We Stink

The month of October has concluded for the Isles, and somehow we boast a winning record with a mark of 5-4. But one thing is pretty clear after tonight's shellacking—this is going to be one long season. For all the times this team has allowed its fans to feel like it could compete with the big boys, there have been equal moments when this team has generated a feeling that would have us fans long for the days of the late 90’s. And for those of you who plan on rebutting with some bogus notion that before the season we would have been happy with a 5-4 record in October, you can save your breath. No one should have anything positive to say about the Isles right now.

A lot of what transpired Saturday night at the Coliseum had to do with some very spotty play from goaltender Rick DiPietro. He was awful—just about the worst game of DP’s young career. He actually looked like he didn’t belong in the NHL, which is incredible for a goaltender who had been backing up his record breaking contract by proving to the world that he actually is a top five goaltender. But tonight DP couldn’t control a rebound if his life depended on it. His stick handling was terrible, his decision making even more terrible, and his goaltending even more terrible than that. There was nothing he could do about the first goal, but a poor misplay behind his own goal put the Isles in an early 2-goal hole. Poor positioning and a lack of focus gave the Canes 4 more goals, none of which should have gone in. Out of respect for his goaltender Ted Nolan tried to hold off pulling DP, but after the third goal everyone knew a Dubie sighting was inevitable. That being said, DP is the man and he will be fine. But tonight was a joke of a performance.

Now let’s rip on some of the players because obviously it’s never entirely the goaltender’s fault. And we will focus mostly on my least favorite line—the most overrated line in all of hockey: the “minus” line of Silinger-Hunter-Hilbert. Although they didn’t start the game together, Nolan quickly reunited them in order to show each of us how horrible each one of them has been this year. Let’s take them one at a time…

1. Silinger – Is it just me or does it seem like Mike Silinger has aged five years since last season? He really looks like a 44-year-old veteran who should retire right now, one game short of his 1,000th NHL game. Silinger, who somehow is supposed to reach close to 30 goals, is on pace for about 8 goals (only b/c he netted a lucky goal with five seconds left tonight or his pace would have been zero). He is a minus 7 (-7) for the season and only has value to the Isles because he happens to be a very good face-off man, even at his growing age of 59. I was kidding about having Silinger retire, but Nolan has got to stop playing this guy on the power play because he’s completely killing us.

2. Hunter – Trent Hunter hasn’t done much to make the Isles or any other team want to sign him to a long-term deal. Currently Hunter is a minus 5 (-5) through 9 games and can't seem to keep up in a fast-paced NHL. Hunter with his one goal this year is also on pace for 8 goals, but has largely been a non-factor on the score sheet this season. I’m tired of waiting each season for him to get going.

3. Hilbert – I saved the best for last. Oh Andy please find a defroster to unfreeze your stone-cold hands. Hilbert is a minus 8 (-8) and has no goals and no assists, which gives him a pace for…yes zero goals and zero assists.

I’ve been saying it for a while now—if this line is not going to do the job offensively, then it MUST do the job defensively. The “minus” line now has a combined +/- of minus 20 (-20) through the team’s first 9 games. Ouch! Can someone say Tambellini? Bates? Nielson? Anyone???!!!!

Campoli to me is the one bright spot so far this season, averaging a point-per-game with a much stronger defensive effort in his own zone. However, he did seem to force the issue way too much at times tonight which led to some bad turnovers.

Ok, the Isles really aren’t as bad as I’ve made them out to be tonight. A 5-4 record is very respectable month’s worth of work, but having two games in a month where you give up 8 goals is not a good omen. DP put the Isles in a hole tonight and it seemed to snowball out of control. The Isles need to shake this one off and come out strong against Tampa on Thursday.

But as great of a feeling as it was a week ago to know they could sit for a week on a nice win, that’s how horrible the feeling must be now in the Islander locker-room knowing they have 5 days to contemplate a fun fulfilled night of garbage.

I'm not trying to be overly pessimistic but...

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UPDATE: Berard out 2-4 weeks
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Some things still concern me...

1. For the second consecutive game the Isles squandered a 2 goal lead in the third. As alarming as that is, we also have the distinction of being 2-0 when squandering 2 goal leads in the third, which is undoubtedly tops in the NHL.

2. For the second straight game Nolan makes a fool of himself by starting an offensively worthless Aaron Johnson at forward. What's worse is that Nolan probably sees this as a smart move because he had an extra defenseman available after Berard was forced to leave the game early.

3. Where is MAB? I could understand punishing MAB for one game (two at the most) but three games is overkill. MAB proved to be a more than valuable asset to the PP, and if we are not going to consider him for the long haul, then we better get him in the lineup so we can maximize his trade value. Personally I think Nolan needs to show MAB a little more loyalty than he has thus far. There have been many players who have blown some plays in worse ways than MAB has. I always go back to Dunham. Mike Dunham played horribly in the most important games of the season for the Isles last year, yet Nolan tried to push him through it. MAB had ONE horrible game in a MEANINGLESS game against the Leafs where we lost 8-1. MAB was hardly the lone culprit that game, yet has been singled out as the lone scapegoat.

The Isles did a fantastic job responding to two quick goals by the Devils in the third period in last night’s game. Guerin has really picked up his play and Campoli is in all-star form. Comrie and Guerin seemed to be the happiest when they are playing together so I would put them back on the top line together. The second line now has life with the addition of Bergenheim. I am hoping Bates can finally come back and play on the 3rd line with Silinger and Hunter. Nolan should then move Hilbert to the fourth line with Park and Simon and we can move away from this ridiculous notion of starting Aaron Johnson at forward. Hilbert has been a serviceable penalty killer, as has Park, so they should continue to see PK time as well as some time on the fourth line.

We'll Take It -- Isles Hold Off Caps

We've been asking for an offensive breakout all week, and in a sort of bitter sweet way, we got what we wanted: 5 goals on 21 shots. After building a nice 2-0 lead, even though the Isles were largely outplayed by the Caps, the Isles were feeling just fine headed into the third. But with Ovechkin and the Caps buzzing all night long, we all felt it was only a matter of time before the Caps found their way back into the game. And when you have a player like Ovechkin and you’re a hardworking team, then that hard work usually will generate quality scoring chances. The Caps notched 2 quick goals and we were back to dead even. Yet a few minutes later, the Isles converted on Bryan Berard’s fluke of a power play goal, the second fluke-job given up by Kolzig at that point (Guerin had a long range slapper squeak through Kolzig’s wickets in the second). That seemed to take the wind out of the Caps, who didn’t manage a shot for the last 9 minutes of the game. To make matters worse, Kolzig gave up another softie when Bill Guerin’s soft wrister found a way through his ever so Swiss cheese-like torso. Guerin did add a wicked wrister at the end of the third to complete the hat trick.

But let’s not kid ourselves here. The Isles netted 5 goals and 3 of them probably should have been stopped by an NHL goaltender. Screens most likely contributed to a rather confused looking Olaf Kolzig, so perhaps we can say that the Isles did a tremendous job of creating their chances out of nothing. As a longtime goaltender, I can tell you how difficult it is to stop any kind of shot when there are bodies in front of you. But such screen shots don’t always lead to goals—they usually lead to a blocked shot or a lucky save. It’s very rare to see 3 goals scored on screen shots in an NHL game, but I’m sure the Isles will take it for now, even though this was hardly the offensive breakout I had in mind. I’m not trying to be pessimistic, just realistic.

First, hats off to the Isles for finding a way to nail 2 points last night. It can be very difficult for teams in any sport to comeback after blowing a lead towards the end of the game. It might not have been pretty, but it sure did count.

Second, I have some issues with Coach Nolan that I’d like to address here. Hey Ted, is choosing a lineup a game to you? OK I know it’s a game, but without trying to be over technical, I don’t think you can justify messing around in wild and crazy ways with your lineup by explaining that the Isles merely have 7 games in 29 days or something like that. I'm reffering to your decision to start Aaron Johnson at forward. By playing Johnson at forward, you seem more like an amateur coach, foolishly trying to give your team and your fans something to laugh about. Yet it wasn’t so funny when Aaron Johnson took a penalty in the offensive zone in a 2-1 game in the third, was it? If you want to keep Aaron Johnson around, fine but do it in a somewhat logical way. The only logical scenario I can see would be to rotate AJ in as the 7th defenseman, and yes move MAB up to forward. If you are going to experiment with defenseman at forward, why would you choose your large defensive defenseman as the lab rat? Instead of scratching MAB for the second consecutive game, last night would have the perfect opportunity to see if MAB could handle some 4th line duty, if not 3rd line duty. Personally, I think MAB would be an effective 3rd line winger because he possesses a good amount of speed, good cycling ability, and yes some defensive upside. Plus who would you rather see out there with Silinger and Hunter? Would you possibly choose stone-hands Hilbert with his zero goals, zero assists, and zero points in 7 games thus far? No I didn’t think so.

Other issues – I’ve just about had it up to here with Satan (visualize me with my hand stretched out to the top of a 10 foot ceiling). No goals so far and very weak defensive play gives him the worst +/- on the team with a -4. I guess he’s not playing to cash in at the end of the season after all. The guy doesn’t even come close to scoring. And did you see how weak he was on that stick check that led to a Caps’ goal in the third? Maybe we’ll have a shootout sometime soon so I can be reminded of why it could possibly be worthwhile to keep him around.

The “Misfit Line” as ESPN has named them has produced 24 points in 7 games, good for better than a point per game per player. Although the Guerin-Comrie-Feds line has been streaky, no line that ever was centered by Alex Yashin ever produced this much offense. Hopefully last night’s hat trick will get the blood going in Guerin again, and I’d definitely like to see Comrie shoot more often. The guy has 4 goals on 10 shots on goal. Now I’m in law school right now, but I think my math skills are good enough to convert that to a 40% shooting percentage. Wow Mike, shoot the puck!!!

I was very hard on Campoli during the off season (and rightfully so) but I’m happy for him and happy for the Isles that he shut me up. Outstanding effort from Camps so far this season, especially with a 4 assist effort last night. And what can I say about Bryan Berard? What an outstanding signing. He’s given us everything we could have asked for as the quarterback of the power play by maintaining his composure and taking quick low shots from the point that usually lead to goals like last night, or good rebound opportunities for his teammates. Welcome back Bryan.

Broad Street Blues

Jiggs and Billy characterized the Isles 3-1 loss to the Flyers tonight as a hard fought battle that just didn't swing the Isles way, but I don't buy it. Even DP proclaimed after the game that they battled hard but couldn't find a way to score, just barely touching on what is precisely the problem. 6 games into this young season we are seeing what we feared would be the Isles problem all year long: the inability to generate consistent scoring chances in order to compete with average NHL teams.

This problem first became evident in the game against Washington. Sure the Isles outshot the Caps by a healthy margin and only gave up 12 shots on goal. But if you watched the game then you would know that the Isles had absolutely nothing going against Kolzig. I can't even recall one decent save he made that entire game. The Isles peppered him with low-percentage perimeter shots and got their only goal on one such shot. The same was true against the Rags on Wednesday, even though the Isles were able to muster up a win. Some heroics from DP and the Rags' inability to finish from in close is what won that game, not the Isles offense. The Isles generated nothing against Lundqvist in that game aside from a few solid chances on the powerplay.

I don't need to discuss the Leafs game because the score in that contest speaks for itself. And now tonight against the Flyers told the same story--absolutely no solid scoring chances. The game tonight was a cake walk for Biron who was finally tested when Miro Satan tried to put home a rebound with a few minutes left in the 3rd. When you are losing games 2-1 (like the Isles did to the Caps and should have to the Flyers without the empty netter) then the reason better be that the other team's goalie stood on his head at times. Not necessarily that the goalie stole the game by making 40 saves, but he better have made at least a few great saves.

The Hilbert-Silinger-Hunter line has been invisible in terms of offensive production. Hunter is still skating in quicksand and Hilbert can't seem to unfreeze his hands. Silinger looks like he should be playing in a local Men's league. The Satan-Vasicek-Bergenheim line was buzzing tonight but only managed one goal on a fluke play. I loved the Guerin signing but I have a hard time seeing him netting 15 goals after a 36 goal effort last year. I can only recall one solid scoring chance all season when Lunqvist robbed him with a sprawling skate save. Comrie has been a non-factor since his brilliant showing against the Sabres.

The Isles look way too tight right now and I think they should open up their game. Let the D take some chances and maybe the Comrie line can start to generate some more opportunities. And let this be an early warning to Snow to start looking for offensive help around the league. I don't know if I can take sitting through another one of these lackluster dreary games for an entire season.

Park It Here

The Isles have signed Richard Park to a 2 year extention. While this is hardly big news, at least it shows that Snow has learned that unless he signs some players over the course of this season, then next summer would encompass a 2nd consecutive team overhaul. On that note, I'd love to see Snow sign some more current Isles with a little more value. While we are all excited about the early production of Mike Comrie, I don't think the Isles will begin to think long term for a few months, although he's already convinved me to be worthey of an extention.

With both Fedotenko and Vasicek only agreeing to one year deals, and with Satan's contract ready to expire, this could be the only year this precise group of forwards has a shot. If they continue to buzz, Snow should lock them up.

OTHER NOTES

I'm not sure what Nolan sees in Satan, but I've seen him do an abysmal job as the Isles' PP quarterback. Satan is a short-range sharp shooter and has no business at the point. Berard should hopefully be locked up by tomorrow.

I'm also not a big fan of Hunter on the PK. While his postioning is good and he does block shots, he just isn't quick enough to keep up with a fast moving PP.

That's a Top Line

If last night is an sign of the year to come then I think we will all be happy where this team finishes at the end of the year. While there was clearly alot of rust on the ice last night, when your new top line puts up 10 points (3 Gs, 7As) how could we complain. For the last 5 or 6 years we have been complaining about the same topics, and it seems that we finally have a top line that will not only lead the team in points but in the locker room as well.

Game Notes:
If Comrie plays like this for the first 10 games, I say sign him to an extension as soon as possible. Rick let in a few weak ones but made for it big time with some jaw dropping saves and he will probably outscore Hilbert this year. Lets start the Tambellini watch.

AHHHHH!!!

Disaster is indeed looming. HILBERT! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!! From everything I've read, Hilbert has had an awful training camp, while Tambellini was quite the sparkplug. Bill has been dead on—Nolan simply isn't willing to trust the kids. He insists on going with underachieving mediocre outcasts. Give me a break! Finally we were going to get a chance to see what one of our best offensive prospects has to offer. But no. Not today. Not ever.

There is no way to justify this decision. How could one possibly believe that Hilbert could give the Isles more than Tambellini could on a regular basis? The worse case scenario would have them being a wash, EXCEPT, that Tambellini is a kid; a kid waiting to prove to the hockey world and to his teammates that he is ready to step up. This goes right back to the Dunham situation from a year ago. Clearly Dunham had lost his game, yet Nolan insisted on playing him. When we look back upon the 2006-2007 season we will always remember Dubie and his heroics in getting the Isles into the postseason. What many of us have forgotten is how lucky the Isles were. They needed a miraculous collapse on the part of the Canadians and Maple Leafs, in addition to some good luck in games against the Rangers, Leafs, Flyers, and Devils. Nolan’s decision to stick with Dunham SHOULD have cost the Isles the playoffs last year. Now keeping Hilbert won’t have that drastic of an impact on the Isles’ early season success, but COME ON!!! WAKE UP!!!

Also, where in the world is Bryan Berard? I must be the only one who remembers a powerplay from a year ago that couldn’t produce quality scoring chances when the Isles needed them most. The Isles’ powerplay was HORRIBLE for a majority of the season last year, and much of the problem was hidden with the addition of MAB who’s booming slap shot helped improve the Isles PP numbers at the end of the season. BUT, the secret’s out on MAB, and without Tom Poti to dish off the puck, how does Nolan expect to have an effective PP? Does he suspect Radek Martinek, who will be eating extremely tough minutes against the opponent’s top lines as well as penalty killing duties, is the answer? COME ON!!! Martinek is NO Superman, plus if we would like him to stick around for, I don’t know, the ENTIRE SEASON, maybe it would help if we weren’t forced to rely on him to play big minutes on EACH of the powerplay, penalty kill, and even strength. The Isles had numerous chances against the Sabers in the playoffs to win a few more games than they did, but the powerplay truly let them down. I’m not sure what Nolan’s plan is for this season, but I can tell you this: you simply CANNOT rely on your team’s ability to outwork your opponents on a nightly basis. That’s not the way it works, or the hardest working team would never lose. Sometimes (and this time), you HAVE to make decisions based on skill. Hilbert has got to go and Berard better be signed by tomorrow.

-Justin

Fresh Ice and New Sweaters

I know its been awhile since I last posted, but I finally have a working computer and internet. As I sit here in class, I can only think about who is going to make the final roster cut. I believe we are all hoping that Hilbert, who has been playing on a line with both Satan and Josef V, was merely given one final look. Jeff Tambellini needs to be on this team.

If there is ever a seasonto go with youth, 2007-2008 is that season. Just look at the Bronx Bombers who after starting the year with a veteran heavy lineup injected the likes of Melky Cabrera, Shelley Duncan, and Joba Chamberlain and have made the playoffs in the last week of the season. Since we live in a copy cat world, Snolan should cut Hilbert and finally let Tambellini prove himself at the NHL level. It can't be any worse than watching Hilbert float around the ice occasionally hitting a post or two. Rather, I believe Tambellini can be a solid contributer at the NHL level.

The defensive end is a bit more tricky. Going with youth here could hurt us more than help. Signing Berard is the direction I would go. He should work wonders with MAB on the powerplay and solidfy the 3rd defensive with Bruno. FM IV should be sent through waivers where he will end up in the Bridge or elsewhere. Campoli should be kept up with the club because exposing him to waivers will most likely lead to another team claiming him.