Since I discussed what I wanted to see from the team this season in my last post, I thought I’d discuss the things that could ruin my hockey experience in 2009.

1- A change in philosophy if the team is close to a playoff spot at the trading deadline-

Greg Logan reported the other day that Silly most likely won’t be ready for the season opener. Hate me for saying this if you want, but I think he could have been the best center on this team last year if he was completely healthy. That third line of him with Trent Hunter and Jon Sim can be gangbusters too if they get a chance. If he misses a bunch of time this season, Ben Walter and Jeremy Colliton will most likely get time there, and while I like both of them, the Isles need as much offense as possible and Silly can provide it.

Holy crap.

After a week of reading message board posts about various Islander rumors and hearsay, I think my head’s about to explode. Dissecting all of them now would be crazy, so for the time being, I’m just going to pick two of the more recent ones and give my take on them.

The first one I heard was that Ryan Smyth is headed to Calgary, but that’s only if the Flames don’t nab Devils center Scott Gomez first. I don’t know how you guys feel about this, but I think that stats aside, Gomez and Smyth are completely different types of players and there’s no way that Calgary is planning to pick up one in case they can’t get another. I’d like to believe it’s only one they have their eyes on.

Gomez is a pure offensive talent, while Smyth does a little bit of everything and is a great presence in the locker room; picking up either one of these guys would signal a huge change for that organization, so I think that the Flames are going to think this through heavily before they make a move.

The fact that this rumor [or at least Smyth being a part of it] was squashed the other day when Smyth’s agent told Newsday that he hadn’t received any offers from anyone else yet and that Smyth reportedly said was going to take his time before he made a commitment with anybody, makes me think that the Flames are after Gomez. At any rate, I’m hoping, like all of you guys that Smyth stays in Long Island. Unfortunately, the only thing that we can really do about it is wait and see what happens.

From what I’ve been told by a few of the writers I work with, Smyth isn’t really a big fan of Alexei “I don’t deserve the C” Yashin and that the general consensus is that if Yashin stays, Smyth is gone. With that being said, if this is true, the chances of the Isles keeping Smyth seem to range from slim to none. Hopefully, Snow can work some magic and get these guys on the same page. Otherwise, the trade that got Smyth here may come back and bite the Islanders in the arse.

The second rumor I heard was that Randy Robitaille has decided to play next season in Russia. This makes absolutely no sense to me.

Why would Robitaille go to Russia after stringing together three decent seasons in the NHL with three different teams? I might sound a bit crazy, but I think Robitaille would make a decent third line center on just about any team in the NHL. Add in the fact that he’s a left handed shot and I think he could be a valuable commodity for any team looking to improve their last two lines and powerplay as well. Sure, he is a bit inconsistent at times and I’ve seen Cloris Leachman take the body more than he does, he could still find a home on another team in the NHL.

Why he would decide to go to Russia now of all times [it would have made sense after his first stint with the Isles] is beyond me, but I guess where going to see what happens with that one as well.

What do you guys think of all of this?

If you guys haven’t heard the news yet, here it is:

Wade Dubielewicz has signed a one-way contract for the 2007-2008 season.

I know it’s not Ryan Smyth or Jason Blake, but Dubie has earned the right to remain on the Islanders and it’s great that the organization did the right thing here and rewarded “Yoda” for playing his heart out during the last week of the season. Again, while the Islanders will have bigger fish to fry [no fish sticks pun there, I just like the cliché] trying to hold on to Smyth, Blake, Poti and a few other players from going elsewhere this offseason, signing Dubie was a must.

For one, the guy has spent his whole entire professional career in the organization and has always played well whenever he has been called upon. I don’t know how you guys feel about this, but I come from the school of thought that you have to help people that really go above and beyond the call of duty and stick their necks out for you and in the case of Dubie, he’s been nothing short of stellar for the Islanders and without him, I dare say they may have not made the playoffs.

Another reason why I love this deal is because Mike Dunham managed to wear out his welcome pretty fast and proved down the stretch, despite some solid games earlier in the season, that he was no longer capable of backing up DP. At times, it just seemed like he didn’t have the killer instinct and composure the Islanders [or any other team in the NHL for that matter] need out of their backup goaltender.

I mean, lets be honest here, it takes a special type of player to be able to play 15 games a season and know that regardless of how great you play, that’s all you’re going to get. Dunham wasn’t that guy. Dubie on the other hand, deserves this opportunity and I believe is more than capable of providing DiPietro with a breather every few games and can even provide the team with a boost emotionally in the process.

The only season why Dunham was signed last year is because I believe Islanders management felt that DP still had some growing up to do. Now however, DP has proven this season that he doesn’t need an experienced veteran to back him up and he can take hold of this team and be responsible for his actions of the ice [all concussions aside]. With that being said, I think DP’s dominance this year was as much a reason in Dubie’s contract signing as was his own stellar play over the last week of the season.

Despite that, it always feels great to see a hard-working guy get rewarded for his hard work. Today, one of the hardest-working players in professional hockey just got the biggest reward in his life and just shook off the label “career minor-leaguer.”

Congrats Dubie!

Now with the goaltending situation under control, it’s going to be interesting to see what happens next.

Anyone else hear this crazy Alexei Yashin for Bryan McCabe rumor that’s been all over the internet?

I don’t know about you guys, but I nearly jumped out of my seat when I read about it the other day. While I think it sounds crazy at first, I think that after some dissection, it does make some sense for the Islanders. However, why the Maple Leafs would even consider doing something like this is beyond me.

First off, looking at their numbers over the past three seasons, McCabe and Yashin are extremely similar. Both have huge shots, but don’t score as much as some would like. Both have had problems playing smart hockey on both ends of the ice [McCabe has proven to be quite dirty at times as well]. Both have had problems maintaining some kind of consistency in their careers and both look like they may be in the need of a change of scenery.

I think the latter falls more into the category of Yashin, who despite a solid first season with the Islanders, has never really proven to be the point per game center the Isles thought they were getting when they gave up Bill Muckalt, Zdeno Chara and what eventually became Jason Spezza [what any Islander fan would do to have either Chara or Spezza on the Island is a story within itself].

Secondly, Yashin has been benched at one point or another during every season he’s been on the team, including during the team’s recent playoff series against the Sabres. Again, I don’t know how you guys feel, but I think the captain of your team has to be at the forefront of your game plan and Yashin really hasn’t done that. As well, with the Islanders looking to find a way to keep both Jason Blake and Ryan Smyth this offseason, the question really becomes, can they really afford to keep the underperforming Yashin around [and I’m not talking about on the ice either, what about the locker room?]? And is there anyway that they can unload the guy without getting totally ripped off?

That’s where this all gets tricky.

From what I’ve heard and read online, McCabe’s wife is a native-Long Islander [if this is true or not I have no idea] and the reason why McCabe’s play suffered down the stretch was because she wants her husband to return to where his career started and it took some type of toll on him. Again, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is all the musings of one poor soul online, but if it’s true it could be pretty interesting.

With Sean Hill not an option for next season and Tom Poti a free agent, the Isles defense may look very different. Will it include McCabe? In my opinion, as much as I’d love to see him on the power play and cork-screwing every thing within a five-mile radius, I don’t see why Toronto management would want to trade one handful for an underachieving and overpaid one. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. Unless the Isles are willing to throw in a prospect or two and are still willing to pay a portion of Yashin’s contract, I don’t see anyway this could get done. While critics all over the NHL don’t think McCabe is as solid as his numbers indicate, it’s pretty hard to argue with those numbers and the fact that McCabe can provide the type of physical presence the team needs with Hill gone and the need for another defenseman who can eat up minutes.

If that isn’t enough for you, you have to admit, having both Marc-Andre Bergeron and McCabe on the power play would be sweeter than a kiss on the cheek from Christy Brinkley.

Thank you.

Aside from taking too many penalties tonight, The New York Islanders hung in there with the Sabres for pretty much the entire game. Sadly however, they couldn’t hang in long enough to induce a win, eventually falling to Buffalo 3-2.

Last night, the Isles just couldn’t maintain the same kind of intensity they had in game 2. Regardless of occasional flashes of brilliance, New York was extremely sloppy and couldn’t break the Buffalo blue line on the power play and just didn’t execute they way they needed to. It didn’t help either that there were marginal penalties being called throughout the game that ended up playing a role in the final score.

It was so bad that Stan Fischler said that the referees calling tonight’s game made marginal calls and failed to use common sense.

You tell ‘em Stan.

On top of all of that, Islander fans started throwing debris on the ice after Randy Robitaille got called for a ridiculous tripping call at the end of the third period that just managed to prolong the misery. The fact that one Islander fan actually had the audacity to throw a bottle on the ice during the last minute of gameplay is a disgrace. It’s bad enough that the team got called for a joke penalty with less than two minutes to go, the fact that some Isles fans proved that they were utter trash just made things even worse.

The condition of the ice at the Coliseum was horrible as well, making it pretty damn hard to make long distance passes and throwing all that garbage all over the ice couldn’t have helped matters. When it was all said and done however, the Islanders were the ones that couldn’t get enough shots on Ryan Miller in the third and aside from the bad penalty calls, the fact that they couldn’t generate any serious offense was what really cost them the game.

On a positive note, I don’t know about you guys, but I think Ryan Smyth had one of his best games as an Islander. That line of Mike Sillinger [who was amazing on face offs as well], Trent Hunter and Ryan Smyth was really the only one that managed to maintain the same kind of jump they had in game 2. However since those guys were the only ones with real jump, Nolan was forced to throw the old Hilbert, Sillinger and Hunter line out there late in the third and was double shifting Smyth with a myriad of different players.

Sadly, the Isles could muster the game typing goal.

As well, DP kept the Islanders in the thick of things until the end. Getting out shot 17-2 in the third, the Islanders are lucky that they didn’t lose this game 5-2 instead of 3-2.

With one more game at the Coliseum before going back to Buffalo for Game 5, the Isles need to put the pieces back together.