The Soviet Union didn't work like this.
Their five year plans, it seemed, actually went somewhere. But
after five straight seasons of missing the playoffs, the
Islanders are right back where they started. A questionable
ownership, a questionable arena, a new coach, and, oh yeah, a
team full of youngsters that has to develop and learn how to
win.
Is it any wonder that Islanders fans consider themselves the
most abused fans in sports?
After five years without the playoffs, and a 24-48-10 record
last season, there ain't a lot to be enthusiastic about.
General Recap: Team tried to move out of their arena, plays
preseason games in Timbuktu, threatens captain, season starts off
well, star player refuses to sign, season goes downhill, team
makes some dumb trades, star player signs, dumb owners say dumb
things, some more dumb trades, more bull, new coach, new coach
fired, another new coach, captain traded, star player traded.
Yup, that about sums it up. Any more detail than that, and I'd
have to down some serious drugs.
|
Kenny Jonsson
by Meredith Martini
|
MVP: One of the few bright spots for the Isles this
season was the play of Kenny Jonsson. Jonsson (8-18-26 in 63
games) developed into one hell of a defenseman this season, and
if he wasn't playing in the NHL Siberia (Uniondale), the rest of
the league would know it. Small wonder that as dumb as the
current owners have been, and how frugal they're demanding the
team budget be, they're not stupid enough to trade Jonsson. He
would likely be a Norris Trophy candidate on a better team, and
if injuries don't derail him, may anchor the Isles' blue line for
the next decade.
SURPRISE: Before this season, Mark Lawrence was a career
minor leaguer, a 27-year-old right wing with one final shot. But
after being called up early in the season, Lawrence shocked the
Isles by scoring 14 goals and 30 points in 60 games, and showing
solid, physical play, the kind the team was sorely lacking for
most of the season.
It was expected that as an unrestricted free agent, Lawrence
would probably leave the Isles, but a loophole in the NHLPA
collective bargaining agreement means that Lawrence is a RFA
and may re-sign with the Isles.
DISAPPOINTMENT: In case you were wondering, it's true
that Felix Potvin had the worst luck of any professional hockey
player with a feline nickname last season.
Potvin played horribly after being obtained for Bryan Berard in
January, going 1-6-1 with the Isles after losing his first five
starts. His season hit rock bottom on Jan. 30 when he allowed
seven goals in two periods in a 9-2 loss to Ottawa. After
suffering a groin injury Feb. 12 during a 3-2 loss to Nashville,
he took two weeks to rest, and then seriously reaggravated the
injury midway through his first practice back and missed another
month.
Though he returned to the lineup late in the season and played
better (including a stunning 55-save performance against the
Devils), he finished 5-9-1 with a 3.71 GAA. He'll have to have
a much better season next year for the Berard deal not to look
even worse than it does now.
OFF-SEASON CHANGES: The turnover is almost complete
already. Gone since the middle of last season, when it was
determined that the team wasn't going to compete, are the likes
of Zigmund Palffy, Bryan Smolinski, Marcel Cousineau, Trevor
Linden, Sergei Nemchinov, Robert Reichel, Ted Donato, Tommy Salo,
Scott Lachance, and Bryan Berard. Expect to see Mariusz
Czerkawski, Dmitri Nabokov, and Rich Pilon dealt soon as well to
save money. And it's a question whether the team will be willing
to pay Felix Potvin the $3 million or so a season that he'll
demand.
So, who's going to score goals for this team? Who knows.
If the team had ownership committed to winning, paying their
young players and picks NHL-level salaries, and the patience to
let those young players develop, Islander fans might actually
have some hope. But the last time the team had a group of
young players that were going to lead the team back to the
elite, they were all dealt within a couple season. Berard,
Todd Bertuzzi, Eric Fichaud, Bryan McCabe, and others weren't
allowed to grow on the Island. Will it be any different for
Olli Jokinen, Brad Isbister, Roberto Luongo, and Eric Brewer?
The Islanders appear to have solid goaltending in Felix Potvin
and 20-year-old Roberto Luongo, who is considered a premier
prospect, as well as a talented corps of young defensemen that
includes Kenny Jonsson (24), Zdeno Chara (22), Eric Brewer
(20), Vladimir Chebaturkin (24), Ray Giroux (22) and Biron
(20). Milbury suggested this group may actually be better than
the touted "Fab Four" of Jonsson, McCabe, Berard and Lachance.
Of course, some believe Milbury might also not know what
"Rosebud" means even *after* seeing Citizen Kane.
The forwards include Mats Lindgren, Isbister, Jokinen,
1998-99 Hobey Baker Award winner Jason Krog, Mariusz
Czerkawski, Claude Lapointe, Dmitri Nabokov, Mike Watt, Gino
Odjick and Josh Green.
The Islanders also may sign Jorgen Jonsson, a 26-year-old left
wing who is the older brother of Kenny Jonsson, as well as 30-
year-old Jiri Dopita, a 6-3, 230-pound center who is regarded
as a star in Europe.
"We have much more depth, much more future [potential] amongst
our forwards, much more talent than we've had," Milbury said.
"I'm hoping that once again we'll lean on what I think have
been the most loyal and abused fans, our Islander fans. It's
been tough for them to understand some of the things that have
gone on here. We freely admit to some mistakes. But if they can
step back and drop their emotion for a little bit and take a
look at what's on paper here and what the potential is, I think
they'll find there's something to come to these games for."
And what of new coach Butch Goring? The time to hire Goring
was probably two years ago, when the Islanders seemed almost
ready to make a breakthrough into the upper half of the league.
Will Goring be able to make sense of his young, inexperienced
roster?
The biggest question, of course, is ownership. Co-owner Howard
Milstein and his brother, Ed, will probably be encouraged to
sell by the NHL after the Redskins fiasco. How they can bid
$800 million on a football team and yet claim they can't afford
to have a payroll in the bottom third of the league is some
sort of wacky math.
Ex-MSG president Bob Gutkowski is purportedly interested in
buying the Islanders, but one wonders why he would bother.
Though Gutkowski was affiliated with the Rangers, he would be
accepted by Islander fans since he is not only a Long Islander,
but has shown the willingness to spend what it takes to be a
success, and has already said he would expect to have to
improve the team before the fans would come back.
The current owners, of course, have indicated they feel the
reverse is true: that the fans should come back or they won't
spend money. After 15 years of the worst ownership in sports,
Isles fans won't tolerate that kind of crap.
Stay tuned for the LCS 25th Anniversary Issue, when we'll detail
either the Isles' slow climb back up to the top, culminating
in the Stanley Cup 4-peat of 2005-2008, or their move to Walla
Walla, Washington in 2002.
