Sign Kevin Bieksa

None of the Islanders draft picks this year should make the team. All of them need seasoning. That is a good thing that we do not have to rush them like we did Bailey.

If the Islanders sign Kevin Bieksa the team has it's 1st pair defenseman to with Mark Streit. Now look at the teams defensive depth

Streit/Bieska

AMac/Hamonic

Jurcina/Eaton

Wishart as the 1st call up

DeHaan spends the season in Bridgeport

I like the look of our defensive corps.

The offense has a lot of possible line combinations without having to have our 1st round pick play. He should stay in juniors like Nino did this year.

Moulson/Tavares/Nino or Okposo

Grabner/Bailey or Neilsen/Okposo or Nino

Comeau/Neilsen or Bailey/?????

Martin/Hailey/Joensuu

Hunter and Parenateau need to move on. Snow signing Parenteau was a bad move. He is not good enough for 1st line  duty and is not defensively responsible for 3rd line duty. Hunter is just not good anymore. He was never fast to begin with and now his legs are shot. I also think Snow was rediculous for not signing  Konopka. All it does was destroy the perfect 4th line.

What would be great if Kabanov made the team right out of camp. That could settle many of the Islanders defiencies on the offensive side. Also the team can keep an eye on him because him in Montreal can become a issue.

This is what our lines could be if Kabanov makes the team out of camp:

Moulson/Tavares/Nino

Grabner/Bailey/Kabanov

Comeau/Neilsen/Okposo (yes as a 3rd line player)

Let me explain my thinking. Originaly I thought that putting Nino on the 3rd line would be good for him, but as many people I respect pointed out that he would need to worry about defensive responsibilities being put up against most teams 1st line. Same goes for Kabanov. Putting Okposo with Neilsen and Comeau thay are all defensively responsible and all have skill. Also Neislen and Okposo worked well together.

Moving Bailey to the 2nd line puts him where he needs to be. He is a playmaker and this year he has to prove he is the player we drafted. Give him the 2nd line center duty out of camp. Give him time to be the player he was drafted to be. If he does not pan out and I do not mean only a month maybe till the holidays, he needs to be dealt at the trade deadline.

Goalies

Nobokov/Montoya

Yes Nobokov, there is no reason not to play him. DiPi is not going to play more than 10 games anyway. He is a #1 Goalie and under contract for $500K. This is a win win situation for the team. Poulin stays in Bridgeport and if he is tearing up the league at the trade deadline we can trade Nobokov. As I said a win win situation for the team.

By adding Bieska via FA, Nino and Kabanov, and retaining Kobonv we have a very good team. Not ready for the Stanley Cup but definately a playoff caliber team.