Only Shadows in the Sunshine State

As the 2007-2008 season continues to unravel for the New York Islanders, there isn't much the loyal Islander fan can look forward to. More DP puck-handling gaffs? More ice time for the Bridgeport Islanders? Jon Sim's unlikely return? Like I said, there is not too much to look forward to.

Regarding the play of Rick DiPietro...Where in the beginning of the season DP was a cautious puck-handler, mostly making the right choices behind the net, last night's game was the epitome of the great flaw to DP's goaltending career. What should be his most dependable weapon has once again become his Achilles heel. When DP is making sound decisions, he is communicating with his defenseman, starting the breakout, and keeping the opposing team's forecheck in line. On the contrary, when DP is making mindless decisions, he makes poor passes, he give the opponent's multiple cracks at an empty net, and he disrupts the flow of his team's defensive game. When DP sits back in his goal and does the simple thing like stopping the puck, he can be one of the most effective goaltenders in the NHL. But the DP of last night looked like he belonged back in the minor leagues.

Now in all fairness to DP, he is probably playing with an ongoing injury--probably whatever he worsened during the NHL all-star skills competition. That, in addition to playing behind one of the worst teams in the NHL, would certainly frustrate DP and make him want to leave his crease to play the puck more. Some are now willing to question DP's 15 year contract based on what has transpired in a few week interval. However, I am not one of those persons.

DP has proved to me that he is more than capable of leading this team to a successful season. The first half of this season (prior to all the defensive injury woes, his own injury,and when the Isles were still competitive), DP was in top form. I don't think it's fair to quit on the franchise player when every other player on the Isles has failed to adequately support him. That said, DP still needs to be tamed and the over-handling of the puck did not serve the Isles well last night.

Regarding the Isles' management...This is not going to be the type of season where we can question specific in-game decisions and certain missed chances that led to our place in the standings. However, this is the type of season where we must question those in charge and the overall strategy they have in place to bring the Stanley Cup back to Long Island. Garth Snow and Ted Nolan, two men who were highly regarded for the job they did last season, have taken enormous steps backwards over the course of a single season. Ted Nolan has developed an unwillingness to change--his line combinations, his apportionment of ice time, his power play strategy--are just a few examples of a stubborn coach letting his ego override what's best for his team. For example, Ted Nolan tells us that Mike Comrie is a top-line player and that Trent Hunter is a tremendous asset and that they should receive the big minutes. Yet when Comrie/Hunter fail, not only does Nolan refuse to admit he was mistaken, but he also refuses to give those minutes to more deserving players. Over the last 13 games, the Isles' PP is 4 for its last 55, or a measly 7%. During that stretch, and we have not seen or heard of any change on the PP strategy or the PP personnel. And what does Snow do in response to all of this? He refuses to fire Isles' PP coach Gallant and rewards Comrie and Hunter with new contracts.

I hope Garth Snow has learned a lesson this season. This nonsense notion that a team of "Ted Nolan players" will prevail over the more skilled teams has no merit. A coal miner who works all day will never have the IQ to design a space satellite. Along those lines, a team of hard-working unskilled hockey players will never have the ability to compete in the NHL. Moreover, this group has gone through numerous stretches of lazy inattentive play, which is the opposite of a "Nolan player." At this point in the season, we need to see more of guys like Comeau, Tambellini, Walter, and Colliton. They are more skilled than the Hilberts, Hunters and Parks on the current team. Yes, there are going to be periods of spotty play as these kids better learn the game, but they have more future upside than every last member of the Isles forward unit. In addition, I wouldn't bring Okposo up into this mess either and spoil his NHL debut on a gutless team that has lost interest in the current season.

Regarding the defensemen...There is merit to the idea that the Isles season has unfolded partially due to the loss of so many defensemen. Currently, Campoli is out for the year, Sutton is on the shelf for weeks, and Gervais, Martinek, and Witt are and have been banged up. Aaron Johnson is not a capable NHL defenseman nor is Rob Davison or Bryan Berard. Next year I hope Snow adds one major defenseman along the lines of a Wade Redden. A strong UFA in addition to Witt, Martinek, Sutton, Campoli, Gervais, and Meyer not only is sufficient, but is large enough to allow the Isles to move a Campoli/Gervais for some offensive help.

Regarding the offense...The Isles should have parted with the likes of Satan and Fedotenko. While they may not have fetched high round picks, any return would be more helpful to the Isles future than those players' services this season. This again goes towards Snow's inability to characterize and judge the value in the market. He made low-ball offers to the top UFAs last season, and I'm sure he low-balled offers at the trading deadline a few weeks ago. We will know soon whether Snow learned from his lesson.


All in all, the Isles need to overhaul the strategy we see on the ice. We need newer younger players, who play an uptempo style with lots of scoring chances. The leftover aging vets routine has put Isles fans to sleep over the course of a 82 game season. Presently, I find it extremely hard to sit through an entire Isles game, mostly because the Isles try to put the other teams to sleep in hopes of winning games 1-0, 2-1, etc. If that method were working, I'm sure I would have less of a problem with it. But that method can't possibly work when we have no one capable of creating scoring chances on a consistent basis and no one willing to pay the price to collect the unskilled goal. Out of all the Isles forwards coming into this season (Guerin, Comrie, Hunter, Vasicek, Tank, Hilbert, Park, Silinger) there isn't one player I would miss if they were not to return next season. We will however be stuck with Guerin, Comrie, Park, and Silinger, but if Snow can replace the others with some faster younger players, the Isles just might be watchable next season. And it doesn't hurt also that we are creeping slowly toward solidifying a spot in the bottom-5 of the league and a crack at the first overall pick.