Islanders Bits: Kabanov Glows, NHL Power Rankings Don't

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1 – the coach was a freakin’ genius last season. He was doing great four games into this one. Now the team has three rough weeks and “he sucks”? It’s more likely that he’s fine. There isn’t a coach alive whose team hasn’t had bad stretches, even great teams can run cold. Bowman’s ‘79 Canadiens had separate 1-4-1 and 3-6-2 streaks, and they won the cup and the President’s Trophy. Bowman’s ‘92 Penguins went 1-5-2 early on, and went 5-15-4 from New Year’s Eve to February 27th. His powerhouse ‘95-’96 Red Wings, who set an NHL record with 62 wins, went 2-4-2 from Oct 15 – Nov 1. His ‘02 Wings, the runaway Presidents Trophy winners and Cup champions, had separate strings of 1-5-1 and 1-5-4…. and that last streak, which closed the regular season, doesn’t include opening the playoffs with two losses at home against Vancouver. Pat Burns’ ’03 Devils went 2-5 two separate times and 2-1-4 to close the year.

If I had picked their bad teams, you’d find far worse than what Cappy and the Isles are doing right now.

2 and 4 – really the same point, and certainly defensible… but there’s a reasonable counterpoint. People think Bailey was rushed, that there’s no need to do the same for Strome, Nino, etc. Why then would we do the opposite and rush de Haan and Donovan? I’ll give you Wishart over Mottau for sure, and I’m not enamored of Brian Rolston’s performance, but other than that? A lot of the prospects we’re really keen on simply aren’t ready yet (Cizikas) or aren’t available (Strome, Lee, Nelson, Pedan, Murphy, the Kirills).

3 – there’s no way to do this. If you buy out DiPietro, you A – don’t reach the cap floor; B – extend his cap hit to 2031; C – can’t trade Nabokov for something useful; D – risk paying the man millions each year while he plays for some other club. Now, D might make no never mind for you, especially if he’s a .905 goalie for the rest of his career, but it’s still a foolish waste of resources. Rick’s $4.5 million is a sunk cost at this point, and the Isles have to try to get something salvageable out of it.

Sticking with the plan is not “settling for mediocrity” on the Islanders’ part. It’s… sticking with the plan. It was always going to be a tough process. The team’s talent level was essentially expansion-level from 2007-2009, with few if any legit prospects on the way… this is basically Year Four of the Rebuild. Were you expecting them to win 55 games, or even 50? If the D is way too slow, how in Bossy’s name do you expect Mike Komisarek to help? Bails is 21, it’s not too late for him.