Archive for the '2008-09' Category
Three wins in a row and Kyle Okposo has goals in four straight games. Now that’s some good news on a Super Bowl Sunday morning.
The Isles downed the Panthers 3-1 last night. Comrie, Guerin and Okposo each tallied for the Isles. Yann Danis set the tone with 37 saves.
The Isles are playing well. Maybe well enough to lose out on Tavares. That said, it’s great to see Okposo progressing like this. He has 10 goals and 8 assists on the season, but half of those goals have come in the last four games. Eight have come in the last 15 games. It’s too short a sample to get crazy revved up about but Isles fans have to like what they see. Keep it up, Kyle.
The Wings signed Star forward Henrik Zetterberg to a 12-year, $73 million deal this week. Wow. That’s an average of more than $6 million a year. We like Zetterberg and think he’s a great player but 12 years for a 28-year-old is kind of risky, don’t you think? The Red WIngs were smart to frontload the contract, meaning Zetterberg will get more money in the first half of the deal than the latter half when he’s likely to be less productive. For example, he’s due to receive just a $1 million in each of the final two years of the pact.
Because we’re Islanders fans, long-term contracts always catch our eye. Rick DiPietro’s $67 million, 15-year-deal could lool like a bargain next to Zetterberg’s. DP is in the third year of his deal and is just 27-years-old. Plus, his deal averages to about $4.5 million a season. Some might call that a bargain.
We’re sort of just messing around with this post. At this point in their careers, you can’t compare the two players at all. Zetterberg is a multiple Stanley Cup champion and was the Conn Smythe winner last season when he set a franchise record with 27 postseason points. The guy has been to the mountaintop and played big.
You know we like DP enough but the jury is still out on him.
The Islanders announced that Mike Sillinger will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his hip for the second time in the last year. The veteran center and assistant captain played in just seven games this season after playing in just 52 last season.
I’m pretty sure this is the final year of Sillinger’s contract. If that’s the case, we’ve probably seen the last of the 37-year-old in an Islanders uniform. He’s been a nice player for the Isles since signing as a free agent before the 2006-07 season, scoring 42 goals and 87 points in 141 games.
Our suspicions became reality yesterday when the Islanders announced franchise goaltender Rick DiPietro will sit out the remainder of the season to take care of his twice surgically repaired bum left knee.
The news comes as the Islanders have a vice-like grip on the worst record in the league with just 29 points, 10 points worse than the nearest competition in Ottawa and Atlanta. Yann Danis and Peter Mannino will share the goalkeeping duties until Joey MacDonald comes back in about a month from his groin injury.
The season has been ugly by any measure for DiPietro and the team. The Islanders haven’t won a game in 2009 (0-7-1), have scored the fourth fewest goals (113) and allowed the third most (163). Do they play hard? Sure they do. Are they any good? Hell no.
But this is just one season and it can be forgiven if the team progresses the next few years and is actually building a winner, something GM Garth Snow seems convinced about. The major concern here shouldn’t be the 2008-09 season. In fact, a lousy record will give the Isles a better shot at bigtime prospects John Tavares and Victor Hedman in the draft.
No, the real concern is the fate of Ricky DiPietro, the face of the franchise and, more importantly, its largest investment.
DiPietro is just three years into a record-setting 15-year, $67 million contract. In the past two years, he’s had two surgeries on his left knee, and a procedure on his left hip that ended his 2007-08 season early. He has played in just five games this year.
The Islanders and their physicians say the knee should get better with rest and allow DP to make a healthy return in the 2009-10 season. They better be right. The Islanders have spent DP’s entire career trying to convince fans that DP is the building block to a championship club. He has been amazing in spurts, average in others, and now legitimately carries the label “oft-injured.”
Since joining the club in the 2000-01 season, DP has gone 117-112 with 8 ties and 21 overtime losses. He has posted a 2.79 GAA and a .905 save percentage. By comparison, Roberto Loungo, the keeper DP esssentially replaced, has a career GAA of 2.59 and a save percentage of .919. Surefire Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur has a career GAA of 2.20 and a .913 save percentage. Statistics can be tricky because so much of a keeper’s performance depends upon his teammates and the system in which he plays. Still, DP’s numbers seem like an accurate representation of his career – good but not great.
DP is 27. Are his best years ahead of him? They should be. Which means he has time to become the dominant keeper the Islanders envision. But these injuries are a major concern and are threatening to derail not just a promising career but the entire organization’s strategy.
The story of the 2008-09 Islanders’ goaltending woes just got a new chapter. Wade Dubielewicz, the spunky former backup keeper with the Isles, was supposed to make his triumphant return from Russia and take the keys to the Isles’ net until Rick DiPietro was healthy enough to return. Doesn’t look like that’s happening.
Several news agencies are reporting Dubie instead will be going to the Columbus Blue Jackets, who claimed his rights off of waivers earlier today. That leaves the Isles with Yann Danis, Peter Mannino and, don’t forget, Goalie Coach Mike Dunham (who made himself available in a pinch the other night) and about a million question marks.
To review, DP has played five games this season, Joey MacDonald stepped up and did a decent job for 37 games before getting hurt earlier this week, and now Dubie has slipped through the team’s hands. Don’t get us wrong. We love Dubie but we certainly didn’t expect him to turn this horrific season around. It just, you know, would have been nice to have something work out. Maybe the draft? Too soon to hope?
What new in Islanders Country? Plenty, but none of it good. First off DP’s getting ANOTHER doctor’s opinion on his knee. The $67 Million Dollar Man has started just 5 games for us this season.
Next, one of the few bright spots this season – the emergence of Joey MacDonald as a solid netminder, hit a snag as Joey Mac was hurt just 6 minutes into last night’s game with the Rangers. There are rumors of the Isles talking to Doobie (who’s playing in Russia) about bringing him back.
And finally, another loss. To the Rangers, no less. After leading 1-0 after one period, two quick Ranger goals in the second doomed the Isles. Officially the NHL’s worst team, the Isles have just two wins since November 29th. Tavares or bust.
Islander defenseman Mark Streit was named an All-Star yesterday. CONGRATS Mark! The 31-year-old from Switzerland leads the Isles with 33 points and is tied with Doug Weight for the team lead in assists with 25. It’s his first all-star appearance and it’s also the first time a Swiss player will participate in the game, according to NHL.com. Check out the entire roster here.
Streit has been one of the few bright spots for the Coliseum Heroes. The Isles signed away from Montreal as a free agent before the season. He’s been fantastic on the power play, notching 7 goals and 13 assists. The Isles have the 16th best power play in the league, compared with the 29th best last season. Streit should get a lot of credit for that.
All that said, I’m wondering how many people would have pegged Streit as the lone all-star on the Isles’ roster when the season began. I’m sure DiPietro would have been picked by many, and maybe Guerin and Comrie, too.
The Islanders lost their first contest of 2009 (really, how the hell is it 2009? We are living in the future, man) to the Coyotes 5-4 last night, giving them an 0-1 record for the calendar year. That got me to wondering what their record has been over the last few calendar years. I know it doesn’t mean much because it takes into consideration the performance of teams with different personnel and coaching (for example the guys who played and coached for the Isles in the Spring of 2008 are vastly different than the guys filling those positions in the Fall of 2008) but I still thought it was interesting.
The results:
2008 Islanders 27-44-11 65 points
2007 Islanders 41-31-11 93 points
2006 Islanders 38-37-7 83 points
The team’s best month over that span was February 2007 when the OrangeAndBlue went 9-2-2 (20 points). They were also strong in November of that year going 8-5-1 (17 points). In the 21 months we looked at over the years 2006-2008, the Isles had just 10 winning months.
Not surprisingly, the Islanders’ worst month was December of 2008. That one is fresh in all our minds. The Coliseum Heroes went an abyssmal 2-10-2 (6 points) in December. Other recent stinkers came in March 2008 when they went 3-10-1 (7 points) and October 2008 when the Isles posted a 2-6-1 record (5 points).
As you can see, 2008 kicked the Islanders in the teeth as much as it did the rest of the world. The year that gave us the full brunt of the subprime mortgage crisis, epic collapses on Wall Street and escalating unemployment also did in the OrangeAndBlue. Here’s hoping 2009 is a better year for the Islanders and everyone else, save for guys like Bernie Madoff. He deserves a lifetime of 2008s.
Happy New Year. Go Isles!
So much for getting the Rangers at the right place and the right time. The Blueshirts buzzed the Isles with four third period goals and skated away with a 5-4 victory. The Isles fought hard for a while but were on their heels the entire third period.
The $67 Million Dollar Man sat out yet another game. Coach Scott Gordon scratched DiPietro a few hours before the game to give his keeper more time to get over his groin injury. Gordon said he didn’t know when DP would be back in the line-up.
“With a strain, you’re pushing the envelope where you can get through a practice or get through a game, but then if you hurt it, you’re worse off than when you started,” Gordon told Newsday. “So it’s not like there’s a definite timetable.”
DiPietro has played 10 periods this season. The Islanders have one win in December. They’re dead last in the league in points. Is there a silver lining somewhere with this team? Anywhere? I don’t see it.
This might be just what the Isles need to take their recent feisty play to the next level – a road game against the Rangers. The Rangers sit atop the division and the Isles have the fewest points in all of hockey but, the Blueshirts have a way of bringing out the best in the Coliseum Heroes, especially when they play at the Garden.
The Islanders beat the Rangers 2-1 on Nov. 4, in their only meeting at MSG this season. They are 6-2-2 at the Garden in their last 10 contests. Everything I’ve read says Rick DiPietro will be back in net again tonight, and if he’s healthy enough to play that should aid the Isles’ cause. Add to the mix the Rangers’ three-game losing streak and you might want to find your local bookie and put some green down on the OrangeAndBlue.
I’m not saying it’s going to happen but this could be one of those right place at the right time games for the Islanders. And let’s face it, they need all the help they can get.
Oh – and the Jets just fired Eric Mangini. Good riddance. The guy had promise but he never made any progress. He was awful at in-game adjustments and constantly made poor decisions in the heat of battle. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, big guy. The 2008 Jets were a monumental waste of talent. Favre and Mangini killed that team. Now Woody needs to go get Bill Cowher. OK – enough of this Jet crap.
Let’s Go Islanders!
