Just a quick aside before I get started today…I was originally supposed to cover the Islanders-Flyers game on Saturday to fill in for Brian Bohl @ NY Sports Day, but was unable to because of a prior commitment. However, the reporter who took my place managed to relay some very interesting news to me, telling me that Kyle Okposo was limping badly after the game. He’s currently not listed as injured on the team’s website and no official report has been made as of yet, but it could prove to be very interesting if this guy is really hurt.

It’s also funny to me that the Islanders wouldn’t allow Okposo to talk after the game. From what I’ve been told [I’ve never covered a game at Nassau, just at MSG] the media only gets to speak to a few players after every game, rather than get the run of the locker room like they do at MSG. Considering that they’re already looked upon as the fourth hockey team in the tri-state area, they should give the reporters all the accommodations they need to cover the team to the best of their ability.

I mean seriously guys, the Islanders have a flashy new rookie up, they should make him available after every single game to the media. This guy needs to be marketed as heavily as possible and needs to be in every single paper. Why the Islanders haven’t done this so far is a little weird to me.

Okay, here we go,

I loved what Miroslav Satan had to say to Newsday a few days ago about all the rookies on the team right now:

“Well, it’s the morning (of a game), and (the lineup is) still a mystery,” Satan told Newsday. “We’re going to find out before the game how the lineup is and who’s playing and who’s not. I just know there’s going to be more changes today from the last game.”

[Insert the world’s smallest violin here]

Awww, poor Miro. Maybe if you’d take a few more shots [he’s looking at his first season with less than 200 since 1997] and then convert on the plethora of golden opportunities you’ve had all season, then maybe this team wouldn’t be as bad off as they are right now. Rather than moan about how bad things are, why not go out there and play with some heart and intestinal fortitude? No, that would be too easy, right?

Lastly for today, it appears Jeff Tambellini is done as an Islander for the season, scoring only one goal and adding four assists in 31 games this season. Despite a nice stretch last season, this kid really hasn’t stood out in my eyes. However, he really hasn’t gotten the ice time needed to really thrive. Nevertheless, it’s kind of hard to argue about how good a guy is when he has four goals and 13 assists in 79 career games. I’m not calling the kid a first round flop yet, as he’s had a great season in the AHL, but next season may be his put up or shut up year as far as his NHL career is concerned.

Well, for a team that should be called the New York Soundtigers, they do make things interesting don’t they?

The youngsters played with some heart and kept themselves in the game, but in the end, they just lack the experience to put teams away. Kyle Okposo had a few opportunities in the third period especially, but could bag one. Miroslav Satan as well had a few golden opportunities in overtime, but couldn’t light the lamp. Unlike Okposo, who I think is getting better every game and is still getting comfortable out there, I think its obvious Satan needs to be taken out to pasture. With all the youngsters the Isles have as well that need ice time, they need to pack Satan’s bags for him.

If I was Ted Nolan and Garth Snow, I’d sit him the rest of the season. 40 points in 77 games is simply not good enough. I don’t know how this guys sleeps at night.

On another note, before I vomit…if Wade Dubielewicz isn’t around next season and the Isles don’t do everything n their power to keep him, I think this team is going to be making a huge mistake. 51 saves with probably the worst defense in the league playing behind him, against a playoff team no less. What else does this guy have to do for the Islanders to show any type of appreciation? As of right now, I don’t see how Dubie doesn’t get serious interest from a bunch of NHL teams looking for a solid goaltender this summer. I still haven’t seen anything about Joey MacDonald’s one-way contract for next season [If someone can find a link and send it to me, I’d really appreciate it.] and until then, I think the Islanders have to resign Dubie.

As far as I’m concerned, even if MacDonald does have a one-way contract, Dubie has to be kept around. Nothing against him, but he’s half the goalie Dubielewicz is. Simply put, with an injury prone goaltender like DP, the Isles may have to keep two good backups and eat the dough to pay one while he stays in Bridgeport. The way things are right now, I think that if the Islanders could have stayed healthy down the stretch, with guys like Brendan Witt, Mike Sillinger, Chris Campoli and Andy Sutton staying healthy, this team might have been able to make the playoffs behind Dubie. Aside from a few soft goals, most of the tallies he’s given up have been due to defense breakdowns and not because of anything he’s directly done.

Rather than tinker with something that doesn’t need tinkering with, I think Dubie should stay and this team should focus on development and maybe a defenseman that can put the puck in the net and another top six forward.

Am I crazy? At this point, I have no idea.

Sorry about the lack of a real update today guys, the site was down all last night and it just sprung up a while ago.
little
Considering the state of the Isles right now, I thought this would be a fun piece to look back on.

Anyway, enjoy!

Why the DiPietro Deal Isn’t a Complete Loss

Friday, September 22, 2006

Last week, New York Islanders netminder Rick DiPietro signed the second longest contact in North American professional sports history, committing to a 15-year deal worth $67.5 million dollars that will give the 25-year-old DiPietro the opportunity to finish his career where it started when he was picked first overall by the Isles in the 2000 draft.

Over the summer, the majority of the hockey world has laughed over the Islanders deal and the recent front office problems the team has been having. However, none have thought about how solid the deal actually is for the Islanders.

When many first heard about the deal, they believed that DiPietro wasn’t worth signing to a long term deal mainly due to the fact that he hasn’t proven himself yet, owning only one playoff win and a regular season record that is below .500 in his young career. However, considering the fact that DiPietro was 3-15 as an 18-year old rookie on a last place Islanders team in 2001 that likely couldn’t hold its own with the Hartford Wolfpack, his career has had much more success than most would like to admit. In fact, Dipietro has a record of 53-42 over his past two seasons as the Islanders starting goaltender.

As far as DiPietro’s one playoff win is concerned, the Massachusetts-native owns a 2.08 GAA in six career playoff games with a solid .911 save percentage. It’s not DiPietro’s fault that the Islanders have had a lack of energy during the playoffs since he’s been the number one goalie.

Many analysts and media personnel also feel that the Isles charismatic goaltender isn’t a top three goalie and the deal he recently signed is a joke. Looking deeper into the contract, it’s easy to see that DiPietro will be making $4.5 million over the next 15 years, a far cry away from the salaries of Chicago’s Nikolai Khabibulin and Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo, who will make $6.75 million this season. At press time, DiPietro is the eighth highest-paid goalie in the NHL, which means the Islanders understand that DP has a lot of work to do before he becomes a mainstay in the NHL, but value his potential and his willingness to finish his career on Long Island.

The deal also allows the Islanders to have some flexibility. If DiPietro formally retires before the contract is up, his contact will end and will not count against the cap. Also, paying DP only $4.5 million over the next 15 years will also allow the team to afford a competent backup, just in case he’s injured and will give the Isles the opportunity to hunt during the free-agent season and put a better team on the ice.

While many owners laugh about signing players to long term deals that look like prison sentences to the unsuspecting eye, the Islanders realize that goaltenders like Rick DiPietro don’t come around everyday. However, anything can happen in 15 years.

Despite the obvious risk both DiPietro and the Islanders are taking, they feel that this deal will work out and bring the tradition of great hockey back to the Island.

Only time will tell.

I think this was a game the Isles could have definitely won if they had their “real” team on the ice. The way Pittsburgh has played against the Isles as of late, you wonder if they’re in for a repeat performance from last season. I mean seriously, two of those goals were softies and the Islanders were battling out there. The grit and intensity was there, but the polish, experience and smarts wasn’t.

Going 0 for 5 on the powerplay didn’t help things either. But then again, this has been this team this season. They stay in pretty much every game they play, but they can’t get that goal that gets them over the hump or that big hit that fully changes the momentum. Instead they just hang on all game and then give up or lose their intensity for a few minutes and bam, it’s all over. Over the first 60 games of this season, I really thought this team could find a way to come together. Sadly, that hasn’t happened.

On another note, Sean Bergenheim was all over the ice last night. He was taking the body, taking shots, getting into shooting lanes and stick handling well in traffic. There was only problem. He didn’t finish. Good players that take seven shots on goal in a game usually come up with one and Bergie didn’t. If he can find a way to get his shooting percent up to a respectable .10, I can guarantee he becomes a 20-goal scorer next season. Right now though, he’s just a sparkplug that can’t fire when his team needs him to. However, he does get brownie points for dropping the gloves and “showing up” with Brooks Orpik after his hit on Maria Hossa.

Note to Hossa: Don’t stand on the tracks when the train is coming through.

It’s hard to be rough on Wade Dubielewicz in this situation. I mean sure, two of those goals I think he should have been able to stop, the first one by Jarkko Ruutu and the other by Georges Laraque, but the Islanders defense didn’t do anything special to keep these players out of the shooting lanes or threatening. While the team overall is depleted, the defense is particularly suffering. I know they’re missing four regulars right now, but you can’t be overly impressed with some of the rest of the defensive core has shown. Rob Davison, Bryan Berard and Freddy Meyer have had their moments, but it remains to be seen how successful they can be in a full-time role on this club.

Like I’ve said a thousand times this season, this team is going to have some serious decisions to make this offseason.

With only five games left, the Isles only have their pride to play for and with the Eastern Conference playoff picture beginning to wrap itself up, the Isles can’t even play the role of spoiler. Nonetheless, I really just want to watch Kyle Okposo, Sean Bergenheim and Blake Comeau do their thing out there.

As on Islanders fan right now, I think that’s all I have left.

Let’s be honest here, Okposo hasn’t been amazing, but he’s been solid and has gotten a little better with every game under his belt. Sure, he needs more seasoning, but what better time to get it than now? This team is finished and Okposo and the other Islanders youngsters can play against teams desperate to either cushion playoff spots or win one. Then after the season is over, they can go back to Bridgeport and finish things up there. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

However, I do think that the Islanders need to evaluate Okposo more in training camp and give him an opportunity to play on the Isles top line next season. Nothing against his linemates now, but you don’t draft a guy with your first selection in a draft to be a banger on the third line. This guy has the moves and the talent to be a near point a game player if he plays with the right people. The Islanders need to make sure they remember that.

The same thing goes for guys like Sean Bergenheim and Blake Comeau as well. As the season has gone on, both Comeau and Bergenheim have developed into solid players as well and guys that I think this team can trust in bigger roles next season. In the beginning of the season, Bergenheim skated around the ice with a madman’s intensity, used buckets of energy on every shift. However, the polish wasn’t there yet and he wasn’t getting the benefits that come with the hard work he was exhibiting on the ice. Once the second half started, this guy woke up it seems and while he only has 10 goals and could easily have twice that much, I’m looking forward to seeing him next season, in better shape on focused on finishing the plays he starts.

When Blake Comeau came to the Isles in December, I don’t think anyone really expected much from him. Nonetheless, the guy has proven this year that he is a capable NHL player and with some more experience under his belt, he can be 15-20 goal scorer that can play in all game situations. I really think that next season Comeau will develop more and start finishing with more potency. He’s also gotten bumped around a lot this year and I think he’s learned to keep his head up more. I see him putting up Trent Hunter-ish numbers next season [15 goals 20 assists] on the Isles third line while killing penalties and playing on an energy line, most likely with Richard Park.

I just figured with nothing really on my writing palette today that I’d share an old story with all of you guys. This was the first real reporting I ever did covering the Islanders, way back in 2005. With all the problems on defense right now, I thought it would be interesting to see where the defense was a few years ago. Enjoy!

New Rule Changes Promoting Offense, Islanders Defense Ready To Play

With the bevy of new rule changes this year in the NHL, one can expect many teams to try and take advantage of them. Teams will be using their skilled skaters to make the most of the new spacious offensive zone; with defensive cores trying to find a way to stifle them.

“I think these new rules should really provide teams with more offense. Teams with good puck moving defensemen like the Islanders should really benefit too, creating more goals,” said Former Islander Sergei Nemchinov.

Nemchinov isn’t the only one that feels this way; NHL officials have been preaching that the new rules would lead to more offense for a game that thanks to the New Jersey Devils, Jacques Lemaire and the neutral zone trap, has become a lot more about strategy and a lot less about speed.

“I think it’s really going to open things up. Teams are going to start playing different systems and defenses are going to back up,” said Islanders Forward Kevin Colley. “The defense is going to have to make sure no one slips in behind them with all that extra room out there. It’s going to be exciting to watch.”

The Islanders, during the last NHL season in 2003-2004, were a team that deployed the neutral zone trap. But unlike many of the other teams that used the system, the Islanders were blessed to have defensemen like Kenny Jonsson, Adrian Aucoin, Roman Hamrlik and Janne Ninimaa that have the ability to play great defense and add some offense as well. With the new rules that basically eliminate the use of the trap and three of the Islanders top four defensemen no longer with the team, the new Islanders defensive core is going to have to step it up for the Islanders to succeed.

“It’s (The new rules) going to affect the game a little bit; the icing rule and the two-line pass most of all. You’re going to have go after the puck a lot more than previously,” said Islanders defenseman Janne Ninimaa. “The fact that the goalie can’t play the puck (outside the new trapezoidal zone behind the net where the goalie can play the puck) is big for us too because Ricky (Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro) likes to play the puck a lot, so we’re going to have to get it for him. I want to see how they (the referees) call these new rules. The game is going to be different, but it’s really hard to say how different. I don’t think though that it’s going to affect anyone’s numbers. I played with these kinds of rules back home and the game’s not that different because of them.”

“The game is going to be a lot quicker and it’s going to give the defense an opportunity to play some more offense. I think it’s going to cause an increased awareness in the game, no more lollygagging up and down the ice,” said Brad Lukowich, a member of the 2004 Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning, whom the Islanders signed as a free agent in August to fill the void left by former Islander defenseman Kenny Jonsson deciding to stay in Sweden for the 2005-2006 season.

With new additions like Brent Sopel, Alexei Zhitnik and Brad Lukowich to the Islanders defense core, the Islanders will have to find a way to quickly come up with on-ice chemistry to provide the stability needed to limit opposing offences. This would usually be a bad sign for many teams, but the Islanders defense doesn’t seem staggered by the lack of time they’ve had to play together.

“I haven’t really thought about it yet (Who he’s playing with on defense), every time you bring in new guys it’s a challenge to make things work,” said Ninimaa. “The main thing is with all the new guys we have, we really have to find that way to make things work. Things are going to work; training camp will give us time for things to fall into place.”

The rest of the Islanders defense feels pretty much the same way.

“It doesn’t really matter who I’m paired with,” said Lukowich. Their all good players that have made names for themselves, I’m just looking forward to playing again really.”

Hockey fans are looking forward to it just as much.

The Islanders begin the regular season on October 5 against the Buffalo Sabres.

Considering the Islanders have gotten a plethora of shorthanded goals scored on them this season, it’s only fair that they get one of their own every once in a while. Once they got the lead, there were a few hiccups along the way, but overall, this team outplayed a much better Penguins team.

On the whole, the Islanders got contributions from everyone. Kyle Okposo got his third point of the season and Trent Hunter finished off the Pens with a garbage goal off a giveaway in the third period. Bill Guerin scored a sniper goal and Sean Bergenheim got his tenth goal of the season as well. The youngsters looked solid on the penalty kill and the defense really did what they had to in order to stifle a Penguins team that is markedly better than them.

It kind of makes you think where this team could be if they got an effort like this every night. With all the injuries and even Mike Comrie sitting out because of the flu, this team worked hard in both ends and did everything they had to do to come out with a win. It was a game that was fun to watch and featured plenty of nice hits and plenty of excitement. That’s the kind of game I want to watch more often. Sadly with this team not making the playoffs this season, I’ll have to wait all summer to get my hockey fix after the next week and a half.

On another note…What else does Wade Dubielewicz have to do to stay in net for the rest of the season? While he didn’t face as many shots as he did the other night against New Jersey and the Isles defense wasn’t nearly as spotty, Dubie was again strong in net. I said a week ago that this team should seriously consider using him more next season and by playing the way he did last night, he just affirmed that notion.

By giving Dubie the last five starts of the season, you’re telling this guy that you appreciate everything he does. He had a rough patch earlier in the season, but every time this team needs him to step up, doesn’t he do it? If this team is going to give anyone else a contract extension, why not give one to Dubie and let him play more than 10 games a season? As we’ve seen over the past few seasons, injuries to Rick DiPietro are going to happen, especially considering his “all or nothing” style in net. If anyone deserved a shot to start if DP got injured, it would have to be Dubie.

I know there are only five games left and they don’t matter, but the Isles need to make a statement here: Dubie has a spot on this team and he isn’t going anywhere.