With each turn of the page, the Islanders’ story for 2006-07 seems to get better and more intriguing. As a reporter, my critical faculties always are engaged, but for the second time in less than a week, new general manager Garth Snow has pulled off a cap space-clearing trade that lays the groundwork for bigger and better things to come, and it's hard to argue with the result.
Back when I last covered the Rangers in 2000-01, Mike York was a hustling young kid with a bright future. He tried to maintain that hustle with the Islanders this season, but he wasn’t keeping up with the play well enough to make things happen on a consistent basis. Coach Ted Nolan’s disappointment was obvious after York failed to click with Miro Satan and Trent Hunter, both of whom have struggled offensively.
So, the only surprise about the trade that sent York to Philadelphia for Randy Robitaille was the fact Snow found a taker for his $2.85 million contract. Defenseman Alexei Zhitnik, who was shipped to the Flyers four days earlier, was more effective than York this season in the sense that he always made the smart, percentage play, which is why he was the plus-minus leader. But his plus-minus was offset by the penalties he was taking that led to opponents’ power plays.
Now, with two bold strokes, Snow has made the Islanders faster and cleared $5 million of cap space. No doubt, a team losing money at the box office will save some major bucks until the next trade (Most of which likely will be reinvested in a new deal for Jason Blake somewhere down the line). But Snow has insisted that neither of these moves was made just to cut costs, and I have no reason to doubt him.
Owner Charles Wang wants a winner and is willing to pay for it. There’s zero doubt that Snow will make a push to add offensive help before the Feb. 27 trade deadline. Who it will be and when depends on the circumstances presented by potential trade partners. But anyone hoping for a Tampa Bay selloff likely will be disappointed. The Lightning will contend for a playoff spot, but even if it wanted to get rid of Brad Richards’ $7.8 million contract, that is well beyond what the Isles have available.
However, a lot of other players who could become available have contracts that fall well within the Islanders’ means. The question is what those teams might want in return in terms of future assets. Robert Nillson is an obvious possibility as trade bait, but expect Snow to be very wary of the Islanders’ history of giving up too soon on players with the potential to blossom.
At the same time, if Nolan isn’t high on a player, that’s an indication of which direction the Islanders might be headed because he and Snow are very much on the same page. Although everyone on the Islanders’ crack committee has some say in the decision-making process, from what I’ve seen so far, Snow and Nolan are a pretty powerful one-two punch with Snow acting very much the part of a normal general manager who maintains a constant dialogue with his coach but also with an eye to the big picture.
So far, so good. Now, it’s time to begin scouring the rosters of the bottom feeders for a goal scorer who might shake loose with the majority of candidates likely playing in the Western Conference. In the meantime, watch to see how Robitaille performs on a line with Satan and Viktor Kozlov. In practice this morning, Robitaille was skating at left wing with Kozlov roaming center ice. But obviously, Robitaille would take the faceoffs.
Even if Robitaille’s playmaking ability turns on the juice for the second line, Snow still will look to add scoring. In today’s NHL, he believes the best teams have three lines that can score. That’s Snow’s goal.
Comments (22)
Something is strange about these deals. Unless Milbury has taken over Paul Holmgren's body, I have no idea what Philly is up to--unless somehow they think they can pass seven other teams and reach 8th place for the playoffs and go from there.
Still, it seems like a net plus for team, especially on cap room--although, I'd like to see what four lines shake out in the future.
Going back to that old saw, however, I'd still like to see some people in the building Saturday night. Last Saturday game against Atlanta had an announced crowd of 10,000 PLUS, but there were not more than 8,000 in the building. This team has delivered far more than anyone expected and it would be nice to have the old barn rockin' again.
Keep up the good work Greg.
What about Pierre Turgeon?
"What about Pierre Turgeon?"
While we're at it why not bring back Steve Thomas and Benoit Hogue?!?!?!
Get a clue Pete
What if Philly eats some of Forsberg's contract? That would be sweet.
I'm not 100% on this, but I think that under the new CBA, teams can't agree to pay part of a player's contract when they trade him away.
In another vein, I'm very, very glad to hear that Snow and Nolan are functioning the way a coach and GM should be, rather than screwing with collective decision making.
Great Blog Greg. I love UPDATES! Seems afew other puckleheads as well. I was thinking Ladislav Nagy of Phoenix myself for the Isles to at least "look into". Satan-Hunter-Nagy. I like it. lol See ya next UPDATE!
Another player to possibly "look into", Scott Young of St Louis. Not even $1M salary. Just a thought...lol
woops...scratch the Scott Young idea. he's 40 and out of hockey. my bad.
I was hearing rumors about Bill Guerin. At any rate the season deff looks to be full of drama.
attention students: from newyorkislanders.com
There isn't any fine print. No catch. No come-on.
Yes, it's true: students of all ages can get tickets for Islanders games right behind DiP and Dunny's nets for just $19.
It's called the NYI Havoc Energy Zone. The $19 tickets are possible through a creative partnership with our friends at Havoc Energy Drink. (Please check them out at www.havocenergy.com).
If you're a student and you want to get great seats down low and behind either of the two goals, here's all you have to do:
Show up at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on the day of the game. Tickets for the NYI Havoc Zone will be sold at the Coliseum box office starting 90 minutes before the opening faceoff. Of course, the earlier you get there, the more incredible the seats you'll be able to get for your 19 bucks.
Each student can purchase up to two tickets. Once you get to your amazing seats in the arena, show your Islanders pride and cheer your lungs out. In other words, create havoc – the positive kind.
Ask any fan who was part of our "demo" at Saturday's 6-0 win against Atlanta – they had the time of their lives. Dina and the Ice Girls stopped by. FSN's cameras rolled and Deb Kaufman took notice. The fans were shown on the center-ice scoreboard. Christie Brinkley was impressed. After the game, Ricky asked where all those crazy fans behind him came from. They really rocked the old barn.
So be a part of it. Help make the NYI Havoc Energy Zone the talk of Long Island and the NHL.
The team has announced the first block of NYI Havoc Energy Zone games. There will be more, but the first five are:
Saturday, Dec. 23 vs. Columbus
Saturday, Dec. 30 vs. New Jersey
Tuesday, January 2 vs. Philadelphia
Saturday, January 13 vs. New Jersey
Monday, January 15 vs. Tampa Bay
For this Saturday's tilt against the Blue Jackets, Havoc Energy Zone tickets go on sale at 5:30 pm at the Coliseum box office. We'll see you there.
Hey Greg, I just want to say you are doing a great job. The blog is a must read for me. I check it every morning now. I have turned a few others onto it as well. Like I said, great job.
I like the Bill Guerin idea Bored. He is only $2 mil. and on pace for 30+ goals on a terrible team. That would certaily be a 3rd line scorer, and a bruising line with Sillinger and Hunter/Asham.
Ok, I don't love the advertisements though. But hey, whatever helps get people to the games.
smart moves by snow and the committee for all the reasons stated by logan. a good start to snow's tenure. it will be very interesting to see who they add in the coming months with the extra cap room. it's also very important that they make every effort to sign jason blake to an extension. also good to see the isles significantly reduce the price of some of the lower tiered seats for students. only 19 bucks!!! great deal. hopefully people will take advantage of it. i think they will. i think a large part of the poor attendance problem was the high ticket prices.
$19 for 100s, 200s!? Thats a great offer.
All due respect but when you do the three updates a day Steve Zipay does for Ranger fans in his blog that's when you doing a great job. Right now it seems like we get the bare mininum while Zipay gives his fans the max and more.
This blog has to be so much more for Islander fans with our lack of coverage, it's critical you tell us this club's every move from day to day and several times a day from practice.
Two blog updates a week are not nearly enough.
What's wrong with Turgeon? I'd take Turgeon back in a split second. I might even go to a game again if they did something like that. Randy Robitaille is not exactly a fan favorite former Islander who's going to bring fans into the seats. Turgeon's been tearing it up for the Avs since he came back last week.
Guys we need to get over this Turgeon and Webb stuff. Yes they provided good memoires but thats all this team used to live off of. We are trying to build a new identity and go for players who are fast, mobile, and could put the puck in the net. By the way its nice to see the Islanders offering $19 for 100,200 level seats now to get asses in the seats.
I disagree "Please Read This Mr Logan." I much prefer the in-depth blog's from Greg Logan over the short, purely informational, "blogs" from Zipay. Line combos, scratches, injuries, etc. I can get from the Rangers website, watching the pre-game or reading Newsday. But the insider analysis of trades, moves, Nolan/Snow's thought process etc. provided by Greg Logan is very interesting and cannot be found anywhere else.
New to the site - Being a long time(1975) Isles fan -its great to see fans with the same heart for this team as I have. Its been rough the last 12 or so years (save 2002), but Nolan and snow seem to have a good thing goin. Now if only people would show up! season ticket holder sec 306
A few things: first, I completely agree that the team needs to cut the cord with the past, and that the answer is not to bring in aging alums like Turgeon (who might have another year or two left in him, but that's it) and Webb (who hasn't played NHL hockey since BEFORE THE LOCKOUT). I don't mind adding another veteran scorer, but I'd much prefer somebody who can stick around for a few more years to someone like Turgeon whose main appeal is to nostalgia.
Second, I also wholeheartedly with those who are happy with the approach Logan has taken to this blog. Basically, we get another fully researched article that could go in the paper. Zipay's approach, as others have pointed out, is great for people who refuse to visit the team website or watch the FSN broadcasts, but otherwise it's redundant with what you could get just about anywhere. I don't mean to knock Zipay's hard work, but I'd rather wait 2-3 days for original and insightful material than read about line combinations twice a day.
Third, as to the notion that we should sell off the vets before the deadline to bring up the youth--why? It would be ruinous to the chemistry of a team that's had a pretty good year. I suppose that no matter how well the team does, people are going to think that we'd be better served bringing up the whole Sound Tigers roster and playing them over Yashin and Blake. Probably nothing that can be said to change their minds.
to lifetime fan:
thanks for the reply. i think you misunderstood the thrust of my argument. my point is essentially identical to what you said under "First". we don't need to be BUYERS of aging, old-nhl talent right now. the core of vets we have is sufficient. but we do have some vets (bates) who are worth less to the team (either in the locker room or on the ice) than the draft picks that we might be able to get for them.
That said - it is time, however, to bring up either nilsson or tambellini and end the bogenicki experiment. it was clear to anyone who watched the canes last night that our talent level is not where it should be.
Congratulations Islanders! I live in Edmonton. We're shocked and dismayed at losing Ryan Smyth.