When I first read what Greg Logan reported in his blog about a certain former Islanders captain, I literally spit the soda I was drinking out of my mouth onto my two-year old cat.

“No way,” I thought to myself. No way could this team possibly be thinking about bringing back a player that never did what everyone expected him to do. No way would this team pay a man to play for them that they are already paying NOT to play for them.

It’s the kind of logic that could kill a Vulcan.

While Alexei Yashin is probably still a sure-fire 60 point a year player in the NHL if he’s healthy, he is the complete opposite of what this team needs now. Rather than AGAIN try and find a band aid for the gaping wound on the heart and soul of this team, the Islanders need to develop the youngsters they have and let a scab form over their identity, before it heals completely.

I don’t know how the rest of Islanders country feels about this, but I feel like the team still hasn’t healed from the Yashin’s time on the Island. Sure the team made the playoffs a couple of years when he was here, but he was never the player the Islanders needed him to be. Never once did he break 90 points or be the bona fide offensive dynamo they needed. Instead, when he first got here, guys like Mark Parrish, Mike Peca and Shawn Bates developed into solid players and Adrian Aucoin became a Norris Trophy candidate. Those players were the real reason this team managed to change the hockey motif on the Island, not Yashin.

After the lockout, Miroslav Satan was brought in to finally silence the critics that said 79 needed a legitimate scorer to play with. That didn’t work either and while Satan scored a solid 35 goals, Yashin still wasn’t what the team needed. A year with Ted Nolan seemed to change Yashin at first, but injuries and a late season slump sealed his fate with the team.

Even though the Isles offense was anemic this season, bringing in Yashin will do much more harm than good. Notice that I’m not even talking about the fact that the Islanders are paying Mike Comrie four million bucks to play center next season. I mean seriously, how much could Yashin want? It has to be more than what Comrie’s making, especially given the fact that he finally learned to play in playoffs in Russia this offseason. Given that, it doesn’t make sense financially for this team to take a chance on him. With the cap space this team has and the amount of youth present, they could bring in the right people and build what could be a legitimate cup contender, given they have the patience and common sense need to do so.

Please say you do. Please.

In his rookie season, Chris Campoli was a heck of a lot of fun to watch. He took risks on offense and had enough speed to cover up for them on defense. Considering how bad the Isles were that year, he was one of the only real reasons to watch the team in my opinion. Truth be told, I saw a lot of a young Bryan Berard in his game that year and I thought that with a little more seasoning, he’d be ready to be a top-pairing d-man on this team.

However, his second season with the blue and orange was a middling one, void of the offense prowess he had shown a season before. In Ted Nolan’s dog house most of the season, Campoli had to fight to get his job back and in the process, showed that he had the skills to be much more than a “good” offensive defenseman. On numerous occasions that year, it seemed he was, again, just a short stride away from being the kind of defenseman this team really needed him to be.

This season, Campoli was well on his way to being both a more than respectable physical presence and a powerplay quarterback for the Islanders. Rumor has it though his shoulder problems were much worse than the team led on during the season and that it had popped out of place on numerous occasions during the season. I don’t know when it happened, but after about his 30th game, I saw a huge drop off in his play. He wasn’t chipping the puck into the zone as much and wasn’t as eager to play physically. Those to me are the signs of an injured player. Nevertheless, 18 points in 46 games put him on pace for about 32, which would have been more than any other Islanders defenseman this season. Now, again, don’t forget he was probably playing injured through most of the year. To me, that means that if this kid can stay healthy, he can and will be the well-rounded defenseman this team is in desperate need of.

Nothing against Brendan Witt, Andy Sutton, Radek Martinek and Freddy Meyer, but none of them have the skating ability [maybe Martinek did a few seasons ago] Campoli has and none of them have the offensive upside. One may make the argument that Bruno Gervais is a better skater, but he has yet to translate solid offensive numbers in the AHL and QMJHL to the NHL. Campoli on the other hand has and with more confidence from the coaching staff, could be someone to help turn this team around next season.

Some of this may be old news, but considering I spoke about the Snow and Dubie situation on Tuesday, I figured I’d handle this stuff today.

Isles resign Jackman- For all intensive purposes, Tim Jackman isn’t someone who means much to the success of this team. However, he worked hard when he was up here and was willing to drop the gloves whenever he had to. I still think he has a lot more offensive potential than people give him credit for and think he could pot 10 goals a season if he got significant playing time. At 26 years old, he’s still young enough to give a two-way contract and provide depth at the NHL level, but old enough to set a good example for some of the babies in Bridgeport. Overall, I think it was a good signing. The guy played like he wanted to stay here and never looked out of place while he was on the ice. Add in the fact that he had 36 points in 44 games in Bridgeport and this was practically a no-brainer.

Milbury calls Tiger Woods what? Tiger Woods should have thought twice before he said no one watches hockey anymore. That’s all I’m going to say about that. Well no, I’m going to say much more than that actually. For a golfer to say no one watches hockey is like the owner of TAB saying that Mr. Pibb sucks. Let’s be honest here, we’re not talking about Baseball and the NFL, we’re talking about two cult sports that have loyal fan bases. Watching golf is the essentially like a being a Trekkie/Trekker, while watching hockey puts you more in the Dungeons & Dragons realm of consciousness. Either way, you’re looked down upon by most other sports fans. I personally grew up enjoying both sports and do enjoy hitting off the tee from time to time, but overall, hockey is a much-more rewarding sport to play and watch in my opinion.

As well, the ideals presented in golf are those of the purely individualistic kind. There are no playoff beards or five minute fighting penalties in golf. It’s because of that Woods’ ignorant comments don’t surprise me. Because in actuality, golfers live in a world where the only thing that matters is themselves. Hockey players however, as I have said numerous times on this site, are the greatest athletes in the world and are the friendliest to the media that I have ever encountered. They stick up for each other and care about the general welfare of the sport. That’s why “Mad Mike” said what he did. And for the record, there aren’t many times when I’d stick up for the guy, but in this case, he nailed it right on the head.

Tiger Woods is a Meathead.

I’ve mentioned more than a few times over the past two years that in my opinion, Newsday’s Greg Logan is one of the best beat-writers in the business today. He gets information that isn’t found anywhere else and gets quotes that no one else can get. The other day, he proved himself again, getting a great quote from Islanders GM Garth Snow about goaltender Wade Dubielewicz who rejected a two-year contract the other day.

“There wasn’t much confidence from our coaching staff to play him,” Snow told Newsday of Dubielewicz. “That’s where we ran into trouble playing Ricky too many nights. We need a backup goalie our coaches will have confidence in from Day 1.”

There aren’t many times when I say something like this, so let me watch how I mix my words.

Are you crazy Mr. Snow?

The reason why DP played in so many games last year was because HE wanted to. Anyone remember the game two seasons ago in Phoenix where he was playing so badly that Ted Nolan wanted to pull him? Anyone remember what happened after that? DP waved him off. He knows this is his team and if he could, he would play in 82 games a season. That’s just how DP rolls. He wants to be the next Martin Brodeur. That is why Dubielewicz played twice in the first 33 games, not because Dubie came into training camp in poor shape [another thing brought up in Logan’s piece] or because the coaching staff had no confidence in him.

If you look at Dubie’s career stats for the Isles [16-13, 2.55 GAA and a .920 Save Percentage], there’s no reason why he still shouldn’t be the backup goaltender of this team or any other team in the NHL. As a matter of fact, I’m sure you could make the argument that Dubielewicz almost single-handedly took this team to the playoffs last year [when his buddy Mike Dunham was stinking up the joint] and kept them in the hunt this year when the defense was as thin as paper and no one was scoring.

To say that the team had no confidence in him is an absolute joke and a tribute to the nonsense players had to put up with when Mike Milbury was GM of this team.

If DP gets injured again next season and Joe MacDonald can’t fill Dubie’s shoes, expect to hear “I told you so,” a lot from yours truly next season.

Aside from that, Logan also got Snow to speak a little bit more about the youth movement. He also spoke about how he believes Miroslav Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko and Josef Vasicek most likely won’t be receiving qualifying offers and how youngsters Sean Bergenheim, Bruno Gervais, Jeff Tambellini, Frans Nielsen and Jeremy Colliton will. While I won’t be having fun playing with rookies on NHL 08 on my Xbox 360 this summer, I’ll be more than happy to see them play this fall and see them play with more passion and dedication than a bunch of second-tier players looking for a big check.

I also don’t expect the team to really go out and pick up too many veterans because of this, from the words of Snow, I think it’s a definite.

“I don’t want to be in a situation where I compromise the ice time of some of our younger players who we’re committed to giving the opportunity to make the team,” Snow told Newsday. “If we start loading up with too many bodies, then that squeezes out some of our young guys. I don’t want to do that.”

The way the “Free Agent Line” of Ruslan Fedotenko, Mike Comrie and Bill Guerin started the season, the powerplay looked like it was going to be one of the only things the Islanders didn’t have to worry too much about. However, by the All-Star break, it was obvious that the powerplay needed serious help.

It didn’t help matters either that Radek Martinek wasn’t as promising an offensive threat as the team gave him credit for over the past few years, but inconsistency from the top unit and players like Miroslav Satan, Trent Hunter and Marc-Andre Bergeron, as well as injuries to players such as Chris Campoli and Mike Sillinger killed any chance the powerplay had at being successful. For most of the last half of the season, it seemed that teams could get away with committing penalties against the Isles because their powerplay was flaccid at best.

After a while, it seemed that players that should have been getting chances with the man advantage, guys like Sean Bergenheim and Blake Comeau, where getting stiffed in favor of players like Andy Hilbert and Richard Park. Nothing against Park and Hilbert [especially Park, who had his best season in the NHL this year], but guys like Bergenheim and Comeau are the future of this team and need to get as much of an opportunity as possible. While Park and Hilbert work hard on every shift, they aren’t going to develop with experience like the youngsters can. Next season, I expect to see those two players on the PP much more than before and imagine that other youngsters like Kyle Okposo and Jeff Tambellini will get a chance as well.

However, that doesn’t solve the problem of not having a powerplay quarterback. Bergeron was so bad defensively that he became a liability on the powerplay and even though Andy Sutton was used at times, he’s not the answer. Using Satan didn’t work at the point and Bryan Berard was never given a real shot to anchor a unit. With that being said, the Islanders will either be searching for a legitimate offensive defenseman or will ask youngsters like Campoli, Jack Hillen and Bruno Gervais [if he’s resigned] to produce. The Isles will also have an opportunity to draft a defenseman this year, which could potentially solve the problem.

Regardless of this though, players like Guerin and Comrie will have to establish themselves with the man advantage and set an example for the rest of the team to follow. If that doesn’t work, youngsters like Okposo, Comeau and Tambellini will be forced to progress much faster than expected.

Heart and soul. That’s what Brendan Witt means to the New York Islanders.

Sure, he doesn’t score goals and isn’t the best player on the team on paper, but as far as representing what this team is all about, Witt is the undisputed champion of grittiness. If blocking shots, pissing off the opposition and taking the body could make someone a superstar, then Witt would be a bigger star than Sidney Crosby in this league.

When he was in the lineup this season, the Islanders were a different team. They played with more passion, more determination and they rarely lacked focus. You hear all these stories in the news how important a guy like Sean Avery is to the Rangers, but I think Witt may be an even bigger piece to the puzzle for the Islanders. This guy not only draws penalties, he eliminates guys from plays by using his body and rarely takes a bad penalty. If the rest of the team played with as much resolve, they’d be in the Stanley Cup finals right now.

Not an amazing skater, Witt is fueled by pure will and never gives up on a play. Anyone who has seen Witt play against the likes of Evgeni Malkin over the past two years could totally attest to that. He just seems to own the guy. He’s hit the guy so much since he came to the NHL that you could make a highlight film on it if you really wanted to. However, Malkin isn’t the only player in the league that don’t like to play the Islanders because of him. Simply put, Witt is the Islanders cavalry. He’s their first and last line of defense against the best players in the league. Again, without him, you’d have a much different team out there.

Combined with Radek Martinek, the Islanders have one of the best defensive tandems in the league. Without them, this team would have been lucky to win 30 games. However, considering their lack of offensive luster, they’ll never be regarded as a top-tier pair. For that reason, I really believe the Islanders would consider giving guys like Chris Campoli, Bruno Gervais and Jack Hillen more playing time, so they can develop into the defense of the future.

Nevertheless, a guy like Witt should and will get the majority of the playing time against the best players in the league. He’s too damn good defensively to be played anywhere else and considering how much younger the Isles will be next year, they really can’t afford to not play him in crunch time situations. That means that if he’s healthy, Witt should be making funny faces at refs and getting sucker punched all season.

If you don’t know by now, now you know. That’s great news for the Islanders.

When the Isles originally signed Ruslan Fedotenko, I thought that there was an honest to god shot that he would be able to net 25 goals. Years of playing second fiddle to players like Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis can light a fire under a player’s dairy-air, especially one with the feisty on-ice persona of Fedotenko. However, despite a few hot streaks during the course of the season, Fedotenko proved why the Flyers gave up on him and Tampa Bay let him leave via free agency. He’s not a first line player and at this point in his career, he’s is a depth signing: a player that can be depended on 15-20 goals and 35 points… nothing less, nothing more.

It’s sad that the Islanders had to spend nearly three million dollars this season to find that out. Unlike Josef Vasicek, who the Islanders didn’t spend much money on [and who had a much better season than “Tank”], Fedotenko got first star treatment with the Islanders. He was at the pres conference where guys like Bill Guerin and Mike Comrie promised a rejuvenated team that was sick of being mediocre. However, after the first dozen games or so of the season, Fedotenko virtually disappeared.

Over his first 14 games with the team, he had five goals and 11 points. That basically put him on pace for a career year, netting a solid 25-30 goals and adding close to 35 assists. If that would have been the case I would have been extremely pleased. However, the total opposite happened.

Over the next 36 games he played in, he only had three goals and 13 points. Talk about invisible. I know he was playing injured for some of that time, but still, this guy was brought in to score goals and that simply wasn’t happening. After he came back from a few games missed due to injury, he did get better, but again, at that point, the Isles were already finished and it was too little, too late.

Sure, Fedotenko netted seven goals and nine points over his last 17 games of the season, but that’s what happens when you realize you only have a one-year contract and you want to play another year in the NHL. With that sense of desperation, Fedotenko was a more than serviceable player. However, getting him to play at that kind of level is nearly impossible for a coach. He has to be the one to motivate himself and get going at more of a consistent basis. He has the nose for the puck and hands where he could be a consistent 20-goal scorer in this league.

It remains to be seen if that will ever happen though.