Editor's Note: Front-paging a couple of FanPosts today that are good discussion-stirrers: This one from KC on your ideal all-decade lineup, and MTBVibe's post exploring how the next CBA might affect the way the Islanders approach locking up their young core and chasing other free agents. On that note, for previous all-decade scuttlebutt, see previous LHH posts (and polls!) on the decade's best goalies, the defensemen, and the enforcers.
I saw this somewhere else but thought it would be pretty cool to do over here now that hockey news isn't so alive:
Pick 12 forwards, 6 defensemen and 2 goalies to make the best Islanders team in your eyes. You can only use the roster from the 99/00 season to the 09/10 season. (For reference, check this sortable search at Hockey-Reference, which pulls all the skaters who played as Islanders between 1999-00 and 2009-10).
Here's my go at it:
1st line: MOULSON (L) TAVARES (C) CZERKAWSKI (R)
2nd line:BAILEY (L) PECA (C) PARRISH (R)
3rd line: BERGENHEIM (L) BATES (C) OKPOSO (R)
4th line: ASHAM (L) SCATCHARD (C) WEBB (R)
D1: CHARA JONSSON
D2: STREIT AUCOIN
D3: SUTTON HAMRLIK
Goalies: LUONGO, OSGOOD
This was so hard for me to think of, but I put together players I remembered along with a little help from the Islanders website. Although some of these players drew some criticism, I think you're looking at a cup potential team right there lol. That defense is stacked. Some of these players weren't to ogreat, but I liked them and they servced their purpose.