This is really freaky to look at three seasons later. Roster from 2007-2008

2007-08 team

Satan - Comrie - Guerin
Fedotenko - Vasicek - Hunter
Bergenheim - Sillinger - Park
Tambelinni - Hilbert - Comeau

and this season's squad

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I just figured..."F#$% it, no one else is (Not that there isn't good reason) so I'll be that idiot."

So here I go, I'm predicting the Islanders win the Atlantic division. Here are my reasons why I think this division is wide open.

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It's been sometimes since I visited their rankings. I think the last time I checked there a year ago the Islanders were ranked somewhere around 27th or so. I just checked in today to find it was updated in April and has the islanders ranked twentieth.

Strengths: Talented puck-moving defensemen Calvin de Haan and Travis Hamonic headline the Islanders list, but the Islanders have solid depth at every position. They stockpiled picks the last two years and those picks are starting to bear fruit. The Islanders have been willing to take some chances on players with issues, and those bets have been good ones. Weaknesses: Goaltending remains the weak area for the organization, despite attempts at addressing it last summer. Questions about de Haan's size, assertiveness, and now durability, remain. Top five prospects: 1. Calvin de Haan, D, 2. Jesse Joensuu, LW, 3. Travis Hamonic, D, 4. Kirill Petrov, RW, 5. Andrew MacDonald, D. Lost to graduation: John Tavares, C.

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/nhl_organisation_rankings/?start=18

And then I looked at this;

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Interesting tidbit from Botta's latest;

Invaluable Islanders development coach Eric Cairns has taken Kabanov under his enormous wing. After spending some time with Emerson Etem in Los Angeles, Kabanov is now living with the former Islanders defenseman. “Right near the beach,” said the 17-year-old Russian. “It’s very nice. Eric Cairns is a lot older than me, but he’s become one of my closest friends.”

http://www.islanderspointblank.com/

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Sounds like the buzz from a few sources has us out of the running. We can all breath now, at least those of us hoping Wang wan't going to do another Yashin/Dipietor signing, and move one.

One source from "Fanhouse" has us out.

The New Jersey Devils, which acquired Kovalchuk via trade with the Atlanta Thrashers in February, appear to be the odds-on favorite to sign him since the Los Angeles Kings and New York Islanders -- two other teams that expressed interest in the winger -- have apparently bowed out of the sweepstakes.

http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2010/07/05/agent-ilya-kovalchuks-seach-narrowed/

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Ok, so now we're back to it. The regular season and playoffs are over. Stanley cup is awarded and we are in the stretch barreling down to the draft with the UFA shopping spree not long after. Every single hockey writer (those supposed "experts"" are contemplating who goes where and how great every player is in the top fifteen or so in the draft.

It's almost as if "No player in the top fifteen ever busts and every UFA signing leads to instant Stanley Cup success!!!!"

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Funny how this years draft isn't really getting a lot of attention by the blogosphere this year. Maybe finishing in the lottery is becoming old hat? Perhaps no one is really buying into the pre draft extravaganza anywhere.

Which makes me wonder about the depth of this draft as well. Connolly comes with some question marks about his health. Fowler seems like the most solid pick but leading up the draft word is that he may not be as good as those once thought. Then there is Gudbranson who really no one knows much about.

Nino's name comes up every once in a while but word on him is he has size but doesn't play it to well.

Then I get to wondering if Garth Snow is going to drop back in the draft and compile more picks.

Who knows?

This could be a very intriguing trade deadline for this team. If Snow can pull a late first for Sutton and a second for Roloson this team is in great shape heading into the draft. Optimally I think you'd like to see Philly get in on the bidding for Sutton. That will throw Washington and perhaps a few other eastern conference teams in the bidding. I don't think anyone wants to go a long series having to face both Sutton and Pronger for six to seven games.

Overall I'd say this team, if they trade Roloson and Sutton at the deadline, is solidly in the running for the services of Cam Fowler. I don't see anything standing in the way of them landing the third overall pick in the draft barring any lottery ball madness.

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Yes, the lead in is dripping with sarcasm.

I'm not a knee jerk reactionary when it comes to talking about trading guys. Trent Hunter is clearly a case of two things:

1) A guy who never developed beyond the 25 goal mark of his rookie season.

2) A guy, like Brendan Witt, who's career is in decline.

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Loved him or hated him I think everyone can agree he made you pause and think I think it can also be agree he was someone who tried to life the best life any human could hope to live. He certainly gave me pause to consider my own positions and view of the world.

If you've never heard of him I highly reccomend catching "Voices" on the history channel. It's just one piece of a long body of work. Definitly an American Icon that will never be forgotten.

Howard Zinn, historian who challenged status quo, dies at 87

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/01/howard_zinn_his.html

Tortorella's recent exchange with Larry Brooks is really disturbing;

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARhVC8uEbQU

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I suppose you gotta know when to hold em and know when to fold em. Tough decisions have to be made in terms of whether this team makes the post season or not. Quite frankly I think Snow, who's trade deadlins deals are not exactly his strength, looks to see what other teams do first.

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I'd like to preface this by saying that Brian Burke is a total asshat. There. I said it.

Team USA is not going anywhere as it is. The roster just is not good enough to compete with the likes of Canada, Russia, Sweden or even the Czek team. The roster is thin and heavily reliant on guys who's best days really are behind them. The selection of Chris Drury really is a laugher in and of itself. I said this years ago and it still stands today, "Drury is not the kinda of player, by himself that make you a better team. He rides shotgun on good teams and makes them better."

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Not that I'm trying to take away from a great start to the season from this team. Was reading Chris Botta's latest in regards to whether or not Wang is choking Snow's funds right now. According to Snow, Wang has given him the green light to go out and spend for guys so they can improve their post season chances.

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Today begs the question: If Jeff Tambellini was putting up this kind of performance for another team, how many would be calling for Garth Snow's head on a platter right now?

Reason why I ask this is because we have seen this scenario play out before. In the nineties there were a lot of young players drafted and brought up through the system that struggled for a few seasons. All of them traded, save one, and went on to have success with other organization. It seems that in reviewing that time period lots of folks dismiss the fact that these same players struggled here, some of them struggled for a few more seasons in other organizations, before finding success.

I am not ready to crown Tambellini has a player that has finally cracked through either. What I am trying to enter into here is that players take time, struggle and more often than not, go through the motions before finally becoming successful NHL players. The Crosbys, Malkins and Ovechkins of the league are not the rule, they are the exceptions. Most players take time, many seasons, before realizing their potential.

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Figured I'd balance out my positivity with an aspect of this team that I abhor; The Defense!!!!

Was watching the game last night and one thing stuck out to me. I don't know why this particular play in the game really stuck in my head like glue but I think I know now. Martinek executed a beautiful stretch pass and Howie and Bill jumped out of their seats. Why is it that this particular stretch pass sticks out to me?

They are rare with this defense. Extremely RARE!!!!

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I know this is the post win optimism speaking. At least partly due to that.

I wonder how many folks have a new view on the meaning being all those OT losses and the direction this team is heading. Those OTLs come across a wide spectrum of teams, some of the em elite and some of them middle of the road. This win against the Rangers is a win against a bubble team (one of those teams that will be slugging it out for the 7th and 8th playoff spots).

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I've been following this guy since the season in Juniors started. In my book he probably should be the top ranked player in our system but I haven't seen much of the other guys yet.

Now for the really REALLY good news. Last season Hamonic had 40 pts in 57 games. This season he has 18 points in 13 games. That's nearly half of last seasons point totals in less than half the games played.

It gets even better. This guy is billed as a stay at home defensemen. After we drafted him in the second round (57th overall) he seems to have found an offensive touch to his game.

And even more. This guy is 6' 2 215 lbs. A mighty nice break from many of the smaller Dmen and forwards in our system.

Chris Botta to start this season asked readers to pick which teams we thought the Islanders were better than. I couldn't find any that were definites so I figured I'd throw out a bone for folks to chew on. Yeah, the start of this season has been brutal but I figured I'd give some persepective.

1) We were the worst team in the league last season.

2) Of the 9 teams we've played thus far six of them were playoff teams last season.

3) Of the 9 teams we've played thus far 2 of them were regular season conference champs and the other Cups Champs last season.

4) Three of the teams that were league elites last season (Bos, San Jose and Pitts) two of them we took to overtime.

5) Considering the quality of teams we've played to start the season we have six points in nine games.

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It's opening night so it's a good time to ask this question. I'll propose a few who I think are good bets and not so good bets to win it.

Matt Gilroy; I can't really make a prediction on this guy. I got to see a lot of his games at BU. I think it's a matter of how much it translates over to the NHL game. I don't see a lot of what he did there carrying over. Personally I think a 25 year old has a much tougher time making that transition from college hockey to the NHL than a 22 year old.

Matt Duchene; Liked what I saw from him Thurs night. Has really good speed, hands and position himself well. In some respects a little like Ovechkin in that he knows when to hang back in the neutral zone for that seam pass that leads to a break away. I see this guy being a lot like a Jason Blake or Sean Bergenheim but with better vision and smarts for the game. I think a strong possibility given that he has a good supporting cast in Colorado.

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Figured I'd give anyone fair warning in regards to this game. If you are thinking of buying it hold onto your money for now. The game has a viscous bug where it freezes up constantly. A lot of folks around the net are having a simialar problem with the game and EA has yet to solve the problem.

Just a heads up. Save your dough and wait till a patch is released before purchasing the game. EA tech support has stated it will be at least a few weeks before it's fixed.

IMHO I think EA didn't pay for Beta Testers and decided to have the consumer do the work. I guess this is what happens when a company gets to big for it's own good.

Anyways, just figured I'd give a heads up.

Keeping in mind that this is an Islanders Blog this is an interesting trade that can be looked at from an Islanders perspective. I know this is not "Breaking News" to anyone at this point but is something to be looked at given what the Leafs are trying to do vs what we are trying to do.

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What gives?

After last seasons draft one would think the way they touted Dehaan he would at least get an invite to camp just to get a sniff of the NHL. What about Hamonic and Ness who already look to be headed to the WJC this season? I'm not expecting these guys to make the roster but if there are the Dmen you wish to mold for the future I don't understand the reluctance to bring them to camp.

Here is the D-corp coming to camp courtesy of Dee Karl;

Defensemen
# Name Height Weight Date Of Birth Age Birthplace
4 Mark Flood6' 1" 190 Sep 29, 1984 24 Charlottetown, PE, CAN
8 Bruno Gervais 6' 1" 205 Oct 3, 1984 24 Longueuil, QC, CAN
38 Jack Hillen 5' 11" 200 Jan 24, 1986 23 Minnetonka, MN, USA
71 Mark Katic 5' 10" 180 May 9, 1989 20 Timmins, ON, CAN
56 Dustin Kohn 6' 2" 200 Feb 2, 1987 22 Edmonton, AB, CAN
47 Andrew MacDonald6' 1" 188 Sep 7, 1986 23 Judique, NS, CAN
24 Radek Martinek6' 1" 203 Aug 31, 1976 33 Havlicko Brod, CZE
44 Freddy Meyer5' 10" 192 Jan 4, 1981 28 Sanbornville, NH, USA
2 Mark Streit 6' 0" 197 Dec 11, 1977 31 Bern, CHE
25 Andy Sutton 6' 6" 245 Mar 10, 1975 34 Kingston, ON, CAN
42 Brett Westgarth 6' 2" 225 Feb 4, 1982 27 Amherst, ON, CAN
32 Brendan Witt "A" 6' 2" 223 Feb 20, 1975 34 Humboldt, SK, CAN

Not very encouraging for a team that's supposed to be "rebuilding" is it? Outside of Hillen we don't have one Defensemen that can be considered here for five years down the line. Bruno Gervais, as nice of a kid as he is, is not a guy I see on this roster as it moves into contention five years from now.

And this is now "begging the question" as to whether this rebuild is as sincere as management claims it to be. This is not something that is set in stone in my mind but one that I have been kicking around for the last few months; Is this rebuild really a result of this team "learning it's lesson" or a matter of "We're losing money and the idea of a rebuild is just good PR to sell to the fans"? Enquiring minds want to know. Especially after looking at the D-Corp coming to camp.

We've seen before where management has cut down salaries on the roster because of the arena issue. No need to rehash that as we can all probably recite the chronology of that era in our sleep. I have to wonder how serious this is before Wang decides to visit the well once again and demand these kids are traded for more lackluster pieces ala Yashin and Peca.

How do you expect kids to "buy in" here if your not inviting them to camp. I don't know how to justify to Hamonic and Ness, who are both coming off of successful campaigns last year, that they are being passed over for guys like Mark Flood and Brett Westgarth. For a team that is rebuilding they are a little long in the tooth on the blue line even considering the D invited to camp.

This also leads me to an interesting quote from a Botta piece a few weeks ago.

It’s worth noting the Islanders attempted to sign at least one college free agent this summer. I spoke with one yesterday who said he met face-to-face with Garth Snow, appreciated the interest and liked what the GM had to say. In the end, he signed elsewhere because he felt his new team’s system was better for him. “I know some of the Islanders’ prospects,” he said. “They are very good. The Islanders are going to be fine.” More on this player tomorrow

I'm surprised no one has made hay of this in Newsday or the Isles blogosphere that contains a lot of very talented people. I don't know about you, but hearing this from a young unsigned prospect, who is also familiar with a lot of other prospects in our system, is not very encouraging at all. There are two things these kinds of players look for when signing with a team; Money and ICE TIME!!!!

The Isles, given their situation, should have no problems being attractive to younger signees on the fringe of the NHL (For those thinking Gilroy don't worry about it. I saw him play enough at BU to know that a lot of the stuff he did there to be successful is not going to translate to the NHL. That was a smart pass by Snow.). What is of concern is the speculation now fueled that this team has a bad rep amongst UFAs that refuse to sing here and that has now extended to younger players that SHOULD BE SIGNING HERE!!!!     EN MASSE!!!!!

Editor's Note: Thanks to member Chickendirt for another FanPost good for discussion on the holiday weekend...We're 1+ years into the rebuild: Where do you fall in terms of your hopes for this season? --Dominik

So I was poking around the TSN site today. It's getting to be that time of year where everyone is getting giddy with the start of hockey season just around the corner. Baseball is starting to fizzle out (if your a Mets fan like myself it was over by mid July) and who really care about football? Oh, and NHL10 is due to thit the store shelves in about week.

GIMME SOME PUCKS!!!!

So I'm reading the TSN preview for the Islanders which can be found here. They have a lot to say but don't really put much effort into really researching the team (Big Surprise there). Yeah, the first line is lookin like Tavares, Weight and Okposo and the only defensemen of note is Streit. With that, the rest of the roster rounds out to nothing but garbage? They seem to pass off doing the rest of the work on the forward unit by proclaiming, "There is simply a lack of NHL level talent on the forward unit. If the team decides to stack the top line with Tavares, Okposo and veteran Doug Weight, the remaining three lines will be a collection of untested prospects and professional journeymen."

In other words Neilsen, Bailey and Bergenheim are not NHL level talent.

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Editor's Note: Sorry I missed this last night. Front-paging Chickendirt's FanPost on the need to heal an old wound...

Chris Botta's latest piece (See he's much more than just blogger. Usually that word is reserved for journalists) poses an interesting question regarding honoring Pierre Turgeon. I agree with him that there is a very large section of the fan base that his clamoring for him to have his night and a generation of newer Islanders fans that have no idea who he is much less ever seen him lace 'em up.

But there is a much larger context that is missing and unexplained. Something that has not been expressed is what Turgeon represents to us besides just a '93 Islanders team that pulled off one of the greatest upsets of the last 20 years. And it doesn't go back to a playoff series win and a conference finals appearance.

It goes back to the day Turgeon was traded.

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Editor's Note: Front-paging a thought-provoking FanPost here, on one of my favorite topics: Rebuilding is easy (well, not easy, but the design is clear-cut); the hard part is figuring what to do when the draft pick collecting days are over and you have to define the core of your team? After the jump, several questions about the Islanders future and how to get there...

It seems that since the Yashin/Peca acquisition there were three groups of fans:

1) Those that felt the best way to build a team was through the draft.

2) Those that felt the best way to build a team was through UFA signings.

3) Those that felt you built a team buy incorporating a mixture of both.

Today it seems that Group 1 has pretty much one that argument. The absolute failure of going out and trading draft picks and prospects or established stars (or sub star quality players has  been duly noted i the cases of Yashin and Satan) is evident in the failures of this team from 01/02 - 05/06. Those teams were lacking in skill and led by players who were clearly on the downsides of their careers. It was a long and torturous period trying to compliment players that clearly just didn't have it.

The results of those years speak for themselves.

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