State of the Islanders

What is Ed doing you are asking? The Jets play the Patriots Sunday in the first round of the playoffs, and he is writing about the Islanders? What the hell is wrong with him?

Well, a lot actually, but that's not important right now. Tomorrow I will unveil my Playoff Game Preview. For today, I did not want to leave the BOG empty, and with little going on in Mets land, I decided to take a look at the other boys who wear Blue and Orange.

Coming into this season, very little was expected of the Islanders. There was no serious upgrade in talent, on the ice, or in the Front Office. The only upgrade was the hiring of Ted Nolan as coach. Then again, I would have been an upgrade over Steve (notso)Stirling. To the surprise of media, other teams, and Islander fans, the team has shown improvement from last year. They battle hard every night, very rarely getting blown out of the building. And they have gotten improved contributions from several players. Alas, there is a lot of room for improvement. So, as we close in on the mid-point of the season, let's take a look at the team.

Goalies -
Not much was thought of the signing of Mike Dunham as backup. Many thought he was solely signed due to his close relationship with GM Garth Snow. However, Dunham has played well in limited action (11 games), going 3-4, with a 2.85 GAA and .916 SV%. Good numbers for a backup. Early in the year, while starting goalie Rick DiPietro was injured, Dunham went 2-2 in four games, with one win in a shootout, as well as one loss in OT and 1 in the shootout. Since then, he has appeared in a couple of games where Rick was pulled (either due to injury or poor play), and made 5 starts. A dependable backup, and a good signing.

Rick DiPietro is the franchise goalie, as evidenced by his record 15 year contract, which will have him tending the nets at age 40. Many laughed (opposing teams fans) or were angered (Islander fans, Commissioner Gary Bettman) by the deal, given his performance prior to this season. This year however, after some ealry troubles, Rick has played very well. He has posted 4 shutouts already, after not posting one last season until March. In 30 games, he is 16-13 with a 2.58 GAA and .919 SV%. He ranks 15th in the league in GAA, and 9th in SV%. He is communicating better with the defense, reducing the turnovers when playing the puck that had been a concern early in the season. He has also proven to be a workhorse, starting 11 in a row before the last game Tuesday against the Flyers.

Defense
Well, Alexei Zhitnick was traded, taking veteran blueline presence out of the mix, but adding a bunch of cap room this year, and the next 2 years. Sean Hill has overcome early struggles to play a solid D, as has Brendan Witt. Rookie Bruno Gervais won a spot out of training camp (no easy task under Nolan), and has settled in quite nicely. Radek Martinek was playing well, until he suffered a broken foot last week which will sideline him for 4 weeks. After an early injury, Chris Campoli has returned to the mix, and has resumed his strong play from last season. Tom Poti, who I personally wanted no part of after seeing his awful season with the Rangers last season, has played above expectations. There is a good mix of youth and veterans here, but not a lot of depth should more injuries occur. They need to continue their strong play for Rick to continue his success.

Forwards
Jason Blake has been the story, 23 goals, 17 assists in his walk year. The concern with Blake is that he has always been streaky, so we have to wonder if he just got his streaks for the year out of the way, and will revert to going weeks without a goal. This cannot happen if the team wants to continue to contend.
Alexei Yashin, prior to his knee injury, was playing like the star we hoped we were getting from Ottawa a few years ago. Since his return, he has not been as good, but you have to figure that teams are going to key on him and Blake, since the rest of the forwards are doing jack squat in terms of scoring balance. Hopefully, that is the issue, and not continued knee pain. He is the key to this team, and needs to get back to where he was. He projects to 71 points in 65 games this year, but he should exceed that if he can get hot again.
The rest of the forwards have been disappointing on the scoring side. Trent Hunter, who was in the Rookie of the Year mix a few years back, is still hitting everything that moves, but not so much stationary objects like the back of the net. Mike Sillinger started the year off hot, but has cooled. Andy Hilbert started off cold, was near frozen, then heated up, but has cooled again. And wither Miro Satan? We heard all the stories from Buffalo about coasting, but did not see it last year. This year, he has 10 goals, projected to 21 for the season, after 35 last year.
The second and third lines need to step up, so other teams have something to worry about beyond Yashin and Blake. Otherwise, set you tee times. Again.

Coach
Finally, Ted Nolan has come back to the NHL! After a near 10 year absence, Ted has shown he has not lost his touch. Yashin seems rejuvenated. Blake is playing well. DiPietro has stepped it up. The team plays hard, night in, night out for the most part. I do have a concern about let downs after winning against the Rangers, but that will work out in time. Until last week, they had been 6-0 in the latter part of back to back games. That shows great preparation and conditioning.
He needs to work out something for the power play, which is 23rd in the league at 15.6%, and the penalty kill, which is 22nd at 80.4%. Penalties need to be reduced. Scoring from the other lines needs to increase. Whether the help comes from the present team, Bridgeport, or through a trade (see cap room from trades of York and Zhitnik), Ted needs to get some of the other guys scoring. Back to back shutouts, and a near shutout against the hapless Flyers are scary.

The team was thisclose to first place last week, and has touched it a couple of times this year. They still have games in hand, as well as 43 games left to make some progress. A playoff spot is not out of reach, and from there, well, if Rick gets hot, they can make some noise. Hell, they went to the conference finals on the back of Glenn Healy once.

Stop in tomorrow for my Jets/Patriots preview.