The exodus of goal scorers Jason Blake, Ryan Smyth, Viktor Kozlov and Alexei Yashin this summer was a stunning event that quite naturally inspired a tidal wave of anxiety about the Islanders’ ability to score enough to remain competitive for a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. But if the Isles are going to rely even more heavily on the goaltending of Rick DiPietro, then, the most damaging free-agent losses might turn out to be those of defensemen Tom Poti and Sean Hill.
That’s why the signing of free agent defenseman Andy Sutton is every bit as huge as his 6-6, 245-pound frame would suggest. When the free-agent market opened on July 1, all eyes were focused on the Isles’ bid to retain Smyth, who wound up with Colorado. Lost in the shuffle was the fact that Snow also made a strong pitch to former San Jose defenseman Scott Hannan, who also was signed by the Avalanche.
Once Hannan was gone, there was a big dropoff in the market for experienced defensemen with some toughness, which is why Snow explored the possibility of trading for Phoenix’s Ed Jovanovski and Toronto’s Bryan McCabe, both of whom had no-trade clauses. Although Sheldon Souray’s 100-mile-per hour slap shot held a certain amount of appeal, Snow couldn’t bring himself to pay top dollar for such a slow-footed defenseman with a minus-28 rating last season with Montreal.
That left Sutton and Detroit free agent Danny Markov as the best available veterans. Both have spent considerable time on the injured list, and both were seeking big raises in what they knew was a limited market. Although Markov is a better skater and more versatile player, you can’t teach Sutton’s size or manufacture his ability to stop so many shots from getting through.
Looking back on last season, the late signing of Hill after Snow became GM turned out to be a godsend for DiPietro. Hill was slow, but his toughness and his smarts in front of DiPietro were a nice complement to Brendan Witt in providing backbone on the blue line and Hill was important in the locker room, as well. I don’t know what kind of personality Sutton brings to the table, but there’s no mistaking his impact on the defensive end. When he played a career-high 76 games two seasons ago, Sutton ranked fourth in the NHL with 195 blocked shots, which suggests he has the kind of selfless attitude that should fit in well on a Ted Nolan-coached team.
At 32, Sutton is five years younger than Hill, which is why Snow was comfortable making a three-year commitment worth $9 million to a player who ought to be a pillar on defense. With his size and wingspan, Sutton should make a difference in preventing opposing offenses from sustaining pressure on DiPietro. More than anything else, the Islanders needed to add a physical presence on defense, and now, they have.
With Sutton on board, Snow should move fairly quickly in the next week toward adding a center with some offensive ability. Last year, Snow took a chance on a one-year deal at a bargain price for Kozlov, and Carolina free agent Joself Vasicek, who only has shown flashes of his offensive potential, might fit that same mold. Veteran Jason Allison also has been checked out by Snow and his staff, but he has played only one of the past four seasons thanks to injuries, the lockout and a messy divorce that sidelined him last year.
Snow has gone a long way toward replacing the offense that was lost with the addition of proven goal scorer Bill Guerin plus forwards Mike Comrie, Ruslan Fedotenko and Jonathan Sim, all of whom have the potential to produce more points with added playing time. If he were to add Vasicek to that mix along with young forwards Jeff Tambellini and Sean Bergenheim and get a strong performance from Miroslav Satan as he approaches free agency, then, scoring might come from a variety of sources, as it did last season when the Islanders had six players with at least 20 goals.
Of course, things would look brighter for the Islanders if Snow had succeeded in landing Smyth or Chris Drury or Scott Gomez on the first day of free agency. It didn’t happen, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.
As previously reported the Islanders offered Smyth more money than he received from Colorado, and it turned out Drury and Gomez had their sights set on joining the Rangers all along. Drury actually received two offers from the Isles. One virtually was the same as the five-year deal worth $35.5 million that he signed, and the other included a sixth year that would have pumped the value of the contract to $39 million. But Drury showed no interest in negotiating beyond what the Rangers offered.
Considering the offense added by the Rangers along with Philadelphia’s acquisitions of Daniel Briere and Scott Hartnell and the continued growth of Sidney Crosby and a young Pittsburgh team, that’s why it was vital for the Islanders to get a stopper like Sutton to fortify their defense and give DiPietro the measure of protection every goaltender needs.
Luckily, Snow signed Sutton in the nick of time before this blogger steps completely away from the computer for a family vacation. Have fun discussing the merits of Snow’s latest move, and please maintain respect for everyone on the blog and a level of decency in your comments and try to ignore those who can’t find it within themselves to live up to that standard. Enjoy what’s left of the summer. Training camp is barely four weeks away.
Comments (843)
I'm first!
Good Move...Now we just need to add some defensive scoring, and another center, someone tough like a sillinger...looking forward to training camp
Great signing by Snow, and to you, Mr. Logan, I will always wonder how it came to be that we Isles fans lucked out in landing you as our "cover man".
Thank you Greg Logan and Newsday... the BEST place for breaking Islander news :)
I've heard mixed reviews about Sutton. Mostly positive though. I guess Snow has had plenty of time to review his options on defence at this point. As a goaltender I'm sure he was asking himself who he'd rather have infront of his goal crease. He's played against both Markov and Sutton so he's had the chance to see them at ice level. So I'm going to trust him on this one. Upgrade over Hill.
Considering that the Wings haven't jumped on Markov that may confirm the buzz that as good as Markov is a lot of his success was because he was riding sidecar with Lidstrom. I think he'd still be a great addition, but not for the money he's asking for. Seems like Snow is spending wisely and keeping cap space open for some help up front either before, during or after the season for next year's UFA period.
Nolan also tends to get players to exceed their potential so if Sutton stays healthy he'll be a huge pickup. No pun intended.
The Isles are arguably a stronger team going into camp then they were last year. Keeping bone head penalties down this season vs. last year may allow the Islanders over achive again.
definitely a great signing. His size and strength will without a doubt help the defense out. Hopefully he can stay healthy enough throughout the season to be effective.
BRING BACK STEVE WEBB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ROTFLMAO!!!! The Isles offered Drury a better offer than the Rangers and were rebuffed!!!! ROTFLMAO!!!
So much for the Islanders "having a plan". It is now confirmed that the Islanders made better offers to Drury and Smyth than the Rangers and Colorado did and were turned down flat! You wonder what other players said no to the Islanders. The Isles wanted to spend money, they wanted to spend a lot of money. They offered long term, lucrative contracts left and right. Andy Sutton is here because nobody else wanted him. The Isles probably had this standing offer on the table for months.
Solid signing. We needed a big D-man. The Islanders and fans should not focus on the other teams but worry about themselves. We are the underdog again and looking at some early predictions this year we are near last again. Nowhere to go but up. The Islanders are going to be tough to play against like they were last year. This year they have a faster, more skilled team on their hands with heart and soul players. We will all see when the season roles around as for now enjoy the summer and Godspeed ISLES in the quest for the cup this year. I'm Rob and I'm an ISLANDER!!!
Actually a Ranger fan opinion on Sutton is a valid opinion. After watching the Rangers skate around Sutton for 4 games in the playoffs last year, I'm glad the Islanders signed him. The man was abused in that series. It's a fact, watch the tapes.
The Isles are set to offer Peter Forseberg a 1 yr $6M deal. Forsberg is reportedly in serious consideration with this deal from NYI.
Scouting Report
Assets: Possesses an excellent combination of skill and physical play. Is an outstanding playmaker due to great vision. Also takes care of business in his own end. Can change the pace of a game with an eye-popping rush or a crunching hit.
Flaws: His penchant for physical play has him often battling serious injuries. May need to play with less reckless abandon in order to prolong his career.
Career potential: Franchise center.
Another offer possibility:
"But what happens if the Islanders, having lost Ryan Smyth and a few others, offer him a three-year, $25 million deal? It could happen. Money always talks."
http://www.pittsburghsportsinsider.com/?p=1196
the money is obviously way too much but the point is that the isles wont be afraid to pay a little more for his services
Please Garth, don't sign Forsberg. He'll only take the money and if the team doesn't win 8 out of every 10 games, will get 'hurt' again. Just ask Philly. There was a time when he was the best player on the planet. Now, he's just looking for a free ride. DON'T SIGN FORSBERG!
I don't think Forsberg is a great a option but he is probably the best of whats left-seems like we will be similar to last year with a similarly if not harder time scoring goals-We need someone who at least has the potential to light it up on a regular basis-another year of Hilbert,Park,Bates etc. will be hard to take-at best, without any more moves, we look like a middle of the road team with a chance to make the playoffs and another first round exit.
DONE DEAL. WHERE ARE YOU?
I THOUGHT MARKOV WAS SIGNED IT WAS A DONE DEAL? DID SNOW LIE TO YOU AGAIN?
GOT TO LOVE HOCKEYBUZZ!
Signing Forsberg for a decent paycheck (not $8.3m, though) isn't a bad idea at all. He's the kind of player (like Souray) that has enormous value as trade bait later on in the year. I can't think of a better way to flush out our core of youngsters than signing a big name that can help the team for a portion of the year, then be traded away at the deadline.
So the Islander beat writer from Newsday got first hand knowledge that the Islanders offered Chris Drury a mega deal, but Drury had no interest in even listening.
It doesn't get any better than this! Ohhhhh yeah, the Islander philosophy we all heard about was to build this team, LOL!! Riiiiiight. The fact is, the Isles offered mega deals all over the place but nobody wanted to sign here.
Plus the Isles traded Carol Alt for Hilary Duff; I say upgrade!
Forsberg vs Allison....not sure which i would prefer. Both get injured often..but Allison i feel has something to proove. Forsberg is 2 years older than Allison.
Rangers overpaid for Drury and Gomez???
Your own beat writer just confirmed the Isles offered Drury a BIGGER contract!!!
Enjoy your newly signed traffic pylon!!!!
Anybody know what the exact terms are for Sutton? I saw three yrs for $9 million...this cannot be right. $3million a year for a 6'6" orange cone??
looks like "Bear" and "Steady" have conviently disappeared.
When I read Greg's Blog and got to the part about Drury I couldn't help but wonder if Greg would rather cover the Rangers than the Islanders. It was a back handed insult to the Islanders organization.
Then seeing as how he added in his last paragraph for us all to play nice in here, you had to know that he knew Islanders fans were being antagonized for the last 6 weeks, but still had to add that little tidbit to twist the knife in a little bit.
Greg thanks for stoking the fires buddy. Enjoy your family vacation on
Sather's boat. I hope you get reassigned to Thunder Bay or something with Howie Rose.
I'd skip out on Forsberg and Allison. I'd prefer getting Oneil who can add some toughness and another 20 goals to this lineup.
Allison and Forsberg have too much risk attatched to them. We have enough of that already in Fedotenko and Comrie.
Why people are so fired up over the Rags I have no idea. The Rags finished where they did mostly over the Simon/Hollweg incident.
The Isles finished where they did mostly because of injuries to the defense and bad penalties. If we took the injuries out of the equation I'm certain we would have finished at least sixth last season.
The Rags didn't really do anything special in the playoffs. If it was us playing Atlanta we would have beaten them as well.
At the end of the day the Rags lost to the same opponent we did!!!! Not to mention without having suffered through the piss poor officiating.
Who gives a crap if the Rags signed Drury and Gomez to the same deals we offered them. Most players opt to go the Rags and Toronto because they know they don't have to work hard. At MSG the fans are too stupid to know when a player is about to hose them good.
In our history we've gotten hosed on a contract by one player; YASHIN. THe body count in that category for the Rags runs deep.
Holik
Stevens
Fleury
Poti
Bure
Ozilinch
Nedved
Barnaby
Kovalev
Rucinsky
That's the freaking short list!!!!!!
They couldn't make those moves work. What makes people so certain that siging Drury and Gomez is going to put them over the top?
Because they beat Atlanta in playoffs? The most beatable team to make the post season!!!!! Tampa and Pitsburgh (just due to inexperience) were the other cannon fodder teams to make the mix.
The Rangers are no threat to anyone. It wouldn't surprise me to see them finish in the basement as the league laughingstocks once again. It's the same losing formula they always endorse; sacrafice chemestry so you can sign big name talent!!!
ANd the Rangers suffered much worse losses in that department than the Islanders did. Perhaps any team in the division. Losing Ortmeyer and Nylander is going to sting this season. Ortmeyer was a great team guy who made his living taking one for it and Nylander had instant chemestry with Jagr.
They lost an 80 pt player and one of the best defensive forwards in the league. They also traded Matt Cullen for a bag of pucks and are looking to replace him with a busted up Michael Peca!!!!
The fact that they are looking at signing Peca tells me this team is about to sell the farm. Ya know, all those hot hands they're always talking about in the system?
Geeeeezzzz.... everyone just what do you have against Comrie?
Let the guy play a few games before you bury him will ya?
Fedotenko... has scored big goals in big situations and nobody is saying he will score 45 goals this season... but 25 is reasonable and if he does, will you still be criticizing the signing?
DOC
Rags fans are just pissed because their defense sucks in comparison. From the goal to the Defense the Isles are built a hell of a lot better. That's where you win hockey games.
I'm gonna love watching Witt and Sutton knock Prucha, Jagr, and Straka on their asses when they skate with their heads down.
Even Crosby is in for a long night when these guys match up. Witt and Sutton are gonna bring the pain.
I can only imagine what it's going to look like having Hunter, Nokelainin, Witt and Sutton on the ice at the same time. Talk about a beat down!!!!
As I stated in earlier posts that I wanted Sutton over Markov. Sutton has played in the southeast division and faced some of the top scoring forwards in the league ie Lecavalier, st louis in tampa, Staal, brindamor in Carolina and Ovechkin in washington and was a plus player the past 3 seasons. So to say he is too slow is a slightly flawed. The thrasher got stomped by the rangers last year because their goaltending was GOD AWFUL!!! With ricky behind him he may be able to play more agressive knowing he has a #1 goalie to stop the puck. Excellent move Garth.
Forsberg signing with the islanders is interesting. Not sure How solid that info is but if its only for one year definately worth a shot and if the isles fall out of it (I doubt it) you know there will be teams looking for the services of Forsberg and we can get some high draft picks back. I would do it. Forsberg at less than 100% is better than most players in the league. He can still pop 30 goals a season easy. So if Forsberg wants to play here than I say no problem sign him.
Lets go Islanders
Suddenly the Islanders are looking much more like a "good" team.
Solid variety on D with young mobile defensemen, a couple of big gritty stay at home guys, the wild card in Martinek if he stays healthy and Bergeron with his offensive ability and power play scoring.
On offense there is a lot of questions and obviously no big stars but hopefully some verteran leadership, some speed and playmaking ability and some young untested but hungry players ie. bergenheim, tambellini, hilbert.
Who knows. It should be interesting.
The Yankees are winning now because of Cano, Melky, Duncan and a few others more recently in Hughes, Chamberlain etc. who bring youth, enthusiasm and push the verterans.
DOC
Oneill is an interesting one as well. I agree he ought to chip in 20 something goals and is gritty. He would also be a legit number 2 center behind Comrie, allowing Comrie to not take a back seat to a Forsberg and be able to assert himself as a number one guy like he wants to do.
I don't get why we it ever had to be Sutton OR Markov. Given the fact that Martinek's coming off a serious leg injury and Campoli has yet to prove himself on a consistent basis, I just don't see us entering the season with the current D-corps. Unless Garth is still trying to put together a trade for a bonafide #1 D-Man (given the $10M we have left in cap space, this is probably likely), I can see us still signing Markov. I don't know if we get him with it, but 4yrs/$12M seems fair given his relative youth for a D-Man. If we can get him for a price in that range, it still leaves us with $7M/yr to go out and land a nice #2/#3 center or make a big $$ play for Forsberg on a 1 or 2 yr deal. I may be dreaming, but if we add Markov and Forsberg to this team, we'd be as good as anyone...and the meanest team in the league. Talk about a change of culture. Wow.
I don't think Snow is finished signing people. On D they have a depth issue whereas if one gets hurt we are stuck with Freddy Meyer again. One more signing probably puts Campolli in the Depth position. Which would give him a little more comfort and time to develop.
That's not a bad situation for us to be in when you really look at it.
I think we do need be a little more patient with the kids though. Campolli is still young and learning. These things take time. Dmen take between 300-350 games on the NHL level to really fill out. Campolli is is not even half way there yet.
For being at about 120 games in he is at the right place developmentally. I think he has gotten better mentally and physically.
As previously reported the Islanders offered Smyth more money than he received from Colorado, and it turned out Drury and Gomez had their sights set on joining the Rangers all along. Drury actually received two offers from the Isles. One virtually was the same as the five-year deal worth $35.5 million that he signed, and the other included a sixth year that would have pumped the value of the contract to $39 million. But Drury showed no interest in negotiating beyond what the Rangers offered.
thats from logan himself. So all you islander fans who toss out your bullsh*t that the Rangers overpaid and all that other crap finally get to see the truth. Oh yeah ... both Jovanouski and Mccabe refused to go to your pathetic team also so lets get real here. You guys are no better and are just compleatly jealous
I never heard anyone say anything about over-paying for drury. That contract sounds about right to me. There was a lot about gomez's contract and lack of goals last year(13). So yeah I'm jealous of drury...but not gomez at that price
not related to the trade but at the USA National Junior evaluation camp, Kyle Okposo lead all players in points with 4 goals and 3 assists over 4 games against the national junior teams from Sweden and Finland.
the rangers payed drury and gomez elite player money (thornton, jagr, crosby, heatly,etc,,) but those two players, while good don't scare anybody. all the rag fans are acting like they DID aquire two of the elite players in the league and will be in for a BIG disapointment!!
Yeah, look at all the quality crackheads that play at MSG;
Kevin Stevens and Theo Fleury.
It's really too bad we missed out on Bobby Holik and Mathew Barnaby as well. Those guys really earned their paychecks.
I hope Sather has fun trying to explain the buyout situation to Dolan should the need ever arise. The fact that in the first three years of Drury's and Gomez'z contracts they will have already earned the bulk of their 7 year deals.
The Isles may have offered more but it was at least spread out for the life of the contract. The Rangers pretty much gave Gomez and Drury the bank at the start of their deals.
Freakin dopes if there ever was in this league.
Ta Ta for now.
if they did sign with us, it still would be overpaying......but we'd be to excited to admit it...
Think about it. Witt is physical force and Sutton has 4 inches and 25 pounds on him! Both are gladiators on ice. Great signing!
Ranger fans love to bust on the Yashin deal the ISLE's made and yes I admit he was a bum come playoff time and took many, many a night off. He was never going to live up to that contract the Islanders gave him. But if you just look at the numbers then the Ranger fans should realize that they just paid Yashin type money for less production. A couple of years from now they may be screaming for a buyout as well. Look at the numbers; they don't lie:
Yashin Career goals: 337
Yashin career assists: 444
Yashin power play goals: 124
Total Points: 781
Gomez career goals: 116
Gomez Career assists: 334
Gomez Power play goals: 28
Total Points: 450 points
Games played Yashin = 850
Games played Gomez = 548
The # of years Yashin has played inflates his #'s, but log into nhl.com and compare the numbers from the past 6 years or so and you will see the goals by Yashin far exceed the goals by Gomez. Consider Yashin played with a bunch of bums over the years; if not for that the numbers may even be more. With that being said Yashin was still a bum! However look at the #'s...
My point is NOT to compare the two players; my point is that every Ranger fan is quick to point the finger at the ISLES for the Yashin contract when in fact they just signed up for the same type of money for less production. Gomez better light up the stat sheet with assists because the goals will never add up to equal that money.
I will say that Drury was a good signing and yes the ISLE's would have liked to have him. We don't have the same type of exposure as the Rangers do; nor did we have the talent to compliment him at the time free agency began. Have fun with Gomez Ranger fans; he is going to be the Private Pile of hockey. (Full Metal Jacket). That crew cut he has does bare some resemblance. The blank stare he will have when Sutton buries his face in the boards will also bare some resemblance.
I didn't want to touch Gomez for the money he was asking. I wouldn't have minded Drury but I wouldn't be slapping a C or an A on his chest.
What the Rangers are paying Drury and Gomez over the first two years of those contracts is freakin insane. Snow may have offered more but it was evenly spread out over the lives of the contracts. Not all up front.
Can't blame Drury or Gomez for taking it. Sather is a complete dope for offering it. They save no money in a buyout situation.
Not that I'm trying to take a cheap shot at Drury or wish hime harm, he did suffer a brutal concussion last season. He could be one hit to the head away from retiring. That's too much risk for my taste with what they are paying him.
Dipietro suffered low grade concussions. Very different from what happened to Drury and Shannahan. Those two were knocked into next week losing consciousness. Completely different scenerio!!!!
Dipietro is also at less risk of suffering another being a goaltender.
are any other sites reporting us offering Forsberg a deal?
It's not spin. What you are offering is in fact spin.
Lets just say for arguments sake that Dipietro did suffer the grade of consussion Drury and Shannahan suffered. The Islanders are not paying him 10 mill per over the first three years of his deal. So should Dipietro go down tomorrow it not like Wang has already paid him 20 mill of his contract.
In the case of Drury that is the case. and that 7 mill still counts against the cap for the rest of the season vs Dipietors meager 3.5.
Not to mention that at least Dipietro suffered the concussion AFTER signing the deal. Drury suffered his concussion BEFORE getting the long term, front loaded contract. In essence, Sather is the biggest dope of a GM in the league.
So, in effect, you are guilty of exactly what you just falsly accused me of. For your sake I really hope you don't believe your own BS. You really look like a complete dope right about now.
Great Ceasar's dope!
Lets hope neither player has the misfortune of getting another concussion. Weather it is a Ranger or an Islander that is a horrible thing to discuss. This is their career you are discussing. The league needs to look into better equipment to protect the players from concussions because nobody wins on that subject.
The Islanders at the start of the free agent feeding frenzy supposedly made a 6 year/39 million dollar offer to Chris Drury. Some simple division would show that this offer works out to 6.5 million dollars per year or less than what the rangers offered him.
With respect to an injury situation and its impact on the salary cap. The CBA signed by the NHL Owners and the NHLPA has a provision in it to deal with a team losing a player due to injury. It is called the 10 day rule. If a player will miss that length of time or more than the affected team can remove his cap hit from the salary cap for the period of time that the player actually will miss. This is done so that said team can find a replacement player and fit him under their salary cap. However, the injured player cannot return to his team unless the team has the room under the salary cap to allow him to do so. Otherwise they need to make whatever move or moves are neccessary so that their injured player can return to the team.
There is an excepton to the 10 day rule - if the player is aged 35 or older than this rule it does not apply to the player. Stranger fans this affects you because both Jagr and Shanahan fall into this category. Another thing to take note of is that no matter what happens to a player aged 35 or older, his full salary cap hit counts against the salary cap.
To my fellow Islander fans I offer the following link
nhlnumbers.com
Click on it nd navigate to the Strangers rather interesting salary cap conundrum. At the present time they ae over the cap by 1.6 + million dollars.
They have 11 forwards under contract that count against the cap. I guess someone is going to be double shifted every night.
Imagine the following scenario - Flukequist gets bit by the Flu Bug. Now starting in goal for the Strangers is Islander castoff Steven Valli(for)quette and backing him up is Al Montoyas backup because thats all the salary cap room that S(p)lats has left himself. Ohhh BABY!!!!!!
The Isles fans ability to ignore the obvious and to rewrite history will never cease to amaze me.
Many of you guys spent weeks saying how you wouldn't have paid for either Drury or Gomez and that Snow was too smart to offer those kinds of contracts. You went on and on about Nolan's "hand-picked" ufa's etc. And here is your own blogger confirming that the Isles were throwing out bigger offers only to be denied!!
Ceasar,
You wouldn't give Drury an "A" or "C"?? But I am guessing you think it's the best move ever to surprise Guerin with the "C" in the middle of a press conference?? Drury is known league wide as an elite player/ leader and captain, but you don't see it the same way I guess. You would be happier having a has been who was never even a captain in his prime?
If your set up from goalie out to D is so much better than the rags, then how do you explain our lower team goals against??? How do you explain Lunquist being in the top of the Vezina voting in his first two years???? I think DP is talented but has he even been considered for the Vezina?
How do you possibly make the statement that the Hollweg/ Simon incident allowed us to finish where we did? And again you think the Isles were the only team who had bad calls against them in the playoffs...WHAH WHAH WHAH!!!! You seriously think Hollweg is to blame for your problems?? I don't know whats funnier...you thinking that or if it was actually true. Imaging someone like Hollweg effecting your whole team!!!
As far as Witt and Sutton laying out Prucha & Jagr etc....Did you not see the Rangers using Sutton like a cone during a puck-handling drill?? The rangers abused Sutton during the playoffs and Avery showed that Witt and Hill tired after the first period of being pounded by the rangers forecheck! Witt is effective at trying to injure Jagr and that's about it!! Witt was a stud on D about four years ago. He is too old and slow to dominate the way he could years ago. As for Sutton being a great replacement for Hill...Hill was slow and tough, Sutton is just slow!!
I can't blame you guys for wanting to support your team...but you cannot seriously think that you have the better D or are actually happy with the way the UFA's all shook out.
I will tell you this...if you guys got Drury and Gomez and we got Comrie and Sim, I would not be on here blowing a bunch of hot air about how I was happy and prefer Comrie etc!!!!
go ISLANDERS !!!
watch what ted nolan and the guys do...
and ranger fans know it
Imagine if we signed Poti? Our defense would look strong:
Sutton-Witt
Bergeron-Poti
Gervais-Martinek
Campoli
To Joke:
Keep comparing last years stats; real dumb. Last years goals against mean nothing, this is a new year with new players; last year means nothing. The guy between the pipes has a major effect on team defense. Atlanta had no goaltending in the playoffs. The defense had to play desperate and take chances. The ISLES had the same thing happen to them when DP went down, the defense suffered. Sutton has been a + player for the past 3 years and with a solid net minder like DP as well as a supporting cast he will be far from a cone. The Ranger fans who post on this blog are so predicatable, I can read the first sentence and know right away it is a Ranger fan. The Ranger management caters to the suits that attend the games. The Rangers philosophy is much like the corporate morans that go to the games. When there is a problem lets just add another high priced free agent to the mix, give some corporate bull sh!% that we are committed to winning and let the guys who actually proved themselves go (Nylander, Cullen).
Ranger fans think that their team is sooo great because they sell out every game, and that they have such great fans. That is such a crock of sh!%; after 7 years of overspending with no playoff appearances; and 10 years without a playoff win (this year was the first playoff win in 10 years and that was against Atlanta...Ha ha) if you were in any other market besides the center of Manhattan you would be having worse attendance issues then other teams in smaller markets. I would actually be embarrased to be a Ranger fan; with all the money you spent on high priced players, with all the resources you had/have available all these years you only have 1 Stanley cup to show for it. Now that is embarrassing and pathetic. The Islanders have had their struggles with ownership; aging building and quite honestly a poor location. They have won 4 cups and perceveered through some really hard times. With a dedicated owner and finally a good GM (who values his coach) we are well on our way to being a cup contender.
We should have traded for McCabe or gotten Aucoin. I loved Aucoin, he and Ziggy were the best two Islander players the Isles have had since the cup teams.
We should have traded for McCabe or gotten Aucoin. I loved Aucoin, he and Ziggy were the best two Islander players the Isles have had since the cup teams.
Did you forget about Turgeon & King & Thomas, that was a great line we had. Palffy was great and I wish the ownership situation was different back then because I would have liked to see Palffy retire as an Islander. The Islanders have had alot of great players since the cup teams; the problem is they all got traded for little or nothing in return...salary dumps or impatient GM (class "A" knuckle head Milbury. Maybe things will be different now. I would like to think that Bergie, Tambellini & some time soon Okposo will be guys Islander fans can be proud of.
Do you think that Asham's broken hand last year & inability to fight due to it played a part in the decision NOT to offer a contract to him? Perhaps Snow & Nolan spoke with the Doc and knew that Simon was going to give them more protection then Asham's hands would allow? Any thoughts?
you know islander fans you guys all talk about us not winning a playoff series in 10 years. You guys havent won a playoff series since 1993 which comes out to 15 years. but of course your all islander fans so lets forget the facts and go with "i didnt want Drury or Gomez i want Guerin and Comrie. DP is awsome. F*ck you Avery. You guys dont actually sell out games its all men in suits who dont give a sh*t. Lundqvist sucks, DP rules" strategy. If you guys are anything your consistant. Retarted but consistant.
hey joe
1940...1994--->add 54 years to that and what do you get????
Immediately. Hockey's longest running joke, one bought cup since 40.
Isles offered another year for Drury, that's why it was more money and we know Trautwig and the Rag propaganda people were posioning Drury for years as he is now on his fourth team and ready to kick back and count his cash.
MANHATTAN RAGS, GO CONTRACT
NYC IS ISLANDER COUNTRY.
YOU CAN'T BEAT US CHANTS ROCKING MSG FROM THOUSANDS OF ISLANDER FANS AGAIN THIS SEASON..
HALF OF MSG AVAILBLE FOR ISLANDER FANS TO BUY TICKETS, CORPORATE RAGGIES ARE ALL WATCHING BASEBALL.
HEY LOGAN, WE ALL KNOW YOUR THE FORMER RAG BEATWRITER AT NEWSDAY, THAT'S WHY YOUR TWEAK IS IN THIS ARTICLE.
RAGS HAVE PROBLEMS EVEN FILLING THE SEATS WITH THOUSANDS OF ISLANDER FANS CHANTING YOU CAN'T BEAT US IN MSG. DOLAN LIES ABOUT HIS ATTENDANCE AND ALMOST NEVER SELLS OUT UNLESS OPPOSING FANS COME IN AND HELP FILL THE SEATS..
WHAT DOLAN REPORTS TO THE LEAGUE AS ATTENDANCE IS A POLITICAL LIE.
RAG CONTRACTION...NOW
YOU FORGOT TO MENTION WHY DRURY AND GOMEZ REALLY SIGNED WITH THE RAGS BESIDES EARLY RETIREMENT BEFORE THE TEAM FOLDS.
FRONTLOADED CONTRACTS GIVING THEM TEN MILLION NEXT SEASON.
WONDER WHY LOGAN LEFT THAT PART OUT IF HE KNEW THE NUMBERS AS HE CLAIMS?
RAG CONTRACTION, AMATEUR HOUR RENNEY BETTER TRAP FROM DAY ONE TO PROTECT HENRIETTA FLUKEQVIST BECAUSE HE CAN'T WIN WITHOUT A TRAP TO COVER HIS MEDIOCRITY...
Hold up... Gomez is overpaid .....period... Drury might be worth his payday but he will only replace nylander... Sather ia a dumbf**k, he couldve gotten a prime D player like Markov on his D. But like ALL rags fans, he's stupid. He went for the big names, which all things considered , werent that good. Y? ...
Tradition..... The Rags were born to LOSE. No one can dispute that... They go for the high priced talent but always forget hockey is a TEAM game.
Gomez and Drury dont just like MSG (which is a shithole).... They want all the " commercial offers" that Madison ave. , might have to offer.
Sather , couldve done alot more.... but he didnt... The Rags D sux and Gomez and Drury are pretty much unproven, all things considered.... Now , with the cap , they can't do sh*t....
Ted Nolan , is a very smart man, for bringing the Isles heritage into the mix... After all , the Rags, have none... 1 bought cup from the OILERS doesnt equal history...
All your high priced , ZERO talent... results in NOTHING, year after year ... A history of, garbage at MSG....
Rag fans, enjoy Gomez for his 13 goals ... Enjoy Drury, who probably will get laid out again... Enjoy that cap space , which you have NONE... and most of all, enjoy the WINNING tradition the Isles have... Theres NOTHING that can be done abut that.....
Ceasar and Quick,
I can't go back to last year to point out the Rangers better goals against?? But you guys can go back to the '90's when the Rangers were making horrible move after horrible move??? That must be logical to Isle fans only!!
And for all the Isle fans that say that no Isle fan goes on the Rag blog to spout garbage, please go look at the embarrassing posts from Ceaser over there.
Why is the front loading of a contract the sticking point for you guys?? First it was that you didn't want drury at all, especially for long term big $$. Then when your own blogger points out that you in fact did want him for longer and more money...then you guys change to say that you wouldn't have minded but that you were all to smart to front load him????? Please, you change your beliefs to fit what you think your teams plan is. Guess what, there is no big Snow/ Nolan plan other than to deal with the crappy situation they find themselves in.
At the beginning of Free agency, I can guarantee you that if you asked Snow who he would want to be on the Isle...
A. Drury, Gomez, Shanny etc
or
B. Guerin, Sim, Fedetenko and Sutton
Who do you think his ideal pick would have been??? Stop the BS guys and own up to the fact that your team is made up of cast aways and also rans that no other team wanted.
You overpaid Guerin to sign...overpaid Fedetenko to sign...and if the 3yr $9million for Sutton is accurate then that is the worst signing of the off season (replacing the Fedetenko deal).
One of you guys said that the rangers are "stuck" with these overpaid contracts and that the Isles now have carte blanche to do what they want. You are failing to own up to the fact that nobody is accepting your huge contracts...Not Drury, not Smyth, not Souray...and nobody will come to you next year. Least of all Marleau or Heatley or any of the other names you keep saying. You guys are going to be stuck overpaying for the unwanted UFA's until you change your management, your building and actually start showing up to watch the games!!!!!
until all that happens than you will continue to lose out in free agency and the Isles will continue to BE A JOKE!!!!
Rangers will have pressure on them for the first time in a while and we all know what happens then.......(uggh choke choke cough cough) As for overpaying, all teams do it for one reason or another. Would i have liked drury yes..gomez...maybe...guerin hell yeah the isles need a big power forward to show hunter the ropes.... comrie fine... still have holes but so do the Rags you may score but your d still sucks ballzz. one of Drury or gomez gets hurt the pressure mounts and they start losing and Renney is fired by the new year......LETS GO ISLANDERS!!!
As an Isles fan in Canada, my hatred for the leafs and rangers is the same. I will say this, that the rangers did pick up some good players, but they overpaid drastically for both them and are stuck with both of them for a long time. The only reason the salary cap went up was because of the canadian dollar rising and becoming close to par with the US dollar. It has been talked about like crazy up here and when the dollar goes back down to its normally level (say 70 cents on the dollar) so will the cap, and the rangers will be stuck. I really think the rangers did the wrong thing signing those guys, b/c renney is going to have his hands full managing those personalities. Sather going back to his old ways and trying to buy a cup - too bad they won't even be close...
As for the isles, idiot ranger fans need to stop saying we didn't get anything this summer. This is slowly turning into a Ted Nolan type team, with a bunch of guys who are going to work their tails off not like the premadona rangers. If Ted was able to get last years team in the playoffs (with robitaille as the #1 center for most of the season) this year should be even better. (think about the calgary team that made the stanley cup finals - bunch of guys who out worked the other team and forchecked relentlessly....ummm and they made it to finals w/o a bunch of superstars...))
Lets go islanders...
Man, there are no plans to do anything about the outdated Mausoleum until 2011-2012. Geez, talk about a team that is really wanted around here, LOL.
It's kind of sad. The Islanders make incredible contract offers to several top FA's, and the offers are not even considered. They are not even looked at.
New York State doesn't want the Islanders, Nassau County doesn't want the Islanders. None of the top FA's will sign here which forces the Isles to overpay for other teams has beens and castoffs. There really aren't any good prospects that are ready. Man, what kind of franchise are we talking about here?
ray we are talking about a franchise that will finish higher than the rangers
Ray, you're a moron.
The Isles didn't overpay Guerin. Three years for a guy who can net 36 goals and be your captain is a steal (That's more than double the goal production you're paying Gomez 10 mill for).
It's also rather obvious that the Rags have over touted their own prospects. Otherwise, they wouldn't bother paying Gomez and Drury Joe Thornton money.
ANd the Isles have no prospects?
We'll just have to wait and see about that come opening night. Or perhaps when Nokelainin drives Jagr, Drury and Gomez through the glass!!!!
You also might want to look at Bruno Gervaise, Sean Bergenheim, Kyle Okposo and Sean Bentevoglio. Two of those four will be in the lineup this year. Bentevoglio most likely come December (Hint, Benetvoglio is one of the highest touted undrafted prospects of any team. Just in case you weren't paying attention).
Just by the numbers.
Guerin 36 goals 4.5 million
Drury 36 goals 7.1 million
Gomez 14 goals 10 million.
Yeah, the Isles really over paid on that one!!!!
Dope
How can you NOT like Guerin? The guy is a leader, a warrior, and a goal scorer. Yeah, I wish he was 25, but I wish I was too (actually...I don't). I'd like to have Getzlaf, Crosby, or Hossa, but I'm happy that we have Wild Bill.
hockeybuzz says allison to the isles. i say do it nolan will get the most out of him. at the very least we will be getting a guy who helps the power play tremendously and for 1 mill per year you are getting (yashin like) player as far as points scored for pennies on the dollar. if he doesnt play defense just send him down or put him on 4th line.
Sutton is a great signing by the Islanders. Sean Hill did a good job last year but he was too slow and not that big of a guy. Sutton will only strenghthen our d corps and you have to love the fact hes 6'6" 235 lbs. He will be pushing any ranger that comes near DP right out of the crease so DP can stop Maliks 25 mph slapshot. Furthermore, the addition of Sutton to the Isles will benefit Witt. With Sutton establishing another physical presence and being a defensive defensemen, less pressure will be on Witt and look for Witt to scrap a few more times next year. I doubt the Isles will sign Markov now although i really like him. Garth's obvious next move will be for a scoring center. I wouldnt mind Allison as long as the Isles make sure he has been keeping in shape and rigorously preparing for