FanPost

Future Hope and Why Free Agents Really Don't Want to Sign Here

Anyone see the article just posted on hockeybuzz?  Here it is:

http://my.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=11450&user_id=12116

I think he and others who have been saying this are right.  Winning will change free agents' minds about wanting to come here.  You can say what you want about the building, GM, Owner, etc but the fact of the matter is most players want to go to a contender rather than help build one.  It's annoying but its true.  The building being settled will definitely be a factor but winning will be even bigger.

Other teams and fans know the Islanders will be good as evidenced by what teams say about playing them.  They certainly don't think they are laughing stock.  They are also a pretty fun to watch.  Let me give you an example, a couple of years ago I saw the Islanders play the Wings in Detroit.  At one point during the game the Islanders were playing such stingy defense the fans started to boo!  As I am looking around there was this look of disbelief and frustration.  Detroit fans knew their team was being outplayed.  The Islanders wound up shutting them out 2-0.  That's right the Wings.  The team who had won the Stanley Cup the previous year.  Now that was just one game, but it shows the team was willing to compete and can compete against the best teams in the league.  And the Isles from a couple of years back did not have the same young talent and prospects they do now.  

Sometimes you have to suck to get good (Pens, Hawks, Bruins, Lightning).  You know what those teams all have in common?  They all slowly got better and eventually won the Cup.  The Islanders are following the same trend as those other teams and will be a team to be reckon with in the near future.  People in NY act like 5 years is a long time, when it really is not that long, especially considering the situation Garth came into.  If 5 years is long, how do you think the Bruins fans felt waiting almost half a century?  Or all the fans of contenders who still have not won a cup......EVER?

Real Islanders fans have stuck with this team through thick and thin.  Remember when we the Coliseum was filled even less than it is now and we had the likes of Mike Watt, Sven Butchenson, and Niklas Andersson?  This team is filled with young talent and when our prospects from the past 2-3 years develop we will have a team filled with players mostly under 27 who are fast, gritty, dare I say big, filled with character who are willing to go to battle with one another.  For all these fans who complain now, you better not dare start singing praises once they turn this thing around for good.  Actually, I take that back, go ahead sing their praises.  But first be willing to hear a bunch of I told you so's from the fans who have stayed positive and apologize to the Islanders and the fans who never gave up hope in their future.

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