On the Islanders Beat

Man, I remember those days... every Tuesday and every Saturday night there was an Islander game at the Coliseum. Still as fresh as those Manufacturers Hanover "The Chemistry Is Just Right" ads...

It would be nice if the league took a look at scheduling baseball-esque series... think 3 games in 4 nights and 2-3 days off in-between.
It would be cool to be able to follow other teams more and for the players to adjust their games accordingly night after night. Like the playoffs.
Maybe this idea could just be applied to conference or division matchups?

I remember when they added all the Southern US teams shortly after the Gretzky was traded from Edmonton to LA. The schedule really changed. I'd sit down to watch Hockey Night In Canada on Saturday Night and half the games were already over.

Do people really want to wath hockey games a noon?

I guess that makes it more family friendly and after all fighting is being removed from the game, right?

Anyway, now they're back to loading Saturday Night with games.

Kevin T.

GO ISLANDERS !!!

Merrick~

Yah the tickets are pretty seet. Only $57 for two. Face value is $120 a ticket....Go I love ebay. :) :)

If you pick the right game and time your bid right, you get some outstanding deals. If people are just trying to dump them, you are all set.

At home with the little man watching the Vancouver ~ Caps and MTL ~ Carolina games. Montreal is putting a beating on the Canes right now.....Not good for us....They will come in salty and mad!

john: as much as i would have liked for the isles to win the cup in 84 they didn't. please fix that. it's kind of offensive for the isles blog to have something as wrong as that.

"Core of Four" celebration? Are you kidding me? Geez, enough already. THAT WAS 25 YEARS AGO!! Every season we have to have some kind of stupid dynasty ceremony before a game.

No, I am not a troll. I'm an isles fan who is sick of this garbage.

WAAAAAAHHHH!

Quit your bit**in' and enjoy the game. If it bothers you so much, go stuff your face with a hot dog while the ceremony is going on...

It would help if you were alive when they actually won the cups. Then you'd know what it feels like instead of rehashing the whole dynasty garbage every year while we bow out in the first round. I'd rather focus on winning a cup now in the present than constantly talking about the past with stupid ceremonies.

I remember those regular Tuesday and Saturday games. I had my work schedule set for that when I was in college. Lived in Staten Island ... school in Long Island. Tuesday after school was get some tix ... drive back to Staten Island ... pick up my little brother ... drive to Uniondale .... then toss some Roy Rogers (across street from Coliseum) down our throats .. and get to arena intime for the warm up skate.

Ahhhhh Good times ... Good times.

Speaking of Good times .. Those Dynasty Ceremonies.... as much as I like to recall those glory days ... ~islesfan~ has a point ... it gets old when you have one or two ceremonies every season. It kind of feels like a reach at times as a marketing ploy. The organization has earned the right to recall and celebrate its history, but there are just to many of them every year.

This season though is an exception. I think the Isles should recoginze the 4 cups being the 25th anniversary of the 1983 championship. Four championships in a row for any major sport hasn't been done since then. So recognizing that feat for the 83 cup champs is more then recognizing a great hockey dynasty ... but a recognition of a great sports dynasty.

That being said .. I'd rather be at the games watching history in the making again ... instead of remembering a great history in absence of a great present.

I like what I see so far ... I hope the Isles lock up some of their productive UFA's to be ... and set Nolan up with a long term deal. Then hopefully Okposo makes a splash in the near future, but I hope he isn't pressured to perform to fast... we've all seen to many blue chip prospects squandered over the years.

As bad as the Isles were in the 90s .... those draft picks should of produced Super Stars for the Isles .... we all know what happened with those picks. DP is the only real deal home grown blue chip prospect that can be accounted for.

I agree, it's necessary to honor this team and since it's the silver anniversary of the last cup (I know, inviting Rag trolls, but whatever) it's necessary to continue.

Also, I need to echo the sentiments of the last posts on the previous thread...between the Red Sox being 2 outs away from winning another championship, BC football actually lighting it up, and BU hockey playing like utter crap, I have nothing besides the Islanders as a sports fan (I mean I kinda follow the Giants, but my strong dislike for Eli prevents me from falling in love with that team). Let's pick up 2 points tomorrow; Carolina will come out flying after what happened today. Help me, Islanders, you're my only hope.

Regarding Okposo: Does anybody know how is he doing this season? I know it's not that difficult to find his stats online but I want to hear some comments from those who saw some of his most recently performances...

Thanks

Somebody mentioned it in the previous thread so this is just to confirm. When you look at plus-minus rating, no Islander is with plus. Our best player in this category is Bergenheim (even in 8 games), Hilbert is the last one with minus 4 after 8 games.

On the other hand, our most penalized player is Andy Sutton with 15 PIM (less than 2 minutes per game) which is not that bad.

Guerin is leading in shots with 30 but only three players have more than 2 per game (Guerin, Hunter, Comrie).

Witt and Martinek are leading in time on ice with 22+ minutes per game. Fedotenko (surprise, surprise!) is third. What is interesting, Satan gets only 16 minutes of ice time per game and is behind likes Fedotenko, Sillinger, Hunter and even Gervais and Sutton.

Okposo had a great first game .. First Star with 1G-2A.

Since then ... nothing in the following 5 games. Even his SOG totals are low and he's a minus. I know Minnesota recently played 2 on the road in Colorado and 2 against Ohio State at home. Today they are supposed to play the USA under 18 team.

I was just looking up score sheets to get that info.

Here's a really good stat on a Isles player

Hillbert - 8 games ...0 goals + 0 assists = 0 points (with a -4 rating)

Even Bootland managed to pick up an assist ...

Ben Walter is having a nice start at Bridgeport ...he's playing center down there so there really isn't room as of yet, but if there's an injury he should get a look ...although I'm sure the Isles will just plug in Bates ;-/

Isles get up the arse again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No freakn HD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cabelvision is the worst!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rangirls HD. The Devils for Christ sake HD. Isles cablevision channel guide. no respect

I wait 7 damn days for an Isles game and we get this crap.

Junk, I see a thing on Cablevision channel 414 that is showing the Isles game. Not sure if it will be in HD or now but maybe we will get lucky.

not HD, just digital.

i'm going to the game anyway, but I like to DVR and watch later. i can understand if the Isles were on the road and no HD.

DP lost this one for us tonight. Take away his 3 soft goals that were his fault and we're looking at a 3-2 deficit going into the third. Somebody has to bring this guy down to earth - he's way to cocky.

c'mon, everyone has a bad day. hes been doing cartwheels all season for this team. did he play well? no, but we all know that this type of day was the exception and not the rule for DP. The season is a marathon, not a sprint after all

This is the team thats supposed to be so hard working and full of GRIT? The very same one that failed to show up in Toronto. If this team is full of "NTP"s why is it necessary to remind them game in and out about the effort that it takes to win? Its already been basically embraced by the management that this team has no skill but will beat you because they work so damn hard. Canes open a six goal lead on our ice? Thats just pathetic. Those two wins to open sure seem a long time ago.

What happened to DP? Oh, well the Rangers are losing 4-1 so I don't mind. The Hurricanes are better than the Leafs!

Any of us who are Islander fans know that this is what happens when they have too long a layover between games. I'm not surprised at all. But they will take this loss to heart. Hey.. at least Dubie made some saves! And THAT in itself is a bonus.

leafs win. Rangers lose. It's a good night after all.

Bad combination. Hot Hurricanes team and long lay off for Isles. Obviously the layoff really affected DP. At least Dubie got a chance to get back in there.

That's about all you can say good about it.

Kevin T.

Hey "Enough Already":

Your rangers didn't look too great tonight either, but you'd rather see the Isles lose than the Rangers win.

Do you really think you're fooling anyone with your pretend-islander-fan-negative-attitude?

Yeah man you got it all figured out. Only a "TRUE" fan would be proud of the product that took the ice at the coliseum tonight.

Man, how do we lose 8-2 and again, not a single fight in the game. Are we gritty, tough? No.

At least we outshot them.

Plain and simple, DP had an awful night and was as out of sync as I have ever seen him and his rebounds were especially long. Grahame on the other end played exceptionally well, had a number of good saves, and when he gave up a rebound, the Isles were pounded a lot more in front in comparosn to the Canes. I would like to see DP's post game quotes. Indeed, for the first 20 minutes the entire team looked like they hadn't played in a week--and we're just lost.

This may sound crazy, but after the initial slow start, I actually thought they played reasonably well given that they lost by 5! They skated all night, had several productive shifts, and certainly seemed to have a territorial advanatge--although when your down by 5 midway through the second, it's fair to say that you are not involved in your typical game.

If there's one guy who truly concerns me at the moment, it's Mike Sillinger. With the exception of perhaps two shifts, he just seems invisible to me--leaving no impression at either end of the ice.

This team better look hungry on Thursday.

"Enough Already" -

You're never proud of the product, even when they win and play a flawless game. All you do is complain and b**** no matter what happens and try to pass yourself off as an islander fan so you're allowed to bash the team. You're not fooling anyone, hence why nobody responds to you anymore.

3:8 ... so what? Did you guys expect to win all 82 games? These things might happen, there is no excuse for such as bad performance, but we have stay behind this team not only when they are winning. Firing Nolan? Are you kidding me???

Well first of all, I don't recall seeing rules about who is "allowed to bash" anything for any reason, so long as the discussion is related to isles hockey, so you'll have to do better there. Secondly, I really couldn't care any less what you or anyone else here believes I'm a fan of. I come here to express ideas about my favorite hockey team. They've basically been a failure for over a decade and I think its been long enough. I think the team needs to change its approach and lose all the rah rah lunchbucket gritty grinder talk and get some skilled players. Scorers. Finesse players. I don't buy this "we'll work harder than you" talk, because they haven't executed it and it hasn't translated on the ice. The team is one game over .500 and has a -7 goal differential, including two complete non-effort blowouts. That's lousy. Its barely mediocre. Its not exciting to watch. And "play a perfect game"? Buddy if you think this team has played anything near a perfect game since I've been posting here, you know absolutely nothing about hockey. And like I said I really don't care what you believe about me anyway.

8-3 on home ice is absolutely inexcusable. There was NO preparation to deal with the layoff, or whatever excuse they want to use there, there was NO effort and the canes basically skated around them and then fell back when they had a six goal lead, there was NO execution of any real sustained offensive zone presence. Bottom Line: Anyone not incensed with this kind of effort on home ice is not tuned into reality. You can lose the game, but I better see EFFORT and this team has not shown that on a consistent basis. I demand more.

"Enough Already" there isn't a team in the NHL who hasn't had a game like that. And usually they happen one or more times per season.

As far as Carolina, they are one of the top teams this year. Even under the best conditions it would be hard to beat them.

And by the way, just above .500 hockey will usually get you in the playoffs.

The frustrating thing for everyone is when you go to one or two games a year and see it live and get that kind of result. I know I hate that when I travel and pay for a hotel to see a Canucks game.

Canucks tickets are sold out for the entire season in less than an hour. The only way to get a ticket is on eBay or a ticket reseller. Any your pay double or triple the price.

But that's sports. You pay your money and take your chances.

Kevin T.

Ughhh. That was tough to watch. I drove 4 hours in the rain for that????

Merrick, got to Doolins around 5pm and ate...No Merrick jersey in sight! Then went to my seats in 205 and looked accross...Only some DP and Blake jerseys? Did you make the game?

Let me start with DP.... He played rusty. A lot of long rebounds and what not. With that said he had ZERO help. MAB in person is worse than on TV. The guy is simply too offensive minded.
He does have a cannon though!

Comrie is really starting to bother me. He has skill, but is a pretty boy. He takes shifts off all night long. I'm telling you for all Blakes "puck hog" faults, we miss him!

Campoli I thought played his first so so game. The 4th or 5th goal was 100% his fault. Live and in person you can see he held up going for a puck behind our goal. He had two steps on the forechecker and held up! Guy got the puck and centered it. Not bashing him, but that was the Campy of last year. You could see Nolan talk to him after!

My biggest target is HUNTER.....His passing was putrid, his skating was non existant, and he did not even hit as he normally does. After the first period he was pulled from the first line.

I guess we could chalk it up to rust. Then again we chalked one up to being tired. Carolina came off a game the night before and 6 of last 8 nights.....Sound familiar? Difference is they won.

Very tough November awaits. I would take .500 play for the next month to get by! Look at the schedule.

****Crowd was a good one in size, but VERY VERY quiet. No chants to start the game, alot of kids (my fault also :))****

Now we wait until Thursday!

ENOUGH ALREADY ....you are a coward. A clueless one at that. You come out after losses and hide after wins. Sad. How you can chirp when your 55 million dollar offensive machine is clearly broken, is beyond me. Worry about your own demise.

Hmmmm... Maybe they need a Starbucks franchise in the locker room after these long lay overs.... Or a cattle prod.

Steady, thanks for insider info. Good to know that. Personally, I dont like Campoli much, but I hope he will make me wrong and start to play some good DEFENSIVE hockey. In my opinion, we have too many ofensive minded defensemen in MAB, Berard and Campoli... Trading or even Campoli for a solid 2nd line winger might be a good idea.

Anyway, lets wait couple of games and than we will see. And I fully agree that Canes are one of the top teams in the league and it would be hard to beat them even under the best conditions...

Was at the game as well in section 202 ...when the Isles hit the ice there was no music playing ...it was almost as if people didn't notice them out there ...I just started dating this girl and I braught her to the game with the promise of an exciting sport ...I'm not sure whether or not she'll be coming with me on Saturday for Arbour night ;-) ...The whole team was to blame for the loss ...I mean even their goals weren't the exciting because the game was out of reach ...even tank's goal while it kept them it in for like 15 seconds didn't create much juice because the crowd was dead ...the players looked dead ...and after watching their play I wished I were dead ...so, this girl may never come to another game, but she's a Mets fan so atleast we have that ;-/

Steady-

I was there with a DP jersey--my Merrick jersey was permanently "borrowed" by a college girlfriend who lived in Falmouth, Mass! So, I was there behind the Isles bench in a new blue DP jersey with my girls. I usually go to Doolan's after the game for the radio post-game show. I also looked across trying to figure out who might be you--but we'll try next time.

About the only thing I can say is that if you have a layoff of that long again, you need to play a full bore practice within 48 hours of the game. They just didn't seem NHL-ready last night and DP looked like he was learning to play goal all over again. Also, on the Campoli goal you were concerned with, I think he let up initially thinking there would be an icing (bad move) and when the icing was called off--he just couldn't make a decision on what he wanted to do.

Thursday look like a big early-season test. Tampa Bay, and especially St. Louis has had our number for years.

Yea, i'm a rags fan and im gunna ruin your blog but hey what option do I have? I'm a 17 yr old with no life and friends so I will trash your team knowing full well that my own team has way more problems. I will get satisfaction by trashing your blog since my own team sucks. I mean I must be the biggest loser and waste precious time from my own life by trashing another teams blog. If you havent already gotten the message by now, I was a loser, I am a loser, adn I will continue to be a loser just like my $$$ rich team. Until next time, so long suckers!!!

I've got to agree with Merrick. No doubt the Isles were rusty defensively, but I thought they were playing pretty well in the 1st period. And that's really the only period that's valid to evalutate their play.

DP was horrible early in the 2nd and you've got to figure the team will have an emotional let down whenever the backstop is leaking badly.

But the Isles had a distinct territorial advantage in the 1st. The 1st Canes goal was on the only shot of a PP, DP muffed the 2nd goal, and the 3rd goal was entirely stoppable. Three zip but that did not reflect the game at all.

In fact, I actually fault Nolan for not pulling DP much earlier. It was obvious after the 3rd goal that DP was way off. Therrien pulled Fleury at 0-3 after the 1st period against the Habs last night, and the Pens came back to get a point before losing in the SO. I don't care who the goalie is or how much rest he's already had. If DP is off his game - pull him.

Two things I saw that I LOVED... Gervais going hard to the net. When he gets his full confidence he could be a real offensive force... Fedetanko going hard to the net and purposefully CHESTING the puck into the net. That's when you know a guy is playing hard.

Let's hope DP come back on Thursday slightly humbled and very PISSED OFF.

last night not withstanding, can we please stop talking about DP being such a big star. I don't want it to go to his head, where he doesn't strive to be better, DP pretty much gives up at least 1 soft goal about every other game on average. Until Ricky puts this team on his back and carries us to the finals, a la Giguere for the ducks in 03, or Kiprisoff for the flames or the guy on the cane's did 2 yrs ago, the guy on the oilers 2 yrs ago...etc (forgive me for forgetting the years and names, but you get the idea), he's just a middle of the pack goalie. The guy last night for the canes is better than him right now, and I don't think that everyone in North Carolina is calling him "one of the best goalies in the league", like I keep hearing him being described as by his team mates and coaches

Sox gonna win it all

Pats unbeatable and easily winning the bowl

BC going to be ranked #1 soon enough.

Celtics on the cover of SI and bound for a big year.

Boy cannot wait to drive home on Monday! Merrick ~ where is your jersey? I am soooo pissed and bitter I am the right man for the job. Give me the address and "Merrick" will be hanging on your wall by Tuesday :) :) !!!!

**** I Agree..Thursday is a must...Come out angry. Show some pride. I must say I was very down on the fans for booing DP...He is your franchise.....Never boo your main guys! Just the way i was brought up......*********

AZS: Take her to the Pitt game....She will seee good hockey at that one !!! Maybe not us, but good hockey just the same! :) !!!

Steady;

Knowing Dipietro and the guy he is I think he would agree that the booing was justified. He deserved every bit of it that game. He's a very competetive guy and I don't think he's happy with that outing either. If anything he's stewing at home right now eager to get back into it. Perhaps having till Thursday to think about this will ge the team going.

The team has to realize that they can't rely on Dipi every night. So far he has carried this team during this start. When he puts on a stellar performance, the team has to respond. When he puts on a bad performance the have to do the same in kind.

I'm hiding from the Sox faithful tonight. Then again, I'd also love to see Colorado pull off the impossible.

This team is grate. Anyone who says no is dumb. They score lots of goales and make teems scared to play them. You all know that isles will win teh CUP and if you say no U R stoopid cause THis team has sole. Snolan is god U will see stoopids!!

Damn, we got hosed. I was embarrassed watching that game, rust or not. Satan, Tank, and Gervais looked great, everyone else kinda seemed out of sink. DP was definitely handling the puck way more than he should have been and over committed on a lot of plays. Which is one of his weaknesses on a regular night, but usually the defense is there to help him out or the bounces don't all go in like they did last night.

However, silver lining: last year against the Thrashers he had a horrendous game and rebounded to play spectacular the rest of the year (if anyone remembers last years post game "superpowers" comment). Thursday is huge, a fall back to .500 would be disheartening.

Steady, I realize this might be hard to believe, but I literally told her the EXACT same thing you said lol ...

Whoever posted as me above....very funny actually. I admit spelling is not my game. Numbers, well that is a different story.

Funny post.

Since I am good with numbers, let me count.........OK got it......You have posted here 5 times today. You posted on the Rags blog 6 times.....11 post on a beautiful Sunday when you could of done something productive with yourself.....To each their own!

p.s Be a man and use your real name so I can pick you apart....Something your rags obviously cannot do to opposing goalies.

Stooooooooooooopid ! ;)

If there was something else that could possibly go wrong last night, I must have missed it. As positive as I tend to be about the team, it truly was an awful effort which I'm going to chalk up to the layoff and an hungry Cane team coming off a bad loss of their own. The one very correctable point is DP and his apparent need to ALWAYS handle the puck. It's losing all of its advantage because there is no element of suprise and teams are keying on him. The second goal seemed to take the wind out of everyone's sails and it just snowballed from there. All the team seemed average at best from that point on. Our talent level is adequate at best and sub par games from our bona fide stars only magnifies how important it is for them to be shooting on all cylinders every night. So let's regroup and get ready for thhe next game.

"out of sink"... very funny use of the English language on above post.... it's sad how pathetic our school system turns out graduates...

it should be "OUT OF SNYC" not "OUT OF SINK"

and,

"could of" should be COULD HAVE.... there's no such thing as could of....

I know this isn't an English test... but please, the English language is being abused here. Stop the abuse!

The Dictionary

I spent last night in Norfolk watching this team's future.
My first thought after that game was that Sterling (Norfolk's coach) is just as bad in the AHL as he was in the NHL. Norfolk looked like they were playing street hockey all night... and Sterling still had that same look on his face, with his arms folded in front of him... He looks like a grown up Peter Billingsley (A christmas story) playing a cigar shop indian.
Kohn is very close to being NHL ready. Bergeron is going to be shopped shortly. The team needs another Blake and there is some good depth on the team defensively. Spiller could probably be called up to replace Sutton. Bergeron has good value at the NHL level and he's proving that he just isn't a solid defensive defenseman.
Walter and Tambellini both play like they don't want to be in Bridgeport all year. Walter has a little more size and plays with some passion..and can put the puck on net...with authority... he also grinds, and takes it to the slot. He seems to be what I figured Nokie would have been at this point of his career. We should be seeing him soon, especially if the scoring drought continues.
Nielsen and Comeau also look pretty good, but they aren't dominating AHL competition.... so it could be some time.
That being said, they lost because of 2 min lapse. This team doesn't have enough talent to play a 58 minute game. That's not good.... especially when you consider that there is a ton of NHL experience sitting in the AHL... There just isn't a lot of NHL talent.
One candidate to replace Blake may be Bentivoglio... He has some speed, and is a good two way player. He may need some time at the AHL level to build his hockey instincts.
As far as the NHL level... wow.. Saturday was disappointing.
You can't complain about 3 games in 4 nights (TOR) and no games in 6 nights (CAR).. these guys need to be professionals. That was disappointing in that some of them just looked lost. Sillinger... who is one of my favorite Isles is just a step behind... and DP looked like he had the flu the whole first period.
The clock is also ticking on Comrie stepping up to be a first line NHL center. I, for one, had high hopes that he would step up and work his butt off to justify a long term big $$$ contract... He just isn't HUNGRY... and I don't think he's making any friends in the front office.
Let's also give some credit to CAR... that's a pretty talented and well coached team.

it should be "OUT OF SNYC" not "OUT OF SINK"

and,

"could of" should be COULD HAVE.... there's no such thing as could of....

I know this isn't an English test... but please, the English language is being abused here. Stop the abuse!

The Dictionary>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Looks like you could use a lesson or two yourself.

You know what's sad? The loser who trolls here under all those different names gets blocked or deleted for days at a time and keeps coming back... so not only is he posting 12 times a day, but he's trying day after day even when he can't even post, until he finds he can get through again. Pathetic! And pathetic that someone so lonely, angry and unhappy that he would spend all his time trying to ruin two message boards (he makes the Rags board a miserable place too) has only this as an outlet. Wouldn't stalking Jodie Foster be more exciting?

Hint: Its more than one person.

Imposter you have gone from funny to pathetic. Do what ever you have to do to get through the day wee one.

Everyone on this board knows each other enough to know who we all really are. Just ignore the kid.

Good day to all!

Newsday's account of Carolina game:

>>The announced crowd of 13,136 at last nudged the needle on the applause meter a tad at 2:51 of the second when Ruslan Fedotenko scored in a goalmouth scramble, but the Hurricanes soon were blowing again. Justin Williams popped in a rebound at 4:36 to make it 5-1. Eric Staal added another at 7:48 to extend the lead to 6-1.

Here we go again with the "announced" crowd.

Cincy: Kudos to you for finding something positive in Saturday's game. No matter how you cut it, it's safe to say we only lost two points because a calibrated points for effort system would have killed us. I hope JP 's hunch about shopping MAB turns out to be something more than wishful thinking. His bombs away, shoot without looking approach is wearing thin in a big hurry. The disgust on the players faces even after he scored says it all. Even the announcers mentioned he still hadn't hit the net after he scored. Steady, they say impersonation is one form of flattery so go easy on the imposters because they know not what they do.
A look at the standings this morning is a good wake up call for the team. Even though it's terribly early in the season, the reality is a playoff spot again this year will be a najor accomplishment. Outside of the two blowouts we've likely achieved as much as we can with the available players. I do hope Garth is wworking the phones for that badly needed natural scorer. A proven shooter would take a lot of heat off the Beemer Line and make us more legitimate every night.

Miggsey, I totally agree. However, why does the team seem so reluctant to put MAB on the wing? It's making me more and more frustrated as the days go on. He has possibly the best shot on the team, and if he gets to use it closer to the net on a regular basis he might not miss the net much either (right now, though, he reminds me of Aucoin at the first half of 01-02 - does everyone remember how he kept missing the net but you knew he'd be dangerous if he started getting those shots on goal?). He could easily put in 25 goals playing with Sillinger and Guerin/Hunter, and this would give the Islanders a huge boost in that department. It also lets them take Andy "First Base" Hilbert and put him where he belongs - off the team. Why would you play AARON JOHNSON on the wing when he doesn't have the speed but has great defensive instincts and leave MAB, with the speed and NO defensive instincts, on the point? The mind boggles.

I'm disappointed at the development of some of the Sound Tigers this year. Trevor Smith in particular has frustrated me to no end. JP, how did he look? The kid was such a natural goal scorer on the college level (as I've said numerous times, I watched him out-and-out terrorize BU numerous times both in person and on TV), and I'm surprised he hasn't even put up a point yet and he's even been a healthy scratch at times. Walter should be a good pickup, and he could slide into a nice role on possibly the 4th line (move Park to wing? Not sure).

I would like to see what this lineup would look like on a daily basis:

Fedotenko - Comrie - Guerin
Bergenheim - Vasicek - Satan
MAB - Sillinger - Hunter
Simon - Walter - Park

That sounds like a more balanced and gritty attack, with more scoring options, than our team currently has.

In the meantime, what goal scorers are out there and even available right now? Do you try to send a mid-level draft pick to Edmonton and try Geoff Sanderson out on the wing with Sillinger and Hunter? He hardly seems like a long-term solution. What do you guys think? If we want to get a "natural goal scorer," whom do we chase? On the other hand, do we see what MAB can do as a wing before making a decision?

Also, I agree with some previous comments. It's out-and-out disgusting that we couldn't even sell out that game on Saturday. What does it say about our fan base if we start making BS excuses about the arena and the drive to justify why people don't show up? I've said it before and I'll say it again: we, the fans, are the only people who can change the culture around the Islanders organization. We can have a great coach who works well with the GM all we want, but until we re-create that culture of passion we won't have anything to build upon. We had that once, and we'll have it again. I think the type of player we want to attract would care more about a passionate, rabid fan base than a nicer-looking locker room, anyway.

Let's take our team back, and let's start putting the Coliseum wheels in motion. Call Hempstead Town Hall - (516) 489-5000, or Supervisor Kate Murray's Helpline - (516) 489-6000 - and DEMAND the Islanders get the home they deserve (of course, we'd already have Joe Louis Arena East if people had listened to Eugene Nickerson 35 years ago, but I digress).

Again, we can talk all we want, but any change in this organization starts with us. If we don't show up to the Coliseum, I can't blame the government for wondering why they should spend money to support us.

Anyone saying the Isles mailed it in, I don't know if they really watched the game - maybe just the final score or they gave up and tuned out when the game was out of reach. No, they obviously didn't look great, but I thought they battled down to the final buzzer, despite being out of the game early. They were out of sync in the first - mental lapses and such, but they outshot Carolina, put people in front of Graham, and hit well also.

The biggest difference-maker here was that out of the first 8 shots they gave up, three went into the net, and the ratio didn't get much better through the second period. DP simply didn't have it, and when your goalie is off, you lose games...bad - same as Dubie in Toronto (though that was more of a total team failure imo), and same as Dunham last year down the stretch. But the simple fact is that DP will win far more games for the Isles this year than he'll lose, so you absolutely can't throw him under the bus - that'd be completely unfair.

That said, I'd consider two of the goals he let up legitimate good goals. The rest were stoppable, and a couple were very bad goals. If DP played like DP - making the expected saves and even stealing a couple of sure goals - it's a very different game. Probably, it's 4-3, with either team coming out on top. Hope no one's abandoning hope because of that one - there were some positives if you could see past the very large negative of the final score.

On MAB's goal...he waited, waited, waited, and shot. He waited for a lane to open up. Wish he'd do that more. I thought that was a sign of good things to come, but then he was right back to putting the shot into skates again. Looks like another "enigma" that teases with talent every so often.

Its only ONE loss, thank god, whether it is by 1 goal or 5.

OK, I know I've hit my quota for the day, but if I'm Garth Snow I'm starting my scoring winger search with these guys:

Wojtek Wolski - BURIED on the Avs' depth chart right now, could blossom into a 30 or 40 goal power forward with top-line ice time. Big and plays with a mean streak.

Marek Svatos - still cheap, fell out of grace a bit in Colorado - great natural hands and a good fit with a natural passer

Andrew Brunette - I know, another Av, but he's gritty, durable, and you can count on him for 20-25 a year. I'd take that

Geoff Sanderson - could still show his scoring touch with big minutes, relatively cheap ($1.5 million I believe), and not signed long-term. With the salary absorption he shouldn't be too expensive

Nikolai Zherdev - I know he's been dogged by the "lazy" rumors, but if Columbus has given up on him he may come cheap. I wouldn't call him a priority, but it's worth kicking the tires on him.

Kristian Huselius - Islander-killer with great offensive instincts. I still haven't forgiven the Isles for plucking him off waivers a few years ago. Impending UFA due for a big raise that, with Kiprusoff due for a HUGE payday, Calgary may not be able to afford to give him.

Jussi Jokinen - Young, talented, deadly in the shootout, still cheap. Might not have the offensive upside necessary, but he may not be expensive.

Glen Murray - Lost a bit of a step, but signed to a relatively-affordable $4 million deal through next season. Might not cost much if the B's want to unload salary, and we have the cap room.

Markus Naslund - impending UFA, only to be considered if he's not too expensive.

Brett Sterling - unlikely to get him, but this Thrashers prospect is dominating the AHL. I watched him kick BU's ass once too, back in 2005, when he was with Colorado College. Very small but he's Jason Blake with better offensive instincts.

What do we think of my list?

Correction under Huselius - I still haven't forgiven the Isles for NOT plucking him off waivers

Obviously we blew on Saturday night. But from game to game some guys will look good others may be off. It does not mean after every game we should try and figure out who should be dealt or cut because their game is off. I think a fair evaluation of a team comes at 20 games. That is just about 1/4 of the season and if you didn't find a groove by then; most likely you won't all season. I still beleive this is a good team that will compete all year.

Tough weekend for sports in my world. Isles get roasted, Jets are worse then ever (shades of the Kotite days); the Sox win the World Series and the Pats are world beaters. To make matters worse the Isles don't play again until Thursday.

I can definitely see Walter being called up to play on the Sillinger line within the next 10 games. I think Bates will be given a shot, then Walter. If Walter is given a legit shot he'll stick, and there will be moves made by mid-season. MAB, Hilbert and Bates might not want to re-sign any lease agreements.

Nick,
I had posted that a MAB to COL for Wolski would be a dream come true. I would think that he is UNTOUCHABLE in that organization... he's the sh!t. Look for him as a consistent second team all-star in the future. It's hard for us to fathom somebody with that much talent that deep on the depth chart... but that's what wins cups... and that's why Smyth is in COL... In the pre-bettman NHL it wasn't so rare. Expansion hasn't been the great thing he thought it might be... when there are two to four teams that can ice a third line with a guy who has 30 goal potential. ( Think of where that puts the Isles who have two guys with that kind of POTENTIAL on their third line)

Sterling is already in the NHL and he's gonna stick.He's going to be a very good NHLer. and most likely untouchable when you consider salary and potential. I wish we could have traded his father for him two years ago.

I'm a little more peeved about letting Hamilton go. Not picking up others from waivers is one thing, but giving away offense like that was not especially smart. I believe that decision was made before the transfer of power to Snow, but he was available again this off season, but we already had hilbert signed, and Bates (another NE Mafia 3 year deal that didn't make sense) on the doorstep. That guy did nothing but fill the net for the Isles, and he got away.

There are a few guys in Bridgeport that can skate and score at the AHL level, but very few that can make it when the game gets bigger, faster and more physically taxing. Tambellini is one for sure that is right on that line. Walter, IMO, is ready for a shot (but I've only seen him live once).
Campoli, Gervais, Johnson and Kohn give them good young defensive depth. Something that most teams lack. they also have guys like spiller who is HUGE, but may not be ready for the NHL pace.
This makes MAB expendable if he can't play DEFENSE. Hopefully they can find a buyer with a 22-24 year old kid that can play a pressure wing spot, like Blake did. This team needs that kind of spark plug to drive opponents crazy getting the puck out of their end.

UIF,
I think you are correct. I watched the game on TiVo, and was getting frustrated with DP's play, but they never seemed to give up. It was ust that there seemed to be a few awkward performers. Like Sillinger, who didn't "mail it in" but he seems to be a step behind. But Comrie has "mailed in" a few shifts all year... sometimes more than not. It seems that if they don't get the puck deep in the offensive zone he gets frustrated and becomes invisible. That can not sit well with a guy like Nolan. (I would think) or Snow who is responsible for signing him to such a big contract based on "POTENTIAL". He's never had that #1 center role and a team like Ottawa would have been content to keep him as a 35 goal second liner... where he didn't have as much defensive pressure. Now he has to come back and fill the middle... and I just never see him in the defensive picture. He's starting to seem like a smaller Yashin. There I said it.
This team needs a Lacavilier (sp?)... in that spot. comrie needs to step up. He's just got so much talent...

Nick - Good arguments on all your posts. I'm just not sure we should be talking about personnel changes already. The Isles have had a ton of new players introduced into the line up, they have a new captian, and they're a game over .500. I really don't think we've seen anywhere near the best from this bunch. Think about how the Vasicek line has emerged since game one. Apply that to the rest of the squad. One change you spoke about, though, make great sense. MAB on the wing. DO IT!!!

Upstate - As I posted late yesterday, I agree that effort wasn't really the problem Saturday night. But I have to disagree on one point... the HITTING was NOT there. Probably hard to get motivated to throw your body around when your down by six goals.

Cincy, agreed. I wa