LHinks: Hillen, Comeau don't sign contracts; NHL schedule fun
by Dominik on Jul 16, 2009 6:30 AM EDT
in Bits o' Islanders News
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PrintCheck back in a couple hours for a more thorough post on the Islanders schedule. Meantime, some morning links:
...Each year, when seeking to complain or compare other teams' schedules, there's really only one place to go: Dirk ("the Forechecker") and his NHL Super Schedule at his Predators blog, On the Forecheck. In total mileage, as always, the Islanders have an easy road. In back-to-backs, they're tied for the most, with 19.
With the Islanders tough early schedule, Greg Logan rightly points out that the Islanders "can't afford to trot out Rick DiPietro until he is completely ready." Last year: Mistakes were made. Hope Dwayne is ready to roll.
...From Logan's chat: Bailey looks stronger, no decision on captaincy yet, no news on Matt Martin, and look for Snow to keep hoarding cap space so that he can leverage it to take other teams' (cough CHI/PHI) cap problems next year.
...Alex Tanguay isn't coming here, but Mirtle has some possible destinations that make sense.
...But the big news: Chris Botta reports that both Jack Hillen and Blake Comeau let the deadline lapse for signing the Isles' qualifying offers. They're still controlled by the Islanders, but this shows they want something more, or different (sometimes players trade a lower NHL salary for the security of a one-way deal that guarantees that salary). Neither has leverage, neither has earned much yet as NHLers, but at the same time, they are pieces of Garth Snow's youth movement that probably shouldn't be jerked around over a few hundred thousand dollars.
...More schedule and Tavares contract reactions: Forever1940 compiles most of the preseason schedule (which hasn't been released by the club) | From yesterday, NY Post with Josh Bailey quotes about Tavares | Islesblogger and Islanders Outsider on Tavares | Dee has a brief interview with Garth Snow at her HB gig (auto-video assault warning), where Snow says Rechlicz isn't the only answer at enforcer.
Update: Ken of Okposo Net has a cool feature on camp invitee Shuhei Kuji. Who? Just read it.
...And just because he's HI-larious with a capital H-I: Down Goes Brown reviews the Leafs' schedule.
Finally, if you missed this on the Havlat/Dale Tallon/Chicago melodrama, it's worth a read: Puck Daddy had two great posts (the first is even better) that perfectly capture the machinations of NHL politics among player (Havlat), agent (Walsh), old guard (Bowmans), new marketers (McDonough) and the media who sympathize with an old guard feller like Tallon.
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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.
