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head coach: Mike Milbury

roster: C - Robert Reichel, Trevor Linden, Bryan Smolinski, Claude Lapointe, Sergei Nemchinov. LW - Mike Hough, Ken Belanger, Tom Chorske, Gino Odjick. RW - Zigmund Palffy, Jason Dawe, Joe Sacco, Mariusz Czerkawski, Dan Plante, Steve Webb, Vladimir Orszagh. D - Scott Lachance, Bryan Berard, Richard Pilon, Kenny Jonsson, J.J. Daigneault, Zdeno Chara, Dennis Vaske. G - Tommy Salo, Wade Flaherty.

standings:

Eastern Conference - Atlantic Division   
Team           GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
z-New Jersey   82  48  23  11   107  225  166  
x-Philadelphia 82  42  29  11    95  242  193
x-Washington   82  40  30  12    92  219  202  
NY Islanders   82  30  41  11    71  212  225  
NY Rangers     82  25  39  18    68  197  231  
Florida        82  24  43  15    63  203  256 
Tampa Bay      82  17  55  10    44  151  269  

x - Clinched playoff spot
z - Clinched conference

team news:

by David Strauss, NY Islanders Correspondent

The Islanders' season started with promise, collapsed in disaster, and ended on a slightly positive note, but the 1997-98 Islanders campaign could be summed up in two words: wasted promise. Okay, it could have used a few choice adjectives and adverbs as well, but two is good enough.

In the season preview back in October (see, it pays to keep stuff), it was noted in this column that the Islanders' number one problem of the year would be to score enough goals. Bingo! So where'd this problem show up? Take your pick:

Bryan Berard by Meredith Martini

* Bryan Berard goes through a massive sophomore slump and finishes with less points than his rookie season, and a -30 plus/minus rating.

* Bryan Smolinksi, counted on to score 30 goals or more, is kidnapped by aliens and replaced with a malfunctioning third level maintenance drone, who scores just 13 times. (Well, of course that's true. He couldn't have slumped that bad by any other reason, could he?)

* Sergei Nemchinov, who had scored 30 goals or more several times in his career, finishes with 10 and is rumored after the season to have been involved in a KGB plot to kidnap the team's mascot.

* Mariusz Czerkawski spends more time on the bench than Judge Wapner, and scores about as often as (insert your own tasteless remark here) while Rick Bowness runs the bench. (Though Chow did rebound significantly after Milbury took over the bench.)

* Mike Hough, counted on for leadership, scores five times all season, and the only thing he leads the team in is "most times opening the bench door for other players."

* Dennis Vaske, coming off a series of concussions, is expected to regain his position at the blue line and provide steady play. Instead, he gets hurt again, only plays 19 games, and his career as an Isle is likely over.

* Todd Bertuzzi and Bryan McCabe, counted on to be the young studs to take the Isles back to the playoffs, play themselves into such favor with the team that they're traded in midseason.

* Rick Bowness is allowed to remain as coach far longer than he should have, due to the penny-pinching ways of former owner John Pickett. Bowness, the Worst Coach in NHL History (TM), installs his world-famous Young Player Development System, also known as "Play old veterans on the first line even if they only have 11 goals, and keep your young players on the bench if they breathe wrong."

* Thanks to this lack of scoring, the Isles went 1-33-2 when trailing after two periods.

The Islanders finished at 30-41-11 and missed the playoffs for the fourth straight season. Foremost in the reasons for the team missing the playoffs was a disastrous 10-game losing streak and a 1-13-2 run that ultimately led to the (long overdue) firing of Rick Bowness.

TEAM MVP: Among the players, it would be a toss-up between the exciting Ziggy Palffy (45-41-86, -1, in 82 games) and the unheralded but solid Kenny Jonsson (14-24-39, -2, in 81 games).

But the MVP for this team may again be coming from off the ice. New owners Steven Gluckstern and Howard Milstein have promised to infuse some cash into the team, build a new arena, and bring the Isles back to the top. Isles fans are skeptical, they've heard this before, so they'll be watching the negotiations with the team's own free agents very closely, as well as any signings or deals made by Mike Milbury.

SURPRISE: While Palffy had another solid season, and Reichel was among the league leaders in PP points, I gotta go with the unheralded Kenny Jonsson. Jonsson became a solid d-man this year, and was the team's most consistent player. When the Isles had a one-goal lead in the last minute, there was no d-man who Isles fans wanted to see on the ice more than Jonsson. When the Leafs traded him, he was heralded as the league's next great defenseman. Next year might see that happen.

As an event, the trade of Bertuzzi and McCabe for Trevor Linden was as surprising and shocking as any deal the Isles have made in a while, and signaled a change of direction for the team.

DISAPPOINTMENT: Bryan Smolinski. Bryan Smolinski. Bryan Smolinski. Smoke has got to pick it up and score from the second line, or the Isles become a one-line team that's easy to shut down. Milbury probably wouldn't get much for the enigmatic winger, so it's up to Smoke to pick it up and regain his form next season.

OFF-SEASON CHANGES:The big decision coming off the firing of Rick Bowness (or as Isles fans refer to him, affectionately, "the plank of wood") was the future of Mike Milbury.

In May, that future was made official. Milbury will return as GM and coach, along with a new five-year contract believed to be worth about $3.75 million. CEO David Seldin has restructured the Islanders organization and many of Milbury's GM duties - most notably negotiating player contracts - have been divided among several new hires. The Islanders will have a person for contracts, Mike Santos, and another to create programs to enhance player performance and set up training, Daren Anderson, formerly of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars. Milbury is adding two coaches to bring the number of assistants to four and will hire a goaltender coach as well as other specialists who will also work with the club's affiliate in Lowell, Mass.

As for who those assistants are...nobody knows as of yet. Ted Nolan has been heavily rumored in recent weeks to be the top choice for Milbury's right hand man, as has Butch Goring. Both Goring and Nolan have reps as coaches who work well with young players.

While the top core of the Isles may have greyed a bit this season, with the addition of such guys as Linden, Nemchinov, Hough, J.J. Daigneault, and others, the team's future is still bright. The Isles were rated as the team with the best prospects in a recent Hockey News poll, with three players -- D Eric Brewer, G Roberto Luongo, and the newly acquired C Dmitri Nabokov -- listed in the top 20 prospects in the entire league.

Expect Brewer and Nabakov to get a long look in training camp, although both will probably spend the season away from Uniondale polishing up their game. With the team having a full-time AHL affiliate for the first time in years, many of the club's best prospects will be playing together in Lowell. Sean Haggerty, Jeff Zehr, newly-acquired Mike Watt, and Warren Luhning are among the forward prospects who will be playing for coach Frank Anzalone.

Most importantly, for the team to have any chance at continuing their upward climb back to respectability, they must re-sign free agents Ziggy Palffy, Trevor Linden, and Kenny Jonsson. That, plus a continued push to develop the young talent they have, is the best route back for the Isles.

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