Monthly Archives: October 2011
written by Kevin Schultz
The Islanders open the 2011-12 season tomorrow night at the Coliseum against the Florida Panthers. Before they take the ice, let’s discuss some of the biggest obstacles and unknowns that lie ahead of them.
5. Fighting the Injury Bug — It’s not news to anyone that the Islanders have faced some, ahem, troubles with injuries the last few years. Last year claimed a large portion of the roster and the team had by far the most man games lost in the entire league. 2009-10 wasn’t much better as the Islanders had the ninth most man games lost in the NHL. As we saw last year, when you lose your #1 defender and #2 winger in the pre-season, you have every right to complain but most years, injuries are something every team is going to have to deal with. Whether it’s better conditioning, better facilities or something else entirely the Islanders are going to have to be healthier. There’s not a ton of depth on this team except in net so losing significant contributors for long stretches will bury this team again. It’s not something that’s exactly in their control but it’s going to loom large this season.
4. How does the defense hold up? — To sort of piggy back on the previous bullet point, this season is going to depend largely on the ability of the defense to, well, defend. This was the 27th best team in the NHL a year ago and it is returning five 20-goal scorers. Eric Hornick is going to have to tell us the last time a team that bad returned that many scorers, but the point is the Islanders are going to have no problem scoring goals. How they defend their own end is going to be a key to their success. They surrendered the most goals in the Eastern Conference a year ago and sure, a healthy Mark Streit is an addition without technically being an addition, but this is a defensive corps that just added training camp tryout Steve Staios to its top six and is returning three different starters from serious injury. Streit and Andy McDonald have proven to be solid but it still remains to be seen how well everyone else holds up physically and performance-wise on the ice.
3. Step up in the division – There’s a whole post on this subject sitting in drafts so I won’t spoil it all right here. I’m sure you’ve read all the stories about how the Islanders can’t win in Pittsburgh and haven’t beaten the Flyers since ever and, yes, I’m sure the players are just as tired of hearing about it as we are reading about it.
So do it. Win big-time divisional matches.
This team cannot and will not progress, reach the playoffs or go deep in said playoffs, until they take care of business in their own backyard. When you see these teams six times a year, you cannot afford to give away 12 points to a divisional rival. It doesn’t matter what you do otherwise, that’s an extremely tough hill to climb. Divisional games are as close to a playoff atmosphere as you’ll get in the regular season and if you can’t cut it against your biggest rivals, you may not be ready for prime time (hold that thought).
2. Jugging three netminders — Coach Jack Capuano has said he’s going to ride the hot glove this year. Let’s hope he does because that’s going to be this team’s best chance to win and with three different chances, I like those odds. All systems are go for Rick DiPietro being #1 out of the gates but with two capable NHL netminders squarely in Rick’s rearview mirror, he should be on a short leash. Regardless of loyalty, contract, expectations… Whatever the reason… The leash should be short with not only Rick but each and every one of them. Each has something to prove and should be hungry to prove it. DiPietro’s knock is that he’s brittle, Nabby’s that he’s over the hill. Montoya was solid last year but people are doubtful that it could have been a fluke. As pure competitiors, each one should be absolutely pumped to have a chance to silence his doubters.
Another challenge for Capuano will be to keep as many of them warm as possible. They’ll all go through all of the practices of course, but when it comes down to real in-game playing time on a regular basis, there won’t be nearly enough time to go around. Sometimes it can be hard to keep one backup sharp and ready to go in this league. Capuano is going to have to handle two. How he juggles them will show us a lot about his skills as a coach.
1. Can this team win meaningful games? – That’s a question the majority of this roster has not had to answer for most of their NHL careers. Taking a quick look at the opening night roster only the newly acquired vets (Brian Rolston, Marty Reasoner, Jay Pandolfo, Evgeni Nabokov) have any serious playoff experience. Streit had one run with the Habs a few years back and DiPietro is the only player who played in the Islanders last playoff series in 2007. The vast majority of the roster and all of the key young players are going to be tested early on in the season. There’s no more looking to next year or the next big draft pick. It’s finally time to say “this year.” The games are going to matter in October and November with all 30 teams starting on equal footing. This team needs to get out of the gates and perform. Then, hopefully, we’ll be able to see if they can win meaningful games in the spring.
By Alan Avital
As the Islanders embark on their 40th campaign Saturday night at home against the Florida Panthers, there is definitely a sense of enthusiasm reverberating from its hardcore fan base that has not been seen around Hempstead Turnpike for nearly a decade.
Yet, those same hardcore fans, who are ready to tear down the old barn for the upcoming 41 home dates, are still skeptical on what lies ahead for the 2011-12 season.
The Islanders’ second half surge last season catapulted their uncertain offensive prowess into one that opened many eyes throughout the NHL, finishing 15th overall with 225 goals for, even besting their cross-town rival New York Rangers by one.
Unfortunately, what may make or break this season’s drive to the postseason for the Islanders lies with how they can improve on a league’s fourth-worst 258 goals against.
Mark Streit’s return from a devastating shoulder injury, suffered during the team’s pre-season Blue-White scrimmage, which sidelined the team’s captain for the entire 2010-11 campaign, brings hope to a defensive unit that shuttled in a bevy of veterans and youngsters throughout an injury-riddled season.
He, along with 25-year old Andy McDonald and second-year defenseman Travis Hamonic, 21, will be asked to carry the team’s top minutes on the blue-line.
After that, second-year head coach Jack Capuano might need to throw darts against the proverbial wall and see which one, two or three of his 30-plus year-old defensemen – who will begin the season on the Island – can maintain that steady play needed to take the perennial Atlantic Division doormat into one that plays meaningful games come April.
Thirty-eight year old Steve Staios, a training camp invitee, brings much-needed leadership and grit to a unit that has lacked that aspect of the game, ever since former assistant captain Brendan Witt wowed the Nassau Coliseum crowd a few years back. Unfortunately, Witt crashed and burned less than two seasons ago and has become of the team’s cap casualties.
Thirty-four year old Mark Eaton (hip) and 33-year old Mike Mottau (eye), who missed a combined 110 games last season, will be asked to be the team’s third pair. Will they physically be able to last for the long haul?
Who knows?
At 6-foot-4, 253 pounds, Milan Jurcina is the team’s most imposing presence defensively. Still, at 28, Jurcina remains a serious question mark due to recurring injuries, including a groin injury that his limited his play during the pre-season. He only played 46 games last season for the Islanders.
The competition for one of the Eastern Conference’s eight playoff spots remain fierce, and an Islander fan’s hope that the team’s top-6 defensemen remain intact throughout the campaign. But injuries happen more than not throughout an 82-game grind, and no one has felt it more than an Islander fan.
Reinforcements might come from within or from afar.
DOWN ON THE FARM: A trio of 20-somethings opened some eyes during the pre-season, and some conditioning in Bridgeport might help their advancement to the NHL become seamless. Twenty-one year olds Matt Donovan and Aaron Ness, along with former first rounder, 20-year old Calvin DeHaan, signed professional contracts over the past calendar year, and the physical, day-in, day-out grind in the AHL might all be what they need to make the jump into the NHL over the next few months.
FROM AFAR: Syosset, Long Island’s Rob Scuderi might be ready for a move back home from the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles. He made his mark for five seasons in Pittsburgh, and the 6-foot, 220-pound, 33-year old isn’t afraid to throw his weight around. Kings’ teammate Drew Doughty’s 8-year, $56-million contract might make Scuderi expendable. Buffalo’s Andrej Sekera and Calgary’s Cory Sarich could be available for a draft pick as well.
DOWN THE ROAD: 2011 draft picks Scott Mayfield (6’4, 200 lbs. University of Denver) and Andrei Pedan (6’4, 205 lbs. Guelph – OHL) are 19 and 18, respectively. The future Darius Kasparaitis or two might be just a few short years away.
Islander fans … the new campaign is just a few short hours away.
Quick publishing note: Hello all, you may know me as CB’s occasional backup netminder here at IPB and former FanHouse colleague. SNY has asked me to take on some of the writing duties here for the time being. As always, questions, comments and complaints can be directed to me on Twitter. So let’s get this ship sailing in the right direction, eh? CB’s comment rules still apply. Stay on topic. First up, a look at today’s top stories.
ISLANDERS NAME ASSISTANT CAPTAINS, MIX OF YOUTH AND VETS
The team named four assistant captains to help with the duties of yelling at Kerry Fraser conversing with the referees when captain Mark Streit is unable to do so. Up and coming youths John Tavares and Kyle Okposo got the nod along with veteran new-comers Steve Staios and Brian Rolston.
Before the Islanders named Streit captain, you would have had to consider both Tavares and Okposo potential candidates for the captaincy. Still, they’re certainly incumbents somewhere down the road and giving them an ‘A’ at this point in time is a no-brainer. Out of the rest of the youth on the team, the only admission here would be Frans Nielsen who certainly has supporters here on the internet. Okposo’s clearly a heart-and-soul kind of guy, while Tavares is the undisputed face of the franchise (sorry, Ricky). When you get down to it, it’s not really a glaring omission.
Rolston and Staios are different stories in the short term but if you look at what the team has done in the past with veterans like Doug Weight and Bill Guerin, it fits the mold. Both are on the other side of their primes and a good veteran presence to have in such a young and — here’s the key — inexperienced locker room. Rolston should come as no surprise, having won a Cup, a World Cup and a silver medal in 2002. Once he was acquired, you had to know this was coming. As for Staois, he’s certainly the surprise of the bunch. Having a tryout at camp doesn’t usually equate to ending up on the team and having an ‘A’ but not having seen camp, I imagine he made an impression. When you get down to it, it’s hard to knock a team for giving a 15-year vet a leadership role.
The team will be switching As back and forth between home and away games, which is a bit wonky but not really anything new. The way injuries happen, you might as well have guys already in place rather than having someone step in at a moment’s notice. This team now has five designated leaders, something I can’t remember an Islanders team having in quite some time.
THE SEARCH FOR A NEW GOAL SONG BEGINS AGAIN
For the second year in a row the Islanders are searching for a new goal song. Last year’s was picked by the now departed locker room personality Zenon Konopka which was met with mixed reviews but, I think, most fans ended up not minding it too much in the end. With Konopka gone, there’s a hunt for a new song and the team has turned to its fans to pick from four choices on their website. Unlike the Mets, there’s no write-in option so sorry, internet, you can’t write in Rick Astley.
The choices, well, they read as though someone called up WBAB and asked what the last four songs played were. “Kickstart My Heart” by Motley Crue, “Hell Yeah” by Rev Theory, “Heaven Can Wait” by Iron Maiden and “Crowd Chant” by Long Island’s own Joe Satriani. As a hockey blogger, I’m not going to pass judgement on music — something I’m totally unfit to do.
The one interesting note is that the Islanders, as with many sports teams, a few years ago moved away from Gary Glitter‘s Rock and Roll song because of his conviction for child molestation. Kickstart My Heart, as it so happens, is an ode to Nikki Sixx‘s heroine addiction and starts with the lyrics “When I get high, I get high on speed” so if moving towards something family friend was the initial intention, I think it’s safe to say we’re not on that path anymore.
The last thing I’m going to do here is to preach morals to anyone — KMH is an awesome song, it rocks hard and is full of energy — but it’s certainly a different direction. Anyway, if you’re not familiar you may remember KMH as the song the Islanders take the ice to many nights that begins with the sound of a motorcycle revving. In the end, it’s probably all a moot point since we’ll grumble and debate whatever is chosen but in the end, get acquainted to it by the end of the year. Let’s just be thankful it’s not the Let There Be Lighthouse song.
THE GOOD OL’ WAIVER WIRE DEBATE
After picking up Rob Schremp two years ago and Michael Grabner last season, it’s no surprise that when Eric Nystrom crossed the waiver wire today a lot of people’s reaction in Islander Country was to yell “pick him up!” For the Syosset native and son of legend Bob Nystrom, there’s no doubt having Eric as an Islander would be a thrill for both player and fans. That being said, it’s hard to find a spot for him given what the Isles’ opening night roster might look like. If Jay Pandolfo hadn’t been signed or Matt Martin wasn’t ready for the show, I’d say go ahead. But unless it’s to play in Bridgeport, unfortunately, this homecoming isn’t destined to be.
Click here for his New York Times post on the final rosters of the Islanders, Rangers and Devils.
Click here for his debate with Jeff Z. Klein over the Islanders’ chances of making this playoffs this season.
Bob McKenzie says on twitter that the Islanders have a verbal agreement with first round pick Ryan Strome on a contract.
The contract needs to be finalized by 5PM today.
The Islanders have signed former Devil Jay Pandolfo to a one-year deal.
He has played 819 career games and scored 99 goals and added 124 assists.
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