The Two-Line Pass

At least there's one reason to watch the Islanders. (Nice shoes, Comrie)

We’re now something like 36 days out from the start of the NHL season so I figure this is as good a time as any to start doing the season previews. This is mainly for two reasons: 1) I am lazy and there’s no way I’ll do one of these every day, and 2) This is early enough that if I just stop doing them entirely you’ll have forgotten by October anyway. Oh and I guess also to show off my near-infinite knowledge of the National Hockey League. I’ll be previewing the teams in reverse order of finish in the 2007-08 season. Please note, though, that this is the opinion of one man, however smart and handsome he may be.

New York Islanders, you’re on the clock.

Funny, isn’t it, how a team with this kind of money and this kind of history can be so blitheringly bad.

I mean, the New York Islanders organization is a positively dreadful one. A quick swing by the Isles’ wikipedia page yields the most hilariously understated subheading: “1995-2000: Management issues.” Yeah, you could say that. Since about that time, the Islanders have traded away more high-quality players (Roberto Luongo, Zdeno Chara, Bryan McCabe, Todd Bertuzzi, Olli Jokinen, the pick that became Jason Spezza, Tim Connolly, Taylor Pyatt, etc. etc.) for very little in the way of good return. They also drafted Rick DiPietro, 15-year man though he is, ahead of Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik.

It’s difficult to imagine where this team would be today were it not for the hideous mismanagement that has plagued the franchise since the mid-1990s and still maintain the ability to understand why it has any fans left at all. After making the playoffs in four of the previous five years, the Islanders finished dead last in the Atlantic division last season and 25th in the NHL.

This is a team that hasn’t won the division since 1987-88, and hasn’t advanced out of the first round of the playoffs since 1992-93. Its first-round picks have been largely so-so the last 10 years, and still, only four remain with the team (2000’s first overall pick DiPietro, 2002’s 22nd pick Sean Bergenheim, 2007’s seventh pick Kyle Okposo, and 2008’s ninth pick Josh Bailey). The rest were traded for parts that include a quarter-season of Ryan Smyth, AHLer Ben Walter, Mike Peca, and Janne Niinimaa.

The sad part is, things are going to be appreciably worse this year.

A capable new coach has arrived in former Providence Bruins boss Scott Gordon, but this is a team with a serious, serious identity crisis that not even a good coach and better guy like Gordon is going to be able to sort out any time soon. It doesn’t know whether it wants a team of veterans (nine players are over 30, and three of those are 37-year-old forwards) or a team of kids with which to begin rebuilding (only seven are under 27). That’s a fine mix and strategy if you, say, have any chance whatsoever of making the playoffs, or have any real star players in their late 20s and early 30s. But the Islanders don’t have that at all. Their top-paid players as far as cap hit are Bill Guerin ($4.5 million at 37), Rick DiPietro ($4.5 million at 26), Doug Weight ($4.3 million at 37), Mark Streit ($4.1 million at 30), and Mike Comrie ($4 million at 27). Does that seem insane to anyone else?

Granted, most of those guys are gone after this season, but they should be gone right now. Doug Weight was a poor signing from Garth Snow (there has yet to be any other kind) and Mark Streit is a hell of a gamble at $4.1 million per over the next five years. A whopping 34 of his 62 points last season came on the top-ranked Montreal power play, and though he wasn’t getting those points despite being bad, he also benefitted tremendously from playing alongside Tomas Plekanec and Alex Kovalev when the Habs were a man up.

At the other end of the spectrum, some kids will be leaned on very heavily. Okposo, the aforementioned 2007 first-round pick that the Isles violently signed from the University of Minnesota midway through last season, scored five points in his nine games up with the Isles and 28 more in 35 down in the AHL. They’re going to look for more of the same output from him. Another promising thing to which Islander fans to look forward, of course, is the young but very impressive blue line pairing of Chris Campoli and Bruno Gervais. Both are very mobile, and wise beyond their years (though at just 23, each has parts of three years’ experience). The problem is that both are also very injury prone. Campoli has missed 66 games over the last two years, but still put up impressive numbers when he was healthy. Gervais has missed 55. Ditto on the numbers.

What the Isles really need to do is blow it up as soon as the season looks lost (I’m thinking that’ll be around Oct. 8 ) and let the kids get their minutes without those pesky 37-year-olds hanging about and trying to tell them about the good ol’ days when skates cost a Loonie. Snow should get whatever he can and start laying the foundation for the team that might eventually make the playoffs again. Pity he won’t have the job when it does.

More after the jump.

The Hero: This is a tough one. Mike Comrie, I guess? I mean, he only had 49 points last year (dear god!) but that was better than anyone else. There’s no one on defense you can give this award to. No big point producers, and the biggest minutes-eater last season was Radek Martinek (dear god!). What possible hope of optimism could this team have this year. Dire stuff.

The Darkhorse: Kyle Okposo, one supposes. His scoring pace in nine games last year, were it extrapolated out to a full season, would have made him the best point producer (at a whopping 46) behind Comrie. Sad but true.

The New Guy: Scott Gordon. At least he’s not Ted Nolan, but he could end up being just one of the many coaches to set up temporary residence on the Island. He’s their fourth since the lockout. He could right the ship but it’s going to take a hell of a long time.

The Big Question: Can they be as bad as the Thrashers? No, but it’s going to be a tight race for that No. 1 spot.

Offseason gains:

• D Mark Streit
• G Yann Danis
• C Doug Weight
• C Mike Iggulden
• LW Mitch Fritz
• D Brett Skinner
• D Joe Callahan

Offseason losses:

• LW Ruslan Fedotenko (to Pittsburgh)
• RW Miroslav Satan (to Pittsburgh)
• D Rob Davison (to Vancouver)
• LW Steve Regier (to St. Louis)
• D Aaron Johnson (to Chicago)
• D Drew Fata (to Phoenix)

Apropos-of-nothing TLP predicted finish: This team is going to be a struggle to watch, unless you’re a fan of the team they’re playing. The 2008-09 season has disaster written all over it. Fifth in the division, 14th in the East, 29th in the league.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 2:52 pm and is filed under Opinions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.