After grading a bunch of papers today, I went on my rounds and as always came across the Yahoo sports Islanders page. It was there where I saw something that almost made me cry.

Islanders fans everywhere know that the team’s offense has been in shambles, especially after losing the likes of Alexei Yashin, Ryan Smyth, Jason Blake, Tom Poti and Viktor Kozlov a few years ago, but for the first time in team history, the Islanders are in danger of being without a 20-goal scorer.

So despite the fact that the youngsters have been getting better and both Joey MacDonald and Yann Danis appear that they could be adequate backups next season, the fact that the team’s offense is so bad that they may make team history hurts bad.

Ah man, that hurts bad.

It hurts even more knowing that this wouldn’t have been the case if the team was healthy this season.
Even last season, when the team was ravaged with injuries and a plethora of under-achievers [Ruslan Fedotenko, cough, cough] as well, they had two 20-goal scorers.

In all honesty, I’ve seen guys in wheelchairs participating in jump rope contests that have better luck than the Islanders have had over the past two seasons. Last season, I think the Isles were good enough to make the playoffs before the injury bug infested them like a horde of ants on a wad of cheeze-wiz. This season as well would have been a bit better if they had some of their key players in the lineup a bit more often.

However, what makes this even tougher to digest is that without the injuries, the Islanders would have at least three 20- goal scorers if you ask me.

Trent Hunter would be right around there; the same thing goes for Sean Bergenheim and Kyle Okposo. As a matter of fact, you could even make the argument for Bill Guerin, who has 20 now after being traded to the Penguins. Had Doug Weight not gotten injured, Guerin’s game wouldn’t have hit the fan over the last month he was on the team. You could even make a good a good argument for Mark Streit.

Ah, but in the end, it’s all wishful thinking. No 20-goal scorers. So sad. Even the 92 San Jose Sharks had one in Pat Falloon. Are the Islanders that bad? Are they? Someone answer me already.

Wow, this team’s offense is so lacking this season that I’m talking to myself in my own posts now.

Is this what we’ve come to?

I think so…I think so.

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2009

Already playing with a thin lineup, the Islanders were forced to play against a Canadiens team fighting for their playoff lives with Kyle Okposo, Mark Streit and Dean McAmmond.

Calling up Sean Bentivoglio and Trevor Smith for the night, the team would have been better off calling up Kirk Cameron and Alan Thicke, because they were experiencing serious “growing pains.”

Without Okposo and Streit, the Islanders simply have no offense. Nothing against Bentivoglio or the sharp-shooting Smith, but they obviously don’t provide the same type of punch. In order for the Islanders to come out with a victory, they were going to have to play a perfect game and stay out of a penalty box.

That obviously didn’t happen and without McAmmond helping to man the penalty kill, the Islanders were eaten alive by a hungry Habs team.

“I’m upset about the penalties,” coach Scott Gordon told the Associated Press after the Islanders gave Montreal eight power plays last night. “If you’re going to take a penalty, it’s to save a goal. I don’t think there were too many saved goals tonight.”

On another note, I don’t think there was much of anything on the Islanders side of the ice last night. It wasn’t completely Yann Danis’ fault, as a pair of those goals came on the powerplay, but the Islanders defense was walked all over by the Canadiens.

Aside from Doug Weight dropping the gloves again and Jeff Tambellini’s rocket that for the moment got the Isles back in th game, this contest was an absolute stinker. I’ve said before, but with so many injuries, this team has to be perfect every night and last night, that was simply not the case.

“We’ve been playing pretty good, and this was a disappointing effort for our team,” veteran Islanders forward Doug Weight told the Associated Press.

However, in spite of the team’s play last night, the worst thing about the game was seeing Habs fans take over the building and hearing chats and nothing being called back by Isles’ fans makes me scared about the situation this fan base is in. A few years ago, when this team was making the playoffs, I don’t anything like that would have happened. Those Canadiens fans would have been drown out.

Overall, just like the situation the team is in right now, it seems like the fan base is going through similar problems.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants

Talk about a see-saw-esque battle, eh?

It’s simply amazing to me that the Islanders continue to fight despite their place in the standings and their situation with injuries right now.

With Mark Streit out of the lineup last night as well, the rest of the NHL probably saw this game as an afterthought.

However, the Islanders came out hard and outworked the Capitals on several occasions, as the trio of Josh Bailey, Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen continue to get better every game. As I’ve mentioned before, Bailey has become a much more complete player, while Okposo isn’t scared to shoot anymore. Nielsen has developed into an excellent little playmaker, complimenting his already excellent ability in the face-off circle and in his own end.

During the telecast, Howie Rose and Billy Jaffe made mention of Bailey’s willingness to get in front of net and that when he’s on the ice an in front of the goalie and a goal is scored, it means just as much to him as a goal itself. To hear a 19-year-old talk that unselfishly about his game is great news for this team.

Nonetheless, Mike Green was aided by some sloppy play in their own end and spotty goaltending by Joey MacDonald, inducing an Isles loss that ended up much worse than it really was.

Overall, I think the fact that the Islanders were able to stick this out and keep the game tight was a testament to how far they’ve come this season, despite the fact that some may think that Washington just took the team lightly through the first 40 minutes.

Regardless, I feel like we are seeing a significant progression in the talent level of this team right now.

However, it goes to show just how much work this team still has ahead of them this offseason. It also proves just how important Streit is to this team, as several of the mistakes made by the young defensemen, mistakes, Streit, at +9 for the year, probably wouldn’t have made.

OMG moment of the night- Oh man, did you guys see when Okposo got stretched out in the third? Scary stuff. No word as of yet what the case is, but you hope the guy can play out the rest of the season and continue to show the rest of the league that he’s capable of leading a team on offense. I know he came back and played the rest of the game, but who knows what the case is at this point.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants

As of right now, the Islanders are the only team in the NHL without a 20-goal scorer.

That, I predict, will change big time next season.

If healthy next season, I not only see Kyle Okposo hitting the 20 and even 30 goal mark, but Trent Hunter, Mark Streit and Sean Bergenheim as well.

Since the All-Star Break, Okposo has been the best player on the team next to Streit, scoring big goals and showing excellent instincts. After another summer of intense conditioning and more time with Josh Bailey, who is also developing, I see him becoming the Islanders version of Zach Parise. If the Islanders pick up John Tavares or Victor Hedman as well, Okposo will have a huge burden off of his shoulders and won’t be looked at as the team’s savior. Because of that, I see next season eventually turning into the best season of his young NHL career.

Hunter was playing excellent hockey early in the season before dealing with injuries and with Frans Nielsen getting better every game, I see those two making some beautiful music together next season. With Nielsen’s speed and Hunters ability to get in front of the net and score garbage goals, Hunter will get his fair share. Also, with Nielsen’s playmaking ability, Hunter can use his shot a bit more than he was using earlier in the season when “The Great Dane” wasn’t exactly comfortable in the league yet. Simply put, the better Nielsen gets, the more Hunter will produce.

As far as Mark Streit goes, Islanders fans have already seen what a good shot he has and if the players around him develop, he’ll have even more confidence and will unleash it much more often. Already a Norris Trophy Candidate, Streit won’t have nearly as much pressure on him as he had last year and because of that, he’ll get even better, getting to the 60 point mark again.

Bergenheim is the tricky one here. Always a late starter, Bergie has to have the first strong first half of his career and then revert back to his usually deadly second half self during the final 40 games. With great hands, a plethora of grit and even more desire, Bergie can and will score 20 goals in this league. He just has to stay healthy and have a drop more consistency than he had this season. Overall, I think it’s fair that it’s not asking for much out of him.

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2009

Last week I wrote about how the Islanders many consider moving to Queens at some point if things concerning the Light House doesn’t get fixed and the places doesn’t get built. It looks like that situation is getting juicier by the minute as yesterday the New York Daily News got an exclusive with Islanders owner Charles Wang. In the piece he even said that Queens or anywhere else for that matter could eventually be an option.

“Right now, the whole focus and the whole plan is on one thing: getting this thing built,” Wang said Thursday. “Obviously, if it doesn’t get done within the time frame, then we look at all options.”

However, the biggest agenda on the mind of Wang and the other people involved is keeping this team on the Island. They don’t want to think of anything else right now.

And for good reason. It’s been over five years since the initial Lighthouse plans were originally made public.

“Bottom line is that if Long Island doesn’t do a good job, we’re going to lose the team,” Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi told The News.

As the Metallica song goes, “Sad But True.”

Is Doug Weight playing for his job?- I also wrote about a week ago how Weight has expressed his affinity for Long Island and would like to be a part of next year’s team. With a handful of games left this season, the All-Star center can make things easy for the Islanders and play his heart out, proving how much he really wants to be here. If the opposite happens, the Islanders may want to wait things out a bit more before they come to a real decision.

Dropping the gloves the other night, it seems apparent that Weight wants to be a leader on this team and wants to be the guy to help the youngsters develop.

“Our team has come a long way the last couple of months and is really coming together,” Weight told the AP after the game. “It’s not like I would do that in a playoff race, but once in a while you have to do that…Our team has been sticking up for each other and really coming together and those things are good to see.”

I personally think that if he had never gotten hurt this season, he’d have more points than Mark Streit and the Islanders decline wouldn’t have been as harsh. Would they still be in last place? That may in fact be debatable.

So when you have a player that can help and is willing to play in the coach’s system, you obviously sign him and make both the fans and the organization happy, right?

Guess we’ll have to wait until July to find out about that one.

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2009

Kyle Okposo has 21 points in 28 games since the All-Star break.

Josh Bailey is having the best month of his professional hockey career with seven points, including four goals, in 13 games.

Frans Nielsen has 10 points in his last 13 games.

Before going down with an injury, Sean Bergenheim has seven goals and 11 points in his last 16 games.

Even Bruno Gervais is stepping up his offensive game as of late, scoring three goals and seven points in his last 16.

While these numbers are far from amazing, they are without a doubt better than what these kids were producing earlier in the season when Mark Streit, Richard Park, Bill Guerin Doug Weight and Trent Hunter were leading the team in both ends of the ice.

Now, it feels like this group of youngsters may in fact have what it takes to get the job done next season.

As far as Islanders general manager Garth Snow is concerned, this was what was supposed to happen all along.

“We came up with a plan to build through the draft, and we’re sticking to it. This season has been painful, but we think we’ll be better for it,” Snow told the New York Post. “This is an important time for our organization to take the next step, and I take that very seriously.”

With the draft coming up, the Islanders have a chance to bring in another youngster that can grow alongside the group the Islanders have put together.

That according to Snow, that is exactly what the fans want.

“Whenever (fans) come up to me, whether it’s on the concourse during games or at practice, they say, ‘Stick to the plan,’” Snow told Yahoo Sports. “The team we have next year will be very similar to the one we have now. I expect a lot of players to develop.”

Hmm. Is that another way of saying that the Islanders won’t waste money on washed up players or guys that haven’t produced every where else? As far as I’m concerned, aside from the signings of Weight, Mark Streit and Richard Park, I’ve been pretty unimpressed with the free agents this team has brought in over the past three seasons.

Hopefully that trend will stop and the Isles will truly start the youth movement next season.

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2009

For 40 minutes, the Islanders were on top of their games. They outworked a team that is without a doubt better than them in every facet of the game. But like most of the season, the Isles lacked the firepower to put their opposition away and rested on their laurels on defense, leading to an eventual shootout loss.

“We’ve been playing a lot better,” Okposo told the Associated Press. “We know we can win with the guys in this locker room.”

Things went the Islanders way early on as Radek Martinek scored on a shot from the point that Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Marty Biron failed to get the best view of. Frans Nielsen continued his excellent play as of late, but was a second too short, as his goal in traffic was null and void at the end of the first.

Jeff Tambellini doubled the Islanders lead in the second, swatting a puck out of mid-air [has someone been playing Wii-Sports lately?]. With one-year left on his contract, Tambellini has been a different player during the second half, scoring four of his six goals in the 21 games following the All-Star break, which would put him on pace for about 15 goals for the season. That I believe wouldn’t be too shabby for the kid this season, especially considering that many thought he’d start to show a bit more of a goal scorers touch this season. However, with his improved play, Tambellini should still have one last chance to prove if he can be a top six forward in this league.

With a 2-0 lead, the Isles got lucky when Mike Richards hit the post late in the period. Before that, the fists began to fly and the Flyers got some momentum the old fashioned way. Going into the third, they had the Islanders on their heels.

Scoring three unanswered goals in 3:55, the Flyers were quickly in the drivers seat, but just 32 seconds later, Mark Streit tallied to tie the game and eventually take it into overtime.

After an uneventful overtime period, the Islanders went into the shootout where Brendan Witt, ironically went first. Simply put, you cannot waste a spot like that on a player that despite having a heart of warrior, is not a goal scorer. Tambellini had a goal in the game and has always had success in that spot, why not throw him in there and continue to build his confidence?

I know the season’s been long over and the team would like to increase their odds of getting John Tavares and do so without being too obvious, but there it wasn’t.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants

He’s back.

Yes, Joey “Pickles” MacDonald isn’t ready to give up this season. Despite playing his heart out for most of the season, MacDonald in fact may be without a job next season and he knows it. That’s one of the reasons why he needed to be on top of his game last night. Making 42 saves and getting some help from the pipes behind him and two youngsters in Frans Nielsen and Josh Bailey, the Islanders and Joey Mac earned a much-needed win against the Detroit Red Wings.

I can almost guarantee that Mikael Samuelsson and most of the Wings had trouble sleeping last night.

“Time and time again we had great opportunities, I thought our execution was really good, but I thought they were desperate,” Babcock told the Associated Press. “The goalie was good, they blocked shots, they competed really hard.”

Wow, that should be a line in an Alanis Morrisette song, The last place team was desperate and beat the first place team. Isn’t it ironic? Don’tcha think?

At any rate it shouldn’t matter how the Islanders won, just the fact that they did win and against a team like the Red Wings, is something that they should be uber proud of.

Josh Bailey has been talking more about improving his shot this summer and Kyle Okposo [who is another guy who has been getting better and better this season] has said on numerous occasions that he’s been working with him in practice on it. Starting to see a difference? I think so. He’s got much more confidence when the puck is on his stick and even though I believe he’s a great passer, he’s definitely got the ability to put the puck in the net more than he has this season. Seeing that development occur right before your eyes is pretty damn fun if you ask me. Earlier in the season, he would have been out by the circles, rather than in front of the net fighting for the garbage goal.

The same process is beginning to take place with “The Great Dane” as Nielsen seems to be getting better and better every time he steps out there. 29 points in 51 games may not be too enthralling, but considering the fact that he has 10 points in his past 13 games, it’s easy to see that he’s not the same player he was earlier in the season.

I think it’s fair to say that most of the youngsters are going through the same thing.

They are taking their Flintstones vitamins.

They are 10 million strong… and growing.

Sing it with me.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants

People have been mentioning it for years. Will it happen now?

With Nassau Coliseum in desperate need of a makeover and the idea of the Lighthouse Project looking grimmer by the day, the idea of moving the Islanders to Queens, smack dab in the middle of Flushing, a hop skip and jump from the National Tennis Center and Citi-Field ,is an amazing one. Luckily, the Daily News got the scoop the other day, which discusses how badly the people in the borough want this to happen.

For fans, it would give them an opportunity to surround themselves with the sports and players that they love and for Queens, it could mean big business. Anyone who has ever ventured outside the parking lots at the old Shea Stadium knows the neighborhood isn’t fantastic, as it’s surrounded by Chop Shops and shanty like housing, but getting the Islanders there to compliment the other two venues could make local business set up shop.

Lets be fair here, the Islanders aren’t the huge ticket they used to be. However, if there is a professional hockey team in Queens, businesses in the area will no longer be seasonal and will be able to grow all year round. That idea alone should have the Queens chamber of commerce drooling.

According to the article, City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), who is also a candidate for city controller, also seems to be extremely dedicated in keeping the four-time Stanley Cup champs from heading to Kansas City or Saskatoon, Canada, the two locations looking to steal the Islanders away.

“The city should do everything humanly possible to keep the Islanders in our region- and preferably in Queens,” Liu said.

Wow. If the Islanders had someone like this taking care of business in Long Island, maybe the Lighthouse Project would be off the ground already. If that wasn’t enough, there are more people that want to get this thing off the ground.

According to the piece:

Chuck Apelian, who heads the Willets Point subcommittee for Community Board 7, envisioned a mighty sports complex anchored by the Mets, the National Tennis Center and the Islanders.

“It’s a great opportunity for Queens,” he said. “It fills out the area – you have baseball, you have tennis, you have hockey.”

I think this plan could work. As a matter of fact, it even make sense. These teams practically have the same father as well, in Bill Shea and share the same team colors. Bringing them together could also give the Isles and their young team a chance to shine in a bigger venue where they will have even more fan support.

It will also make it that much easier for this Brooklynite to get to games.

Let’s do it.

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2009

What a disaster that game that game was.

Between the penalties and the decrepit pace, I was practically sound asleep by the beginning of the third period.

The Minnesota Wild, as a team, have has much energy as a 90-year-old obese man and show as much emotion on the ice as a blind man watching a Charlie Chaplin film.

This team plays the system that Jacques Lemaire wants them to and in the end, may be held back from realizing their true potential. Guys like Marc-Andre Bergeron, Marian Gaborik and a handful of others could be producing much more if they were given more room and weren’t forced to play a system that slows the game down and doesn’t allow for creativity.

It’s like forcing a human to be a cylon and asking them to truly feel love.

OK; I promise that that will be the only Battlestar Galactica reference that I will make in this post.

Worst game of the season by far.

I wish I could end this post right now, but you guys deserve better than that.

Simply put, the Islanders fell victim to Minnesota’s system and weren’t able to use their speed. They were angry and frustrated, especially Kyle Okposo, who was talking more and showed more emotion than I’ve seen him show all season. I definitely see a leader growing here. In a few years I wouldn’t be surprised if he got an A or even a C. We all know he’s got the skill on the ice, but overall, I think he can be a very sound leader if he continues to stick up for his teammates.

The same thing goes for Blake Comeau, who is reminding me more and more of a guy like Patrick Flatley every day. Not an amazing skater, but a hard worker with an excellent shot, Comeau is quickly developing into a leader as well. Not what any of us would have thought at the beginning of the season when he was exiled to Bridgeport, right? Kind of crazy how a few months, combined with injuries, losses and trades can change things.

Bruno Gervais too has begun to show some more offensive ability, something that Islanders commentator Howie Rose attributed to him playing with Mark Streit. If he can continue to produce, who knows, the label of being just a solid defender could morph into “talented two-way defenseman.”

We’ll have to wait and see a bit more on that one though.

So again, while the Islanders effort last night had a heck of a lot to be desired, these kids aren’t finished showing the rest of th league what they are capable of. As a matter of fact, I really feel like they are just beginning to gel and become the cohesive unit that will eventually get back into the playoffs someday.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants