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

First thing first- Moulson: The kid looked good last night and has an impressive resume in the AHL. Could he make this team, or is he just a guy hanging around to add depth at Bridgeport? What do you guys think?

Phaneuf’s hit on Kyle Okposo:

Straight from the horse’s mouth: “I thought it was a clean hit,” Phaneuf told the AP. “I stepped up and used my shoulder. You don’t like to see guys get hurt, but that’s part of my job when the hits are there, to take them.”

My Thoughts: Looks to me that Phaneuf left the air on that hit and if Okposo misses time with this concussion, Phaneuf should get suspended. KO called his pops afterward and told him he was OK; let’s just hope this doesn’t turn out to be something serious.

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

While it’s great the Islanders have the number one pick in the draft, it won’t mean a thing without a healthy Rick DiPietro and a competent backup behind him.

With both Joey MacDonald and Yann Danis UFA’s this offseason and a plethora of quality goaltenders available, the Islanders will have no excuses this summer and have an opportunity to get someone that will be able to get the job done just in case DP’s surgically-repaired hips don’t hold up…again.

I’ve mentioned a few of them over the past few weeks, guys like Antero Niittymaki and Craig Anderson, who could easily step in for 25-30 games and spell DP when he needs it.

Nothing against DP, but with the injuries he’s had over the past few seasons, playing in 65-70 games a season may not be the best thing for him. Lets just say hypothetically the Isles manage to squeak into the playoffs, what shape will he be in then?

That’s why addressing the backup situation is so important.

“To me, the most important thing is going to be Ricky,” Gordon told Newsday. “No matter who we draft, it’s going to come down to what we do in net. No matter how good you are, you’re going to break down. You can’t underestimate the value of the guy in net.

“You saw Ricky’s value the previous year when he played so well the first half of the season. When he got hurt, they went from being a playoff contender to struggling. You have to have a guy who is able to run with the ball. No matter who we draft, it gets overshadowed by who’s in net.”

If DP is indeed healthy and if the player the Islanders draft is able to make a significant contribution, the Islanders may be in decent shape, especially when you consider how well guys like Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo and Bruno Gervais were playing through the final leg of the season when they were playing spoiler.

The next few weeks should be interesting as the draft is one important piece to the puzzle and the upcoming free agent sweepstakes that will follow will be equally as important. Mark my words, if the Islanders don’t address this concern and sign both a goaltender with experience to play in the AHL and one to backup DP, they’ll be in the same situation they were this past season if he goes down.

Photo by Patrick Hickey Jr.

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

While I’ve nibbled at this topic a few times, I’ve failed to give a full out answer on what the Isles should do with the first pick. Everyone who reads this site knows I believe John Tavares should be an Islander. But many don’t know why.

Here it is.

Despite the fact that many scouts have said he doesn’t play great defense and is a bit selfish with the puck, those same scouts still see him projecting into a 40-goal scorer. That reason alone, I feel the Islanders need him in the lineup. Simply put, who gives a crap if he doesn’t play defense now. That should change over time and if he’s scoring 40 goals, I could live with bad defense, even if it’s on the Mike Comrie level.

What many people are failing to realize here is that the New York Islanders are desperate and far more than anyone thinks. They need someone on the ice they can believe in and someone they feel can be a guy that can help them get out of this funk they’ve been in since the early 90s. Since that time, they’ve brought in so many people that have failed miserably at the task and it’s time now to set this ship right before it’s totally unrecoverable. So far, Kyle Okposo looks to be a guy the team can build around, but he is not going to be the offensive leader this team needs in order to make the playoffs, nevertheless win a championship. Josh Bailey, too, while he made significant strides in spite of tremendous growing pains this past season, looks more like a 50-60 point guy with character.

John Tavares however is a star right now and the Islanders don’t have any.

The last thing you want to do is go playing around with trades and hurt your chances at giving the fans what they want. While this is a sport and of course, the main goal is to win, sometimes making fans happy is the smart thing to do. As of right now, Tavares is the clear fan favorite, despite Victor Hedman having a group of fans that think he’d be the right guy as well. As far as Matt Duchene goes, the fans don’t know much about him.

What the Islanders need to do now is to protect themselves by putting as much information about these three players on their site and show them meeting the Islanders brass. I’d even go as far as quoting them about how’d they feel if the Islanders drafted them, even throw some video on the site of these guys in action, so they can make their own decision and be forced to go off of what the media tells them. Make the fans aware of what is going on and put them in a situation where on draft day, they are educated and don’t flip out because they have no idea who the team drafted.

Remember, this is a business and the Islanders have to make their customers happy. If they aren’t going to do what everyone thinks they should do and draft Tavares, they should start preparing now in order to deflect that obvious backlash that may ensue.

Posted under Offseason 2009

I have good news and I have bad news. What would you like to hear first?

Well, I’ve always been a sucker for the good news first. Like the time my father told me the Islanders got Kirk Muller and Mathieu Schneider before mentioning that it cost the team Pierre Turgeon and Vladimir Malakov.

Anyway, back to business.

Yes, there is some good news to talk about despite the team’s current state.

It appears that John Tavares is down. Yes, he is down, with the New York Islanders that is.

For those of you who don’t comprehend the colloquialism, “down” means there’s an understanding of sorts between the two parties involved.

That my friends is great news. Even better than the play of Mark Streit and Kyle Okposo in the Ice Hockey Federation Men’s World Championship.

“I told Garth, ‘If you draft John, he’d look forward to playing for your organization,” Tavares’ agent Pat Brisson told Newsday. “If he’s drafted by the Islanders, he probably has a chance to play right away and contribute, and it’s the New York market. We had a nice talk.”

Looks like Tavares won’t be puling an Eric Lindros after all and the Islanders may have an easy decision to make. The fact that the Islanders also haven’t made much reference to Victor Hedman since the draft and Islanders assistant GM Ryan Jankowski has scouted Matt Duchene shows the Isles are looking for more offense at the center position.

Tavares can definitely be that guy.

OK, time for the somewhat bad news…

I’m not sure how many of you have read the Newsday article a few days ago where Islanders owner Charles Wang stated for the record that if he had the chance, he would have never bought the team, so I’ll post the link here: http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islanders/ny-spwang2712699310may02,0,3754050.story

While it’s obvious that Wang has felt this way for quite some time, anyone who has lost as much money as he has over the past nine years would, the last thing he should do is publicly renounce his decision to buy this team- especially so close to the draft when things have to chance to start turning in his favor.

It’s like complaining about your marriage because your wife’s been acting weird for the past weeks, to only find out she’s been scared to tell you she’s pregnant. Simply put, if the Islanders get John Tavares and can add a few other pieces, things will start to change. They’ll be in a much better situation to play hard ball and get the Lighthouse Project going as well.

Because of that, Wang’s best option is to keep his mouth shut until after draft day. If Garth Snow gets the job done, he’ll be able to talk as much as he wants.

Photo by Patrick Hickey Jr.

Posted under Offseason 2009