According to the team’s official website, Andy Hilbert has been activated off of injured reserve and will rejoin the team after the All-Star break.

It’s obviously not Joe Thornton, but up until the time of his injury, Hilbert was playing the best hockey of his professional career. Playing for his old coach from the Boston system, now Isles coach Scott Gordon, where he had some of the best seasons of his AHL career at least, Hilbert has been revitalized this year and is still on pace for a 15 goal season. For a team having so many problems producing offensively, getting a guy that can chip in a bit will definitely be a shot in the arm.

It’s also huge for Hilbert, who will also be a free agent at the end of the season. A young veteran at 27-years old, this will be perhaps the most important offseason in his career. If he gets hot down the stretch, Hilbert can single-handedly increase his value on the free agent market and provide himself and his family with added security. If he does get hot and looks like his days of hitting goal posts in tough situations are over, the Isles may want to hold on to him, especially with youngsters like Jeff Tambellini looking far from everyday players. All in all, it’s just another role in the Soap Opera season this team has had this season.

If Isles fall, Whalers rise from Ashes?- With the Kansas City rumors already putting many Islander fans’ stomachs in knots, Bill Price writes in his internet column for the Daily News that according to a e-mail he received from a dedicated reader [not the most trustworthy source obviously] that contained a link to a story [more like a 200 word-run-around blurb for all you journalists out there] http://www.courant.com/news/local/hr/hc-towndigbrf0115.art0jan15,0,5369581.story, that the mayor of Hartford where speaking with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman about getting another team. How Price, tied this to the Islanders is a bit too easy for me. Someone left a comment on the piece’s page saying that it must have been a slow news day. I tend to agree. Aside from the headline and mentioning that he’d be excited if the Isles moved to Hartford “as long as they are called the Whalers and play Brass Bonanza,” Price doesn’t reveal any new information about the Isles possible move, he just wastes 300 or so words venting his opinion, which lacks any amount of facts.

Reading the actual news article from which inspired Price to write his column only proves that this possibility is one that is extremely unlikely and one that only inspired Price to play connect the dots, rather than reporter.

Snore.

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2009

Mike Comrie hasn’t been himself this season. Dealing with a serious hip injury for most of the early season, many wondered why he even decided to play instead of getting healthy. The reason, is a simple one. This team needed him. However, at that time, he wasn’t really in a situation to help out as much as he would have liked. Now healthy, Comrie has been a different player over the past four games and combined with the play of Kyle Okposo and Blake Comeau, or the “CoCo Kola” line as I like to call them, the Islanders have more jam than they’ve had in a month.

Last season, Comrie started off hot because he wasn’t scared to take shots on net. No toe-drags, no fancy stick-handling moves, just plain old shooting at the net. Over the past four games, he’s done the same thing and has looked great on the puck. Simply put, he’s buzzing and has both Comeau and Okposo doing the same thing. The end result is one damn good line that played a key role in the Isles victory yesterday.

Speaking of key roles, Joey MacDonald was on his game in the first period and after a shoddy no-goal call, things could have fell apart, but they didn’t. After Brett McLean’s marker, Joey Mac was rock solid and the Islanders defense rose to the occasion, blocking shots and establishing themselves through solid passing in their own zone. When you do that, you make the goaltender’s work a whole lot easier. Thankfully, that was the case yesterday afternoon.

Add in another quality game from Mark Streit and what I consider a turning point game for Sean Bergenheim and you get enough to ensure an Isles victory.

Smith’s debut- With Trent Hunter and Mike Sillinger out of the lineup, Trevor Smith made his NHL debut and truth be told, I really like the kid. Forget about the fact that he’s wearing my favorite number on the back of his jersey, he’s got a lot of spunk and has a nose for the net. I got a feeling he may be someone that Islander fans may get to know a bit better over the next few weeks.

On another note, I just want to say that while I love the work of Howie Rose on Islanders telecasts, I loved hearing Jiggs McDonald yesterday. I know I say it every time he’s back with the Isles, but that’s only because it’s true. With everything that’s gone on with his life over the past few weeks, it’s great to see him in on TV doing what I feel he’s one of the best in the world at.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants

The Islanders haven’t looked like a playoff team in quite some time this season, but Islanders head coach Scott Gordon isn’t making any excuses.

Simply put, with all the injuries this team has had, you wouldn’t blame the guy if he did.

Not having Rick DiPietro in the lineup for virtually the entire season alone gives him a get out of jail free card, but even in spite of that, Gordon hasn’t made any excuses.

“Certainly, not having your No. 1 guy for the whole year has been a unique situation,” Gordon told the AP. “It would be a unique situation for any team, but certainly, as a first-time head coach in the NHL, to not have your No. 1 guy and to have to rely so much on a guy that’s done a great job at trying to make a name for himself as a proven NHL goaltender, it certainly has been a hurdle.”

Aside from the play of Mark Streit, Joey MacDonald and Doug Weight, things like this make the season a little bit easier to deal with. Anyone who reads Chris Botta’s rock-solid Point-Blank blog, knows that Islanders GM Garth Snow is sticking with Gordon for the long-term and regardless of what any of his players say about the team’s new system, the Islanders are going to give Gordon every opportunity to make things work.

Botta also did a great job on his blog recently talking about the strides the Washington Capitals have made over the years to become the team that they have. Much like Botta, I feel the Isles may have to tank the next few seasons and bring in the right people little by little if they have any chance at turning this team into a legitimate and consistent playoff contender.

The only problem is asking Islander fans to wait isn’t exactly an easy thing to do.

Being a fan of this team over the past 15 years has been like going to OTB and betting on a bad horse simply because you feel it’s got what it takes and then seeing it break every bone in it’s body and miraculously get up and do it over again the next race. Sure, there have been some moments where this horse finished, but after last season especially, it was obvious that the horse needed to be taken out to pasture. So now, while not having a completely new pony, the Islanders have a genetic misfit that hopefully can transform itself into something dependable and entertaining over the next few seasons.

If it doesn’t, then Gordon won’t need to make excuses, because he and Snow will be out of them.

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2008

Doug Weight is getting closer to that milestone and the Islanders are getting better, but again it’s not enough.

One great period wasn’t for the Islanders to win last night and why should it have been? How many times has this team played great for 40 minutes this season to only come up short? So when the Islanders managed to play one of their best third periods of the season, I wasn’t holding my breath.

It didn’t matter that Joey MacDonald battled back after a few shaky goals and kept the team in the game or that Richard Park played on his best games in an Islander uniform. It didn’t matter that Bill Guerin, Mark Streit and Weight were solid. It didn’t matter that Tim Jackman was killing himself in the corner or Freddy Meyer was doing a decent job against Alex Ovechkin.

One turnover, one shot, one game.

That’s how AO rolls guys.

Nevertheless, in spite of this, the Islanders got a point and played well against a team with both offensive firepower and a hot goalie.

I, alongside the rest of the Islander fans out there should be happy with that right?

Not exactly.

Mike Comrie, Kyle Okposo and Rick DiPietro should be back the next week or two and for me, that’s when the Islanders season will really begin. I know that sounds messed up, but yes, once those guys come back and are inserted into the lineup, that’s when I start to get excited.

Take a look at what the forward lines could be then.

Comeau- Weight- Guerin
Okposo- Bailey- Hunter
Bergenheim- Comrie- Park
Hilbert- Sillinger- Sim

Are these fantastic lines? Not really, but I think it’s fair to say the Isles have a solid group of centers, especially when Hilbert and Park can play center as well. As far as the overall diversity of the lines go, I also think all four of these lines can score goals if they have to, as every guy here can score at least 15 goals if they played a complete season. Is that something to be scared about? Absolutely not, but I think this is the setup this team need to truly take advantage of Scott Gordon’s over speed system.

Add in a healthy DP with a proven Joey MacDonald and I think the Isles will be much improved. Then once Frans Nielsen and Radek Martinek come back healthy, it may be possible that the Isles can make a trade or two to put them in better shape for next season.

Will they be amazing? No, but they will be a .500 team that can get away with a mistake or two every night.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants

Undervalued and underutilized last season in Anaheim, Doug Weight came to the Islanders for a second lease on his career.

If any of the other team’s in the league didn’t pick up the one time All-Star, it was because he was coming off the worst season of his career and one that made it look like he was on his last leg.

That’s why many GM’S around the league and Islander fans alike thought Islanders management was crazy when they were the ones that brought him in this summer. However, Weight has easily been the team’s best player this season and has already proved his value, scoring 27 points in 30 games, two more than he scored of all last season.

Number don’t tell the whole story though. Simply put, you couldn’t ask for more from this guy. Alongside Streit, Weight has been something special on the powerplay and has done everything in his power to make sure the Islanders don’t embarrass themselves every night.

Now he’s just four points away from a milestone that every single hockey player from Pee Wee’s to Pros, dreams about.

1,000 points.

There’s just one problem, the Islanders are beginning to make good on the thoughts of every wannabe NHL pundit on the Internet and are playing themselves in a whole that not even the Disney version of the Might Ducks could get themselves out of. Sure they have Weight, who is their Charlie Conway and Trent Hunter, Bill Guerin and Streit are having solid seasons, but this team needs a lot more and fast or else this season is over.

And before the All-Star break.

That’s what makes this guy’s achievement a little bittersweet.

Even though Weight is a fun-loving guy who having a good time this season, you get the feeling that things could be so much better if the Islanders started winning.

“To play as long as I have and to be successful and to be coming up on that mark, I’m very proud of it and very excited about it,” Weight told Newsday. “It sounds like I’m answering in the politically correct way, but I want to mix it in with some wins. It’s more enjoyable around your team.”

It’s not like we didn’t all see this coming though, as all the fan boy blogs and even the guys secretly pulling for the team were hesitant to say where they thought this team was going to finish this season. A few weeks ago, I thought this team had the sneakiness to get into the playoffs.

Now it looks like Weight’s moment may be ruined.

What can the Islanders do to change that?

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2008

Sorry for jumping around so much today guys. I just have a bunch of things I want to address.

Sillinger’s return- Like I said yesterday, this is going to be good on several fronts for the Islanders. Nevertheless, I think Isles head coach Scott Gordon summed it up pretty nicely a few days ago when he said getting Silly back was like a mid-season trade.

Martinek reinjured? - According to Greg Logan’s blog, Radek Martinek will be out after banging his shoulder up against the Senators.  With Bruno Gervais also injured, it looks like Thomas Pock will get another chance to prove himself after clearing waivers a few days ago. In my opinion, Martinek has got to have the worst luck in the world. It’s like he’s got a black cat in his hockey bag or something. If he doesn’t start either taking the necessary steps to make sure he doesn’t get injured again without sacrificing his play in the offseason or taking showers with garlic shampoo, he’s going to continue to get injured and never be the player many Islander fans thought he’d be after 23 great games in 2002.

In other Islanders news, the team will get another injection of toughness as both Mitch Fritz and Tim Jackman. However, the question remains as to who sits if both of them or even one of them is in uniform on Thursday.

Cough:: Jeff Tambellini ::Cough.

Nothing against the kid, but he hasn’t shown a spark and considering how good Andy Hilbert and Richard Park have been thus far, he’s out of roles. This team doesn’t need another tiny sparkplug on the bottom two lines. They need another 20-goal scorer and as of right now, Tamby looks out of place.

Laviolette Canned? Well, it looks like former Islander coach Peter Laviolette will be spending the holiday season watching hockey at home, rather than coaching it with the Carolina Hurricanes. More ironic however is the fact that he has been replaced by Paul Maurice, the coach he replaced five years ago. As far as I’m concerned, Laviolette is still an excellent coach and if Alexei Yashin hadn’t played golf with Charles Wang every weekend, Lavy would have never lost control of his players and find the pink slip. And as far as that statement is concerned, I feel that while the Islanders teams he coached were good, they were never good enough to do more than he did with them.

Those teams really needed another legitimate scorer and a shutdown defenseman to compliment all the offense they had on the blue line. That is the real reason why Steve Stirling [who is now off coaching in Germany of all places] didn’t win a Stanley Cup here either. It had nothing to do with Laviolette. Sadly, just like the Islanders have had bad luck with players over the past 15 seasons, they’ve had just as much bad luck with coaches. Not keeping Laviolette and cleaning up the mess around him will always be one of them.

Posted under Isles Thoughts 2008

Mike Sillinger is expected to make his season debut this Thursday against Washington and many Islander fans are curious as to what they can expect from the veteran.

Well, here are my thoughts:

Firstly, the Islanders will instantly get better in the faceoff circle. Always one of the best faceoff guys in the league, Sillinger’s ability on the draw will help the Islanders on the powerplay and in their own end as well.

As well, the Islanders forward lines will have a bit more depth and head coach Scott Gordon can have some more fun with the combinations. I mentioned a few of the possibilities last night, but didn’t think of the Islanders powerplay featuring the likes of Sillinger, Bill Guerin, Josh Bailey, Mark Streit and Doug Weight until just now. Again, while it pales to compare to what some other team’s have, the Islanders depth is finally starting to kick in and I think because of that, the offense is going to pick up rather shortly.

On another note, once Mike Comrie comes back healthy, the Islanders will be pretty damn solid, albeit a bit on the old side, up the middle, featuring Weight, Comrie, Sillinger and Bailey. With that being said, I think they’ll eventually be able to hold their own at that position with the rest of the league.

Isles Looking at Gaborik? According to Eklund of the infamous HockeyBuzz.com, the Islanders are allegedly going after Marian Gaborik.

All I can say to that is no…no…no.

Nothing against the guy, who is without a doubt a legitimate talent in this league, but the Wild will be asking for way too much and as teams like the Penguins and Blackhawks have proven over the past few years, you don’t rebuild your fanbase by trading away high draft picks. Over the past few years, the Islanders have been lucky on a few occasions, with the Ryan Smyth trade not biting them in the rear and guys the likes of Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey having the potential to help play a part in turning th franchise around.

Even though Gaborik is only 26, he’s not the right fit for this team, that is unless the Isles can give the Wild a host of players that don’t figure to be in their long-term plans that may be attractive.

Immediately, a player like Comrie comes to mind, but obviously, that isn’t going to be enough. Who else could this team package in without sacrificing their future? Radek Martinek? Andy Sutton? I don’t know guys. The way this team is playing this season so far, they may be able to squeak into the playoffs once they get healthy. Do they take the risk of surrendering the rest of what could be a fun season, just to bring a big name in? What would you guys do if you were Garth Snow?

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2008

The first season the Islanders and I became buddies was way back in 92-93 and it is a season I’ll remember for the rest of my life. While guys like Pierre Turgeon, Derek King and Steve Thomas were my favorite players, my father was always a huge Ray Ferraro fan. I never quite understood it until later that season. Spending a huge portion of that season on the shelf, Ferraro wasn’t as big a part of the team’s success as he was the year before, when he scored 40 goals and added 40 assists and was the team’s lone representative at the All-Star game. Nevertheless, when the chips were down, Ferraro was money in the bank and after a while, his card had a spot on my wall over my bed right next to Turgeon’s.

After the team made the playoffs that season, Ferraro was at his very best. In the first round against the Capitals, Number 20 was all over the ice, creating offense and wasting no opportunities. He was so good in that series that he even out-shined Turgeon, who was one of the best players in the league that season. Thanks to the heart and soul he exhibited in that series, the Islanders took care of business against Washington and were all set to play the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

All the team’s success came at a price though. After scoring the nail in the coffin goal against the Capitals in game six, Turgeon was taken out by Dale Hunter [a moment that is perhaps one of the worst in Islanders history. Some Islander fans, including myself, feel that the injury to Turgeon possibly cost the team a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals], leaving them without their leading scorer against the best team in hockey.

Some analysts at the time felt that without Turgeon, the Islanders were a more dangerous team because they had to separate their offense a bit more, giving them four lines that could contribute on offense, rather than three [even though the kid line of Travis Green, Marty McInnis and Brad Dalgarno had some offensive ability, they were often matched up against the opposition's best offensive line. The same thing goes for the fourth line, that usually sported the likes of Mick Vukota and Tom Fitzgerald and mishmash of other players], but make no mistake about it, Turgeon had 132 points that season; he was the heart and soul of that team.

Getting the team to play at the same level as the Pens would be no simple task.

Ferraro however, was uber solid once again and played an influential part in the team’s win in that series, making the pass to Dave Volek with a two on one in overtime that eventually led to a moment that young Islander fans would recreate on the street for years to come.

Well, at least until Shawn Bates’ penalty shot goal in 2002.

Even though he’d be off on the Rangers and an enemy of the state to Isles fans a few years later, Ferraro continued to be a productive player over the course of his NHL career, spending time with the Kings, Thrashers and a few other places before hanging up his skates and joining the broadcasting ranks.

Nevertheless, I’ll always remember him as the guy that almost singlehandedly kept the Islanders on the ice with the best team in the world.

Posted under Isles Memories

A few days ago, I came across a beefy topic that caught my interest. According to HockeyBuzz.com, the Chicago Black Hawks are reportedly interested in the services of Mike Comrie. At first, I didn’t think much of it, considering the fact that the Islanders are already missing Mike Sillinger and need all the help up the middle they can get. After a few e-mails from people on the subject though, I figured I’d share my two cents.

For what my opinion is worth, I don’t think Comrie will ever be a point a game player in the NHL. Right now, he would be an excellent third line center on a great team or a solid second line center on a very good team. Only on a fridge or rebuilding team like the Islanders could he get a shot at being a number one center. That shot didn’t exactly go as planned for him last season either, as his lack of polish on defense and overuse of simple deke moves [like the toe drag, cough] hurt him down the stretch and turned what could have been a career year into another decent one.

Last season, around the All Star break, Comrie was pretty close to a point a game and once he had to be counted on more to provide offense when injuries enveloped the team, his game suffered incredibly. Being even more judgmental here, if you take away the first week of the season from him last year, where he lit up the Buffalo Sabres and it’s totally possible that he could have had his worst offensive season since his rookie campaign.

This season, it appears that the Islanders head coach Scott Gordon prefers to see Doug Weight play with Bill Guerin and because of that, Comrie has been relegated to playing on a line with Richard Park and Kyle Okposo. While some Islander fans aren’t too excited about this, I feel that once Mike Sillinger comes back, the Islanders lines will be pretty well balanced and Comrie won’t be a victim of playing against the opposition’s best defensive players every night, which will benefit him and his current linemates immensely. He’ll produce the same amount of offense he did last season, but it will be worth even more to the team because he’ll be more of a role player than a primary producer. Trading him now would ruin any chance this team has at having a decent offensive attack.

Don’t do it Garth Snow.

That is unless you’re willing to play Josh Bailey in more than nine games this season and you can get a first or second round pick for him.

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2008

Well, it appears Rick DiPietro is healthy, even though through the first few minutes of the game he had most Islander fans’ hearts in their mouths. After coughing up an early goal that had DP way out of position, he settled down and made several solid saves, effectively keeping the Islanders in the game. Because of that, the Isles biggest concern turned into their biggest strength by the end of the game.

If the Islanders offense could have gotten something going, this game could have been won. However, they didn’t have the same jump in their step they had against the Lightning. It just felt like every time they got a cycle going in the offensive zone, someone committed a turnover or failed to pull the trigger. Simply put, many of the youngsters have to shoot the puck more and stop hesitating. There were a few instances last night where that happened and it ended up costing the Islanders the game. If this team is going to battle for the last playoff spot this season, they have to finish on offense. That didn’t happen last night.

And therein lies the biggest problem with this team this season; they don’t have a bona fide finisher aside from Bill Guerin. So they have to get the youngsters and guys like Andy Hilbert, Trent Hunter and Richard Park to pot in a few every time they get a chance. Otherwise, this is going to be a very long season.

The only line that really had their legs in my mind last night was the Jon Sim, Guerin and Doug Weight line, who were buzzing in the offensive end, making passes and taking shots when they had to. However, Panthers goaltender Tomas Vokoun battled back after a less than mediocre appearance against the Wild a few days back and shut them down. Even a pair of powerplay opportunities couldn’t get this team going on offense. Because of how dormant the sticks were last season, I’m sure many fans are hoping that the team doesn’t fall into the same rut they did last season. If they do, things could end up even worse. Remember, this team doesn’t have the depth on the forward lines they had last season either.

The defense, aside from a few terrible passes in his own end by Thomas Pock, the Islanders defense was pretty solid. Again, their play in front of the crease needs to improve, but they weren’t allowing as many second chances as they were in the other games they’ve played this season.

That was one of the only real positives I could take out of last night’s game.

Looks like Scott Gordon is going to have some video to watch this week before the team’s net game with the Dallas Stars.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants