For years, Islanders owner Charles Wang has been trying to get the Islanders a new building. Even when the Islanders were making the playoffs a few years ago and their play on the ice was more than respectable, every other fan in the league, every journalist, every other team, still had the Nassau Coliseum on the Islanders.

You’ve heard all the nicknames over the years. It’s time they stop. What the Isles are going through is no different from anything any other team is dealing with, but the fact that the Isles need a new place to play just exacerbates the problem. While he doesn’t want to move the team anywhere, Wang knows that time may be running out and that something needs to get done soon.

“I’m not contemplating it; I’m not negotiating with anyone, but I continue to keep my options open – and they should be open all the time,” Wang told Newsday on Tuesday. “Ultimately, if you don’t want to go to a (Islanders) game because the arena is a dump, I lose, the county loses, everybody loses. I want this thing to proceed. We can talk and talk, but we’ve got to get off our butts. Let’s get it done.”
Isles-Penguins Pregame Thoughts- The last time these two teams faced off, it was pretty entertaining to say the very least. Take Sydney Crosby out of the equation, who is battling a sore groin and the Islanders may have the edge here. The Penguins are trying to stay in the playoff hunt, as they are four points behind the Sabres and the Islanders have nothing to lose. Because of that, I expect this game to have the intensity of a playoff game.
I’d also like to see players the likes of Sean Bergenheim, Josh Bailey and most importantly Kyle Okposo to continue producing. With Mike Comrie gone, one of these guys is going to have to be the secondary scorer this team needs in the future. Considering the fact that the Isles will most likely not go out and look for another young veteran to fill Comrie’s shoes next season, one of these guys is going to have to be more than what they are right now. Promise can get you to the National Hockey League, but consistency is the only thing that can keep you there. It’s time for these guys to start to show that they truly belong here.

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2009, Pregame Musings

The Rangers and their head coach Tom Renney have everything to lose.

The Isles and Scott Gordon however, have nothing to lose.

That alone will make for an intriguing game tonight.

I don’t know how you guys feel, but these games, regardless of where these two teams are in the standings, always put a smile on my face. Sure, there have been plenty of moments over the years I’d like to forget, times when Theo Fleury was too busy clucking like a chicken to be taken seriously or when Dan Cloutier looked like Chuck Liddell and absolutely beat the crap out of Tommy Salo, but there are good moments as well. If my memory serves me correct [I may be wrong, I was nine at the time.], my boy Pierre Turgeon scored his 50th goal against the Rangers in ‘93 and who could forget when Robert Reichel scored four goals against them the day before Thanksgiving? For me, regardless of how successful the Isles have been over the past 15 years, those are some great memories that will always make this rivalry the most special one in hockey today.

If that wasn’t enough, the games between these two teams always have that added intensity from start to finish and it’s good hockey from regardless of what side of the rink you watch from.

I think that’s what the Rangers need right now more than anything. They do not look like a playoff team and every player that they’ve brought in this season, with perhaps the exception of Nik Zherdev have underperformed. Even Chris Drury and Scott Gomez, two players who were solid last season and played an instrumental part in the team’s success are struggling and have only a combined 73 points on the season. Youngsters the likes of Nigel Dawes, Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan were also expected to carry some more responsibility and have much their tasks with mixed efficiency. Whatever direction GM Glen Sather wanted to take this team in has failed and it’s only on the back of Henrik Lundqvist that this team is still in the playoff hunt.

Battling their biggest low of the season, the Rangers are in trouble and the youth and grit of the Isles may be the last thing this team needs to face. If the Islanders can continue to maintain the same defensive pressure they showed against Pittsburgh and can get quality shots on whoever is in net, they’ll be in great shape. The youngsters on the Isles are beginning to establish themselves and the Rangers are in a downward spiral.

Should make for a good game, right?

Posted under 2008-2009, Pregame Musings

With Doug Weight out for the next six to eight weeks, the Islanders are banking on the youngsters continuing to produce the way they have been over the past few games. The way things have been lately, with Kyle Okposo starting to come into his own and players the likes of Frans Nielsen, Blake Comeau and Josh Bailey causing a stir on the ice by doing the little things like finishing their checks and getting themselves to the front of the net, I have no reason why these guys would just stop playing well all of a sudden.

However, one guy that has to seize the opportunity that has been given to him to Jon Sim, who was expected to be so much more than what he’s turned out to be since signing with the team two years ago. With six goals and two assists in 40 games, Sim was once on pace for about a dozen goals, which is where you’d expect him to be, but the physical play the team expected him to bring, alongside the notion of being a top-notch pest, have been no where to be found.

As a matter of fact, I think Sean Bergenheim has done a much better job at being an antagonizer than Sim has. Obviously, Scott Gordon has seen this as well and that’s why Sim has been riding the pine the past few weeks. Nevertheless, like I said before, this is an opportunity for Sim to show the rest of the league that he can be a factor out on the ice.

If all goes well, maybe someone will want to pick him up at the trading deadline.

Pregame Thoughts- When I look at the Philadelphia Flyers, I automatically think of the where the Islanders can be in a few years. Combining home-grown talent with some effective trades and key player signings, the Flyers are an example of how to build a team properly. If the Isles have their way over the next few seasons, I’m sure they’ll be built in an extremely similar way.

This afternoon however, the Islanders won’t be busy idolizing the Flyers. Instead, they’ll be trying to keep guys like Jeff Carter, who is having his best season in the NHL this year, with 34 goals already and Simon Gagne and Mike Richards off the scoresheet. If the Isles can find a way to shutdown the Flyers’ top two lines, they’ll put themselves in a solid situation today.

With both Yann Danis and Joey MacDonald both playing excellent hockey as well, this is going to be a great way to spend an afternoon.

Posted under 2008-2009, Pregame Musings

Riding their biggest high of the season, the New York Islanders will face off against a dangerous Florida Panthers team, a club they defeated last week on the back of Yann Danis, who made 37 saves in a 3-1 win.

That was a night as well where the Isles’ youngsters stepped up again and played well enough to help induce an Islanders win.

If Danis and the Isles’ babies can step up again, the Islanders can and will hold their own with the Panthers.

Seeing Kyle Okposo, Josh Bailey, Frans Nielsen and Blake Comeau play the way they have been as of late has almost given me a renewed sense of vigor. For a while there, watching this team play was like driving a screwdriver through my head. Now, it’s become fun again. Once Sean Bergenheim gets back in the lineup and Scott Gordon finds a place where he fits, the team should be even more energetic and fun to watch.

The way the veterans have stepped up as well has made this season an interesting one. What this team decides to do at the trading deadline should provide plenty of things to talk about too.

That alone should be enough to get me through the season.

Goalie Controversy?- Only with this team, I swear. Who would have that thought that Danis could hold down the fort the way he has over the past five games. No one in the NHL, that’s who. Like I’ve said before, nothing against Joey MacDonald, but Danis has been the better goaltender and the Islanders defense has supported him much better than they have Joey Mac. Because of that, you’ve got to give Danis every opportunity to make the most of his chance.

What happens in the end of this all however, is completely up in the air.

“We both want to play and I think we’re both capable,” Danis told the Associated Press the other night. “You know, I’m not worried about it. I’m feeling really good. I’m feeling big out there. This is a huge opportunity that I’ve waited a long time for. I was hoping to get in a few games and show what I can do. I wasn’t expecting what’s happening right now.”

When you also consider the fact that his team is playing for their pride at this point and MacDonald has already had 36 starts to prove himself to the team and the rest of the league, it’s only fair that Danis gets a similar shot as well, right? I mean seriously, what’s the worst thing that could happen? The team is already in last place.

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2009, Pregame Musings

The Columbus Blue Jackets have single-handedly taken the fun out of Saturday night’s game with the New Jersey Devils.

Why you ask? They claimed Wade Dubielewicz off waivers in a depth move, while the Islanders, dealing with injuries to both Joey MacDonald and Rick DiPietro are forced to keep Yann Danis and Peter Mannino in between the pipes. Don’t be surprised either if Columbus assigned him to their AHL team either after a week or so.

All in all, just a low-class move by the Jackets, who already have two stud goaltenders in the injured Pascual LeClaire and white-hot rookie Steve Mason. They even have a competent third-stringer in Fredrik Norrena. They also have another goalie in Dan LaCosta who isn’t too bad either, going 12-11 with a stead .912 save percentage in the AHL. So why sign Dubielewicz? I wish I could get inside the Blue Jackets heads on this one. I know goaltending is extremely important in today’s game and depth is always important, but this is like kicking a cancer patient. The signing of Dubielewicz would have been a blast to watch over the second half of the season.

[Edit- It has come to my understanding that Norrena went to Russia, leaving LaCosta as the team's backup, hence the reason why the BJ's wanted to go and get a veteran backup, problem solved]

Now, the Islanders fans will be the one to pay the price, making the last 40 or so games as fun as listening to the extended version “In a gadda da vida,” with a migraine.

Snow staying mum on possible move to KC- After lighting up hockey message boards and websites over the past few days after announcing a preseason game against the Los Angeles Kings next season, the Islanders and their general manager Garth Snow aren’t giving away any more details.

“I’m not worried about (the perception). It’s a preseason game,” general manager Garth Snow told the Associated Press before Thursday’s 2-1 loss to Boston. “The last few years, and even before I became GM, we always played preseason games in different markets. This is just another opportunity for us to bring this organization and our team to a different market.”

Yes, everything Snow just said here is true, but Kansas City is extremely desperate for a hockey team. From the quotes I had on the site yesterday, it’s obvious that they would take this team and be thrilled. The way the economy is right now, many people are wondering if the Tri-State area can support three teams. Simply put, this is the time for every single Islander fan to either put their heart and soul back into supporting this team or go to Modell’s and buy a Rangers or Devils jersey. It’s that easy my friends.

You alone have the power to decide if this team stays on Long Island. Go to games, start a blog, anything to support them. If not, they may not be around in a few seasons and in the end, you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.

Posted under 2008-2009, Pregame Musings

This was the game I was waiting for about a week ago, when the Islanders looked like the ‘93 Ottawa Senators. Now that they have their jam and spunk back to an extent, this game against the New York Rangers should be a ton of fun.

Let’s now pretend that the team is not playing the hated-Broadway Blueshirts. Let’s be unbiased and fair in assessing the quality of this team. Between the pipes, I feel like they have one of the top three tandems in the league in Henrik Lundqvist and Steve Valiquette. On defense however, I feel they are extremely overrated. Sure, Dan Girardi and Mark Staal are exciting and promising youngsters, but overpaid veterans the likes of Michal Rozsival, Paul Mara, Dmitri Kalilin and Wade Redden make this defense nothing special in my opinion.

If their mediocre defense wasn’t enough, I think their offense has been just as average. I mean seriously, how many people who follow this sport would have thought at this point in the season that Doug Weight and Mark Streit would have more points than Markus Naslund, Chris Drury and Scott Gomez? Definitely not me. Now ask yourselves this question: Is this because Naslund Drury and Gomez have been that bad this season, or because Weight and Streit have been that good? I, personally, think it’s a little bit of both.

The Rangers do have players the likes of Aaron Voros and Ryan Callahan that have been very good role players this season, but that alone doesn’t produce a first place team. If not for the on and off again play of Nikolai Zherdev and the goaltending they’ve gotten this season, the Rangers would be battling for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. There’s a reason why they were trying so hard to get Mats Sundin and may in fact get Brendan Shanahan back before the All Star break; they desperately need offense.

Because of this, the Rangers are far from untouchable. If the Islanders can continue to skate the way they have been the past two games and get a quality outing from whoever is in net, they’re be in great shape. The line of Kyle Okposo, Blake Comeau and Mike Comrie was skating their tails off in Buffalo and if they can continue to battle and someone like Trent Hunter can start contributing a bit more [ he hasn't scored since Dec. 4 and only has three points in his last nine games], the Islanders should be able to make this an entertaining game.

Stay tuned.

Posted under 2008-2009, Pregame Musings

On December 26, the Islanders will have 48 games remaining in their season. If all else goes as planned, they’ll have their franchise goaltender back as well. I don’t know how you guys feel about this, but to me, this may end up being a pretty damn good Christmas present to all Islander fans.

The only question is, what DP will the Islanders get?

Will they get the wild and crazy, puck-chasing lunatic that lives on the edge and gives Islander fans ulcers, or will they get a mature leader that can help take this team out of the mud and somewhere respectable?

Only time will tell on that one, but it should at least provide a bit more positive thought amongst the fan base. I think every Islander fan out there knows which DP needs to show up if this team has any chance at saving their season. Up to this point, it’s been obvious this team is missing something and with DP back, alongside a healthy Mike Sillinger, Mike Comrie and Kyle Okposo, the Islanders won’t have any more excuses.

Then it will all be about how bad this team wants to win and what they’re willing to do to get to where they feel they should be. Again, should make for a very interesting second half of the season.

As far as tonight’s game against Minnesota goes, the Islanders are in a rare situation. In my opinion, the Isles have a better offense than the Wild, especially with Owen Nolan on the shelf, but that all really depends on Marian Gaborik. Only in his second game back, the Islanders need to take advantage of his rustiness and try and get something past Niklas Backstrom or Josh Harding, both of who are two damn good goaltenders. The same thing goes for the Minnesota defensemen, who like any team coached by Jacques Lemaire are also pretty good at what they do.

However, they also have a few defensemen that are very adept at making that first pass out of the defensive zone, in Kim Johnsson, Marek Zidlicky, Martin Skoula, Brent Burns [now comfortably back at the blue line after a month and change as a forward] and Marc-Andre Bergeron. If the Islanders are going to produce offensively tonight, they have to establish a forecheck early and pressure these defensemen, especially Bergeron, who, as many Islander fans are well aware of [I still have an ulcer from watching this guy for a season and a half] has a tendency to cough up the puck. If they can then capitalize on those opportunities, this is going to be a fun game to watch.

Posted under 2008-2009, Pregame Musings

The Isles may have hit a snag against Pittsburgh on Wednesday, but they are still 5-4-1 over their last 10 games, proving they can be a .500 team without Rick DiPietro, Mike Sillinger, Mike Comrie and Kyle Okposo. Veterans the likes of Doug Weight, Trent Hunter and Bill Guerin have been holding down the fort offensively all the season and now with a healthy Brendan Witt and Freddy Meyer back to support Mark Streit, Andy Sutton, Chris Campoli and Radek Martinek, I really feel that the Islanders are ready to turn the corner and play .500 hockey.

Once they get as close to completely healthy and some of the youngsters begin to get more comfortable as well , I really think this team can gain the respect of the rest of the league.

However, as we’ve seen before, playing 500 hockey may not be good enough to make the playoffs anymore in the NHL. I’ve also said before that if this team is healthy, I feel they can make the playoffs, but it’s really a toss up at this point. Overall, this team has to commit itself to staying with their game plan. That means the forecheck has to be consistent for 60 minutes. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been as repetitive as a Green Day hook, constantly saying these things. I’m sick of it. From the look on some of the veteran’s faces on Wednesday, I can tell they’re sick of it too. There’s only so much they can do though. The same thing goes for the host of role players on this team. Richard Park, Jon Sim, Sean Bergenheim and Andy Hilbert aren’t 30-goal scorers and even though they work their tails off every night, I really feel that this team needs a career year out of these guys for this team to really be able to compete with the rest of this league.

So how does this relate to the Boston Bruins?

Just like the Isles, the Bruins lost a tough game their last time out, but overall, this is a much better team. 8-1-1 over their past ten games, Boston has one of the league’s most underrated, yet effective playmakers in Marc Savard and Phil Kessel, who finally seems to be coming into his own. Patric Bergeron, Milan Lucic, Blake Wheeler and David Krejci aren’t to be underestimated either, as they have legitimate talent and are more than just spare parts. Add in a dominate duo in net between Manny Fernandez and Tim Thomas and it’s easy to see that the Islanders can and will be in deep trouble if they don’t commit themselves to working extremely hard in both ends of the ice.

Posted under 2008-2009, Pregame Musings

A bad goal here, a deflection there, one in traffic. Simply put, this is how the New Jersey Devils operate. Do they have the greatest offense since the ‘84 Oilers? No, but they do scratch, bite and claw their way to victory on most nights they play. The Islanders weren’t ready for that last night, as a three-game winning streak was halted after a 5-2 loss to the Devils.

It just seemed like every time you thought the Islanders had learned their lesson on defense and got the offense going, the Devils came back and put an end to their party. That’s usually he case when a team like he Islanders that is slowly starting to find their identity plays a team that already has one like the Devils.

Nevertheless, the Islanders feel they are just starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“Our season didn’t start the way we wanted it to, but if you take the positives out of some of those games where we blew a three-goal lead or a two-goal lead in the third period, in some cases, it was 40 or 50 minutes of good hockey,” GM Garth Snow said in an expansive interview Friday with Newsday. “I think we’re headed in the right direction, and we’re just going to get better as the season goes on and as players gain confidence in this system. I think we’re on the right track.”

With a game against Buffalo today, the Islanders need to quickly forget about last night and concentrate on doing the the things that broke them out of that ugly skid they were in early this season, which was establishing a forecheck, playing well in front of Joey MacDonald and getting offense from a wide variety of sources. If they do that, they’ll be able to hold the ice with any team in the NHL.

We’ll see what happens tonight.

Also, in other news, I just wanted to let you guys know about another site I have, AcesOverBrooklyn.com, where I cover the Brooklyn Aces of the EPHL. Simply put, this site is what I wish I could do with this one, as it is filled with journalism, rather than just be shooting off my opinion every day. It’s also filled with pictures, video, podcasts, polls and everything else you’d expect from someone covering a team with every free ounce of their time.

Check it out today!

Posted under Post Game Rants, Pregame Musings

Coming off two consecutive wins against the Senators, the Islanders don’t look anything like the team that has had problems holding leads in the third period all season. Even in giving up two goals in the final period against the Sens in their last game, the Isles have finally started skating with the type of personal accountability they’ve lacked all season.

Regardless of what the pundits think, I think it’s fair to say that this team is starting to understand what they have to do in order to win.

On top of that, Joey MacDonald is playing his best hockey of the season and with Andy Sutton and Radek Martinek both back in the lineup and the return of Brendan Witt looming, the Isles defense will be as close to 100 percent as possible.

With that being said, a team like the Canucks, with all their offensive ability and strength in net, will be facing a much better Islanders team than they would have faced two weeks ago.
Because of that, this should be a fun one to watch.

The Josh Bailey Experiment Continues- Through his first handful of games this season, Bailey has been a lot better than anyone could have possibly thought. From what the team’s coaching staff has said thus far, it looks like Bailey may be sticking around.

“He hasn’t played at a junior pace. So, that’s very encouraging. Whether he’ll be able to maintain that through these nine games will probably dictate whether he stays here or goes back to junior,” Gordon told the AP “I think the bonus for us if he’s able to stay here is that it accelerates his progress for next year.

“If he goes back to junior, granted he’ll play a lot. But he’ll play at a pace that he should be above. Then, it’s a situation where he comes in next year and has to start over getting back into our system versus what they’re doing in Windsor. If he’s able to come in here and play at an NHL pace through nine games, at least we’ll have a better read on what the right thing is to do for this year and next year.”

If he stays here the whole season, I’m cool with that. However, if he ends up hitting a snag in his development, the Isles will be stuck with another Jeff Tambellini. As of right now, Bailey looks like a completely different player, but it’s way too early to judge what this kid is truly capable of yet.

Posted under 2008-2009, Pregame Musings