Tavares to make NHL debut at home against Crosby's Penguins?
by Dominik on Jul 14, 2009 6:54 PM EDT
in This, That & What-Not
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PrintIn the clearest sign yet that it really is mid-July in the NHL's news cycle, stories are flowing across the interwebs in anticipation of ... the NHL schedule being released.
Don't get me wrong: as a traveling fan, in a practical way the NHL schedule will affect my plans accordingly. But I can't say even the thought of the schedule itself consumes me a fraction as much as, say, the Bowman Coup in Chicago or the Heatley Whine-Out in Ottawa.
Because the cover on the NHL's Winter Classic at Fenway announcement was blown once, or twice, or three times in the last few months, the latest murmur is of a possible game at Montreal's Exhibition Stadium -- as well as (drumroll please...) ... JOHN TAVARES'S NHL DEBUT. Puck Daddy's Pens expert Sean Leahy already has a column, as does Chris Botta, about the significance of a home opening matchup between "Tavares's Islanders" and "Sidney Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins."
In other news, the Islanders will play 81 other regular season games next season. If we are lucky, few will be as hyped as that first one shall be, in accordance with the prophecies, as we will hear psalm of the torch being passed -- er, shared -- between Crosby and a prospect who is expected to be very good, yet nowhere in the ballpark of the youngest Cup champion captain in league history. Maybe, if we're so graced (we won't be at the opening faceoff, I hope), there will even be an overhead shot of #87 facing off against #91 at center ice.
So everyone's interpretation of Opening Night's significance, or silly scheduling, etc., may very well be right on the money. (In fact, watch me eat these words and hype it like a schoolboy come October.) But now, in mid-summer, all it tells me is that man, we fans sure reach for news to hem and haw about come mid-July. The next 30 days could be rough. [Yeah, soo says the blogger whose very role is to hem and haw about minutia.]
That said ... you got your tickets yet? My itinerary will depend on how I can cram a bunch of games together, like my concerts, within a few days.
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Way to suck the life out of Tavares debut.
More are ginna be focused on the defending champs than the first overall pick playing his first game. He has to share the stage with Crosby and Malkin.
That sucks.
I don’t know, I figure it’s going to be one giant hype machine, tailored to imply that the Islanders are where the Penguins were a few years ago, and lots of “Look out because {cough, Taylor Hall} here come the Islanders in a few years…”
You know, Bettman was allegedly an Islanders fan back in the day.
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1979-80
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May 24, 1980: Tonelli to Nystrom. At long last, the steady build of the New York Islanders from expansion doormat to surprise semifinalist to annual contender reaches the promised land: Buoyed by a late season trade for Butch Goring that gave the team the depth up the middle GM Bill Torrey had been seeking, the Islanders knock off the Philadelphia Flyers in six games.
The victory justified the faith in coach Al Arbour who guided them from their second season to their first Stanley Cup seven seasons later. The Islanders would not be the first expansion team to win the Stanley Cup, but they would be the only one capable of a dynasty.
1980-81
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May 21, 1981: This time it was much easier. After falling to "only" 91 points in the 1979-80 season, the Islanders returned to their division title tradition, piling up 110 points -- a whole 13 points over second-place Philadelphia.
Between the quarterfinals (where they beat the upstart Oilers in six games) and the finals, the Islanders reeled off eight consecutive wins -- with a four-game sweep of archrival Rangers in between. As they defeated the Minnesota North Stars in five games for their second Cup, their goal difference in the final was a combined +10.
1981-82
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May 16, 1982: Another year, another landslide title. The Islanders won the Patrick Division by a whopping 26 points over the second-place Rangers, and were seven points clear of their nearest competition for the President's Trophy, the still-not-quite-ripe Edmonton Oilers.
A first-round scare against the Pittsburgh Penguins turned in the Isles' favor thanks to John Tonelli's heroics, and a true dynasty was on its way: Past the Rangers in six games, then an eight-game sweep of the Quebec Nordiques and Vancouver Canucks to run away with the Stanley Cup.
1982-83
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May 17, 1983: Not so fast, whipper-snappers. The Edmonton Oilers' steadily rising challenge for league supremacy took them all the way to the finals for the first time, where the New York Islanders summarily dispatched them in a four-game sweep. For the Islanders, the Dynasty was secured. For the Oilers, it was a powerful lesson in where talent ends and the demands of playoff hockey begin.
Four years, four Cups, 16 consecutive playoff series wins (a record that would grow to 19 until the rematch with the Oilers the following year). Mike Bossy scored 60 goals yet again, and Wayne Gretzky became acquainted with Billy Smith's crease.
