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
This post was written by Patrick Hickey, Jr. on October 5, 2009

Both Joey MacDonald and Yann Danis showed flashes of brilliance this season with the New York Islanders and played admirably behind an often battered and beaten defense. Make no mistake about it, in today’s NHL, where injuries are happenstance, it certainly means something. However, the the question remains as to how much it will mean to the Islanders this offseason.
With all the hoop-la lately regarding what the Islanders will do with the number one pick this upcoming draft, it’s easy to forget that they also have the 26th pick [edit] in the first round, courtesy of the trade that sent the under-achieving Mike Comrie and the unhappy Chris Campoli to the Senators.
Anyone that watches or listens to Howard Stern remembers a few years ago when former professional wrestler The Iron Shiek came on the show and bugged out, saying that he would make Paul Blair, a member of the Killer Bees, a pretty successful tag team during the 80s, “humble” for thinking he was a big shot and of course, for tampering with his cocaine.
I have a message to all of my readers:
I’ve been one of the few bloggers or possibly even Islander fans that have consistently stuck by Sean Bergenheim over the past two years. I’ve been called everything from crazy to stupid during that time, but last night, I looked like a genius.
Yann Danis is a golden god. I’m not just saying that because I’m dead sick with the flu and have watched “Almost Famous†three times in the past two days.