We interrupt this baseball season....

Thanks to a nice little 4 days break granted by baseball for the ASG and the other festivities, I have an opportunity to post my thoughts on the Islanders.

First though, congrats to David Wright. He put an a nice show in the first round last night, and did his team proud. Uncle Cliffy better be ready for some shenanigans on Friday, as David was able to easily surpass the total of 2 HR that Cliffy called for. Congrats as well to the other Mets who made the team. For those who did not, rest up guys, there is a lot of time left, and that team in Atlanta is starting to play a little better while you have been slumping.

On to the topic at hand, the Isles. Now, one commenter asked me to start the "Dump Yashin" movement (howdy dd420!). I'll get into that a little more later. First, I want to break it down, unit by unit. I'll start at the goal line, and work my way up.

Goalies - Rick DiPietro and Garth Snow

Rick is stuck in the shadow of the man he replaced, Roberto Luongo. In essence, Luongo was traded so Mad Mike Milbury could take Rick. For the past couple of years, Rick has been compared to Luongo, and will be until he puts up better numbers. But there is one thing Rick has done that Luongo has not lately, and that is lead his team into the playoffs. Personally, I like DP. He has a lot of talent, and last season played behind a poor defense squad. What a lot of DP bashers forget is that he was the player most responsible for their run at a playoff spot, which did come up short, but he played very well from January on forward. I expect with a full season as the #1 under his belt, and a somewhat improved defense, DP will have a season that will help him emerge from Luongo's shadow.

Garth is a good backup. That is all he is at this stage. He can start 10 - 15 games a season. The issue I have with him is he is too expensive. Alas, there is nothing that can be done about that until his contract is up.

Defense
I sense improvement here after last season's utter disaster. Brent Sopel and Brad Lukowich were not even close to what was advertised. The only one of the 3 d-men added prior to the season who did well was Alexei Zhitnick, and he missed the end of the season with a broken ankle. Chris Campoli had a very good rookie season, though he did seem to tire towards the end. Bruno Gervais is another rookie who will look to stay on at training camp. Those three form a good core.
Added to the mix by new GM Neil Smith (I still have not gotten used to that. More later) is Brendan Witt. What this team sorely missed on the back-line last year was a thumper. John Erskine (obtained to Janne Niinima, another bust) provide some heft later in the season, but will not be back. Witt is a veteran, who keeps opponents from messing with his goalie. That is going to be a huge help for DP this season.
Joel Bouchard and Radek Martinek are back as well. Two dependable d-men.
Another addition is Tom Poti. Why he was signed, I do not know. Yes, this team needed a Power Play QB, but Poti is awful defensively. I only hope he is paired up with the steady Witt to cover up those deficiencies.

Forwards
The young guns - Nilsson, Nokelainen, Hunter, Bergenheim and Tambellini all have a lot of potential. Noke had that bad knee injury after a promising start last year. The hope here is that he is healthy. The hope is also that Hunter rebounds from an awful sophomore season. He was runner up in ROY voting his first season. If he can match that again, the Isles have a good winger. Bergy deserves to stick this season, as does Nilsson. Tambellini needs a good camp to earn a job.
The Old Guard - Bates, Blake, Satan, York and Yashin. These are the guys that are going to make the difference. I like Bates, but he is overrated, as is Blake. Both are streaky, and get a lot of credit for playing hard, but there are too many times where they disappear. I hope that some of the young guys are able to replace Bates and Blake.
Satan was a revelation last season. It was hoped that he would be the wing that would finally get Yashin going, but alas, that was not the case. Satan still put up 35 goals and 31 assists.
York is in the shadow of Mike Peca, who frankly was not the same after the Tucker hit. Peca had a poor regular season, followed by a somewhat improved playoff, leading some fans to call for his return. I hope not. The last thing this team needs is him back in the locker room. York had a fine season, 13 goals, 39 assists, playing injured for a time. With Ted Nolan as coach, I expect him to improve this season.
Recent addition Mike Sillinger is interesting. He is a good face-off man, thereby (hopefully) removing the need for Peca Part Deux. I do not think he will score 30 plus goals again, but if he does, great.
Another recent addition (as of last night) is Chris Simon, who signed a 1 year deal. Simon is not a scorer, but he brings some needed size to the front line. A better fit than Eric Goddard. Or Arron Asham.

Last but not least is Alexei Yashin. The man has yet to live up to his big contract and big expectations. A lot was given up for him, but most fans were thrilled when Mad Mike obtained him. Zdeno Chara was still raw, and a draft pick is always an unknown. There have been calls for a buy-out, and at the end of the season, I agreed. However, the hiring of Ted Nolan has me thinking that this could be the year Alexei gets it in gear. If not, then Wang better buy him out. The catcalls will be deafening if there is a repeat of last season. I think part of the problem with Yashin is that he is such a fluid skater that it looks like he is not skating hard, when in fact, he does not have to, given his stride. He is not a pure goal scorer. He needs someone on his line that he can pass to. Milbury failed to find that person. Whether Smith can, or if anyone can is the $90 million question.

Management
A Three Headed Monster as it were. Coach Ted Nolan returns from exile. Pat LaFontaine rejoins the organization. So does Neil Smith.
I love the Nolan hiring. This is a man who was a great head coach, and got a raw deal in Buffalo. I know there were rumors about his zipper, but I think that is so much BS. Outside of Hasek (who has proven to have his own issues the past couple of years), every player who played for him loves him. He is the type of guy who expects a lot out of his players, and most importantly, he has a lot to prove as he comes back. Finally, he has the resume to make players take note of what he says. The same could not be said of Steve (not so) Stirling and Peter Laviollette (at the time, also a rookie HC).

I am happy Patty L is back. Despite Larry Brooks' hatchet job, I think he is a guy that knows a lot about the game. He played for quite some time, under a number of good coaches and with other talented players. Mr. Brooks feels that he has no experience in management. This is the same Larry Brooks who feels Mark Messier (who I grant was a great player) could step into a GM role cold and excel. Why the difference Larry?

The third head is Neil Smith. I had my reservations about this hiring, even though he started as an Isle. Ever since the Don Maloney debacle, Islander fans have been leery of having anyone from the Rangers involved with the franchise. Smith is of course best known as the GM of the team that broke the curse, thereby depriving Isles fans of the "1940" chant. He is a good evaluator of talent (then again, so was Milbury when it came to the draft), so that is a positive.
However, I am concerned about the Poti signing. As I noted earlier, the team needed a PP QB. However, Poti is not a good defensive defenseman. I hope that Witt, or whomever his partner is, can cover for that deficiency.

I of course am also pleased that Bryan Trottier is back. He had good success as an assistant coach. He did not fair as well behind the bench as HC for the Rangers, but that was simply payback for Maloney :)

Alas, the spector of Mad Mike Milbury is lurking. IMHO, and man who beats up a Ranger fan with the guys' own shoe can't be all that bad. "Shoes" was an excellent drafter. He has picked some great players. Unfortunately, a lot of them have blossomed elsewhere, while the return on many of these deals has not been what was expected. I will not recite the lengthy list of bad trades. It is impossible to say that the players (like Bertuzzi) would have had similar success in Blue & Orange. It is easy to say that most would have. Some of the young guys who played well last year and the year before were drafted by Shoes. Others, like Ryan O'marra, Blake Comeau, Wes O'Neill and Dustin Kohn should help the team in the next couple of years. I hope one or more of them can help us get past the bad trades.

Charles Wang does not know hockey. That is evident, or else we would have been "Shoes"less much earlier. However, the fact remains that there is hockey on LI thanks to him. So long as he lets his hockey people run things, and Trots hip-checks Milbury if he gets to close to the hockey operations department, things will be fine.

I Hope.