I figured since the team has been playing miserably lately and that I don’t want to sound like a broken record, I’d bring back an old segment to the site, Islanders Memories.

It’s not that I wasn’t a fan of the Yashin signing when it was originally made, because I was, but I was really worried that the pick they gave away, Zdeno Chara and Bill Muckalt would come back and bite the Isles and their fans in the arse. Sadly, Chara and Jason Spezza have developed into bona-fide NHL stars, while the Islanders overpaid for a then point a game player who never panned out for a majority of reasons.

During his time with the Isles, there have been so many excuses made for why Yashin never helped the Isles get past the first round. The biggest one though was always that the Isles never had him on a line with players of his caliber [anyone remember how bad Isles fans wanted to sign Tony Amonte to play with him a few years ago?]. People who usually say that forget that Yashin enjoyed his most success while playing with Shawn McEachern in Ottawa. Anyway, Mariusz Czerkawski was coming off of two very solid offensive seasons and Brad Isbister was the next big thing [before he developed Oleg Kvashitis and got injured a few times], so Yashin never had an excuse to play like crap with them. For most of his first season with the Isles, his linemates were the ones playing like garbage as well, while he averaged close to or more than a point a game.

A hat-trick against the Rangers during the regular season and a solid performance in the playoffs and it looked like Yashin was doing alright. However, the next four seasons were marred in inconsistency, freak injuries [Yashin almost got his hand cut off my Michal Handzus after he fell down and the huge European accidentally ran his skate across his wrist] and problems with other players and coaches.

Rather than continue on this story that everyone knows, I think a nice way of looking at this is realizing that the deal the Islanders made with Yashin changed the NHL forever. I mean, look at how many long-term deals have been made in the league this year. I don’t think they would have been this commonplace if not for the Yashin [and maybe even DiPietro] deals. Also, by spending the money that they did, the Islanders reclaimed some of their fan base back and got back to the playoffs a few times and proved with solid ownership, any team can make the playoffs. While they never did win the cup with Yashin, they did get their respect back in part to bringing him.

That might not be that important to most of you, but as far as keeping the team afloat and changing the motif of hockey on the Island, the acquisition of Yashin helped make that happen. Could things have been different if guys like Tim Connolly, Taylor Pyatt and Chara were allowed to stay? Who knows, but either way, the Isles aren’t league doormats anymore. That to me, is a good thing.

In the end, argue all you want about how bad Yashin was for the team, but realize that they wasn’t completely destroyed by his presence and lived to fight another day, like every other team that has had free-agents busts. Understand that there are actually fans supporting this team now. Before that, there were just a bunch of die-hards that were sick and tired of the way things were going. I know it’s great to think that the Isles could have had a few snipers and great defensemen on the team if they could have held the hammer, rather than drop it, but the fact of the matter is they’ve been far from cellar dwellers since they acquired Yashin.

Now if only they could escape mediocrity…

Posted under Isles Memories