There have been a few "This roster is hurting without Grabner" lines in the past few posts, so now seems like an opportunity to explore a possibility that has occurred to me at different times as the season wears on.

Is Michael Grabner the second coming of Trent Hunter? Their histories and many of their individual attributes are different, but the broad strokes of their narratives seem to mirror each other: The eye-opening rookie campaign leading the Islanders in goals scored, signing a long-term contract, then a "regression" to ho-hum secondary scoring and getting a lot of defensive assignments. The comparison relies on oversimplifying things, but it may not be that much of a stretch.

More than a few people have commented this season to the effect that Grabner's dial seems to not be going up to 11 like it did last spring, and some have speculated whether it's a sophomore slump, a nagging injury, or just the "real" player we actually got vs. one aberrant scoring streak . The easy response here is that it's all a knee-jerk reaction to the quirks of short-term probability and the man will come around again in '12/'13 even if he doesn't quite reach the heights of his first season on the Island. But what if he doesn't?

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or; Are Three-Headed Monsters really all that bad?

I'm going to assume for the sake of discussion that the Islanders are heading into this 2011-2012 season with a three-man goalie rotation consisting of Nabokov, Montoya and DiPietro. The reality could be quite different, but the assumption allows me to put forth a very speculative take on what the benefits of a three-man goalie rotation could be for the Isles.

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The Islanders' season has ended and already some spirited/contentious navel-gazing (is such a thing possible?) has begun, and in that spirit I'd like to stir the pot and see how everyone feels.

I assume (regardless of the ramifications for 'u' and 'me') several things going in:

• The first and second lines will survive intact going into next season. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
• Nino makes the roster out of training camp. Without really dogging it in training camp, it's inconceivable that Nino doesn't make the roster. He didn't look out of place during his 9 games this October and it seems like he's got nothing left to learn in juniors. He's big, he's skilled, and he can probably get up to NHL speed before too long.
• Konopka isn't getting resigned. As much as he's a fan favorite, I think Isles' management doesn't care for him all that much and is going to dump a few of the "goons" as a PR move. Zeke and Gillies aren't long for the team.
• Martin and Haley are going to be on the starting roster next season unless someone has a stellar camp and they dog it.

The way I see it, lines 1-3 are as follows:

PA - Tavares - Moulson

Grabner - Frans - Okposo

Comeau - Bailey - Nino (Okay, this one's not set in stone but it seems like it would work for breaking in the newb without causing too much trouble. Comeau and Bailey's defensive natures could compensate for any, uh, youthful excesses on Nino's part.)

I'm going to go ahead and assume that Martin and Haley will make up two parts of a nice crash-boom-bang fourth line. I also think that these two have shown some offensive flair, along with some nice stickhandling and skating. There are a handful of options to finish the line with:

• A Finn named Jesse - started to show signs of life this season, but still pretty unconvincing. Could maybe be a nice call-up guy if one of the regulars gets injured or suspended for frowning.
• Hunter - Not sure I like this at all, really. He would make a pretty good mentor for two younger guys, but I don't think he's got the wheels to keep up with Mike and Matt at all, especially coming back from injury. I could see Isles' management taking their chances with waiving this guy - if worse comes to worst, he gets claimed, the team only has to pay half his salary and nobody has really missed him all that much this season anyway. (Be honest: How many times have you said "Boy this game would have gone better with Hunts around"?)
  
• Colliton - Okay, so this one is my fantasy, but you could do worse than a pretty defensively responsible player who happens to be Bridgeport's all-time leading scorer. His capacity for assists combined with Martin and Haley's ability to make room could make for some good fourth-line scoring opportunities.
• The Rahk - Rhett would benefit from having two bruisers out there with him and he slots in nicely (Martin is listed as a LW, Haley as a C, Rhett's a RW). Maybe this could make for a defensively shaky line?

In my wildest dreams I see the Islanders rolling four lines who are all scoring threats and I think the pieces are there if some hard decisions are made and ice time is doled out to the lines who are the most effective on a given night.

Sound off, Lighthaüsen - What do you think is the fate of the fourth line? Did I use too much fancy formatting? Let me have it in the comments.

LHH editors' note: This FanPost is front-paged by popular demand. Leave your salutations for Roloson here.

Islander Fans, join me in saluting/sending off a man who is the real deal; a man whose dedication and respect for the franchise warmed our hearts. A man whose interviews gave us a reason to stay tuned after the W's and L's were doled out. A man whose goaltending was always solid, and often stellar. It is my hope that whatever small outpouring we can organize here might find its way to back to Dwayne and let him know how much he was appreciated in his short time here.

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The last thing I want to seem like is a reactionary, and it's depressing to count your team out so early in a season, but I started doing some mental calculations (which may already call into question their validity) and things already look pretty hopeless for the Isles.

• Last season the Islanders finished in thirteenth place with a grand total of 79 points in what was considered a "weak" Eastern Conference, with a record of 34 wins, 37 losses, and 11 OT/SO losses.
  
• The Islanders currently have 11 points
• The Islanders have 65 more games left in the season, for a possible 130 points up for grabs. (Please correct me if my count is wrong, here)
  
• In order to meet the 79 points they earned last season, the Islanders need 34 more victories (for the sake of simplicity I am not factoring in OT/SO losses)

So, 34 out of 65 games, huh? That's a little more than half, and bear in mind that this is just to meet their point total from last season, which was not sufficient for entry to the playoffs. Montreal and Philly squeaked in with 88 points each, and assuming that would be sufficient this year, the Islanders would need an additional 5 victories, meaning that the Isles would need to win 39 out of 65 games for a total of 89 points ("rounding up" and leaving out OT losses again for simplicity's sake).

Raise your hands if that seems impossible :( At this point, the Islanders' hopes rest on an improbable turnaround and perhaps the Western Conference kicking the tar out of everyone in the East all season to keep Eastern Conference point totals down. And the second part of that statement grates on me - I'm a bit tired of always counting on the failure of other teams to further the Isles' cause, but that's a topic for another fanpost. One wonders how a team that is ostensibly "better" than last season's is on track to possibly have a worse record.

Dom, you mind if I co-opt your Blues fandom? A brother needs to feel rewarded by a team he roots for sometimes.

Ostensibly I'm a photographer so I curse myself for never having my real camera with me. But for once my Droid 2's photos were satisfactory. I took other pictures but these three are the only ones that live up to my standards. And so I share them with you, fellow Islander fans/photo enthusiasts. Please take a moment to view them in their larger sizes.

Incident of note: At one point during the game, a young fan behind the glass was frantically trying to get the attention of anyone on the Isles' bench. Scott Gordon noticed and made eye contact. Maintaining his typical stoic mask, he quickly winked at the child and returned to the business of coaching. Seemed to satisfy the kid just fine.

Via Katie Strang

As much as I like Weight, I think now would be the perfect time to step down as captain and hand the reins over to Kyle Okposo. If nothing else it will give Isles fans something to cheer for. Maybe a desire to see how the new "C" adjusts to his role will put some more butts in the seats at NVMC now that the playoffs are effectively out of the picture.