Well, it appears Rick DiPietro isn’t going to be ready for the season after all.

Regardless of what New York Islanders General Manager Garth Snow says, the signing of Marty Biron means two things: The Isles are going to try to win as many games as they can this season and you can expect another signing or two this summer.

Sure, the team is rebuilding, but by having three starting goaltenders on their roster, the Islanders also keep their options open. If DP comes back and is able to play Biron becomes an excellent bargaining chip, which can be used for the 2010 draft.

Say what you want about it, but I remember the Maple Leafs and several other teams over the past few years stockpiling capable goaltenders.

Snow should be applauded for signing a netminder with Biron’s experience for virtually nothing.

Not only does it make the team much more competitive on paper, it also proves to the fan base that the team isn’t dumping the season before it starts.

Damn good news if you ask me.

Now get another scoring forward and defenseman.

Then I’ll be happy.

Posted under Offseason 2009

I’ve been saying for the past few weeks that the Isles needed to sign a more than competent veteran backup goaltender, one that can pick up the slack if Rick DiPietro is unable to play as much as he would like to this season.

Dwayne Roloson can definitely be that guy.

He’s got playoff experience and has proven he can be more than dependable, especially when on a team lacking offense. This plays a huge role when you consider the fact that even with John Tavares on board, the Islanders offense will be questionable and will be struggling to find its identity this season.

While I would have liked the Isles to have taken a shot with Marty Biron, the question remains if he would have came to the Island. To get a guy that has a solid resume and a hefty amount of playoff experience is a plus that could come in handy this season. Signing a two-year contract, I have no doubt that if healthy, D-Ro will be a damn good backup goaltender and far better than the other big name backups the Isles have had over the past 10 years that have failed to fill the bill for this team.

However, the team still has work to do this offseason.

If the Isles can now somehow find a way to sign another goal scorer, someone who can deposit about 25 tallies a year, I may start feeling much better about this team next season.

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

Even with the number one pick this upcoming draft, the New York Islanders have several needs that will have to be addressed before this team can even be considered a playoff contender. One being a competent backup goaltender to support Rick DiPietro if his injury problems continue to be a detriment to the team [the guy reminds me of Samuel L Jackson's character in “Unbreakable” more and more every season] and the other being another talented offensive player. Over the past few weeks, I’ve also had a few discussions with other people, who feel the Islanders could also use another energy guy.

The only question is, what does the team do? Do they continue to develop the talent they have and hope that those needs get filled, or do they get proactive and ensure those dire needs? I personally feel that aside from a backup goaltender, the Islanders may sign a veteran leader or two to fight for a spot in training camp, but aside from that, they’re done.

That is unless they are willing to part ways with a few of their underachieving youngsters. However, I don’t expect Snow to pull a Mike Milbury here and trade any young player before he has a good enough idea of what they are truly capable of. No more Todd Bertuzzi or Bryan McCabe jobs here anymore.

Despite that, I figured it would be interesting to see who is available right now.

I know this list is far from complete, but here are some of the forwards who will be UFA’s this offseason:

Marian Gaborik, Mark Recchi, Martin Havlat, Keith Tkachuk, Mike Knuble, Maxim Afinogenov, Ian Laperriere, Nik Antropov, Brian Gionta, Steven Reinprecht, Bobby Holik, Alex Tanguay, John Madden, Mike Comrie, Mike Cammalleri, Eric Cole, the Sedin twins, Taylor Pyatt.

Thoughts:

Aside from Gaborik, Havlat, Cammalleri and the Sedin Twins, I don’t know if I’d take a chance on anyone here. Recchi and Tkachuk may get interest from the Isles, especially because they are leaders. Laperriere may be an interesting choice too and would be fun to watch with guys like Richard Park and Blake Comeau. However, like I mentioned before, for any of these moves to happen, the Islanders will have to trade some of the youngsters to make room. Do you do that in a rebuilding plan? Especially considering most of these guys don’t look to be the type of players who would want to stay here long term?

Defensemen:

Johnny Oduya, Niclas Havelid, Jay Bouwmeester, Adrian Aucoin, Francois Beauchemin, Mattias Ohlund, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Michael Komisarek.

Thoughts: The Islanders defense isn’t in horrible shape, but I personally would like to see Oduya get a shot. Bergeron learned how to play defense in Minnesota and isn’t the same player he was a few seasons ago with the Isles. Adrian Aucoin is still a god if you ask me.

Goaltenders:

Manny Fernandez, Nikolai Khabibulin, Antero Niittymaki, Martin Biron, Scott Clemmensen, Jason Labarbera.

Thoughts:

Take Clemmensen and be done with it. The guy proved this season he could handle the pressure. He’s in his prime and will be ready if DP gets hurt. A no-brainer if ya ask me. However, Niittymaki may be an interesting option as well.

Posted under Offseason 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.

Simply put, Danis and MacDonald still aren’t proven commodities in this league and with Rick DiPietro’s injury problems the past couple of seasons, the Islanders need not only to sign a seasoned backup, but someone who can also play at Bridgeport that is capable of backing up as well. As far as I’m concerned, Peter Mannino still needs to earn his bumps and bruises, making the Islanders forced to go shopping in the free agent pool or at the draft to solve these problems.

In my last post, I named a few goaltenders the Isles could go after in the draft, but I failed to address the message that could potentially send to DiPietro. Even if they are a few years away, it may agitate DP and make him even more of a loose cannon on the ice, giving the Islanders another disaster of a contract to deal with while they are still paying off the salaries of Alexei Yashin and Shawn Bates. Nevertheless, drafting a young goaltender who in a few years could play 30-40 games would be the best thing for the organization and something that the Islanders enigmatic goaltender will have to deal with.

In addition to signing a young goaltender, the Islanders would be smart to take a look at the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have Curtis Joseph, Olaf Kolzig and Martin Gerber entering Unrestricted Free Agency this offseason. Of the three, Gerber may be the best option. Making $1.8 million this season and coming off a less than mediocre campaign in ‘09, Gerber, who won 38 games three years ago, can be the guy to the team if DP’s hips aren’t up for the long haul and can be acquired for a reasonable price. His apparent friendship with Mark Streit should only help facilitate the process as well.

Who knows, many the Islanders can hit the Swiss jackpot two years in a row.

So I’m sure you’re all wondering, what does this have to do with Danis and MacDonald?

Well, I personally think Danis would be the better choice to play at Bridgeport considering the fact that he was the better goaltender of the two last season, with a drafted youngster earning his stripes in Utah and Bridgeport before the Islanders decide where he’s going to go next, leaving Gerber and DP with the big club.

With that being said, I believe that leaves MacDonald without a gig.

But that’s just in my bizarre world.

Photo by Patrick Hickey Jr.

Posted under Isles Thoughts 2009

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.

Now, while Islanders general manager Garth Snow has kept mum on his intentions, I offer a few thoughts as to what the team should do with their picks.

Option One- Draft John Tavares and a talented blue liner. Many believe Tavares could be the player to build around, but he’ll just be one piece to the puzzle that will get the Isles back into the playoffs. A guy like Calvin De Haan, who scored 63 points in 68 games with the Oshawa Generals this past season, may be a great choice. With Campoli gone, the Islanders could use more depth on the powerplay and De Haan has the talent to be that man. I don’t know how you guys feel, but I miss the days when the Islanders had a bunch of talented defensemen who could score. Considering that, De Haan has the potential to help the Islanders offense quite a bit.

Swedish D-man David Rundblad is a little bit older and while he doesn’t have the same offensive ability, he may be the better skater of the two and has more size, making him the Andy Sutton with a better shot of the future. However, he may be spending more time abroad before jumping to the NHL, making him a tougher guy to consider drafting.

Option Two- Draft John Tavares and a goaltender. Of course, now it’s obvious what I think the Islanders should do with the first pick, but with the 29th, they may consider getting a young goaltender, just in case Rick DiPietro injures another hip. Wait, he’s already injured both of them over the past two seasons.

If Edward Pasquale is available when the Islanders go for their second pick, they should consider picking him up. Winning 32 games in the OHL this season with a solid .911 save percentage this season, Pasquale could be ready to thrive in a few seasons just in case DP doesn’t come close to finishing him record-breaking contract.

Oliver Roy is another quality goaltender the Islanders could look at. Winning 35 games in the QMJHL this season, Roy is a guy that may be able to play 40 games a season and take some of the pressure off DiPietro.

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

Not a bad game overall and without a doubt better than what this team was doing the last two games against the Hurricanes and Penguins. Definitely good to see Bergenheim get in there and get a goal; same thing goes for Jackman, who hasn’t given up on a shift all season. Yann Danis made 27 saves, many of which were with traffic in front of the net, which, at the very least, kept the Islanders in the game.

Today, against the Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins, the Islanders will try and go out in style the same way the did last season when they beat the Rangers on the last day last season.

If all goes well, the Bruins will dress Manny Fernandez, who got the start last night, and make sure he’s ready just in case uber-dependable Tim Thomas [Did you ever think you'd say that about the guy four years ago?] goes down for the playoff run. With the Islanders luck however, Thomas will be in net, as the Bruins too look to go out in style and crush an Islanders team that doesn’t stand a chance.

At any rate, should be an interesting match-up. Lets see if Kyle Okposo can have a good game as well and make sure the Islanders have a 20-goal scorer on this team this season. If not, it’s going to be something many Islanders fans remember for years to come.

Streit wants a sniper- Islanders All-Star defenseman Mark Streit knows what he wants the Islanders to go after this draft.

I’m sure many of you will agree with him as well.

“I think we need a sniper, a goal-scorer,” Streit told Newsday. “I think when Ricky (goalie Rick DiPietro) is healthy and we have our whole ‘D’ corps, we have a pretty good defense we can build on. We have a lot of good talent up front, and obviously, one other guy who could put the puck in the net wouldn’t hurt next year. But that’s out of my hands.”

I’ll be there- As part of my winning the 2008 Islanders blog of the year, I won a pair of tickets to any non-Rangers home game this season and decided a few weeks ago that today would be the perfect day. I’ll see you guys there. Driving all the way from Brooklyn, the Islanders better not let me down, or they’ll be hell to pay.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants

Despite the fact that Trent Hunter is the longest tenured member on the roster aside from Rick DiPietro and Radek Martinek and would make a more than solid NHL captain and Brendan Witt has the leadership ability, I’m beginning to feel that Mark Streit should be the Islanders next captain.

We all know it’s a decision that won’t be made until next season, but just look at the guy’s numbers. 52 points and a +7 on the worst team in the league, from the blue line. I don’t know if there are many players in the league that could put up points like that if they were in his situation. Add in the fact that he missed and handful of games and it’s possible he could have even broken his career high in points that he set last season.

However, as many of you dudes and dudettes know, being a captain of any team in any league has more to do with the total package than just numbers alone. That is a category where I think Streit is totally underrated. Making amazing strides in his defensive game this season, I dare say that Streit is the best defenseman this team has had since Adrian Aucoin. And Unlike Aucoin, he doesn’t have to take 200 shots a season to be productive offensively. A great passer with an excellent shot and skating ability, Streit is one of the few defensemen in the league that can attract attention in all situations on offense and make the players around him better.

To me, that’s exactly what a captain should be able to do.

And to think, the Montreal Canadiens thought they used the guy up and that he’d never be able to reproduce the numbers he put up last season. I’m not a betting man by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m sure the Habs would gladly take Streit over Mathieu Schneider any day of the week. And let’s be fair here, Schneider is one of the most talented offensive defensemen of this generation. He’s a guy that many teams would kill to have.

But he’s not Mark Streit.

Again, that’s another reason why he should be Islanders captain. He’s one of a kind and he’s getting better every day because the organization has had faith in him from the start. The same way the youngsters are growing, Streit too has become a much better player this season and is a representation of what this team could be if they worked as hard as he did.

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2009

I’ve told you guys countless times in the three seasons that I’ve been writing this column that the New York Islanders are unlike any team in the NHL.

Regardless of if they are winning, losing or middling, there is always news, always things to think about and write about.

Despite being in last place, this team will have a serious goaltender controversy to think about this offseason. Everyone knows Rick DiPietro will be the number one, but coming off another injury-ravaged season, it’s highly doubtful that he’ll play the 70 games he wants to play.

My best guess is that DP will play about 50-55 next season and if all goes as well, then and only then will he be used in the Tim “Every Day” Cheveldae-esque role that he insists on playing.

However, will it be Danis or Joey MacDonald that is on the bench? Would one of them be willing to sign a two-way contract next season to provide support just in case DP gets injured again? Highly doubtful. Especially after both of them have proved they can be a solid backup if given a chance.

So what happens here? Who knows, but from what I’ve seen from Danis over the past few weeks and how much the coaching staff has embraced him, I think it makes this decision in the future an even tougher one.

“He’s played like a No. 1 over the short term,” coach Scott Gordon told the AP. “That’s ultimately going to be a decision to be made after the season is over. Ricky’s status will factor into it. All I can say is Yann has clearly shown his performance has been at a higher level than anything we’ve had all year. I’m happy for him.”

Wow. Big words, but that’s what comes with putting up the numbers that Danis has this season.

And who would have thought after his first two miserable outings? Not me, that’s for sure.

But then again, this is what the New York Islanders are all about. A few months ago, everyone, including myself, weren’t thrilled when Wade Dubielewicz got picked up by the Blue Jackets, because we didn’t like what we saw from this Danis-guy with the French-accent. We all wanted our Yoda back, so he could swing his light saber. Instead, we got d’Artagnan, with his saber and funny looking mustache.

But hey, he’s been great and it’s given this writer something to of course, write about.

What more could you ask for?

A playoff appearance?

One day fellas, one day.

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2009