The most annoying tactic of a local sports columnist is the contrarian rain-on-good-news schtick. Mark Herrmann in Newsday uses his space to lay such schtick out by reminding Isles fans that Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo are not Mike Bossy or Zigmund Palffy.

Thanks for the memo! Though to be honest, I hadn't realized there was confusion on the matter...

I'd excuse Herrmann for trying to find a new angle on what was a long-expected story: the retention of Bailey as an Islander this season past his nine-game trial. Except that he peppers his piece with the same old Isles-bashing lines irrelevant to the current rebuild. He brings up trading Todd Bertuzzi and passing on Zach Parise, then says, incredibly: "Maybe that's old news, maybe not."

Good grief.

He makes some attempt to discuss what Bailey brings to the club, but apparently Herrmann's underlying point is that Bailey is more of a passer, not a sniper -- which must come as a dramatic, overwhelming shock to, I suppose, any Islander fan who has been in a coma since Draft Day 2008. For those two fans, Herrmann has provided a great service, and they should commend him.

For the rest of us, we're celebrating the apparent emergence of a true puckhandling talent that the Islanders haven't had since ... well, since the eras where most of Herrmann's jabs reside.