the Stanley Cup. There are written and unwritten rules about whose names can be engraved on the Stanley Cup. Rich asshole Dundon seemed to break all of them by putting his entire family on it ahead of - and in some cases, instead of - team members who helped actually win the championship. This is an egregious breach of established hockey protocol that angered even some of the Hurricanes' biggest cheerleaders, in and out of their fanbase. This was a bridge too far, and may have - finally - shown people who this guy really is, despite all of the Twitter mutuals he may have hired. We dramatize a selection of writing about this topic, from the serious to the satirical and from full length explainers to tweets and Reddit posts. The only people okay with this are the ones willing to stick up for the poor, put-upon billionaires who are just trying to make their kids happy (while ruining life for the rest of us). We didn't expect to do a sequel to our last Special Presentation, but we're glad we were able to and keep the series going. Works Cited: Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon has names of wife, kids engraved on Stanley Cup above actual players By Chuck Schilken LA Times, 7/10/26 Why Hurricanes owner is facing criticism for having entire family engraved on Stanley Cup by Daniel Chavkin, The Sporting News, 7/10/26 Carolina Owner Faces Backlash for Engraving Kids’ Names on Stanley Cup by Eric Fisher, 7/10/26 I’m Not Sure There Are Enough Dundons On The Stanley Cup by Barry Petchesky, Defector, 7/9/26 Jeff Marek, Twitter, 7/8/26 Mike Harrington, Twitter, 6/9/26 Mark Lazerus, Twitter, 6/9/26 Josh Yohe, Twitter, 6/9/26 Chris Johnston, Twitter, 6/9/26 Visit our friends! Vintage Ice Hockey for t-shirts, hoodies and jerseys with hundreds of classic hockey logos, as well as the full line of Islanders Anxiety merch. As always our portion of those sales go directly to the Center for Dementia Research. The Pinot Project has a Rosé, a Pinot Grigio and a Wine Enthusiast Best Buy Pinot Noir, all under $15 a bottle. Available at local wine stores and UBS Arena. Visit Lighthousehockey.com for the most up-to-date Islanders news and discussion. Islanders Anxiety podcasts are part of the Fans First Sports Network (@FansFirstSN). Subscribe to our Patreon! Members get ad-free episodes of all our shows, bonus podcasts, written posts, chats with us and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mike and Dan examine the newest Islanders and the plan going forward, say goodbye to those who left via free agency - especially former captain Anders Lee - and wrap up their 10th podcast season. Islanders GM Mathieu Darche made some smart, short-term pick ups on the first day of free agency, signing winger Matias Maccelli, goalie Vitek Vanacek and an "850K Club" of other depth pieces. While the moves themselves were fine, what they didn't do was move the needle for the team, who once again find themselves in tough to make the playoffs next season. The plan of having the cap space in 2027 to make bigger moves makes for an easy sell to fans, but it doesn't make the current team any better on the ice. There's a "shifting deck chairs on the Titanic" feel right now, even if the new guys might have some promise. We also bid farewell to favorites Marc Gatcomb, Maxim Shabanov and Anders Lee, who all had their moments on Long Island. Seeing Lee, the longtime captain and one of the best post-Dynasty Islanders ever, sign with Utah makes us sad, but not mad. The contract he got from the Mammoth was too much for where the Islanders are going, and the ovation he gets when he returns to UBS Arena will be thunderous, reflecting all of the many things he did for the franchise off the ice and over 900-plus games. Not that the people who will now cover him have ever watched any of them... Finally in the second half, we go around the league and discuss some of the smarter and more bizarre moves other teams made. The Capitals got better, the Leafs got... some guys, the Panthers got even nastier, the Kings got older and infinitely more hilarious and the Rangers remain the Rangers. Along the way, we sneak a little Michael Russo Non-Mystery in there, too. We thank all of you for listening over these 10 seasons, and we look forward to coming back in October. We try to have some fun every episode and appreciate you all coming along for the ride. We'll have stuff all summer long for Patrons so stay tuned. Subscribe to our Patreon! Members get ad-free episodes of all our shows, bonus podcasts, written posts, chats with us and much more. Visit our friends! Vintage Ice Hockey for t-shirts, hoodies and jerseys with hundreds of classic hockey logos, as well as the full line of Islanders Anxiety merch. As always our portion of those sales go directly to the Center for Dementia Research. The Pinot Project has a Rosé, a Pinot Grigio and a Wine Enthusiast Best Buy Pinot Noir, all under $15 a bottle. Available at local wine stores and UBS Arena. Visit Lighthousehockey.com for the most up-to-date Islanders news and discussion. Islanders Anxiety podcasts are part of the Fans First Sports Network (@FansFirstSN). Our theme is "Morning Haze" by Family Dinner. Hear more of their music on Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mike and Dan recap the Islanders picks in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, look ahead to a shallow free agency pool and bring forth a new, delusional Master Leaf Theatre. The Islanders didn't make any big splashes in Buffalo but didn't come away as one of the draft's big losers, either. By focusing on defensemen - highlighted by first round pick Malte Gustafsson, who sounds like a Swedish clone of Adam Pelech - they went the safest route possible. Which is fine, but hardly sexy. And while some fans wonder why so many of their defensive prospects shoot from the same side, the fact is there's no guarantee any of these guys make the big club any time soon. We also discuss Matthew Schaefer's entertaining performance at this draft and the re-signing of Tony DeAngelo to another safe, fine deal. In the second half, we talk about some free agents we could see (and would rather not see) the Islanders take a run at. None of these older guys deserve any kind of term, but some might be helpful on shorter, more frontloaded deals. We also look at how some teams in the Metro Division got much better over the weekend, which is never not annoying, and serve up a Master Leaf Theatre that not only boosts the Boys in Blue and White but also changes the trajectory of the NHL and every American player in it. Cancel those plane tickets to Florida, fam. Subscribe to our Patreon! Members get ad-free episodes of all our shows, bonus podcasts, written posts, chats with us and much more. Visit our friends! Vintage Ice Hockey for t-shirts, hoodies and jerseys with hundreds of classic hockey logos, as well as the full line of Islanders Anxiety merch. As always our portion of those sales go directly to the Center for Dementia Research. The Pinot Project has a Rosé, a Pinot Grigio and a Wine Enthusiast Best Buy Pinot Noir, all under $15 a bottle. Available at local wine stores and UBS Arena. Visit Lighthousehockey.com for the most up-to-date Islanders news and discussion. Islanders Anxiety podcasts are part of the Fans First Sports Network (@FansFirstSN). Our theme is "Morning Haze" by Family Dinner. Hear more of their music on Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Along with our friend Lisa, aka IslesChick, we reveal the 2026 winner of the Don Cutts Trophy as the Weirdest Islander of the Year for 2026. It was a weird season for the Islanders, who had good streaks and bad and historic performances and horrible ones on the way to a disappointing finish. Within that journey were standout players for many reasons, mostly the wrong kind. We saw AHL guys get cups of coffee when they deserved more, goalies with more personality than wins, players we forgot were still with the organization getting traded and players acquired from surprise teams scoring hilarious goals who then had one shockingly bad game after another. And those were the guys who didn't win! Our 2026 Weirdest Islander of the Year experienced a season no one will forget. A tidy piece of offseason business, he had an auspicious and tantalizing debut followed by a few middling games and then... nothing. For months. Game after game, week after week, there he was, in the starting lineup to provide exactly zero on the scoresheet. The coach and players loved him but the fans understandably didn't. And by the time he was dealt away, he had to have two picks attached to him including an extra first rounder. What's the opposite of flipping a beat-up house and restoring it for a profit? It was this. The winner of the Weirdest Islander of the Year is awarded the Don Cutts Trophy for his efforts. The concept of Weirdest Islander of the Year comes from Patron Will Forthman. WEIRDEST ISLANDER OF THE YEAR: 2024 - Robert Bortuzzo 2025 - Tony DeAngelo Thanks again to Lisa for coming on. She's always great, and you will probably see her and her husband Dave at any Phish concert in New York this summer. Follow her on BlueSky and enjoy her long-running message board, Islander Mania. Subscribe to our Patreon! Members get ad-free episodes of all our shows, bonus podcasts, written posts, chats with us and much more. Visit our friends: Vintage Ice Hockey for t-shirts, hoodies and jerseys with hundreds of classic hockey logos, and our Al Arbour and The Island merch which benefit dementia research. Use the code ANXIETY20 to save 20% off an order of two items. The Pinot Project has a Rosé, a Pinot Grigio and a Wine Enthusiast Best Buy Pinot Noir, all under $15 a bottle. Available at local wine stores and UBS Arena. Visit Lighthousehockey.com for the most up-to-date Islanders news and discussion. Islanders Anxiety podcasts are part of the Fans First Sports Network (@FansFirstSN). Our theme is "Knuckles" by Björn Falk. Hear more of his music on Spotify and at Bandcamp. Drum sfx via Zapsplat.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What was supposed to be an easy episode about the draft turned into a look at a wild few days in the NHL and where the Islanders sit among the craziness. We don't know anything about prospects. So we reached out to our Patrons and asked them who they'd like to see the Islanders draft this Friday. A few names rose to the top for a variety of reasons, some good and some silly. Most of all, we want the Islanders to come out of Buffalo this weekend with a clear direction and a plan forward. Some nice prospects would be good, too, of course. But there's a difference between working towards a goal and just keeping the lights on. A few teams around the NHL are certainly working towards their goals, although it's hard to see what some of those are. The Panthers grabbed Brady Tkachuk with the goal of winning another Stanley Cup, and the Senators replaced their captain by using one of their acquired picks to get William Eklund from the Sharks. The Blackhawks and Capitals spent a lot to get Bo Byram and Jordan Kyrou, respectfully, which makes us think the Islanders might be better off playing it safe. But the reality is, they might not have a choice. With a lot of older players locked into long, expensive contracts, they don't have the wiggle room to maneuver the way other teams do, which means there's a good chance next season's team looks a lot like last season's. That's certainly a direction. Just not the one we want. Along the way, we make some predictions about the draft, come to a startling revelation about the Islanders involvement in one of Wednesday's trades and lament the hiring of longtime Islander villain Pascal Dupuis to their front office. Really, guys? Subscribe to our Patreon! Members get ad-free episodes of all our shows, bonus podcasts, written posts, chats with us and much more. Visit our friends! Vintage Ice Hockey for t-shirts, hoodies and jerseys with hundreds of classic hockey logos, as well as the full line of Islanders Anxiety merch. As always our portion of those sales go directly to the Center for Dementia Research. The Pinot Project has a Rosé, a Pinot Grigio and a Wine Enthusiast Best Buy Pinot Noir, all under $15 a bottle. Available at local wine stores and UBS Arena. Visit Lighthousehockey.com for the most up-to-date Islanders news and discussion. Islanders Anxiety podcasts are part of the Fans First Sports Network (@FansFirstSN). Our theme is "Morning Haze" by Family Dinner. Hear more of their music on Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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