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The Islanders Are Out Of It
by PuckStopsHere on 01/16/09 at 01:24 AM ET
Comments (5)
The last place team in the NHL is the New York Islanders. They sport a 12-32 record (with four losses counted as regulation ties). This puts them five points below the Atlanta Thrashers in last place. They seem to have given up on this season - as is shown by their pathetic 2-18 record (with 2 regulation ties) since the beginning of December. Thats right! The New York Islanders have won only two games since the beginning of December.
Clearly they have slipped into the race for a lottery playoff spot and have little expectation to win this season. How did this team drop this far?
It starts with questionable decisions off ice. The fiasco when GM Neil Smith was replaced before his first Islanders game and replaced by Garth Snow, their backup goalie with no hockey managerial experience, is a very good example of such a decision. More recently, the Islanders fired top coach Ted Nolan late enough into the off season that the top available coaches were already signed.
They have an overly involved owner in Charles Wang, a GM who is subservient to the owner in Garth Snow - who has questionable qualifications and an unproven NHL coach in Scott Gordon. This is not the kind of brain trust that will produce a winner.
On the ice, the player who judging by contract length must be their franchise player - Rick DiPietro limited to five games this season due to injury. Their number one goalie this season has been Joey MacDonald. Joey MacDonald is a journeyman goalie who had 17 career NHL games played before this season began. At age 28, he is not a prospect. He is merely a stop gap. MacDonald is currently out with a groin injury. This leaves the Islanders with Yann Danis and Wade Dubielewicz as their goaltenders. Dubielewicz has been brought back after a KHL stint so unsuccessful that he was bought out of his contract.
On defence, free agent signee Mark Streit is one of the top scoring defencemen in the NHL. His 33 points place him third in scoring among defencemen. He will represent the Islanders in the All Star Game. His sometimes poor play in his own zone keeps him from any consideration for the Norris Trophy. The rest of the Islanders defence is a gr4oup of journeymen and AHLers. Chris Campoli and Andy Sutton do not scare anyone. Their defensive shutdown man Brendan Witt sports a -27 +/- rating in only 32 games played. This is indicative of the fact that the Islanders rarely shutdown top opponents and Witt has seen better days.
On forward, they have only three people who have scored as many as 10 goals so far this year. Bill Guerin leads the way with 14, followed by Trent Hunter at 11 and Richard Park at 10. The only other offensive threat worth mentioning is Doug Weight, who is the team’s best set-up man with 25 assists. Nearly everyone else on their forward roster would be as at home in the AHL as they are in the NHL.
The New York Islanders are a bad team. They are bad because of poor management and overly involved ownership. They appear to have given up on this season, as they have only two wins since the beginning of December. They seem to be content to fall deeper and deeper into last place and wait until they get the chance to try to fix their problems at the draft table.
Filed in: | The Puck Stops Here | Permalink
Tags: Charles+Wang, Garth+Snow, Mark+Streit, New+York+Islanders, Rick+DiPietro,
Comments
This team was actually pretty good with Ted Nolan….now they are back to being the old Islanders of Mike Mudbury
Posted by kevin from boston on 01/16/09 at 10:06 AM ET
Nothing new in this story… this was written by someone with a stat sheet and a copy of the latest standings.
Streit has been a huge bright spot… I’m not sure how plucking a top-scoring defenseman from Montreal is a negative. Weight has been a pleasant surprise… Bailey has shown some good things for a 19 year old… Nielsen is healthy again and skating well… Comeau is back and showing he can handle the NHL game.
As for Scott Gordon, the guy was a top AHL coach and entered this season no less unproven than Bruce Boudreau did a year ago. Also no mention here of the Ryan Smyth move… it was a better gamble than anyone would give them credit for. Snow cleared out some holdovers from the Mad Mike era that haven’t even panned out. O’Marra has five points in 30 AHL games this season, and Nilsson has 13 points in 35 games with Edmonton.
The Isles lost 2-1 to the division leaders a couple of nights ago, and 2-1 last night to the conference leaders. That to me is not a team “content to fall deeper and deeper into last place.” (The Isles certainly wouldn’t benefit long-term from getting into playoffs and suffering a first-round sweep.)
They’ve bungled the DiPietro injury by rushing the recovery, yes. But before someone tries to chronicle the plight of a team, try knowing something beyond the same old criticisms. Try watching a game or two.
The reality speaks for itself… it’s not good. But if you’re going to post something about this team, give me something a little deeper than “they’re bad.”
Posted by Gillies Goring from Meadowbrook Pkwy on 01/16/09 at 10:15 AM ET
The Islanders are FINALLY heading in the right direction in the standings, straight to the bottom. Atlanta, Toronto, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, St. Loius would love to be in their position right now. They have finally figured it out that it is much better to be last if you can’t be first. Who wants a team that is alwasy 6th-10th in the conference? Why trade away youth for malcontents just to make a first round exit? Be bad, very bad and be rewarded. The truth is if they can get a new stadium in time to pay the players they draft with the lottery picks they’ll be similar to the Capitals and Blackhawks who were left for dead just a couple of season ago.
Posted by Hockey1919 from Montreal on 01/16/09 at 02:27 PM ET
I love how people like yourself are so quick to judge everything by the cover, and never look inside.
Now, I am a Devils fan 1st, but will also root for the Islanders since they are my hometown team, but MSG and the rangers can fold up for all I care about them .
Lets start with the ownership. Yes while it may see Charles Wang is overactive in the ownership category, at least he is an owner who cares about his team, unlike Islander owners in the past. If you want to comment on BAD ownership, why don’t you look at Tampa Bay where overactive management fired a proven coach for a TV star to try and get more into the spotlight. Charles Wang also wants to try and revitalize the area surrounding the Nassau Coliseum and make it something a team CAN be proud of and attract players to but anal local politicians, looking for pocket money from him, are blocking this plan and vision. Why don’t you look at this http://www.lighthouseli.com/
Onto Garth Snow, while he may have not been the best choice for the position and they’re are some questionable moves(um, which GM never makes a questionable move) He has implemented a play to help build the Islanders and it has been stated that they are going to rebuild. Unfortunately this has been stated many times within the last 10-15 years for the islanders, but to be quick to judge his moves is typical of someone wanting to be in the spotlight as any true hockey fan knows it takes a few years. If within 5 years the islanders are still in the position they are in, then yes I would say give him the Axe.
The plan is to get the young guys and try to develop them as much as they can, but with the islanders having so many injuries and leading the NHL in man games lost, it can be tough for a GM to leave those prospects in the AHL to develop. Over 400 man games lost last season and on the way to over 500 the way this season is going, what is the GM’s other choice, be like Mike Milbury and trade away his prospects? I would hope not, just bring up a prospect and hope they can fill in worthy enough until the regular’s get better.
Scott Gordon, here is someone you say has questionable qualifications in the NHL. And guess what, I agree with you. Its hard to have qualifications in the NHL when your coaching and winning in the AHL. So, why was he Hired and Ted Nolan Fired? Well, when I heard Nolan was fired I was like WTF myself, but after hearing what the plans and reasons were I understood and believed they were doing the right thing. Everyone wants to win and no one wants to lose, but someone has to lose now with the shootout, so with the islanders committed to going with the rebuilding they need someone who will be a good developer of the younger players, just like Scott Gordon was within the AHL. He was the Bruins Minor league coach for 6 seasons, developing their players and look at the Bruins this year. They have a great team, best in the East.
I’ve spent enough time with my look on your blog, but your opinion is just that, yours. Nothing I say will change it so there is no use on spending anymore time on it. All I will say is that the only kind of brain trust that will produce a winner, are the ones that have a commitment to building a winning team, and will not waiver from it. With hard times come good times.
Posted by Doug from Long Island on 01/18/09 at 01:25 PM ET
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Real quick. Yes, the Islanders may be out of it and you may think they are in free fall. Please look at the Leafs, whom I like to call the Islanders North.
Before you criticize the qualifications of our GM, Garth Snow, please remember the last time I saw Neil Smith he was not a NHL GM, he was a co-host on NHL Live.
Give Garth credit where credit is due. He has resurrected a few careers and brought in some kids who will make names for himself in this league.
Time will tell the real story of the NY Islanders. But I beg you all… NO MORE NEIL SMITH NONSENSE!!!
Posted by 7th Woman from Long Island on 01/16/09 at 08:24 AM ET