Mike Comrie returning...to Edmonton

by Dominik on Sep 10, 2009 12:38 PM EDT

In what stands as a classic case of letting bygones be bygones, Comrie and the Oilers have settled their differences to the point where I believe the ink is a formality and the unlikeliest of do-overs will begin when Comrie reports for training camp physicals Saturday.

>>Robin Brownlee, Oilers Nation

Pretty interesting tale there, revisiting just how messy Mike Comrie's original divorce from the Oilers was.

Comrie never had any such public mess with the Islanders -- though falling under the veil of Scott Gordon's "bad apples" comment sure wasn't pretty. It's interesting that, despite his talent, so few tears were shed upon his departure at the trade deadline. It seems his name is rarely brought up since. Good riddance to him and his toe drag? Quite possibly. [Update: It's a done deal, the Oilers have announced.]

As Brownlee muses in the piece linked above, Comrie probably had some growing up to do away from the Edmonton spotlight. I guess now he's ready to return to his home. For what it's worth, he did take the high road after the trade to Ottawa. (What did it say that the Islanders preferred the expiring veteran contract of Dean McAmmond to the expiring not-so-veteran-influence of Comrie? A lot, I suspect.)

But for me, Comrie has always been a player who overvalued his talent and importance on a team. He signed with the Isles not to join an Islanders resurrecton but to try to prove once and for all he could be a 1A/2 center for surely the only team that offered him $4 million. Even disregarding the hip injury that affected his final year, that proof simply never emerged.

Frankly, my best memory of him as an Islander came in his first two games -- that home-and-home season opening set with the Sabres a couple of years ago under Ted Nolan, when the 2007-08 signings looked okay. After that, not much.

If he does sign in Edmonton, and if he does feel at peace with a less prominent role, maybe it will work out for him. But, I mean, you watched him for a couple of years ... do you think it will?

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he’s overated. They’d be better off signing Dominic Moore or Petr Sykora hell Robert Lang even,

Got some work to do before being a playoff team let alone a contender again!

by thenewhockeytown on Sep 10, 2009 12:47 PM EDT reply actions

Is he even overrated anymore? (By anyone but himself, maybe?)

I’m looking forward to Oilers fans’ reaction if it happens — and to the in-season Comrie Experience, in a gawking reality-show kind of way.

He actually wasn’t terribly offensive (“offensive” as in tastes) while he was here, just fairly ineffective. I would SO much rather watch Josh Bailey and John Tavares develop rather than watch Mike Comrie do his thing.

Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.

by Dominik on Sep 10, 2009 12:52 PM EDT up reply actions

I dont know, you have to give this to Comrie… the guy wants to play hockey not for the paycheck, but because he genuinely wants to play. He makes more money in interest off his bank accounts than I make from working.

Comrie is good to have on a team that already has some oomph. He just isnt the guy to bring all the oomph himself. Know what I mean?

Lets go Islanders...

by TheMetalChick on Sep 10, 2009 1:33 PM EDT reply actions

The lack of need for money certainly lets him choose his own path, at his own pace — I’ll give him that.

I know what you mean, though. He can provide something to a team that doesn’t need him to carry the load. It seems that first trip through Ottawa was ideal for him. (Like Chickendirt said below, maybe Ottawa got the best out of him.) I think it’s a matter of him accepting that secondary role and a team not expecting him to deliver what was projected when he was drafted.

Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.

by Dominik on Sep 10, 2009 2:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Comrie's career has been nothing but underwhelming

Has talent but just never really developed the consistency. I think Ottawa got the best out of him and that was the end of it. I swear, this guy hasn’t played on Long Island his whole career but given how much press he gets I feel like he’s always been here. I’m going back to the day this guy was drafted.

by Chickendirt on Sep 10, 2009 2:28 PM EDT reply actions

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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.

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Mike Comrie returning...to Edmonton

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