On the Islanders Beat

Many chances to throw rocks at people with hard heads!

Here is one thing we can control--get tough players. No more pushover sissy NYI's...let teams fear us for SOME reason.

Also, please trade Trent Hunter for anything. A stick of gum.

Thxs for the updates Katie.

Where's the Ice Girl I-25 Road Show?

D-money and I are patiently awaiting.

And by D-Money and himself he means only himself.

above was gary aka Jd aka #1 from the Rags blog....not Steady!

Stop blogging on our blog FATTY and get a date. It is Friday night zit head !

I am getting REALLY SICK of moron Rags fans showing up and using other peoples names on here. Ive had idiots yell at me for supposedly posting on the Rangers blog and I dont even post there- its just some moron using my name.

Ive said it before and Ill say it again, Newsday needs to change things. This setup absolutely sucks. There needs to be a login or WTH is the good of this? The way things are presently lends itself far too easily to abuse.

Metal Chick--Its a freaking blog for sports--relax...why do you care if somee rangers fan talks smack? It means nothing. We donmt need policing of blogs. We need people like you to stop crying and imposters to get outdoors more. All need to grow up, not he least of is Metal Chick.

Rangers seek clarification of penalty shot??????
They won the F-...en game and they still want answers!???

Hey ICELANDER CONTRACTION do you think anyone will remember that shut out? THINK FAST who did the ducks play last year for the cup?.............Yea I thought so! And that team went to the big show. Fool!

Metal....Now you know how I feel...I have Isles and Rags trolls using my name to post.....It is comical!

Consider it a compliment.

Immitation is the biggest form of flatery!

I hear ya Steady. Rock on Dude, Rock on.

The NYR fans are pumped bc they had a better year than us...I won't be impressed until they win 3 straight against Pitt. Its crazy how 3/4 teams left from the east are from our division. This means the Isles have their work cut out for them.... But I don't think anyone would mind a top 5 pick again if we don't make the playoffs. Let's hope we draft wisely and sign Teddy to an extension!

There is nothing like PLAYOFF HOCKEY!!!

Playoff hockey or not, the Rangers are has-beens who buy Cups--oops, I mean Cup.
Im rooting for San Jose and Philly now.

And for the islanders to fold as a team.

Steady-you really are sad man. Everytime we slam you, you claim and imposter. You have an Islander fan imposter? Lol...yea, right. Either the Islander fans are more pathetic than i thought, or, you are a tool. Maybe both.

I cant stop laughing at this blog. Seriously, is Steady bored or insane?
Anyway, hope to see Philly advance and play Pitt

Congratulations to the Flyers a team that went from horrible last season to at least the final 4 this season. The GM did a GREAT job last off season and the coach did a GREAT job this season. Somehow I don't expect the Isles to pull the same thing off next season.

Gee I wonder if the fake Jp, I C , and Helen are all the same person along with being the fake Steady? Get a life dude. We all know how Steady writes and you aint him! Like he would say "and the Islanders fold" . Not to mention he predicted the Rags in 7 and would love to put that on his resume as another prediction.

No one listen to the losers on this bored until the regulars come back.

Rags are BYE BYE after today. Another pathetic run at a cup by a team with a bloated payroll that was predicted to win it!

Sad state of affairs at the Urin smelling msg.

If the state of affairs are sad for the Rangers at msg,how are the state of affairs at an EMPTY nvmc? Empty nvmc in April and empty in February (except when the RANGERS are in town).

The RANGERS are playing their TENTH PLAYOFF GAME of the 2008 Playoffs today.Have the Isles played 10 rounds of golf yet?

THERE IS NOTHING LIKE PLAYOFF HOCKEY!!!!!

enjoying your summer,azzlander losers?

Just got off the phone with Julien from that pro-scouting agency in Hab-ville ... lol ... he said Habs fans .. himself included are stunned... he gave kudos to the Flyers ... but also mentioned ... their roster is a lot more powerful than their record indicated.

Good coaching and they had built a good core of youth ... and added via trade and FA. He said last season's record was not a good indicator of their core talent. It wasn't indicative of a team rebuilding... they always had the core ... but with some seasoning and good matching additions ... they should be solid for years to come... not to mention they have some solid prospects under 21 that haven't even seen the NHL yet.
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Here's a bit of a buzz he talked to me about ... basically because he was against it ... but said it would help the NHL and boost club revenues. It comes in a few different forms ... but the basics are adding 2 teams to the league ( long shot) ... re-aligning conferences .... and adding 4-8 teams to the playoffs by changing the playoff format ... only if they add 2 teams .. if they don't add 2 teams .. then only 2-4 teams to the playoffs.....

Scenarios he's heard from the "gallery" are as follows....

Adding 2 teams to the West Conference .... Two in any of the following cities.... Seattle? Vegas? Winnipeg? Houston? or some other candidate cities out west.... this will not happen till after 2012 at earliest if it does at all.

This will bring Detroit (Oh No!) or Columbus to the Eastern Conference ... for Detroit .. it may break up those great rivalries they have with the Avs and Hawks ... but they also had one with the Leafs before the Leafs moved to the Eastern Conference.... for Columbus it could give them a rivalry with Pittsburgh ... none of this has went to committee of governors yet. As Julien put it ... this could be a by-product of the bitter Montreal rumour mill.

Julien says this talk is nothing new ... it has been mumbled about since the lockout ended. Getting the NHLPA on board would be necessary also. He first heard about it from a retired player who he wouldn't name... but heard it from others since.

I figured I'd put it out there since it sounds interesting. I've never thought the NHL should of went beyond 28 teams. Going to 32 doesn't sit well with me either. It also would create a greater dilution of the NHL talent base if you add 46 more roster players to the mix. I already think there are too many AHL players playing in the NHL.

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If there is NO expansion (Conferences stay the same) .... the new playoff format might be as follows ... I wrote this down while on the phone .. and wrote in chicken scratch .. hope this comes out accurate ...

Option 1]

If conference stays as 15 teams ....

Top 6 teams get a bye for a round robin preliminary round ....

If 9 teams qualify for playoffs per conference then 3 teams (7th, 8th & 9th place) will play in a round robin qualifier ... the logic ... more playoff revenue ... and in a lot of cases 7th and 8th place is no better than a 9th place team ... and the NHL has added 9 teams to the league since 1991 without expanding playoffs ... with playoffs crucial for teams to finish in the "black" for the year ... it means more teams in financial "red" after a season ...

That round robin will consist of 2 games per team ... top 2 teams by points goes to conference 1/4 finals ... tie breakers of course will be needed ....all this to eliminate 1 team and have each conference with 8 seeded teams to start the traditional playoff series'.

I think it's a dumb idea if they do that ... even though it gives the other 6 teams a short break before playoffs.
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Option 2]

Same concept except 4 teams instead ... have the bottom 7th place - 10th place teams play games ... and have them play in a 3 game round robin ... to award 2 teams the bottom 2 seeds... again ... not crazy about it ... but it gives more games to prove self ... and it eliminates 2 teams instead of only 1.

****************
If expansion does occur it actually helps even things out ... it will give each conference 16 teams .... The divisions within the conference will become two - 8 team divisions aligning the league back to 4 divisions .... the whole regular season will be re-aligned so there will be 16 inter-conference games per team ( they are doing something like that this season) .... they'll alternate home advantage every other year.

There will be 24 intra-conference / inter-division games .... (3 games against the 8 teams in the other division in same conference).... they'll alternate home advantage every other year.

Within the same division teams will play 6 games against each team, splitting 3 at home 3 away ... it expands the importance of division games since the playoff format will return to a division semi-final and division championship series after a pre-round robin.

As far as the playoff format goes in the division....

An option being looked at is ....

1st and 2nd place get a bye ...

the 3rd place - 6th place teams play in a 3 game round robin to decide the 3rd and 4th seeds.... just seems weird ... not crazy about it. This means 12 of 16 conference teams make the post season.

I guess I can see 10 teams of 16 in a conference making the playoffs ... it just seems excessive ... but with a potential 32 teams in the league ... and they all rely on making the playoffs to make a profit ... maybe there is just something wrong with the NHL's financial plan?

Julien said the problem with determining the playoff reformat is that giving the top teams a bye actually creates a problem because most teams don't want to be idle to long ... it could be more detrimental than an advantage .... I tend to agree .. of course if you have an injured star ... it might help.

That said ... another format gives the top 2 teams in each division a bye .... and a week off before starting the division semi finals.

A 5 round playoff potential for teams in the 3rd - 6th divisional seeds.

The first round called division qualifier ... 3rd seed plays 6th seed and 4th seed plays 5th seed in a best of 5 ... requiring playing back to back nites possibly 2 times over 5 days if game 4 is necessary .. the 5th game if necessary will be at the higher seed's home ice on the 7th night.

The top 2 seeds may not really like being off a full week .. but currently if a team sweeps another team in the playoffs ... they can be off as long as 9 days ...so perhaps they should take advantage of the bye and let the other 4 teams in the division beat each other up for the honor of playing a well rested top team.

It is very conceivable also that the 2nd place team is a 100 point team in the division with the divisions reduced from 6 to 4.

Julien said all of this is just back ground noise ... could be because of Philly's domination of the Habs ... and entrenched NHL / Habs related people wanting more Canadian teams able to qualify ... it just kills them when they get eliminated or beaten for the Cup against American clubs ... I told him ... most of the players are Canadian ... but he said .. the fans are Americans who in half the cities don't know how to celebrate or appreciate the cup ... I guess we don't vandalize enough of our downtown cities like they did in Montreal .... LOL!!!

Julien said having only 3 Canadian teams qualify for the playoffs is bad enough ... but then to have only one in the final 8 and none in the final four is just wrong. He's tuned into the World Championships now ... lol ... always something to root for I told him.

... whewwwwww ... I was due for a long post .... 505 ... insert the NHL network coach clip of your preference here......

Expansion are you kidding this league needs to eliminate teams. Why do you think TV ratings are up this year's playoff season because the hockey is better than last year's playoffs. Versus had the most people they ever had watch a NHL game the other night with game 4 of Rangers/Pens and that includes Stanley Cup Final games. Face it the small market teams have killed NHL TV ratings the last few playoff seasons. Please no more teams.

Wait till later Rags. Keep coming here posting your garbage. You reap what you sow. After you come out from hiding in Mommy's bedroom closet after she has tipped the pimple faced kid from Best Buy's Geek Squad after he fixed your computer so you can get out of mommy's hair and and post garbage on here the Rangers should be eliminated.

THERE IS NOTHING LIKE PLAYOFF HOCKEY!!!

Where are the loudmouthed rag fans???? lol

Well as promised here is my post as the series ended.

My prediction was wrong......here is why:

Jagr is the ONLY ranger that stepped up on offense.

Ruutu was the bigger pest than Avery (His career is done.)

Lundquist played well, but not well enough in games 1 and 3.

Drury is past his prime and lost his magic.

Roberts was the more cagey veteran than Shanny.

Sorry Mookie and MM....Nothing worse.....As for the trolls, well your season is over. Move along.

If the Rangers do not sign Jagr, they are morons. He is their offense. He makes everyone around him better. Without him their offense is the Devils at best. Their kids are no better than ours. Not even close.

Pitt is going to be a force for a long long time if they can keep their young guns together.

THE COMEDY AWARD: That goes to Dave Maloney who compared this Ranger team to the Isles cup teams. They do not sniff their jock! Simple Facts !!

Well as promised here is my post as the series ended.

My prediction was wrong......here is why:

Jagr is the ONLY ranger that stepped up on offense.

Ruutu was the bigger pest than Avery (His career is done.)

Lundquist played well, but not well enough in games 1 and 3.

Drury is past his prime and lost his magic.

Roberts was the more cagey veteran than Shanny.

Sorry Mookie and MM....Nothing worse.....As for the trolls, well your season is over. Move along.

If the Rangers do not sign Jagr, they are morons. He is their offense. He makes everyone around him better. Without him their offense is the Devils at best. Their kids are no better than ours. Not even close.

Pitt is going to be a force for a long long time if they can keep their young guns together.

THE COMEDY AWARD: That goes to Dave Maloney who compared this Ranger team to the Isles cup teams. They do not sniff their jock! Simple Facts !!

Boy do I feel stupid. The Rags stink and we have no future.

FOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Yeah Isles27.... my sentiments exactly. I think the league should of had no more than 24 teams ... 28 tops in order to keep the divisions even. Julien made some good arguements for expansion... but I said until ALL the teams in the league are on a solid footing any talk of expansion is foolish. We have enough thinned out rosters in the NHL .... makes drafting and building a team much more difficult in small markets .... and their concenrtation is the expand west ... but I think talk about it when it truely is needed .... not to change the playoff format.

BTW ... The Devils were on his list of franchises in trouble ... winning doesn't fill their building or their treasury.... new building .. and big bills.

He said the Isles fill the barn when they win. They have a continental following, and are in a promising position.

Regarding the Rags Demise!!!! That is exactly why I don't open my mouth and start spewing crap .... because it ends up being shoved right down your throat.... and it's 10x worse to be eliminated in OT and have nothing to show for .. because a few years from now ... nobody is going to even care that the Rags made the playoffs in the 80th game only to be eliminated in the 2nd round.... when their fans EXPECTED a Cup.....

Oh well.
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I have to say this much.... Jagr was the best player for the Rangers this playoffs ... I haven't seen that much fire from him the last several years.

Steady Said ... "THE COMEDY AWARD: That goes to Dave Maloney who compared this Ranger team to the Isles cup teams. They do not sniff their jock! Simple Facts !!"

Steady ... great call ... I'll expand on that by saying they wouldn't even be allowed in the laundry room to try to sniff their jocks.

STeady i agree with you 1000% on why the rangers lost..JAGR was the only ranger along with lunquist who showed up to this series...the rangers defense was below par, GOMEZ, SHANNY, DRURY, AVERY, ALL NON FACTORS in this series...am i missing anyone?? So i guess we can add this season to another UNDERACHIEVING season for the rangers? I dont want to hear oh at least we made it to the playoffs...they were the team picked to win the cup, and once again proved that you cant BUY LORD STANLEY!!...and Steady once again i agree that if the RAGS dont sign JAGR they are in deep doody next season...but then again, if they dont sign him, id see them signing HOSSA!! I also think the RAGS really need to tighten up on there DEFENSIVE CORP...they just dont have any, in my opinon a top 4 defenseman..STAAL should be one in the near future...well RAG FANS..i guess we'll see u on the 9 hole

When you guys win a PLAYOFF round......YOU HAVEN'T IN OVER 15 YEARS,then talk.I'll take our year over having the 5TH worse record in hockey.See you on the first tee!And have a great summer everyone......till next year...........I'll be back in August.

PLAYOFF HOCKEY IS GREAT!

THERE IS NOTHING LIKE PLAYOFF HOCKEY

Hats off to the Rangers for an exciting , well played series. Even though I rooted against the Rangers, they played playoff hockey and gave the better team all they could handle. Congratulations.

If this bothers you, that a lifelong Islanders fan can tip his hat to a hated rival on a job well done, then you are not a real hockey fan.
I hate to see the Rangers win, but I appreciate a team that left everything on the ice.......Sir William

Brendan Shanahan $2.5 million
Henrik Lundqvist $4.25 million
Sean Avery $1.9 million
Ryan Hollweg $1.25 million
Colton Orr $1.75
Scott Gomez 51.5 million (7 years)
Chris Drury 35.25 million (5 years)

Daily News calls The Rangers "Beasts of The East" 9/30/07

Ranger fans brag and boast to Islander fans that the cup is "already theirs"

Lose to the Pens in the second round (4 -1)

PRICELESS.

Lose to the Pens in the second round (4 -1)

PRICELESS.

When was the last year you made it to the second round?
PRICELESS eh?

Not that this means anything ... because Josef Vasicek probably will not be back with the Isles ... but there is a chance Jagr and Vasicek would be packaged together to a single team. Jagr would prefer a center that plays Vasicek's style and is a fellow countryman.

Who needs a Vasicek? We already know every team could use a Jagr.

Could both be headed to the West?

The Bridgeport Islanders are a sad bunch with zero chance of improving over next decade. Why? Management, payroll, reputation of team, core young players sub par, irrelevance in their own market and past experience.
Claim to fame in 21st century is losing a 1st round series. Guys, please. This team is sad.

Man, lots of Ranger talk on the Islander board.

Ranger fans should be thrilled with the future of this team. Its rare that you see an Elite 8 team with 6 rookies in the lineup. But you saw that with the Rangers. 10 players in their lineup today came through the organization. No bad. The Isles on the other hand had 13 UFA's in their opening night lineup. Look it up. Sad, just sad.

What is the Isles plan?

Last year they traded a chunk of their future for Smyth. Garth Snow declared them a cup contender. They were bounced in a round. This year they came into the season with 13 UFA's on their opening night roster. Now we are hearing that they are rebuilding. Yet, the coach doesn't want to play the young players. Why? Because he doesn't like them. And now there is bad karma between the coach and the GM. Man, talk about a team with a clue, LOL!

Oh wait, but we have Blake (I can score 15 goals in 92 career AHL games) Comeau and Kyle (I had 11 points in 18 college games this year) Okposo....... so hey, the future must be bright, LOL!!!

I tire of the snibbling Rags fans who come here with their same ole tiresome rhetoric. Take your Edmonton Rangers cup to your gave with you and enjoy 1994. If all you can do is come on here and whine about the Islanders youth, Isles GM and Coach, then I feel sorry for you.

We'll talk more after the draft. Save up some cash to buy yourself a clue.

Here's hoping Hossa haunts you in your dreams. Just think. He was available for the Rags to pick up for just a little bit of your alleged DEEP youth. If the Rags' youth is do deep and talented, you could of spared at least a little better than what the Pens gave up. Oh wait. you guys maxed out your cap space. Scratch that. POOR PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT.

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't these moron rag fans realize that if they didn't constantly talk $hi+ then everyone wouldn't be throwing it back in their faces now? The rags clearly have the worst, most annoying and moronic fans in the league. It's not a coincidence that every single other teams' fans think this.

I've never seen so many idiots mouth off and brag when they have absolutely nothing to brag about.

Well the rangers are eliminated. I picked them to go to the finals based on the fact that they had an excellent mix of veteran players, young players and a Vezina finalist and to get blown out by the pens in 5 games especially when you blew a 3-0 lead in game 1 is a gut wrenching loss and will probably cost Renney his job. BTW if that is true what Dave Maloney said that the rangers is comparable to the any of the 4 cup teams he should be fired immediatley and never be able to talk about hockey publicly again. That is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard and he for one should know better since those teams whipped up on him and the rags like rented mules on a nightly basis for about 15 years. I am glad the rags lost though any how I move on to the more important things and that is the new york islanders. I keep hearing that Islanders are going to build with youth. Well thats fine but I still think that Snow should be looking at all angles with regards to UFA, RFA and trades. There are some pretty interesting players that could be had. If I were the islanders I would look at the RFA market. this is the islanders best bet to get a solid possible all star player. I dont mind giving up draft picks if I am getting an all star player back. Here are some UFA and RFA the islanders could target:

UFA:

1. Mike Ryder. Replaces satan. Under 30 years old. Had a down year but has scored 99 goals in 4 years. One of the hardest shots in the league that would look nice on our PP. Big shot from the point or slot.

2. Mike Commodore. 6-5 230 lbs, +player for carreer. tough customer who can play and has won a cup. That is alot of muscle on the blue line Witt, Sutton, Commodre. Let me tell you rags, pens, devils and flyers forwards are not going to look forward to playing the islanders because that is a tough night of hockey.

RFA:

1. Ryan Suter. Nashville will not be able to resign him. This is a #1 overall pick a few years ago. Watched him this year play the wings and was outstanding on the pp. this is a pure #1 dman who is just hitting his prime. This is a guy who can log big minutes and play every situation. Put a bid in for him and give up the picks this is a cant miss.

2. Jeff Carter. Another player who can be had. he has had a breakout year. 23 years old and is playing real well in the playoffs. Defenitley a #1 centerman. I can see him between okposo and comuea as the isles number one line of the future.

Trade:

I dangle that number 5 pick out there and see who bites and what you can get. If the right deal comes around trade down, get a proven dman or centerman. Remember this draft is deep so you will still get a really good prospect in later picks and rounds. If we keep the number 5 pick I say it is this kid Filatov from Russia. Lets face it we need skill, skill and more skill and everyone says this kids got it. He is 6"0 170 lbs and will fill out. I would not like to see a dman picked we do not need dmen they take too damn long to develop.

Now I would nto go out and try to do all of this but I would look at these scenarios and put a plan in place. IMO, I would ponder the draft pick trade, then move on to the RFA market, and then the UFA. The UFA market is the least priority because it has been well documented that players have a hard time coming here willingly so there is no use to waste time and energy on UFAS. Just some things to think about.

lets go islanders

Anonymous you talk so much KaKa. Your Rags for years have been trading all their young player for older players and that got you no-where! For years D_i_k Head! Today your great Rangers got spanked and when you get to the golf course your going to get spanked. C-YA next year.

Ted Nolan quote:

"It's a tough situation," Nolan said Thursday, prior to serving as a guest speaker at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships awards banquet at Steelback Centre. "But I've faced a lot of tough situations before. I just want to go into next season, concentrate on fulfilling my contract, do a great job and make sure I get another contract somewhere."

Yeah, this sounds like a man that wants to remain an Islander, LOL. Maybe its the water, maybe its coaching before near a near empty arena night to night, maybe its the fact that he doesn'tt think the Isles young players are any good but is forced to play them nonetheless....... but it's clear that Teddy Nolan (who was blackballed and you would think would be trying hard to keep the one job he was able to get) is not very pleased with the Isles situation. And how can you blame him???

I can't blame you Teddy. You didn't know what it was like working for a team that hasn't won a playoff series in a decade and a half.

The Isles get a few extra wins every because opposing teams just do not feel like competing when entering the Mausoelum. The place is depressing. 70% of the seats are empty. The fans that do show up are fat, slimey, butt crack showing.... and those are the chicks. It's flat out sad. Human nature is to just want to get in and out of that place, so players just do not give their 100% they may give in your typical NHL arena. And the Isles benefit from this. Sad part is, they still stink. 15 years between playoff series wins. Is that a record?

Anonymous. You seem to know from first hand experience. You wouldn't be one of those chicks. Would You?

Get A Life and put down your Avon Avery makeup kit!!!

To whoever wrote "The Rangers left it all on the ice" Ummmm what series did you watch?

Jagr left it all on the ice. Their goalie Lundy left it all on the ice (although outplayed.)

Their youth took dumb penalty after dumb penalty. Drury might have been hurt, but he was a ghost. Gomez played well in a couple of games, and did nothing in others. Shanny was a ghost. Avery was out played by Rutuu.

Sorry, but the Rangers were picked to WIN the cup. Know matter how you slice it, that was a disappointing season to get embarassed in the second round.

As for their kids......Well imagine if our kids were not the focal point of the opposition every time we played. When you play the Isles you can focus on Kyle and Comeau and Bergy....When you play the Rags you must focus on their high priced stars, which leaves their kids room to shine.

Sorry, but our kids are better !!! Put Kyle with Jagr.....Put Comeau with Shanny and Gomez......Put Bergy with those guys.......Not even close !!!

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Now all focus should turn to the BOBBLEHEADS....They must keep Nolan happy. They must stick to one direction and make it happen. They must fill the gaps......It is their time now and we are ALL watching.....Get it done !!!

Feeble Rangers trolls :)

That loss sting? Is that why you need to come on here to vindicate yourself (as if trying to piss off a bunch of strangers somehow accomplishes that)? You undermine yourself further by trying to slam the Islanders with things that are so factually inaccurate it only causes the readers to ignore or laugh. For all the pomp and circumstance you place on your team each year, YOU STILL MEASURE YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS BASED ON YOUR "LITTLE BROTHER" OUT ON THE ISLAND. Time to get a new measuring stick.

Also...touting that first round win? Just want to know, how many rings do you get for that?

To the real Ranger fans who don't partake in the above nonsense, tough loss. Both New York teams need new powerplay coaches. Too much cutesy passing, no feet moving, no crashing the net. Is it something in the water?

Very True Healy....The water that makes our great Pizza and Bagels, ruins our PP :) :) :)

....For all those not living in NY, you get what I mean....NY makes the best bread by far and rumor has it, it is the water if you could believe it!!!!

Steady, Comeau was a below average point producer at the AHL level. Just a fact, look it up. The Rangers have mid level prospects like Dane Byers better than him. Okposo was average at the college level.

Dawes had, what, 29 points in about 59 games. Better than Bergenheim in 70 + games. And he's younger.

Nobody was focusing on the Isles youth. Just laughing at them, to tell you the truth. They are not impressive!

How in the world did the Isles select Okposo over Mueller?

Anon....You are wrong. aaaaaaaaagain !

Kyle has performed at EVERY LEVEL he has played. He averaged a point a game in college before his senior year when his coach changed his lines. HE avg a point a game at the World Juniors. HE avg a point a game at Bridgeport.

He played 4 leveles of hockey in ONE YEAR last year and played great at all levels.

Comeau was outstanding for the Isles last year once called up.

Sorry my scared friend. You are wrong.

Enjoy the playoffs...I mean Philly series....I mean Philly vs. Pitt series !!!

Nice cup run! Did Dawes really miss that open net? Did Rosenghost really take all those penalties? Did Staal even play ???

Ummm Steady, Okposo was a sophmore, he wasn't a senior. How can we take anything you say seriously. And he scored 11 points in 18 games. Not impressive.

LOL!!! Nigel Dawes scored more goals at the NHL level in 59 games than Blake Comeau did in 82 AHL & NHL game combined. Hysterical!

I mean, Comeau would be a third liner on the Wolf Pack, if he was lucky.

But I understand, the isles lack quality youth, so they need someone to speak of.

Steady........ Water??? How did we get to this? Is this all you got?

Anon you are nothing more than a chicken sh^t hiding by your anon tag. You are a frustrated Ranger fan that just got DESTROYED for all to see in the playoffs.

Dawes had who feeding him the puck????....Please elaborate on who was passing him the puck..... Who were his linemates??? Compare that to Comeaus....

As for Kyle...put your real tag name and I will bet you ANY AMOUNT OF $$$$$$ he has more goals than any of your kids next year! As for his year in college, it was a typo but I still would of been wrong I thought he was a junior.

Move along....Kind of funny how you know so much about the Isles...Either you have WAY TO MUCH time on your hands, or you are obsessed!

Get a life wee one !

BOTTOM LINE: Your team got smoked. You spewed your bs on this blog for months on the CUP RUN....What a joke. You are just as far away as we are!

You are strapped with Gomez and Drury's salary for YEARS !!!

Enjoy the Demise!

***************

Naples....It was a joke to Healy. Duhhhhhhhh

Above was me.......

Ok everyone...ISLANDERS AND RANGERS seasons are BOTH over...the islanders played well up until the allstar game and injury plague..the rangers played like doody the first half of the season, picked up their game to make the 5th seed...Props to them, but then once again got ousted in the 2nd round..the team CHOSEN to win the CUP!!! So, once again, the chosen last place ISLANDERS, OVERACHIEVED, and the chosen CUP winner, ONCE again UNDERACHIEVED......Whats gonna happen next season, when JAGR, STRAKA, and SHANNY dont come back....OH i know, they are gonna try to buy another CUP winner....In order for the RAGS to win the cup, the first thing they need to do is BUILD there defensive core...These GUYS are not TOP dmen in the league...Youll still have DRURY, GOMEZ, and some of your young players who should excel w/ the loss of JAGR, SHANNY AND STRAKA...(IF in case they dont return/retire). But you have one of the BEST goalies in the League..Build it from the Crease OUT!!!. With Drury and Gomez DEF coming back next season, you are ahead of the game, compared to the ISLANDERS...WE have a "ALLSTAR" GOALIE(whose injury prone) and a pretty solid defensive core...Our young guys have showed alot of potential, and should serve us well next season, But we need a TRUE FIRST LINE!!! I would love to see us draft FILATOV!! We need someone with skill, and after watching some videos of this kid on YOUTUBE...this kid has some crazy skills...

One last note......Though i have continually stated the RANGERS are an UNDERACHIEVING team, (which they are), they def gave us REAL hockey fans some good playoff hockey to watch, especially the PITTS series...After they came back in the 3rd, i was having bad visions of RANGERS in 7, which then i would of had to buy all rangers fans a beer wearing an AVERY jersey, w/ avery glasses, avery mohawk, and avery black nailpolish!!!! So thank god for HOSSA missing the shot, and it sliding through LUNQUISTS 5hole!!!

Predictions:
Pitts: in 6
Detroit in 7

Detroit wins the Cup...GAME 5!!!

I can show you "youtubes" of #3 aka Davison fighting also....Youtube means zippo !

As for the Rangers defense playing well...I disagree. Their forwards like Drury and Gomez back checking played well. Jagr was their whole team.

I am arguing with the rag$ fan now, but I love hockey more than as much as anyone in the world. It is the best sport ever created. I watched all the games, and the rangers were out matched, out played, out hit, and out hustled. They took horrendous penalties, their PP looked as bad as ours, and their coach is brain dead to even have Hollwig and Orr on the roster.

Pitt in 7
Detroit in 5

Pitt wins the cup and starts a Dynasty!

The Oracle has spoken .... and so it shall be ! :)

Give em' hell steady. good to have the real steady back. this bored was in disarray.

that's board, not bored. sorry.

f5

There will be no Dynasty in Pitt unless they sign their leading point getter in the playoffs in Malkin. Wang needs to make a play for him when he is a free agent.

Anyone notice that Malkin may be as good as Crosby? Malkin is insane and at some point will want to leave the shadow of the NHL promo machine that centers everything around Crosby.

When that day comes, Isles need to pounce!!!!!

Brian:

I thought especially in round 2 that it was Malkin carrying the Pens on his back. This guy can dangle, power through, hit and backcheck. The one weakness I've noticed is that he is prone to turning the puck over frequently. With that said Crosby still sneaks his way onto the scoresheet, even if he is less overt than Malkin.

Taking a shot at Malkin when available would be nice but this guy is going to get attention from every single team that can fit him. Isles have a bit more growing to do both in personnel and facilities before making a serious bid for such a player.

Right now I would be happy making a run at Malone when this season is done, but you know the Rangers will be heavily after him.

I'd rather not have malone. I feel he's a product of his line mates and I'd rather not have yet another guy like that on our team. Let the rangers overpay for him

I would go after Malone for the simple reason that he KILLS the Isles every time we play the Pens.

you dont win cups with dan girardi and fedor tyutin as your top pair....im sorry, you just dont....

say what you want about jagr, gomez, drury, even lundquist. they had enough firepower and poise to do it. the rangers D sucks. They need one guy on that team, Brendan Witt, and they win it all. Too bad.... they are one nasty, tough mofo that plays 25 minutes a night on the blue line from winning, but they just dont get it....well, now they can watch with the rest of us....

Redwings over Stars in 6

Pitt over Flyers in 6

Wings over Pitt in 5 ...

goaltending +defense + firepower + coaching = cup

Problem for the Pens against Wings isn't just the edge in talent the Wings have .... it's going to be adjusting to the solid talent and goaltending the Wings have .... vs. playing against lesser teams like Boston, Rangers and Flyers compared to the Wings ... they may go down 2 games to none before they get a win at home.

On the flip side ... playing a west conference style might liberate the Pens to attack more than the have thus far.

Just a hunch

Okay, now that "local" (well for you guys anyway, geographically speaking), teams are out of the way.....NOW I will start making predictions......

Pen's over the Flyer's in 7.....
Flyer's are playing their best hockey of the year and are not afraid of anyone.
I could just as easily be saying Flyer's in 7 here.
In fact, I think the Flyer's would present a more difficult opponent for the Wings.

Wings over Dallas in 4.
Time for Detroit to end the "post season bugaboo" nonsense.
Too many weapons on this team.
Never mind Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Homstrom etc....
Who the hell is Franzen?

Wings over the Pens in 4.
Crosby and Malkin and the rest of the kiddie corps fail miserably in their 1st trip to the really big spotlight ( by NHL standards, anyway).

Just my opinion.....from 2 time zones away

All the people I talk to that are close to people in the NHL at microicecenters say that Pitt will sign Malkin with ease....It has all already been planned out from within. Take it for what it is worth...Usually these guys are dead on with stuff they tell me.

Pitt will win the cup! They have it all and a hot goalie to boot.

Osgood will turn back into a pumpkin very soon!

It's been a while... just thought I'd add my $.02.

Rangers Out: Well, I have to admit it's better than not making the playoffs at all. As far as bragging to us about it, we still won the season series... injuries and all. In retrospect we both had disappointing seasons, but we got the higher draft pick out of it. In what has proven to be the toughest eastern division, the rangers finshed third (behind pitt and phil) and we finished last. You got to say you knocked the Devils out of the playoffs. Let's call it a wash.

Isles Future: I don't think there is anybody on the current roster that is going to turn into an NHL super stud. But they do have some very good young players in Bergenhiem, Comeau, Okposo, Campoli and let's not forget DP. they may still be three years away from being a cup contender, but there is no reason they can't compete for the division next year. They played very competetive hockey inside their division this year. They were very much in the race until the injuries started piling up. The kids will a little more experience moving forward and the vets should be supplemented by some FA moves over the summer.

Ted Nolan: Nolan's relationship with this organization worries me. I feel like he has been put in a terrible situation, and has added gas on the fire. Now that the rest of the owners have seen that he can win with limited talent, he could easily bail next year. It didn't take Laviollette very long to win a cup with better management to give him a solid mixture of players. Ted's three year plan could be to get hired by an organization who has a chance. Hopefully, he will stay, and see this thing through. But he is going to need more support than signing 6'4" 170lb centers from Ethiopia.

Wang: BAIL!!! PLEASE. I have said this many times... Islander fans owe Mr. Wang a great debt of gratitude for keeping this franchise on Long Island. But it really seems as he has put all of his eggs in the wrong basket. I don't really know what's wrong with the "lighthouse project" but I don't really see too much right with it either. Even Pittsburg, a town that has never recovered from the loss of the steel industry can find the civic cooperation to build new stadiums and arenas all over the place. That land has a destiny, and it is not with Charles Wang.
Sell the titanic, cut your losses and let somebody move the team to Queens or Brooklyn... and the Franchise will THRIVE!!!!
For all that have done a great deal of work to help the lighthouse project see daylight, your work is greatly appreciated, but is it really worth it... when everybody else is building urban, commuter efficient buildings in population centers, Wang wants to build Disneyland in what could best be described as a traffic nightmare.
The best use for all that land on Hempstead Turnpike is to sell it to the professional developers and let them do what they want with it. Let's face it, that's how it's going to end up anyway. They don't buy politicians for nothing.
Snow: This is it. I really think that this is the year where Snow's competence is measured. He has an above average coach. A better nucleus going into the draft and FA periods, and all the cap space in teh world to go out and get top notch talent. The team should be able to grow into cup contention by Oct 2010. That means that the tough decisions need to be made NOW. Sillinger... gone. Hilbert.... gone. Guerin... one more year. Witt... one more year. That means that the team needs another guy like Commodore. Maybe they can pencil in a Hillen for 2009, but why not try to get the best available PP QB out there. Making Sutton and campoli the third pairing should be the goal. THAT would be a very good defensive corps.
They are not goign to win anything this year with Okposo, Comeau, Comrie, Bergenhiem and Guerin as their leading scorers. They need two top notch forwards...If one is a center they could be very dangerous. There is plenty of cap space, but not enough roster space when you continue to drag guys like Hilbert and Sillinger around. They are both very good role players, For very different reasons, they are not necessary for this team to succeed. Definitely not BOTH of them.. and I could envision a much brighter future without either.
Hunter... is this the face of TOUGHNESS we want to present. I like trent, but he treats the crease like it was a snake pit. he needs to come back with a different attitude. Some stones would be nice.
Satan... please don't re-sign him either. I think Miro is a class act all the way... but I'd rather see Comeau get his second line time.
Berard, Meyer, Gervais, Fata, Spiller, #3... If any of these guys are on the opening night roster, Garth has failed to build a team that be taken seriously this year. The glut of them should be making up a fine AHL defense in Bridgeport... and a good source of injury fill ins.