This is starting to get tiring. Three games in a row this team has failed to generate consistent offense.

Sure, they started out pretty strong, but after the botched offside call, they were done for. Even Tim Jackman’s fight at the end of the game was pretty pathetic.

Is there another line on this team besides the one with Matt Moulson, John Tavares and Kyle Okposo that can get some shots on the net? Those guys are working their arses off and if they could get one more line with some chemistry, things might change a tad.

Maybe they’ll score two goals a game.

Josh Bailey has got to shoot more. Six shots on goal in six games is pathetic. Same thing goes for Sean Bergenheim, who has been a non-factor as well. I’d like to see Blake Comeau grow a pair too and start getting a little more aggressive in front of the net and shooting more.

Here’s the million dollar question: how are you supposed to have a youth movement when the kids aren’t ready to even be supporting characters?

Doug Weight needs to aim a bit lower too.

Jon Sim needs to play the way he did before the team sent him to Bridgeport… or else threaten him with it. All jokes aside, he hasn’t been all that bad, I’m just pissy right now.

Without guys like Trent Hunter and Frans Nielsen in the lineup, I think this team is missing two big catalysts.

On top of that, this team needs to play more physical. I don’t care what the hit stat says, this team needs someone to go out there and just take the body every time they get on the ice.

Joel Rechlicz had virtually no ice time on Saturday on top of everything else as well, so this team was flat on the boards, in front of the night and with their fists.

Marty Biron was decent, but the defense was far from spectacular and let the Sharks skate wherever they wanted.

Overall, it just wasn’t a fun game to watch.

Posted under 2009-10

Before I get into this edition of the blog, let me just apologize for my lack of updates. Over the past week or so, I’ve gotten up to two dozen e-mails from angry fans to even my own father asking me to update this site. The reason why I haven’t, you ask? I’m swamped. A college professor, Sports Editor of a Local Newspaper and a graduate student, I barely have time to watch games on DVR these days. Yes, The Drive for Five is still one of my passions, but I need sleep my friends. However, I pinky promise to update this site twice a week during the season.

Sorry for the delay.

OK, here we go.

These kids are a lot better than I thought that they would be and once guys like Doug Weight get back in the swing of things, Trent Hunter and Frans Nielsen come back healthy and the defense tightens up a bit more, this team is going to be a blast to watch.

Guys like John Tavares, Kyle Okposo, Sean Bergenheim, Ron Schremp and Matt Moulson put a smile on my face every time they touch the puck. Sure, they may still lack the polish this team needs to make the playoffs, but they’re hungry. Tavares’ goal the other night against Boston [where I'll be from the 28th to the 30th on a mini-vacation, going whale watching and to a Bruins/Oilers game] was just a small taste of what this kid is capable of and I’d love to see him continue to shoot more. It seems to me right now most of the youngsters are trying way too hard to make the pretty play, rather than the one that works.

If they are going to get through the season, they’ll need to collect as many garbage goals now. It seems Moulson has the idea as the puck seems to be following him on a nightly basis. Now if the rest of the youngsters could follow suit, this team could be the ball breakers of the league.

With the goaltending the Isles have, they don’t need a ton of offense, but they do need a few 20-goal scorers and the defense to play tight. So far, the defense has been eh. Late in games, they look a bit suspect and I’d like to see guys like Bruno Gervais and Andy Sutton be a little more proactive with the puck and a little bit more physical. This team doesn’t have an enforcer and because of that, they need every guy to play like their testicles are on fire. Otherwise, the bigger teams in the league, like the LA Kings, are going to skate all over them late in games. That didn’t happen on Monday luckily, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t.

It’s still early, but I still feel this team could have used another goal scorer from the free agent market, just to make themselves a little more competitive. The goal scoring hasn’t been great thus far and we’ll see how far off I am on that one by the All-Star break. Butch Goring sees Tavares as a 40-goal scorer, but I think him and Okposo will have around 25-30. At any rate however, it’s still not enough for this team to make the playoffs, making it pretty obvious this team has to continue to grow leaps and bounds before they’re ready for the prime time.

Nevertheless, it’ll be a fun process to watch. And watch we will.

Posted under 2009-10

It feels good that this team, which was picked to come in last place this season by many media outlets, held the ice for 65 minutes with the reigning NHL champs.

John Tavares looked solid enough as well, and even though it’s obvious he still has some work to do, there’s no reason why he can’t score 25-30 goals this season. All the haters out there will see during the season how sick this kid’s hands really are. Things will get tougher for him as the season wears on and his body gets used to the beating he’ll be taking, but I got a great feeling about this kid.

The same thing goes for Sean Bergenheim and Kyle Okposo, who should be in the 25 goal area as well.

For a team that didn’t have one 20-goal scorer last season, I expect to see at least three this season. Trent Hunter and Mark Streit looked great during the home opener as well and I expect those two to lead this team on the ice just as much as Doug Weight will when he gets into the lineup.

For the time being though, I loved what I saw from Tavares and Matt Moulson. That kid has excellent instincts and if he stays in the lineup, could be a threat. He’s got a few solid seasons of AHL hockey under his belt and right now, he looks like someone who can pot a few, especially if he gets special teams time.

In other news, anyone else feel weird seeing Dwayne Roloson in net? The guy is so simple, but technically sound that it’s easy to forget how solid he is. Feels good to have a legitimate goaltender in the net that doesn’t try and do too much and lets the game come to him. Reminded me of Glenn Healy back in the day. With a two year contract, we’ll be seeing him plenty over the next 163 games and the other night was a nice introduction to his style.

With Weight and Frans Neilson out of the lineup as well, the Isles have plenty of room to get better. If that wasn’t enough, having a healthy defense should make them competitive too. The whole key for them is to stay at .500 for as long as they can and stay healthy. If they can, they may sneak up on some teams. Despite the fact that expectations are low, this season looks to be a fun one for the Isles and may eventually go down as one that started the youth movement in the right direction.

Posted under 2009-10

Aside from Doug Weight, the Islanders don’t have any real playmakers and John Tavares needs someone to pass him the puck.

This is where Alex Tanguay fits in.

He’s in desperate need of a change of scenery and is coming off an injury-plagued season last year, where he still managed to score 41 points in 50 games. He also doesn’t need to shoot the puck much, probably about 110 shots will do the trick, and can still score 20 goals a year. He makes the most of his shots and is incredibly unselfish with the puck. Sure, he’s fragile and sometimes inconsistent, but I still think that if he plays with Tavares, it could be something special.

The fact that the rest of league has passed up on him means the Islanders can get him cheaper than they could have done before. If they sign him to a two or three-year contract, they get him through his early 30s and if he doesn’t perform, they could always trade him to a contender for a draft pick.

However, if he performs, Tavares and who ever else is on the line with him and Tanguay, most likely Kyle Okposo, will be able to learn from a guy will some experience and will be able to get more of an opportunity to step up their game as well.

Low-risk, High-reward if you ask me.

Posted under Offseason 2009

Well, things are changing in Islander Country.

Newsday’s Greg Logan thinks John Tavares can be the next Sydney Crosby, but you get the feeling he won’t be as dynamic. I am expecting him to be a force at times, but see him going through growing pains as well. He’s an offensive machine and doesn’t have a great defensive game and because of that, I see him getting a ton of time on the powerplay, but little with the puck in the defensive end.

Because of this, it’ll take him a few years to become the type of player he truly can be.

Even he doesn’t know what that player will turn out to be.

For my taste, I’d love to see him score 30 goals as a rookie and win the Calder, but I don’t know if that’s entirely possible. Many scouts have said that he projects to be a 40-goal scorer and that he’s NHL ready now, but there’s no real way of telling that until he steps on the ice. With Josh Bailey, Frans Nielsen and Doug Weight up the middle to back him up, I think the Islanders with some nice versatility. Bailey projects to be a solid two-way center, while Nielsen in my mind has the potential to be a Mike Ribeiro-type player. Weight is a trusty old steed that I think still has a 50-point season in him. With those intangibles, I think Tavares can learn a lot in his rookie season.

Thinking about him playing with Kyle Okposo is also something that I think is incredibly intriguing.

As far as De Haan goes, he was the defenseman I saw the Islanders drafting at 26 and I even said so in April. So while I’m happy they went out and got him, the fact that they got him at 12 and didn’t pick up Landon Ferraro as well at 31 kind of shocked me. Kudos to Garth Snow for trading up to get his guy, but we’ll have to see what happens before we pass judgment. All I know is that he made a splash and people are talking. That may be the best thing for the organization right now. Nevertheless, I’m happy that the Islanders have a defenseman in the ranks that will be a solid powerplay quarterback in a few years.

The Islanders also drafted two goalies and to me, that shows that they may not be as comfortable with Rick DiPietro as they are making out to be. Both goaltenders have a plethora of upside and may be capable of big things in the future. However, with both Yann Danis and Joey MacDonald UFA’s this summer, this move could have been to shore up the depth chart at the position and may not be indicative of what the Isles think of DP.

Now with the draft behind us, the free agent period should be incredibly interesting.

Posted under Offseason 2009

Pretty interesting that John Tavares and Matt Duchene chose to stay the night over Garth Snow’s crib a few days ago; I don’t know how common a practice that is, but it at least means that if either of these two players get drafted by the Islanders, they’ll be somewhat happy campers.

Things get even better though, especially in the case of Tavares.

From Yahoo Sports:

• C John Tavares not only slept at GM Garth Snow’s house during his visit to Long Island in late May, but he toured Long Island with 17-year veteran C Doug Weight during his stay. “I drove him to some areas and said, ‘I played 15 years in the league before I knew this was here,’” Weight told Newsday. “You can have a wonderful fan base; we can start winning, and sooner or later, there will be a new building. You’ll have one of the greatest cities in the world 30 minutes from your door, and it’s a beautiful summer spot.’ I said, ‘You’re the type of player who can be the face of this franchise for a long time if they take you. There’s nothing to be afraid of as far as being here on Long Island. There’s a reputation because the team hasn’t had much success over the last 12 years, but maybe it just takes somebody like you to get in there.’ He showed absolutely no worry… He handles the pressure well, but I also think he likes to get away in the off-season. This could be a perfect place for him.”

Make no mistake about it, this was one of the reasons why Doug Weight was resigned. He’s like a used car salesman you want to take out to dinner. There’s a sincerity in his words, yet you know he’s got his own motives. The guy has a way with players that makes me think he’ll earn himself a nice role in the front office of a team or in the NHLPA once his playing days are over. If he can continue to perform at the pace he was last season, he may have one more year left in him after all.

However, before I sing his praises any further, we’ll see just how much they played a part in the way things turn out on June 26.

Hopefully this is the beginning of more good news to come.

Posted under Offseason 2009

If one thing was painfully obvious this season, it was that Doug Weight doesn’t like losing.

Unlike some of the other players that seemed content with their play during the season, Weight was always seen yammering on the bench and trying whatever he could in order to get his team going.

Now with the team ready to draft the number one pick in the draft in a few weeks, Weight sees the possibilities.

And boy is he excited.

“Getting the first pick in the draft certainly excites me from an organization standpoint,” Weight said. “We had 61 points this year and we had a lot of injuries and it was a tough year for us this way. I think we are going in the right direction, but nothing speeds it up like getting a great hockey player. We have some good young players that have taken some strides this year, but to get somebody like this in your organization in September or October will give us a boost and maybe it will give us some confidence. If you team that up with everyone getting healthy next year, who knows what position we are going to be in.”

You have to admit, Weight has a point. While the rest of the NHL is focused on what the Islanders did this year, no one is thinking about how much better they can be next season. Guys like Josh Bailey, Frans Neilsen, Kyle Okposo and Blake Comeau should be ready to perform at a higher level and if they can keep veterans like Trent Hunter, Brendan Witt and Radek Martinek healthy, who knows what the team will be capable of.

Well, I think even if that is the case, the team will struggle to find itself in the postseason, but they will be better than this season.

At the very least, it’s a start.

While garnering the first pick has lifted the spirits of Weight, it’s been great for business as well.

“There is a lot of excitement surrounding this year’s NHL Entry Draft for the Islanders organization and its fans,” New York Islanders President Chris Dey told the team’s official website. “That enthusiasm is being felt through the increased interest in our various ticket packages.”

Teams like the Blackhawks and Penguins have proven how much a first overall pick can change play on the ice and business; hopefully this is just the beginning of something special for the Isles.

Photo by Patrick Hickey Jr.

Posted under Offseason 2009

When the Islanders signed Doug Weight this past offseason, not much was expected from him, especially considering he had the worst season of his professional career last season.

I even set the bar pretty low for him in July, writing:

“If he’s healthy all season, I definitely see him scoring a dozen goals and adding 30 helpers, while setting a great on-ice example for the youngsters.”

And who wouldn’t have set the bar low for the guy after what happened to him the year before? As a matter of fact, many insiders thought the guy was finished after last season.

“I felt like I had a lot of hockey left in me and that I was not put in a good situation to play,” Weight said of his experience on 2007-08 on the team’s official website a few days ago. “But those things happen and it’s how you respond to those things. Fortunately, the Islanders wanted to give me a chance and I had a coach that had a lot of respect for my game and the way I play. I felt like I responded pretty well.”

Damn skippy you did.

In just 53 games, Weight scored 10 goals and added 28 assists, good for third on the team. Scoring 21 of his points on the powerplay as well, Weight did everything the Islanders could have asked from and more. Before the Islanders began their collapse and Joey MacDonald was doing just more than holding down the fort, Weight was also scoring a point a game and was screaming his head off on the bench, proving he was every bit the leader the Islanders expected him to be.

Considering what most of us expected from him, it’s almost impossible to argue with that.

“I wish I could’ve stayed healthy because I think I could have had a pretty good season and helped our team even more,” Weight said on the team’s official site. “But having said that, I am going to work hard during the offseason and come back and hopefully have a great year.”

If he is healthy, I expect Weight to score 15 goals and add 40 assists that should put him near Mark Streit and Kyle Okposo for the team’s scoring lead. That alone means the Islanders offense will still have its fair share of growing pains next season, but that won’t be because of Weight.

Simply put, the guy just fits into the Islanders system and is still a capable playmaker.

If the Islanders pick up John Tavares and perhaps a free agent signing and there is less pressure on Weight to produce, I expect him to have an even better season. At this point in his career, he can’t be asked to score 70 points, but if some of the youngsters can pick it up, Weight can and will continue to be a productive player for the New York Islanders.

Photo by Patrick Hickey Jr.

Posted under Offseason 2009

The only thing worse than watching the Islanders lose 6-2 is watching the Islanders lose 6-2 in person.

In the end, I felt horrible for my g/f, who had her first NHL spoiled by the exploits of Phil Kessel and the Bruins, who dominated the living crap out of an Islanders team that was sluggish in both ends of the ice.

Despite that however, you could see that Islander fans and the organization feel better about this team than their record indicates, especially Islanders head coach Scott Gordon.

“We have some elements of team identity to carry over into next season,” Gordon told the Associated Press after the game. “The second half of the season flew by with the attitude and commitment we had.”

After a dismal first half, the Isles were a different team in the second, as many of the youngsters carried them. Up until April, the Islanders were playing close to .500 hockey in the second half, no small feat for a team missing players like Rick DiPietro, Trent Hunter, Andy Sutton and Mike Sillinger. During that span, Kyle Okposo, Frans Nielsen, Blake Comeau and Sean Bergenheim proved that could be everyday NHLers, while Josh Bailey and Jeff Tambellini showed that they may be able to contribute a bit more than they did earlier in the season as well [keep your fingers crossed.] Even the super youngin’s like Jesse Joensuu, Mike Iggulden, Trevor Smith and Joe Rechlicz have shown some potential and will be fighting for a job in training camp next year.

Doug Weight came back for the last few games of the season and showed his support for the team by signing a one-year extension, while Yann Danis fizzled out after a three-week stretch of excellent hockey in February and March.

Sounds like a Soap Opera doesn’t it? Now imagine writing something about a team like this every day for a year and watching half the other dudes and dudettes give up halfway through.

Seeing the Blog Box occupied only by the uber dependable Gary Harding for the last game of the season yesterday was pretty disappointing. Those guys have a privilege and to just give up because the team is losing says way more than any of their writing ever could.

That’s one of the reasons why I’d rather write at home [aside from the fact that I cover minor league hockey, live in Brooklyn, run three other sites and teach college English and journalism] anyway. What I’m trying to say here is that the Islanders should pay attention to these things very closely. When your most dedicated super fans can’t show up to watch the game from one of the best seats in the house and do something hundreds of young journalism students would die for, you know you have a problem.

Simply put, this team needs more offense, needs to stay healthy and needs a new building. Once that happens, all the fans that gave up will have a reason to believe again and this team can gain it’s respectability back.

Nothing short of John Tavares, the lighthouse project and Rick DiPietro back in net can fix that.

Site News: Now that the season is over, I will update less often, probably once or twice a week, in order to give myself a much needed break. Thank you to everyone that helped support me this season. Hopefully next season we’ll be able to talk Islanders hockey a bit longer.

Photo by Patrick Hickey Jr.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants

I said a few weeks ago that I’d be pretty cool with Doug Weight signing an extension with the New York Islanders.

Today, those thoughts have not changed.

Despite missing 29 games with injuries this season, the wily veteran still has 35 points and when healthy, has been a difference maker.

Signing for only two million bucks as well, Weight is a low-risk and high reward signing. If he stays on the ice and off injured reserve, he’ll score his 50 points or so and will help youngsters like Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey get better.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

“I wish everything could have been a little better this year; I wish I could have stayed healthier, I wish a lot of guys on our team could have stayed healthier,” Weight told Newsday. “But I really have been impressed with everything over the course of the last three or four months, and I’ve said before we like the area. I’m excited to be coming back and excited for what’s coming for this team, hopefully sooner than later.

“We’re going to be champing at the bit to get back in September, and I’m happy to be part of it.”
The fact that Weight is still hungry and is a testament to what Scott Gordon’s system can produce may also entice other veterans to come and fill holes on this young Islanders team. Islanders General Manager Garth Snow has sad that next year’s roster will be a very similar one to this season’s, but if he can get someone at a price similar to Weight that can come in and produce, you can bet your bottom dollar that he’ll do so. Because of that, keeping Weight around can turn out to be a smart move for the Isles.
Remember this anyone?

It feels like 10 years ago, doesn’t it? To the rest of the hockey world, it seems impossible that the Islanders could have players the likes of Ryan Smyth, Alexei Yashin, Jason Blake and Viktor Kozlov on their roster, but just two seasons ago, they did.

However, if this team is to ever make the playoffs while playing in Long Island again, a new batch of players, much younger and far less accomplished, will have to find the same amount of intensity those guys did just two short seasons ago.

Will it ever happen?

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2009