It may be a day before Halloween, but no one is laughing in Islander Country. After an 8-3 drubbing at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, it’s obvious the Islanders have some serious work ahead of them on both sides of the puck.

Aside from a few good games on offense, most of the Islanders forward lines in my mind haven’t clicked yet. After the first two games, the “Free Agent Line” of Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie and Ruslan Fedotenko was broken up and the usually solid line of Mike Sillinger, Andy Hilbert and Trent Hunter was broken up as well. The only line that has been playing solid over the past few games has been the Miroslav Satan, Josef Vasicek and Sean Bergenheim line.

After that, the Islanders have a non-existent fourth line, which consists of Chris Simon, Richard Park and whomever Ted Nolan feels like playing with them. For the first few games, Bergenheim was skating with Park and enforcer Daryl Bootland, who was taking Simon’s place until he served out the rest of his suspension last year. At that time, the fourth line was at least getting minutes.

Now, with Bootland spending more time at charity events than on the ice, Nolan has put defenseman Aaron Johnson on the fourth line, making them a complete waste of ice time. It’s completely obvious to the casual hockey fan that Johnson looks uncomfortable out there. To the hardcore hockey fan, it’s a complete waste.

I understand that the team doesn’t want to use Jeff Tambellini in a fourth line role and would rather let him develop in Bridgeport, but what about Blake Comeau, Ben Walter Tim Jackman or Frans Nielsen? One of those guys could easily play a fourth line role and provide more energy than Johnson. At this point, I think the Isles need desperately to bring someone up that give the team a little bit of a spark. Guys like Hunter, Hilbert Park and Bergenheim do it every night, but I think someone like Nielsen in particular would be a great fit right now.

For the time being, it looks like Shawn Bates isn’t ready to come back yet. I guess Nolan wants to make sure he’s in game shape, considering how little he’s played over the past year. Right now, I really don’t care who they put in that spot on the fourth line right now. I know however, that Aaron Johnson isn’t getting it done and if they get enough ice time, Park and Simon can be effective role players.

They just need someone on the ice with them that isn’t going to keep them off it.

Posted under Isles Thoughts 2007