With rookie camp underway, I think it’s safe to start thinking a little bit more deeply when it comes to the new season.

With that being said, I figure I’d talk about some of the players that I think will be some of Gordon’s early favorites, and who may end up in the chateau de bow bow.

Early Favorites-

Richard Park- Want speed and grit? He’s got plenty of it. Add in the fact that he can kill penalties and is coming off his best offensive season, I see Park racking up plenty of minutes early in the season.

Sean Bergenheim- Just like Park, Bergenheim has a ton of speed and grit. However, his upside is much better and if he can learn to finish, he’ll be a more than solid second liner.

Jon Sim- Hustle personified. A solid physical game, mixed in with good work in the corners make Sim someone Gordon can depend on this season. Add in the fact that he’s been itching to get back on the ice for the past six months and I think Sim is going to be a great pest.

Dog House Candidates-

Andy Sutton- If he’s up to his usual tricks of blocking shots, starting fights and clearing the crease, Sutton should be just fine. However, due to his questionable speed [even though he's not a bad skater for a guy his size] and inconsistency, he may be fighting for ice time.

Mike Comrie- While Ted Nolan put up with his less than mediocre play in the defensive zone and constant toe dragging last season, I highly doubt Gordon will. In order to get the most out of him this season, Gordon will have to keep him motivated and make sure he gets him the necessary time on the powerplay. However, in order for that to happen, he’s going to have to play smart in both ends. Who knows if that actually happens.

Bruno Gervais- While his speed and superior skating ability should fit Gordon’s new system, his lack of a physical game and inconsistent passing ability may get him in trouble. With the Islanders most likely having problems scoring goals again this season, his lack of offensive prowess won’t help him much either.

Last week, I talked about what I expected from the likes of Kyle Okposo, Jeff Tambellini and Blake Comeau. This week I’ll discuss a few other players, who despite a few more years under their belts than the aforementioned above, can still be considered youngsters.

Bruno Gervais

Predicted Stats- three goals, 15 assists, 22 :00 ATOI.

Last season, Gervais averaged 20 minutes a game of ice time and while it looked like he was in the good graces of Ted Nolan most of the time, he never really got a chance to break out of his shell offensively or play big time minutes in close games. Preferring to go with the likes of Brendan Witt and Radek Martinek on defense most of the time in tight contests, I believe Gervais was limited to mop up duty and only got a chance on the powerplay when there were little or no options left. A solid offensive D-man in juniors, I think Gervais can produce a little more than he has been over the past few seasons if given a real opportunity. At times, Gervais has led the rush on offense and seemingly, doesn’t look out of place at all. With a little more work, he can be a solid number four or five D-man that can contribute on both sides of the puck.

Chris Campoli

Predicted Stats- 12 goals, 22 assists.

Another player with a lot of room to grow, Campoli looked like he had it all figured out before a nasty shoulder injury ruined his season in 08. Combining the physical play he’s been getting a reputation for, while developing already good offensive skills, I see Campoli as someone who would look great with Mark Streit on the powerplay at some point in the season. It’s just a matter of staying healthy and in the good graces of the whoever coaches this team in 09, something the youngster has had a few problems with over the past few seasons.

Frans Nielsen

Predicted Stats- 10 goals, 20 assists.

Before Doug Weight was signed, I may have considered bumping his stats up just a little bit. However, on a fourth line with guys like Blake Comeau and Richard Park, I see Nielson playing a crucial role as a sparkplug and someone who can help on the powerplay and the penalty kill. Some may be turned off by his lack of size, but I believe his ability in the face-off circle, combined with his speed and quick release will make him a solid fourth liner and someone Isles fans will love by the end of the season.

Photo by Pete Borriello

Failing to advance past the first round of the playoffs the last four times they reached the postseason, the New York Islanders have some serious questions to answer this offseason. While the general outlook on the team isn’t nearly as bad as it was in the beginning of the season, the Islanders have some very important decisions to make that could eventually wind up costing the team another run at the playoffs if they’re not careful.

However, the biggest question of all is what to do with team captain Alexei Yashin.

Failing to meet the expectations of the organization after a solid first season on the island, Yashin should not be wearing the “C” on his sweater anymore for a bevy of reasons. While who eventually wears the “C” next season is anyone’s guess right now, it’s obvious that Yashin does not fit what Islanders head coach Ted Nolan is trying to do with this team and is incapable of being the type of captain the team and fan base desperately needs right now.

Let’s face it; while Yashin is still capable of being a top 10 player in this league, it’s extremely doubtful that he ever will be again. For one, the guy has got to have the worst luck in the world, as ever since he’s been on the Islanders, he’s either gotten injured at the worst possible time or he’s found himself in the chateau de bow wow [that’s dog house for you non-French speakers] of every single coach that’s been there because of his uninspired play. On top of all of that, the Islanders have consistently played well when Yashin was out of the lineup, proving that he’s not and never was as instrumental as Mike Milbury and Charles Wang thought he was going to be, making the deal that got him here for Zdeno Chara, Bill Muckalt and eventually Jason Spezza look like one of the worst in the history of the team and all of hockey.

While the trade that got him here is questionable, having Yashin, who’s made it obvious that he’ll never meet expectations, at the top of the team food chain, makes the Islanders look even more dim-witted. After a season of slick-moves by Garth Snow to optimize the teams chances at making the offseason and great coaching by Nolan and his staff, the days of contemplating signing a sumo wrestler to play net for the team and hirings and firings within the organization seem to be over; however, the Isles need to take it even further.

Simply put, someone that totally embodies what Nolan and the rest of the organization wants to do with this team should be the Islanders captain; someone like Mike Sillinger, Trent Hunter and Brendan Witt, who would have skated through a wall during the season if their head coach would have asked. Those are the types of players that you build a successful team around, not underachieving goal-scorers that are all out of excuses.

Sure, it’s obvious that Yashin is still the most talented player on the team, but talent can only get you so far in the NHL. Just ask Alexander Daigle, Brad Dalgarno, Jamie Lundmark and the myriad of other high draft picks with all the talent in the world that never really panned out in this league and they’ll tell you the same thing.

Heart and soul is what any great hockey team needs in order to dominate and it all starts from the top. While Yashin can and most likely will continue to be a more than adequate, nearly point per game player the rest of his career, he is not the person that should be leading the Islanders out of the badland of NHL mediocrity.

Well, it’s over, but it sure was interesting, huh?

While the Isles did maintain a better offensive presence in this game, they weren’t as strong defensively or physical and in the end, that’s what cost them the most.
This may not be the best comparison, but I think that this team has a lot in common with the Islanders team that lost to the Maple Leafs in 2002. Sure, the Leafs that year were a completely different monster than the Sabres, but by the end of that series and the end of this one against Buffalo, I said the same thing to myself, “This team needs to be more physical.”

After the team lost to the Leafs that year, the Islanders parted ways with finesse winger Mariusz Czerkawski and went out and got Arron Asham and Jason Wiemer. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if the team tried their hardest to pick up someone else with some “marbles” for next season. Someone like Taylor Pyatt immediately comes to mind.
As well, with Sean Hill no longer an option for next season, the Islanders are going to either give Chris Campoli and Bruno Gervais [who both played very well last night and seem ready to accept more responsibility] a bigger role or count on Radek Martinek to make a solid comeback after another injury-plagued season. With Tom Poti now a free agent as well, the Isles are going to have some serious questions to answer about their defense during the offseason.

Regardless of that however, I still think this team is headed in the right direction and if they can manage to add a few more pieces, they’ll have better luck next year.
Throughout this entire season, the Islanders have been through more emotionally than the teenagers on Dawson Creek, but have always managed to put it together when it counted, thanks in part to some great coaching by Ted Nolan and a career years from Jason Blake and DiPietro. However, against Buffalo, the team just ran out of steam and couldn’t keep up with the uber-talented Sabres.

While being extremely disappointed right now that the team couldn’t keep the Sabres [who played far from a perfect series] on their toes a little bit longer, I’d have to be out of my mind to not be proud of this team. All season long, through injuries to key players such as Rick DiPietro, Alexei Yashin, Shawn Bates, Radek Martinek and the Chris Simon suspension, this team found a way to stay in the thick of things. For a team that was predicted by a myriad of media outlets to finish in last place or extremely close to it, just making the playoffs alone is a huge accomplishment.

Nevertheless, you can’t help but get the feeling that things could have been much different if the team could have stayed healthy and found away to stay away from some of the other drama that managed to engulf them.

Maybe next year will be different.

Well, that closes the book on the 2006-2007 New York Islanders season. I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did. I know there were plenty of times that had all of our stomach’s in knots, but I also know that there were a ton more that put a smile on all of our faces. I’ve said it numerous times this season, but I feel the urge to say it one last time: this season had more energy than the past five put together and despite being eliminated in the first round, I think that Islander fans and the organization itself have gotten a taste of what Ted Nolan can do when given an opportunity.

That in itself is probably one of the biggest things to happen to this team in a very long time and hopefully next season Nolan doesn’t have to deal with as much adversity and drama and can continue to take this team to the next level.

Let’s go Islanders.

With DP back at the helm for the Islanders, fans now have one less thing to worry about. If the team’s performance in game 2 is any indication, they now understand that they have to play their tails off for every second of the rest of this series if they want to stay in it.

Knowing that, it seems that Islanders head coach Ted Nolan isn’t going to take any chances and is going to bench anyone that isn’t up to the task.

One of those players in game 2 was Alexei Yashin.

Anyone else notice that Yashin got barely any playing time in Game 2? I did. Looks like Nolan is going through the same things that Peter Laviolette, Steve Stirling and Brad Shaw all had to deal with at one time or another, as Yashin’s play in the playoffs so far has been lackluster to say the very least.

Despite going through similar stretches during the regular season, it’s kind of hard to argue with 50 points and a +6 in 58 games. Maybe I’m stretching here, but if Yashin doesn’t get hurt down the stretch, maybe he leads the Isles in scoring and the team doesn’t have to fight as hard as they did to get into the playoffs.

For the time being though, guesses and hunches about what Yashin could have done aren’t going to help the team now. Going into the playoffs, I thought Yashin was at least going to have a little bit more jump in his game than he’s had now, considering that he had. Aside from drawing a penalty in game two, what has Yashin done so far in this series?

Not much.

It’s kind of sad when you think about how things have gone with Yashin. Here we have a guy that was supposed to give this team the kind of offensive presence they haven’t had since Ziggy Palffy got traded and aside from a decent first year with the Isles in 2002, what else has he done? I mean, sure, you can say that the guy didn’t have a consistent pair of linemates for a majority of the time he’s been here, but what about now? Viktor Kozlov and Miroslav Satan aren’t exactly Oleg Kvasha and Brad Isbister; they have talent and have proven it time and time again over the course of their careers. I may be stretching here, but they may be two of the best players Yashin’s ever played with.

In Ottawa, Yashin’s favorite linemate was Shawn McEachern. Last time I checked, Kozlov and Satan could skate rings around that guy. With the goaltending situation taken care of and the Isles having noticeably more jump, it’s time that Yashin starts playing the kind of hockey he was playing in the beginning of the season.

That means keeping his legs moving and getting himself in a position where he can use his shot. There’s a reason why NHL scouts still think that Yashin is one of the most talented players in the league; that’s because he is. However, his talent has never been under question. Sadly, his lack of desire has.

Let’s face it, he’s the captain of this team; it’s time for him to start leading by example. If not, the Isles are going to have a tough time taking the Sabres down.

“Every day is a new day,
I’m grateful for every breath I take,
I won’t take it for granted,
So I learn from my mistakes…”

This P.O.D song, while being extremely corny even when it was originally released, is still somewhat catchy to this day and is a perfect description of what Ted Nolan brings to the Islanders.

From the first day of training camp, Nolan told reporters that the Isles would be a changed team on the ice, exemplifying what he called “Controlled Chaos.” Despite the fact that the chaos has been far from controlled at times, the Islanders managed to make the playoffs, in spite of the dozens of predictions that had them ranked somewhere near the cellar in the Eastern Conference.

So what; obviously the thought that just came into half of the minds of the people reading this right now. I bet you’re also saying that Peter Laviolette and Steve Sterling, the last two Islander coaches to take the team to the playoffs, also did so in their first year. Despite that, I think this year has been something different. Marked with extreme highs and unfathomable lows, this year’s Islanders was almost like an experiment by a bi-polar mad scientist. I don’t know about you guys, but at times, I felt like this team was going to crash down the stretch just like last years team and at others, I thought that they were a legitimate cup contender.

Now with the team in the playoffs, I can still say that my truest thoughts on this team are still right in the middle. Still missing a few pieces on offense and a little depth on defense, this year’s Islanders team has made the most out of what they had and made the playoffs as a result. Regardless, no one in the NHL can say that Nolan hasn’t done an amazing job in his first year with the Islanders and that’s only the half of it. He’s also changed the entire motif in Islander Country in the process. Taking this team to the playoffs and getting them to come together this way at the end of the season at the very least has gotten them the most fan support in years.

Did anyone else hear the Islander fans at Continental Airlines Arena the other night?
I did.

Did anyone help hear Deb Kauffman screaming at the top of her lungs during the pre-game show to drown out the crazed Isles fans?

I did, again.

When was the last time the Islanders had the fan base this content?

In the fifteen years I’ve been watching this team, I think there’s only been one other time when the fan base has had this much energy and that was after the team smoked the Penguins in the 93 playoffs.

Yes, it’s been that long.

While comparing this season to that magical one in ’93 may be a bit of a stretch, in my heart of hearts, it’s the only thing that even comes close to having the emotion and drama that this one has had. With all of the emotions and craziness surrounding the team of late, can you really blame me for being this upbeat?

In the end, maybe I’m just a man who’s just in the middle of something that he doesn’t really understand [thank you Paul McCartney]. I mean, I could be wrong. As an Islanders fan, I’m not really used to seeing this team in the playoffs with positive momentum. I’m not used to seeing things being like this, well except for in video games [My Isles always win the cup on the Playstation 2.]

However, despite my inability to really fathom the fact that this team managed to make the playoffs, I do know that Ted Nolan is one of the biggest reasons that they’re there and his presence behind the Islanders bench shouldn’t be overlooked. Without Nolan’s 11-minute speech a week and a half ago, who knows where this team would be right now.
While I think the Sabres are coached extremely well, I think that with the talent that the Sabres have, just about anyone short of Rick Bowness could get that team into the playoffs. The Islanders however, need someone at the top to keep them on the right path, despite having guys like Ryan Smyth, Sean Hill and Brendan Witt around.

Thankfully for them, they have Ted Nolan.

If Ted can keep these guys working hard and on the same page during this series, who knows what could happen.

Damn it feels good to see this team in first place. 
 
I can’t begin to tell you guys how much fun I had at school and work today. Walking around the school with my personalized home Islanders jersey on, I must have rubbed the score of yesterday’s game in to at least 10 Rangers fans today, going as far to mention how Mr. Lundqvist should have became a porn star because he looked so natural on his back. I also had to mention that we were Yashin-less and at least on paper, this team should have smoked us. Luckily, that didn’t happen. 
However in spite of their recent success, there’s one thing that never shows up on the Isles scouting report that’s more important than the goal scoring prowess we’ve been exhibiting lately; and that’s Ted Nolan. So far this year, this team has played their hearts out and has managed to put it together, despite a slow start and injuries to both Rick Dipietro and Alexei Yashin. Now with players like Richard Park, Mike Sillinger, Chris Simon playing great on both ends of the ice and Satan and Kozlov red hot on offense, this team is going to be dangerous to play against. 

Speaking of which, tonight the Senators come to town and regardless of what happens tonight, I know one thing: This is going to be a great game. Ottawa has a solid team with Danny Heatley, Jason Spezza and company, but is most likely going to be without their best defenseman Wade Redden, which means the Isles may have an opportunity to take advantage.

However, the scariest thing about the Senators is their depth, as they have nine players with at least 16 points, so the Isles will have to make sure they play tough on both ends of the ice if they want to go home with two pints. This also looks to be a game where players like Shawn Bates, Park and Jason Blake will have an opportunity to use their speed and take advantage of Senators D-men like Tom Pressing, Andrej Meszaros and Joe Corvo, who have pinched in on offense much more than usual this year. 

Hopefully, the Senators throw Gerber in net tonight, because Emery has been solid all season and I’d really like to see another high scoring game. Islander fans really haven’t been treated to a really explosive offensive team since 91-92 and 92-93 when Derek King, Steve Thomas and Pierre Turgeon were scoring all of those goals. This year, if Satan, Blake, Kozlov and Sillinger stay hot and the “new” Yashin comes back strong, the Isles have the potential to have a few players with at least 25 goals. 
But anyway, getting back to tonight’s contest, as long as the Islanders play a disciplined game and stay out of the penalty box, while playing gritty and physical at the same time, I don’t see why they can’t increase their lead in the Atlantic Division. 

Damn that sounds good saying that.  

Let’s go Islanders.