The Lost Milbury Files: J.P. Dumont
by Mark D on Jan 9, 2012 12:53 PM EST
in Islanders of Yesteryear
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PrintMike Milbury deserves to go down in the record books as one of the worst general managers of a sports team since Harry Frazee ran the Boston Red Sox. Milbury is one of the only GMs in NHL history whose name is next to two of the worst trades on many pundits' Top 10 lists: Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen for Mark Parish and Oleg Kvasha is right up there with Alexei Yashin for Zdeno Chara, Bill Muckalt and a first round pick (Jason Spezza, 2nd overall in 2001).
But beyond the LOL moves, there was so much more to Milbury's failings. Even teams that have made ridiculously bad trades were eventually able to make up for it. For all the flack that the Eric Lindros to Flyers trade gets in handing the future Colorado Avalanche several pieces of a Stanley Cup, at least the Flyers were a dominant team with Lindros and made the Stanley Cup finals. But it was a lot of the small trades and moves that sunk the Milbury Islanders. The franchise struggled not because of one huge deal, but because of a thousand small moves that nibbled the team to death. Today we look at the strange case of J.P. Dumont as an Islander.
1996 Entry Draft
The dawn of a new era for the Islanders, as Milbury was picking the first piece of the future. No more half hearted rebuilds, they were going to do things the Devils way. Although there were no franchise players, defenseman Chris Phillips was considered the best player in the draft followed by Andrei Zyuzin, Dumont and Alexandre Volchkov. In the midst of the '90s rush for quality D-men, Phillips and Zyuzin and were take at #1 and #2 by Ottawa and San Jose.
For the Islanders that left both Right Wingers Dumont and Volchkov on the board. Dumont was coming off a 105 point season in the infamously offensive oriented QMJHL. Volchkov was coming off a 63 point season for Barrie of the OHL. Volchkov was 17 and there were rumors of him having personality issues. In the end the Isles picked Dumont, who went back to the Q for 2 seasons. In his final season he broke Mario Lemieux's playoff scoring record with 31 goals in 19 games.
The Islanders were apparently unable to sign or unwilling to pay for Dumont's contract demands. On the eve of having to sign him or have him re-enter the draft, Milbury signed him to a 3-year $2.6 million dollar contract ... before shipping him off to Chicago for Dmitri Nabokov. Over two seasons Nabokov played mostly for the Isles IHL affiliate Lowell Lock Monsters. He did play 30 games on the Island and scored 13 points in those games before leaving for Russia.
At the time of the trade Milbury had this to say about Dumont (via the NY Daily News):
Obviously if I thought he had a great future I wouldn't have given him away.
We think Nabokov is ready to compete for a spot on our team right now, We don't think J.P. is ready to do that.
We scouted this player as much as any since I've been in the organization. Our staff feels we have a better prospect in Nabokov.
Now we all know how this turned out. Basically anytime Milbury gave a talent analysis to the press, you could expect the opposite to happen. While Dumont never became a franchise player, after he landed with the Buffalo Sabres he became a 20+ goal and 40+ point player. In his 10 seasons between the Preds and Sabres he had six 20-goal seasons, eight seasons of 40+ points and five seasons of 50+ points.
Meanwhile in the 98-99 season the Islanders went through 15 different wingers on either side. Between 99-00 and 08-09 the Islanders only had 7 wingers who managed over 20 goals in a season. In hindsight Dumont was easily one of the best players drafted in the '96 draft which is largely considered a weak draft today. It almost would have been better if the Islanders had allowed him to re-enter the draft and gotten a 3rd rounder, something they did later with Mike Rupp.
Now in fairness one could argue that the Islanders hand was forced in the situation and the owners were unwilling to pay for Dumont's contract. But when Dumont struggled at Islanders camp, rumors came out that the Isles were shopping him. At the time the rumors were that Eric Daze or Viktor Kozlov were possible players they could have gotten in return. While both players had ups and downs in their career, they were both preferable to Nabokov.
Urban Hockey Legend
Like most Milbury deals, there's an urban legend in this case that has to do with the decision between Volchkov and Dumont. Before the draft it looked as though the Islanders would be leaning towards Volchkov as they had interviewed him multiple times and were scouting him heavily. The legend goes that on the way to the draft, Milbury had a discussion with the taxi driver over whether he should take the safe guy (Dumont) or the guy with more upside but attitude problems (Volchkov). The driver said go with attitude problems, but fortunately Milbury went with Dumont. But that might explain some of his later trades and drafts.
Volchkov himself has a rather fun piece of history attached to him. The Capitals managed to dump Volchkov for a 4th rounder to Edmonton. In Edmonton he managed to make quite the impression on then GM Kevin Lowe's first training camp by insisting on being called Volch-inator. He was sent back to AHL Hamiliton for all of 25 games before the Oilers soured on him and let him return to Russia.
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There was also virtually no chance we were taking Philips or Zyuzin
Woohoo first comment!
I vaguely remember a “Behind the bench” pregame segment sometime in March 96 (?) where Milbury was asked by Howie about the draft. He mentioned (demonstrating seldom-seen prescience) that Philips was the consensus #1 overall pick and that if the Isles were to win the lottery they would trade the pick as they sorely needed forwards over D-men. Don’t know if that meant trade down or trade it altogether.
A less noticeable mistake was taking too many Europeans beyond the first round, mid and late
too many of whom, who were always longshots to make the nhl, never played in north america and stayed in europe…that meant a minor league system devoid of talent…for every prospect that pans-out, there are numerous that don’t, but were very much needed in the development of those that did…i.e., you need a decent farm team to best develop prospects there.
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 9, 2012 1:30 PM EST reply actions
David made a good point about this
The reason they drafted so many europeans is because at the time they didn’t have to sign them. Someone could stay over in Europe for a large period of time and you would still retain their rights, as compared to kids in Jrs and College who needed to be signed 2-4 years after being drafted.
"Line brawl på Long Island!? Matt Moulson i huvudrollen!!!?! Wot!?" SwedishIslander
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
Maybe...
I’m not a Milbury defender by any means but for every 4-5 Jiri Dopitas or Dusan Salfickys you had a Frans Nielsen or Zdeno Chara or even Radek Martinek. If 1 out of every 5 of those Euro longshots succeed, I’ll take that (CHL longshots don’t really succeed at better than that rate). The critical thing is opportunity cost. We got Dmitri Nabokov who did nothing for us at the cost of Dumont, who at least was a decent complementary piece. It hurt more considering we’ve always seemed to lack scoring and JP could have eased that.
The scouts wanted Chara picked in the second round
but MM told them if he was that good why didn’t you watch him play?
The problem isn’t that they drafted Europeans, in this day and age you’d be in rough shape if you didn’t, the problem was that they focused too much on European longshots, and not enough on N. American longshots, who would have at least played for the farm. Instead, the farm team suffered, which impacts development.
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 9, 2012 1:51 PM EST up reply actions
And the Defenseman the Islanders did draft in the 2nd
was a total bust anyway, he played 50ish games for the Expansion predators during their first two seasons, then disappeared.
"Line brawl på Long Island!? Matt Moulson i huvudrollen!!!?! Wot!?" SwedishIslander
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
It wasn't a d-man
It was a forward, Dan LaCouture….and he didn’t exactly disappear. In one of Milbury’s very few good trades, he was dealt for Czerkawski
by Nick (LetThereBeLighthouse) on Jan 9, 2012 2:28 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
my mistake
I thought it was Bubba Brezowski or whatever his name was
"Line brawl på Long Island!? Matt Moulson i huvudrollen!!!?! Wot!?" SwedishIslander
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
Berenzweig
Think he was in the 4th
by Nick (LetThereBeLighthouse) on Jan 9, 2012 8:33 PM EST up reply actions
ok, i remember him
i would say the wendel clark for the luongo pick, who was going to be picked 4th overall no matter who had that pick, plus kenny j, and a choice of one of the leaf’s 3 top prospects…sean hagarty who they took, freddie modin and another player they passed on, was MM best trade…the leaf’s were looking to sell shirts, and their gm was pissed management made them make the trade…MM recognized this and milked them for all it was worth
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 9, 2012 3:59 PM EST up reply actions
if it hurts your farm team that bad, can't say i would justify that
pro-sports is an expensive game, but you have to spend to get better, and the team ended up having to sign other’s cast-offs
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 9, 2012 1:49 PM EST up reply actions
At the time
The Islanders didn’t have a farm team of their own. They were partial affiliates with 2 different teams. There’s a New York Times article in which Milbury complains that Lowell was playing all the Kings prospects in favor of the Islanders prospects, so he ended up having the team switch affiliates.
"Line brawl på Long Island!? Matt Moulson i huvudrollen!!!?! Wot!?" SwedishIslander
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
How much does Ownership come into play....
….in regards to Mike?
Mark mentions that the Isles were unwilling to pay for Dumont demands, signed him then traded him. But is there some, crazy odd thing that ownership told Mike to move the rest (McCabe, Chara, et al.)? Did Ownership ever say, ’We’re losing money. We can’t pay these guys even when they do reach the caliber we’re hoping for so move them now and get the best you can, Mike.’ Did Mike basically have free reign to do whatever the hell he wanted?
I love/hate reading the Milbury Files. I laugh at how some of those trades were made, but cry when I remember what players were involved.
by barry_hal_oliver_24 on Jan 9, 2012 1:43 PM EST reply actions
Chara trade
Was while Wang was owner, so no. Some trades are definitely because the team was being cheap, and I always try to stay away from bashing Milbury for those deals.
But here you have Milbury screwing himself over by waiting until the very last moment to trade Dumont. If he was having this much trouble signing Dumont, he should have traded him earlier in the season. While Daze and Kozlov weren’t on the same level as Dumont, both had at least a few good seasons and more value then Nabokov ever did.
"Line brawl på Long Island!? Matt Moulson i huvudrollen!!!?! Wot!?" SwedishIslander
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
if you can't afford to pay the salaries of young players and kids
how can you pay prime and vet players?
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 9, 2012 1:53 PM EST up reply actions
in actuality, Chara, Spezza, McCabe, Bertuzzi, Brewer, Salo, Luongo, Jokenen among others were traded for vets
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 9, 2012 1:55 PM EST up reply actions
I think that was part of the long term Milbury problem, he always trusted Vets over Rookies. If he was going to spend the money, it was going to be on a vet player.
"Line brawl på Long Island!? Matt Moulson i huvudrollen!!!?! Wot!?" SwedishIslander
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
agreed, but the point is, these bad trades had nothing to do with management telling MM to cut payroll or save money
if it was a money issue, he would have stuck with the kids rather than acquiring more expensive vets
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 9, 2012 1:59 PM EST up reply actions
The worst part about the Islanders of those years was watching our young stars
Succeed elsewhere.
It was that way for a very long time, which is one thing I really like about Garth. He is not going to trade the young good players we do have. I don’t think any of the fans are worried about JT, Hammer and Martin being traded. If Milbury had those guys he would’ve traded JT year one talking about how he didn’t have time to wait for him to get stronger.
He probably would’ve traded him to the Leafs for Colton Orr and Gusstafon (sp). And would’ve gave them a pick too.
"We owe him a lot more than he owes us at this point. He's been stellar all year. He still gave us a chance to win this one, and we've got to find a way."
—C Josh Bailey, on G Al Montoya after a 5-3 loss Tuesday in Montreal.
by BobbyNystromOwnsYou on Jan 9, 2012 4:02 PM EST up reply actions 3 recs
Berard is the one that pisses me off most
we will never know how good he would have been, after that eye injury as a leaf…traded for friggin felix potvin who was washed up when the leafs dumped him…if i had a dollar everytime i had to listen to a leafs fan laugh about that one, thank god we screwed them on clark so i had something to through back
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 9, 2012 4:08 PM EST up reply actions
That's mine, too
I’ve mentioned it before here, too. Great rookie year, terrible sophomore year, traded for Felix Potvin’s corpse the next year.
“Berard and Chara playing together? No, thanks.” – Mike Milbury
"He's depriving some small village of a pretty good idiot" - Mike Milbury on Ziggy Palffy's agent. On Twitter: @Dan_of_Science
by PGI on Jan 9, 2012 4:11 PM EST up reply actions
you otta which handles on this site with MM
Berard and Chara could have been a first pairing for years
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 9, 2012 4:17 PM EST up reply actions
Not defending Milbury here…But he did redeem himself by bringing in Hammer to play with Jonnson. That was a great first d pair. And he also brought in Aucoin who is still around then later Ninnimaa so the d was never an issue.
Very pleased by the Aucoin move
Niinimaa, not a big fan.
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
Janne
He was Mike Mottau before being Mike Mottau was LHH fodder.
by Dorfer on Jan 9, 2012 11:26 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions 1 recs
With one important exception
Janne was actually good.
We may be in the box, but you get the penalty.
Lighthouse Hockey - a beacon of greatness on the rocky coast of sports blog mediocrity
Non-hockey scribblings at nightflyblog
He might have been good elsewhere, but he sucked balls as an Islander.
He is the anti-Mariusz.
Let Us Go, Islanders! (Ever notice how strange that sounds without the contraction?)
by TheMetalChick on Jan 14, 2012 11:21 AM EST up reply actions
Unbelievable lack of foresight w/ Berard:Luongo
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
Milbury had pretty much all the corner stones to win a few cups
just had to be patient and develop….Berard. Chara. Luongo and Heatley or Gaborik…spezza, Joker, haven’t even mention Kenny J and kids like torres would have been part of the team…crazy
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 9, 2012 5:40 PM EST up reply actions
I Hope Fans Remember This When Assessing the Current Rebuild
I know some of us (a lot of us?) are growing frustrated or impatient with the pace of the current rebuild.
But I hope folks give it the time it needs, which is longer than maybe it should be based on how Milbury left this team — absolutely barren.
Oh, and Milbury sucks.
by rmblifn on Jan 9, 2012 9:44 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
We resigned him a few years ago, lol
We like to give away our players in their primes and then take em back when their about to retire…
I'm sure ownership was always at least a background factor
Although with the draft … all him and his staff, I’d imagine.
It’s also probably how he made his case to keep his job when Wang/Kumar took over. (Finally, some cash: I’ll show you how to spend it!)
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
For ownership to do that stuff...
…they would have needed to give a shit first. Pickett couldn’t be bothered, Spano was Spano and the Milsteins’s first priority was to fleece Nassau County into buying them an arena.
The Palffy trade was definitely a salary-based move (and he was almost traded the Rangers). That’s the only one that comes to mind, although there were probably more.
I was a Milbury apologist for years based on a crappy owners he had during the first half of his tenure. But his mistakes with Wang’s early dough and the solid but budget-conscious performances by Nashville and Buffalo made me rethink my position.
"He's depriving some small village of a pretty good idiot" - Mike Milbury on Ziggy Palffy's agent. On Twitter: @Dan_of_Science
by PGI on Jan 9, 2012 2:50 PM EST up reply actions
The Palffy trade was definitely a salary-based move (and he was almost traded the Rangers)
OMG, I remember this! I probably would’ve ceased being an Islanders fan if that ever happened.
Official choice of Lighthouse Dog #1.
That's apparently the line where Bettman finally steps in.
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
by Dominik on Jan 9, 2012 5:24 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
When Ziggy got traded
That was the worst for me. That made me absolutely miserable. And that’s before I could watch every game.
"We owe him a lot more than he owes us at this point. He's been stellar all year. He still gave us a chance to win this one, and we've got to find a way."
—C Josh Bailey, on G Al Montoya after a 5-3 loss Tuesday in Montreal.
by BobbyNystromOwnsYou on Jan 9, 2012 4:04 PM EST up reply actions
When they took the Isles Crest and replaced it with the fisherman I stopped watching the Isles...
I went to a game and I didn’t feel like I was watching the Isles…So I left the Coliseum and didnt care for years…
At least they changed it back whens the fans complained.
How long you think Wang will makes us look at those black 3rd jerseys?
And they knew most of the fans didn’t want black. Yet we have black. The one thing we do have is cool uniforms. Especially the ones now.
"We owe him a lot more than he owes us at this point. He's been stellar all year. He still gave us a chance to win this one, and we've got to find a way."
—C Josh Bailey, on G Al Montoya after a 5-3 loss Tuesday in Montreal.
by BobbyNystromOwnsYou on Jan 9, 2012 4:53 PM EST up reply actions
The fact that they still put those jerseys out, even though the fans told them we hated it, speaks volumes.
They never communicate with the fans and they don’t even care about what we think…Which is counter productive when it comes to merchandise and tix sales…
Yep
And made more outsiders laugh. And didn’t even spring for black helmets, so the guys look clownish with blue helmets.
"We owe him a lot more than he owes us at this point. He's been stellar all year. He still gave us a chance to win this one, and we've got to find a way."
—C Josh Bailey, on G Al Montoya after a 5-3 loss Tuesday in Montreal.
by BobbyNystromOwnsYou on Jan 9, 2012 5:01 PM EST up reply actions
3rd Jerseys
are normally pushed more by the Jersey Companies then by the teams. Especially in this case when you have the Islanders reverting to an older design that nearly every fan already owns.
"Line brawl på Long Island!? Matt Moulson i huvudrollen!!!?! Wot!?" SwedishIslander
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
by Mark D on Jan 9, 2012 5:45 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
They still accepted it.
It’s their team, they can say no. The jersey company isn’t dressing them.
"We owe him a lot more than he owes us at this point. He's been stellar all year. He still gave us a chance to win this one, and we've got to find a way."
—C Josh Bailey, on G Al Montoya after a 5-3 loss Tuesday in Montreal.
by BobbyNystromOwnsYou on Jan 9, 2012 5:54 PM EST up reply actions
it's probably not that simple
especially when it comes to the cash incentive of a third jersey. The majority of the fans may not like them, but i’m sure it will turn up in some rap video or other such non-related nonsense, then sales will go up, which i’m sure the team gets a percentage of.
Exactly
But they still didn’t listen to their fans, in an area that many other teams do.
"We owe him a lot more than he owes us at this point. He's been stellar all year. He still gave us a chance to win this one, and we've got to find a way."
—C Josh Bailey, on G Al Montoya after a 5-3 loss Tuesday in Montreal.
by BobbyNystromOwnsYou on Jan 9, 2012 8:15 PM EST up reply actions
right
we’re like the “red headed step child” of sports fans…
You have to love how some people stick up for them no matter what
"We owe him a lot more than he owes us at this point. He's been stellar all year. He still gave us a chance to win this one, and we've got to find a way."
—C Josh Bailey, on G Al Montoya after a 5-3 loss Tuesday in Montreal.
by BobbyNystromOwnsYou on Jan 10, 2012 7:07 AM EST up reply actions
i just don’t think that “the fans don’t like them” is going to stop something from coming out. It may make something go away a lot quicker than expected, but when companies invest a lot of money into design, production, marketing, etc. it’s tough to say “hey, a bunch of people on a message board didn’t like them. scrap the whole line!”
I always thought the Bruins yellow bearhead jersey was god awful, and they wore that thing for years, so it’s tough to say “no one likes it”.
The Isles should demand their money back...
That is hardly a design that took any creativity..
"i just don’t think that "the fans don’t like them" is going to stop something from coming out"
Now I am under the impression they asked their fans in a poll or something what they wanted in a 3rd jersey. And the majority said no black.
No if I heard false information, my bad. But if that is true, and then they still did that, why did they ever ask?
And how many people do you know or read about that like that uniform?
"We owe him a lot more than he owes us at this point. He's been stellar all year. He still gave us a chance to win this one, and we've got to find a way."
—C Josh Bailey, on G Al Montoya after a 5-3 loss Tuesday in Montreal.
by BobbyNystromOwnsYou on Jan 10, 2012 8:45 AM EST up reply actions
But my patience has eroded…
Really? I didnt notice.
:)
Let Us Go, Islanders! (Ever notice how strange that sounds without the contraction?)
by TheMetalChick on Jan 14, 2012 11:25 AM EST up reply actions
Wasn't there a post a while back...
….going over step by step of the DiPietro draft?
I thought it was over here, or over on IPB. I remember reading a step by step account of how DP was going to get selected and the back and forth of it all and some guy screaming at the draft (Pierre McGuire?) at how dumb Milbury was once DP was selected. It’s just all so facinating in a weird/morbid kinda way.
by barry_hal_oliver_24 on Jan 9, 2012 1:54 PM EST reply actions
Not here
my guess is IPB
"Line brawl på Long Island!? Matt Moulson i huvudrollen!!!?! Wot!?" SwedishIslander
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
What I find particularly galling
is his trade of a young Luongo after only 24 (? or so) starts. Also, he clearly had a man-crush for Kvasha. That in itself is odd because Kvasha was the opposite of Milbury. Kvasha had talent and size and no drive. Milbury had limilted talent, decent size but fire in the belly.
Obviously there are many trades that we can all dislike in the Milbury resume
but I am going to go out on a limb, exposing myself to ridicule and derision, and say that three moves he made in the summer of 2001 that did NOT suck. By that, I do not mean to suggest that the results were 100% palatable on the long term, but that they accomplished what he set out to do in the short term.
Acquired: Mike Peca, Alexei Yashin and Chris Osgood. Remember an 11-1-1-1 start and a 44 point increase in points (franchise record) over the year previous? Remember the first playoff appearance in 8 seasons? Remember the Old Barn shaking when Bates scored on the penalty shot? That season is why we hate the Maple Leafs and why “Darcy Tucker” is a four letter word. That’s the last time we were really excited by success, rather than promise.
I will be one of the first to acknowledge that the Yashin deal did not turn out terribly well in the long run, but the team needed to make a splash under the new owners and generate a significant buzz with fans, with the media and in the League. Well, Mission Accomplished. Had he not chopped himself off at the knees by trading Luongo for Kvasha and Parrish and taken Heatley instead, … well, you just never know, do you?
STOP effin' messin' with my FnGO!!
by Nova Scotia Isles Fan on Jan 9, 2012 2:46 PM EST reply actions
I remember watching the draft the day Yashin was traded here
There was big hype over Spezza and everyone was head-shaking, but the announcers kept saying that part of the deal was the Islanders getting Ottawa’s pick (something like #28 but please don’t quote me on that). I wonder what happened there – did Ottawa pull it and Trader Mike (Roto hockey team: NY islanders) panic and have to make the deal anyway?
Milbury's greatest hits.
Peca was far and away his best move. Getting Kenny Jonsson, and the pick that turned into Luongo for a broken-down Wendel Clark was pretty sweet. I liked the Yashin move at the time, but his buyout and Chara’s dominance have rendered it a monumental loss. Osgood they lucked out on, picking him up on waivers after Hasek squeezed him out of Detroit.
Getting Peca, Yashin and Osgood gave them the first notable players they had had in forever. Finally, someone people had heard of played for the Islanders. And that first season, they were great. That season is a bright and shining beacon of what is possible for this franchise when it’s successful on the ice.
"He's depriving some small village of a pretty good idiot" - Mike Milbury on Ziggy Palffy's agent. On Twitter: @Dan_of_Science
by PGI on Jan 9, 2012 2:58 PM EST up reply actions
actually
his best move was getting Aucoin for almost nothing. He logged 30 minutes a night for several years. God i miss that defense of Aucoin, Hamrlik, Johnsson, etc.
Totally forgot about Aucoin
Love that guy. That was one of those, “who?” trades that turned out great. Blake, too, although I always thought he was a little turd even when he was scoring.
Sadly, these are the 5-6 good trades out of 1,000 made by Milbury.
"He's depriving some small village of a pretty good idiot" - Mike Milbury on Ziggy Palffy's agent. On Twitter: @Dan_of_Science
by PGI on Jan 9, 2012 8:55 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
he got Johsson and Luongo for almost nothing too
toronto management forced one of the best GMs ever (cliff fletcher) to reaquire clarke to sell shirts…fletcher was deadset against it, i remember milbury said right after that trade, toronto fans are soon going to realize wendal is no longer the player they remember.
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 10, 2012 1:37 PM EST up reply actions
This is why I still respect Wendel Clark and have no respect for Kirk Muller
Clark wanted out, but he was a professional about it and the Islanders managed to make a great trade. Muller was not at all professional about it and showed no character.
Clark was always a class act, through and through
even when Fletcher traded him to the Nords for Sundin, which Leafs fans wanted to burn the building down over, until Sundin proved Fletcher right yet again
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 10, 2012 2:07 PM EST up reply actions
osgoode was a waiver pickup
a reward for being deadlast and getting first shot
peca was ok, given connelly’s concussion history but who knows had he not been in nhl @ 18
but yashin - MM said it was either him or jason allison as no one else was available…what i remember is wang not wanting anyone on his team that didn’t honour a contract — a direct reference to yashin — and MM trading the stars and moon for a guy who came exactly as advertised…
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 9, 2012 4:04 PM EST up reply actions
Peca was more than OK for the Islanders
He was really good. You dont win the Selke for being OK.
Shame about that shoulder injury.
Let Us Go, Islanders! (Ever notice how strange that sounds without the contraction?)
by TheMetalChick on Jan 14, 2012 11:26 AM EST up reply actions
Parrish was similar to moulson now. He scored his goals. he played in a couple all star games. Batesy led the nhl in shorthanded goals. Yashin never had a great winger. Not by lack of trying. IE: Kvasha, Satan, etc.
Yashin had good mates in Ottawa, Alfredsson, Havlat among others
there wasn’t a single problem with Yashin game in NY that hadn’t already been complained about when he played in Ott.
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 9, 2012 5:43 PM EST up reply actions
I don't think you're out of bounds there
Or at least with the moves of summer 2001 (though Osgood fell into his lap), I at least understood where he was coming from and could conceive of pressure (and money!) to make a bigger jump under the new owner.
But the crap that preceded it, ugh. And of all the players to commit 10 years to…
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
Great stuff, Mark
As harsh as I am with Milbury, I find his tenure as Islanders GM fascinating. I don’t know if anyone will ever be allowed to be so bad for so long.
Humble request: please, please, please do a piece on the 1999 draft. Four picks in the first round – Connolly, Taylor Pyatt, Brandislav Mezei and Kristan Kudroc. Taken later were Juraj Kolnik, Justin Mapletoft and the immortal Mattias Weinhandl.
Draft hindsight is always 20/20 and I usually don’t pay more than trivial attention to it. But with four picks in the first round, you could rebuild an entire franchise. Unless you’re Mike Milbury.
"He's depriving some small village of a pretty good idiot" - Mike Milbury on Ziggy Palffy's agent. On Twitter: @Dan_of_Science
Yeah I just saw that!
I just went back to look over the 2000 draft on Wikipedia and checked out ‘99 for the heck of it. Man oh man. Granted it doesn’t look like a great draft now, so here’s to the GM’s who got the hell out of the 1st that year.
by barry_hal_oliver_24 on Jan 9, 2012 3:17 PM EST up reply actions
Not much in the '99 draft
once you get past the Sedins. There is that guy named Zetterberg. Seems I’ve seen that name somewhere.
STOP effin' messin' with my FnGO!!
by Nova Scotia Isles Fan on Jan 9, 2012 3:24 PM EST up reply actions
Also some goalie named Ryan Miller
what ever happened to him?
"He's depriving some small village of a pretty good idiot" - Mike Milbury on Ziggy Palffy's agent. On Twitter: @Dan_of_Science
by PGI on Jan 9, 2012 3:26 PM EST up reply actions
Better question is- WTH happened to him this season?
Let Us Go, Islanders! (Ever notice how strange that sounds without the contraction?)
by TheMetalChick on Jan 14, 2012 11:28 AM EST up reply actions
On the 99 Draft
I think everything I needed to say about it is here:
http://www.lighthousehockey.com/2011/5/22/2183926/islanders-hockey-what-if-sedin-island
"Line brawl på Long Island!? Matt Moulson i huvudrollen!!!?! Wot!?" SwedishIslander
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
by Mark D on Jan 9, 2012 3:24 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs
Too good
Thanks. Now I remember. I had no idea Burrows once belonged to the Islanders.
"He's depriving some small village of a pretty good idiot" - Mike Milbury on Ziggy Palffy's agent. On Twitter: @Dan_of_Science
by PGI on Jan 9, 2012 3:29 PM EST up reply actions
MM was the only GM in 99 who couldn't figure out why 1st rounders were so easy to acquire that year
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 9, 2012 4:05 PM EST up reply actions
thats what I was thinking
meanwhile he didn’t hold onto prospects long enough for them to develop so why would he trade for all those draft picks? Thats just backwards…I guess that’s why he earned the moniker “Mad Mike Milbury”…What I joke the Isles org had become and the joke is still running…
for me that was the most frustrating thing about MM
depending on which way the wind was blowing, it was either a rebuild or a now team…the guy was all over the place, you never knew what he was going to do, other than that no matter what, he would figure out a way to be centre of attention at the draft.
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 10, 2012 1:40 PM EST up reply actions
I Think part of that had to do with the crazy ownership changes.
Ownership philosophies changed many times, encouraging a guy who was already all over the place to be even more so.
Let Us Go, Islanders! (Ever notice how strange that sounds without the contraction?)
by TheMetalChick on Jan 14, 2012 11:29 AM EST up reply actions
Milbury's Legacy
Alexei Yashin… 2015
Rick Dipietro… 2021
The Islanders would be wise to take advantage of this. They should sell calendars that reach out as far as Rick Dipietro’s contract. Each date should have another picture of Mike Milbury… and it should come with a red sharpie to cross off each date as it passes.
At the end there should be a party at the arena in Quebec where they’ll be playing!
I've had enough! It's time to call out Garth Snow!
@JPinVA
I don't remember if it was when we drafted him
or during the contract dispute, but I do remember how his agent told the press that J.P. would be the next Bossy. I was a fledgling Isles fan back then and still knew how much B.S. that was.
Fred Bossy?
I love that guy!
We may be in the box, but you get the penalty.
Lighthouse Hockey - a beacon of greatness on the rocky coast of sports blog mediocrity
Non-hockey scribblings at nightflyblog
Ol' Fred Bossy
He'll never amount to much. He's not tough enough.
"We owe him a lot more than he owes us at this point. He's been stellar all year. He still gave us a chance to win this one, and we've got to find a way."
—C Josh Bailey, on G Al Montoya after a 5-3 loss Tuesday in Montreal.
by BobbyNystromOwnsYou on Jan 9, 2012 5:23 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Snow
We will have to wait another couple of years or so to see where Bailey, CDH,Nino and others end up to grade him. Certainly MM goes to the back of the class for all the mess he created here, but GS doesn’t look like he will get great marks either. Yes you can point to steals like Moulson, Grabner?, PAP, and some others, – but with all do respect picking JT was not a move that required forsight. His choice of puck moving light weight Ds is a more subtle failure than MM’ insanity, and we are paying for that now.
hmm, have to disagree
outside of Dehaan, those small puck movers were late picks…i am with you that it was/is a mistake, but no where near the level of Milbury damage…he traded a few cups away, at least….even though MM did have some good trades, he’d just turn around and fix the good with some nasty…like getting Kenny J and Luongo for washed up wendal clarke, and then trading Luongo with the Joker for Parrish and Kvasha
behind the blueline alone, Berard, Chara, Jonsson, Brewer, Adrain Accoun (good trade) McCabe, Lachance, etc. etc. Luongo and a number of other goalies as potential backup like Salo…Some may not like Snow for sticking with the rebuild plan and not making trades, but he never traded a team into the bottom of the league…I don’t know of a GM anywhere who was allowed to do that for so long…
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 9, 2012 5:48 PM EST up reply actions
His grades go down...
every year because of his lack of “production” from July 1- Oct 1.
It is great to rebuild through the draft, and make a committment to it… but if you don’t compliment that growth through free agency you had better do better than Calvin deHaan and Josh bailey with 2 of your first three first rounders.
If not for Travis Hamonic he would have nothing on the back line to show for 4 drafts. Which is understandable, but he has nothing to show for 4 UFA periods on the blue line either.
Eaton, Mottau, Staios and Jurcina. The best of the four is Jurcina, and he’s a health concern.
Now he has a basket full of assets because of their success drafting forwards. They are still at the “question mark” stage, but he needs to start trading some offensive question marks for defensive question marks. Asset Management!
I've had enough! It's time to call out Garth Snow!
@JPinVA
He got Streit, don't forget.
In the summer of 2008 after he drafted Bailey, no less.
Official choice of Lighthouse Dog #1.
Sorry.. miscounted
didn’t forget Streit, just thought this was his fourth year… but that only makes it three years of UFA ineptitude.
…and Streit was a bit of a gamble. Still is. If his current state is even remotely related to his usage under Capuano vs Gordon, then it wasn’t quite teh success it originally looked like.
I would still say it was a good signing because Streit is a class act that gave 100%… but he was basically a fourth line center/7th D for montreal. He has become the prototype for Snow though… and that could be too high a standard. I’d take a John Erskine type who will protect his goalie and get physical for his 14 minutes.
I've had enough! It's time to call out Garth Snow!
@JPinVA
Are you kidding? Streit had the numbers to be a Norris guy two years ago, on a horrible team. If it’s freak shoulder injury that’s killed his form, that’s nothing on Snow. If it’s misuse, that’s more at Cappy. Clearly Snow swiped a really good Dman that MTL was misusing. Anyone remember how loudly MTL touted Markov as the better Offensive Dman and how they wouldn’t miss Streit? And then their PP% sunk like the titanic the following season?
But be honest JP.. if he signed Erhoff to a larger contract than Buffalo, you’d be on him for that too.
by TA on Jan 9, 2012 7:02 PM EST up reply actions
with JPinVA
you never know if he’s kidding
Streit was much better two years ago, one of the best in the NHL
his demise has been very sad to see – he never should have been made Captain really
Not kidding
Streit was terrific for two years. He was in a very aggressive system. Do you not remember Bendan Witt being seen below the opponents goal line for the first time in his career. Streit thrived on that fourth defenseman role… but he was teh only guy who could play it to a plus.
Capuano lowered the goals against last year with a quicker defense. They activated, but played more responisbly in the nuetral zone and didn’t get caught deep nearly as much as Gordon’s did. They still don’t give up the amount of odd man rushes gordon did.
This may be hurting his offensive numbers… not his play. Streit is a very good defenseman, but he may be one of the players who was more productive under Gordon. Tha’s all I’m saying.
And NO, if they had signed erhoff, and had to overpay, I’d have at least had a sense that they were trying. It’s the not knowing that is killing most fans. If you catch a snipe you know that one exists, until then it’s just snipe hunting.
And I have been pretty supportive until this regression and the BS spin session. Most of all I have been pissed at how the Rolston deal has affected the team. A deal that could have gone undone when all they really needed to do was improve the D.
I've had enough! It's time to call out Garth Snow!
@JPinVA
Let me fix that... boy do I need to proofread.
Brendan Witt
FOURTH Forward role
supportive of Snow
I've had enough! It's time to call out Garth Snow!
@JPinVA
The real and possible tragedy.............
the loss of the franchise in the next couple of years may have started with Milbury, but Wang/Snow will not be among the heros banners hanging from the rafters. – in an arena in another city not on LI or Bklyn or Queens.
It will be interesting to see...
where Charles finally fits into the history of this franchise. He would deserve a HUGE banner if he keeps the franchise in NY… but it’s seeming less likely every year.
Snow is locked in untl 2015, but after that all bets are off. If they haven’t won a playoff series by then he’s gone with the new ownership. If they win, or Wang keeps the team, who knows. Wang is loyal to losers!
I've had enough! It's time to call out Garth Snow!
@JPinVA
I can't see them ever walking away from that TV contract,
leaving nasseau, yes i can see that, the NY area, not unless you like to throw away good money, and history
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 10, 2012 1:43 PM EST up reply actions
LOL
Snow
We will have to wait another couple of years or so to see where Bailey, CDH,Nino and others end up to grade him.
Interesting how your random examples of the players to base his “grade” on are Bailey, CDH, Nino, and not, say, Tavares, Hamonic, Moulson, etc?
Let Us Go, Islanders! (Ever notice how strange that sounds without the contraction?)
by TheMetalChick on Jan 14, 2012 11:31 AM EST up reply actions
Mad Mike's HIstory
http://www.islesinfo.com/Milbury-Deals.html
I’d love to see a similar history of Garth’s trades
aside from UFA signings like Staios, Eaton, Mottau & Waiver pickups like Montoya, Grabs, Moulson, how many actual trades has Garth made and what’s the W/L of those?
how innocent some of these Mad Mike deals seemed at the time, including Chara for Yashin
Garth just doesn't make many trades
some draft day mainpulations, the Ryan Smyth gamble, some small deals that have worked a bit
what’s the last really good trade this organization has made? Harris for Goring?
Hunter for a 3rd or 4th rounder?
"Line brawl på Long Island!? Matt Moulson i huvudrollen!!!?! Wot!?" SwedishIslander
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
Montoya for a sixth
We may be in the box, but you get the penalty.
Lighthouse Hockey - a beacon of greatness on the rocky coast of sports blog mediocrity
Non-hockey scribblings at nightflyblog
for all intents & purposes
Montoya was a UFA
Snow probably had it on his radar to invite him to camp this year, and merely expedited the process when we needed a body
the problem is your comparing two different teams
you simply don’t make rental trades for guys like Smyth when your rebuilding, you dump them for prospects and picks…if the Isles were a playoff team, Snow would be in the buyers market,
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 10, 2012 1:46 PM EST up reply actions
I love your work Mark D...
But reminding us of the foibles of “he whose name rhymes with dingleberry” at a time like this, when it looks as though the season is lost again, and one of our top prospects is hurt again, just seems like piling on.
Can we get a feel good story to help us all along? Like what’s going on with Spano these days. I’m sure there is a good laugh to be had with that maroon.
I know this post wasn't regarding this particular trade
But as far as the Luongo trade goes: my dad and I have season tickets in 313, we’ve had them for ten seasons now. A couple seasons ago we moved back a row and saved $1000 (oh the Coli) and we started sitting next to a guy named Mark, his wife, and his 20-something son Chris. Chris is an amateur goalie trying to work his way into the league and is currently playing on some minor team in Rhode Island or the Boston area or something, but he’s trained and gone to events with some of the NHLers we know, like DP and I think he said he met Montoya, too.
Anyway, through these events, he said (if I’m quoting correctly) he learned that Luongo was coming up on a contract year within the next year and that they were headed for arbitration. Because of how well he was playing, they were looking at a really expensive, potentially long-term deal from the arbitrator that they could never possibly afford. Milbury was forced to deal him away for anything he could and then found it necessary to use the number one pick on DP. I don’t know if there’s any truth to this statement, and even if it is what was dealt didn’t nearly equal what we received in return, but it might explain the reasoning behind dealing Luongo.
Doesn't make sense
Wang and Kumar showed very quickly that they were willing to pay, so it wouldn’t be coming down from the Owners to dump this kid before we have to pay him.
"Line brawl på Long Island!? Matt Moulson i huvudrollen!!!?! Wot!?" SwedishIslander
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
Also
Luongo had only played 24 games for us. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have been arbitration eligible at that point, or even if he was, able to make much of a case for a big payday.
Yeah I didn't know if it was true or not
Just wanted to hear what people heard about as well.
by sayvillelax94 on Jan 10, 2012 5:20 PM EST up reply actions
What I'd like to know is why did Wang buy out Yashin?
WTF was that all about? I’d rather have him than Rolston or Reasoner or, etc…I thought it was actually the right thing to do at the time…But when I think back about it, what was Garth thinking…
Probably
because having Yahin on the roster would’ve guaranteed at least 3 or 4 more years of mediocrity and middling (8th-20th overall) draft picks…and there would be no real effective rebuild.
NY Islanders, just one irrational free agent signing away from contention!
Website:Lighthouse HockeyTwitter: @KeithLHHockey
That doesnt make sense to me...
You always need some veterans, even on a rebuilding team…We have a bunch of them now…Yashin would be allot better than Reasoner or Pandolpho…
Exactly
and therefore, your draft picks would be shittier…without Yashin, the picks were top 5 (and in ’08, that was parlayed into a top 10 and multiple extra second and third rounders. With Yash, those picks may have all been in the 10-20 range…worse players years away from development and less of a “sure thing”.
NY Islanders, just one irrational free agent signing away from contention!
Website:Lighthouse HockeyTwitter: @KeithLHHockey
Are you saying that the team needed to get rid of Yash in order to lose more often?
in order to get higher draft picks?
Yes
and probably partially a favor to Yash. If that was the direction they were going, they were certainly not going to surround him with talent either…and there was nobody in the system that provided any hope for a quick turnaround…and nobody to trade.
NY Islanders, just one irrational free agent signing away from contention!
Website:Lighthouse HockeyTwitter: @KeithLHHockey
I thought they bought him out before Ryan Smyth walked..
I got the feeling that the Isles were buying out Yash to show Smyth that this is his team, sort of thing….But it didn’t work and Smyth walked…That’s when Garth decided to go with a rebuild through the draft…So, I dont think that they let Yash walk in order to rebuild…That was after the fact…Thats what I remembered…
by KO21 on Jan 10, 2012 4:09 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Ha, yep
I remembered that completely wrong! http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2894894
I hate it when that happens.
NY Islanders, just one irrational free agent signing away from contention!
Website:Lighthouse HockeyTwitter: @KeithLHHockey
Islanders buy out Yashin, hope to keep Blake, Smyth
Yup. Nope. And Nope.
"He's depriving some small village of a pretty good idiot" - Mike Milbury on Ziggy Palffy's agent. On Twitter: @Dan_of_Science
We were all so down on Yashin, but the injuries didn't help him.
The league drastically changed style after the lockout and Yashin had a pre-lockout skill set. I still like Yashin, he wasn’t what I had hoped he would be, but I never judge a player for who he was traded for, I judge management for that.
At the time the Islanders acquired Yashin. I was more concerned with giving up the pick for Spezza then I was with giving up Chara. I don’t recall many people thinking that the very raw Chara would ever become the Norris winner he is today. It wasn’t like the Islanders were Ottawa and chose Redden over Chara.
The buyout had to happen
At the time, Yashin was carrying more baggage than DiPietro, which seems crazy at this point. He had to go for the team to move on.
"He's depriving some small village of a pretty good idiot" - Mike Milbury on Ziggy Palffy's agent. On Twitter: @Dan_of_Science
Thats fucked up when you think about it...
What a stupid move..That really was bad…They bought out Yash to cater to Smyth’s vanity and then he walks…Even if they did sign him it was stupid move…Now hes a salary cap hit with no player to show for it…Thats a horrible move by garth
Yashin was disappointed when he found out hes being bought out...
can ya blame him?
i wonder if snow could have traded Yashin if he agreed to pay part/most of the salary?
all i know is, MM should never have made that trade, his rationale that it was either Yashin or Jason Allison as no other top centre was available doesn’t wash. Yashin did not have a single problem or issue with the Isles that he didn’t when he was with Ott. He came as advertised.
The way I remember it, MM at first refused to include Chara, but later caved when Ott insisted on it. Spezza on the other hand, was left in minors longer than the norm (it became a conflict for a while), much longer than your typical 2nd overall pick. Spezza took much longer than normal to learn to play D. At one point, Alfredsson had publicly said he didn’t want to be on the same line anymore b/c he was sick of having to pick up Spezza’s check.
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 10, 2012 8:17 PM EST up reply actions
In this CBA
you can’t agree to pay part of a salary. So there really were no trade options…although, maybe he didn’t try Montreal.
And in the end of it, again, if Yashin kept us from getting Tavares somehow, I’d probably not be a hockey fan right now.
NY Islanders, just one irrational free agent signing away from contention!
Website:Lighthouse HockeyTwitter: @KeithLHHockey
by Keith Quinn on Jan 10, 2012 10:52 PM EST up reply actions
cant agree more that he made bad moves but
big butt
he was working off of deteriorating, constantly rotating and even illegal ownership… where the hell is john spano? still in jail?
if he had kept luongo we still would have sucked and he would be long long long gone at this point…
anyway… it was insane…
if we had stable normal owners then some of the bad trades would not have happened… IMO
by Khan Noonien Singh on Jan 9, 2012 10:24 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
See, the one hole in that defense (if you had gone through the comments) is that Milbury kept trading a lot of the youngsters for older guys who were just as expensive or moreso. And the DP/Luongo thing happened after Wang had bought the team, so the money was there.
I think most of us agree that the only time he was forced to trade a player due to salary was Palffy.
"Line brawl på Long Island!? Matt Moulson i huvudrollen!!!?! Wot!?" SwedishIslander
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
not defending him... lol
just remembering what that time was like
i think you have to take that into account though… a gm working for how many sets of owners was it? and they all had different agendas…
you can’t look at it in a vacuum
but whatever… all i care about it destroying my old friend kiiiiirrrkkk!…. now he’s the real idiot in this equation.
by Khan Noonien Singh on Jan 10, 2012 5:31 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
MM's trade history...most frustrating is if not for 5 or 6 extreme headscratching trades, he had a future cup team already in his hands
Mike Milbury’s Transactions
07/05/95: Mike Milbury named sixth head coach in team history.
12/13/95: Mike Milbury named the third General Manager in team history.
01/23/96: G Damian Rhodes and D Wade Redden traded from NYI to OTT for G Don Beaupre, RW Martin Straka & D Bryan Berard.
01/23/96: G Don Beaupre and C Kirk Muller traded from NYI to TOR for future considerations(W Ken Belanger).
02/02/96: D Bob Halkidis traded from CHI to NYI for C/RW Danton Cole.
03/13/96: C Darby Hendrickson, D Kenny Jonsson, C Sean Haggerty and TOR 1st round choice in 1997 Entry Draft(4th overall: G Roberto Luongo) from TOR to NYI for LW Wendel Clark, D Mathieu Schneider and D D.J. Smith.
03/20/96: LW Pat Conacher and CGY’s 6th round choice in 1997 Entry Draft(LW Bobby Leavins) traded from CGY to NYI for C Bob Sweeney.
06/01/96: D Brad Lukowich traded from NYI to DAL for DALs’ 3rd round choice in 1997 Entry Draft(D Robert Schnabel).
09/04/96: D Brent Severyn traded from NYI to COL for COL’s third round pick in the 1997 Entry Draft (Later traded to CGY and then traded again to CAR. CAR selected Francis Lessard).
09/30/96: VAN claims C Alexander Semak from NYI in NHL Waiver Draft.
09/30/96: NYI claim D Corey Foster from PIT in NHL Waiver Draft.
10/10/96: C Darby Hendrickson traded from NYI to TOR for a conditional fifth or sixth pick in the 1998 Entry Draft.
11/17/96: Islanders trade Darius Kasparaitis and Andreas Johansson to the Penguins for Bryan Smolinksi.
11/19/96: C Nick Vachon traded from LA to NYI for C Chris Marinucci.
11/27/96: LW Paul Kruse traded from CGY to NYI for COL’s third round pick in the 1997 Entry Draft. (Previously acquired and later traded to CAR. CAR selected Francis Lessard).
12/07/96: C Craig Fisher traded from NYI to FLA for cash.
03/18/97: The Islanders acquire Robert Reichel from the Flames for Marty McInnis, Tyrone Garner & CGY’s 6th round pick in the 1997 Entry Draft(previously acquired by NYI – Ilja Demidov). They trade Derek King to the Whalers for a 5th round draft pick in 1997(C Adam Edinger).
06/19/97: Bryan Berard wins the Calder Trophy.
06/21/97: Islanders select Roberto Luongo and Eric Brewer with the fourth and fifth overall picks in the entry draft.
09/08/97: Islanders name Bryan McCabe team captain.
09/28/97: Islanders select LW Tom Chorske from OTT with second pick in NHL Waiver Draft.
09/28/97: TB claims RW Mick Vukota from NYI in NHL Waiver Draft.
02/06/98: Islanders trade D Bryan McCabe, C Todd Bertuzzi and a third-round draft pick(LW Jarkko Ruutu) to Vancouver for Trevor Linden. They also deal C Travis Green, D Doug Houda and RW Tony Tuzzolino to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks for RW Joe Sacco, C Mark Janssens and D J.J. Daigneault.
03/11/98: Rick Bowness is fired as coach. GM Mike Milbury takes over as coach.
03/23/98: LW Gino Odjick traded to NYI by VAN for D Jason Strudwick.
03/24/98: LW Jason Dawe traded to NYI by BUF for D Jason Holland & LW Paul Kruse.
03/24/98: W Mark Janssens traded to PHX by NYI for PHX’s 9th round choice (RW Jason Doyle) in the 1998 Entry Draft.
05/18/98: Mike Milbury signs a five-year contract to remain as coach.
05/30/98: Islanders trade RW Jean-Pierre Dumont & NYI 5th round pick in 1998 Entry Draft(later traded to PHI. PHI selected Francis Belanger.) to the Chicago Blackhawks for C Dmitri Nabokov.
06/18/98: G Eric Fichaud traded to EDM by NYI for LW Mike Watt.
07/14/98: LW Jorgen Jonsson traded to NYI by CGY for LW Jan Hlavac.
08/25/98: D Raymond Giroux traded to NYI from PHI for NYI’s 6th round choice in the 2000 Entry Draft.
09/10/98: COL traded Nick Beaudoin to NYI for cash. NYI lose C Kip Miller to PIT in NHL Waiver Draft.
10/16/98: NYI trade LW Tom Chorske and their 8th round choice in 1999 Entry Draft(Maxim Orlov) to WSH for a 6th round choice in 1999 Entry Draft Bjorn Melin).
11/07/98: BOS trades LW Ted Donato to NYI for LW Ken Belanger.
12/15/98: COL trades D Ted Crowley to NYI for LW Michael Gaul.
12/17/98: Islanders sign holdout Zigmund Palffy to a five-year contract.
01/09/99: Islanders trade D Bryan Berard & NYI’s 6th round choice in 1999 Entry Draft(Jan Sochor) to Toronto for G Felix Potvin and TOR’s 6th round choice in 1999 Entry Draft(Later traded to TB by NYI. TB acquired Fedor Fedorov).
01/18/99: TB trades C Craig Janney to NYI for a 6th round choice in 1999 Entry Draft(Fedor Fedorov).
01/21/99: Mike Milbury resigns as coach, names assistant Bill Stewart as new head coach.
03/09/99: NYI trade D Scott Lachance to MTL for a 3rd round choice in 1999 Entry Draft(RW Mattias Weinhandl).
03/19/99: NYI trade D Chris Luongo to OTT for cash.
03/20/99: Islanders trade G Tommy Salo to Edmonton for F Mats Lindgren & EDM’s 8th round choice in 1999 Entry Draft(D Radek Martinek).
03/20/99: NYI trade LW Ted Donato to OTT for OTT’s 4th round choice in 1999 Entry Draft(choice later traded by NYI to PHX. PHX selected Preston Mizzi)
03/20/99: NYI trade F Robert Reichel, NYI’s 3rd round choice in 1999 Entry Draft(Jason Jaspers) & OTT’s 4th round choice in 1999 Entry Draft, previously acquired by NYI, (Preston Mizzi) to Phoenix for F Brad Isbister & PHX’s 3rd round choice in 1999 Entry Draft.
03/22/99: NJ trades a 4th round choice in 1999 Entry Draft to NYI for C Sergei Nemchinov. (NYI later trade choice to LA. LA selects Daniel Johansson).
04/13/99: NYI trade D Andy Berenzweig to NSH for NSH’s 4th round choice in 1999 Entry Draft(D Johan Halvardsson).
05/01/99: Butch Goring named as Islander head coach.
05/29/99: MTL trades their 1st round choice in 1999 Entry Draft(10th overall – D Branislav Mezei) to NYI for C Trevor Linden.
06/20/99: Islanders trade F Zigmund Palffy, C Bryan Smolinski, G Marcel Cousineau & NJ’s(previously acquired) 4th round choice in 1999 Entry Draft(Daniel Johansson) to the Los Angeles Kings for C Olli Jokinen, LW Josh Green, D Mathieu Biron and the Kings’ first pick (eighth overall – Taylor Pyatt) in the 1999 Entry Draft.
06/26/99: DAL trades a 1st round pick(28th overall – D Kristian Kudroc) in 1999 Entry Draft to NYI for NYI’s 2nd round choice in the 1999 Entry Draft(Michael Ryan) & MTL’s 3rd round choice(previously acquired) in the 1999 Entry Draft.
06/26/99: NYI trade C Jiri Dopita to FLA for SJ’s 5th round choice (previously acquired) in the 1999 Entry Draft(NYI selected D Adam Johnson).
06/26/99: COL trades a 9th round pick in 1999 Entry Draft(D Tyler Scott) to NYI for a 9th round choice in 2000 Entry Draft.
09/30/99: Kenny Jonsson named Islanders eighth captain.
09/30/99: NYI claim D Jamie Rivers from STL in 1999 NHL Waiver Draft.
10/29/99: ANA traded LW Ted Drury to NYI for LW Tony Hrkac & D Dean Malkoc.
12/19/99: Islanders trade G Felix Potvin, a 2nd round pick in 2000(later traded to NY who selected Teemu Laine) & a 3rd round pick in 2000(Thatcher Bell) to the Vancouver Canucks for G Kevin Weekes, RW Bill Muckalt and C Dave Scatchard.
02/15/00: NYI trade LW Gino Odjick to PHI for LW Mikael Andersson and CAR’s 5th round pick in 2000(previously acquired. NYI selected RW Kristofer Ottosson).
03/03/00: NYI trade D Dallas Eakins to CHI for future considerations.
03/09/00: TB trades D Ian Herbers to NYI for a 7th round pick in 2000(later traded back to NYI, who selected D Ryan Caldwell).
03/11/00: ANA trades C Johan Davidsson & a conditional pick in 2001 to NYI for C Jorgen Jonsson.(ANA did not re-sign Jonsson, conditonal pick lost).
03/14/00: NYI trade C Petr Sachl to NSH for a 9th round pick in 2000(D Tomi Pettinen).
05/11/00: NYI trade C Chris Nielsen to CBS for a 4th round pick in 2000(later traded to ANA, who selected Jonas Ronnqvist) and a 9th round pick in 2000(Sean Kotray).
05/23/00: ANA trades RW Trent Hunter to NYI for CBS’s 4th round pick in 2000(previously acquired by NYI. ANA selected Jonas Ronnqvist).
06/24/00: Islanders trade G Kevin Weekes, D Kristian Kudroc and a second-round pick in 2001 to Tampa Bay for the fifth overall pick(LW Raffi Torres) and CGY’s fourth(NYI selected RW Vladimir Gorbunov) and NYI’s seventh-rounder(previously acquired, NYI select D Ryan Caldwell).
06/24/00: Islanders trade G Roberto Luongo and F Olli Jokinen to the Florida Panthers for F Oleg Kvasha and Mark Parrish.
06/24/00: Islanders trade D Eric Brewer, LW Josh Green & 2nd round pick in 2000(Brad Winchester) to Edmonton for D Roman Hamrlik.
06/24/00: Islanders select Rick Dipietro with No. 1 overall pick. Select Raffi Torres with No. 5 overall pick.
06/25/00: PHI trades G John Vanbiesbrouck to NYI for 4th round pick in 2001 draft(later acquired by NSH who selected Jordin Tootoo).
11/14/00: NYI trade D Dan Trebil to PIT for a 9th round pick in 2001(D Roman Kukhtinov).
12/05/00: Boston trades C Sean Pronger to NYI for future considerations.
12/28/00: NYI trade C Mike Stapleton to VAN for a 9th round pick in 2001(later traded).
01/03/01: LA trades LW Jason Blake to NYI for a conditional pick in 2002(5th round – D Joel Andresen).
01/04/01: TB trades C Steve Martins to NYI for future considerations.
01/11/01: WSH trades RW Craig Berube to NYI for VAN’s 9th round pick in 2001(previously acquired, WSH selected Robert Muller).
02/16/01: NYI trade G Wade Flaherty to TB for a conditional pick in 2002.
03/04/01: Coach Butch Goring is fired. Assistant coach Lorne Henning takes over on an interim basis.
03/12/01: NYI trade G John Vanbiesbrouck to NJ for G Chris Terreri & a 9th round pick in 2001(W Juha-Pekka Ketola).
05/21/01: Islanders name Peter Laviolette as new head coach.
06/22/01: Islanders acquire D Adrian Aucoin and LW Alexander Kharitonov from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for D Mathieu Biron and a 2002 second round draft pick.
06/23/01: Islanders obtain C Alexei Yashin from Ottawa for D Zdeno Chara, RW Bill Muckalt, and the second overall pick in the 2001 Draft(C Jason Spezza).
06/23/01: NYI trade a 3rd round pick in 2001(Tomas Malec) to FLA in exchange for a 4th round pick in 2001(C Cory Stillman) and a 3rd round pick in 2002(later traded back for RW Eric Godard).
06/24/01: Acquired C Michael Peca from Buffalo for C Tim Connolly and LW Taylor Pyatt.
09/28/01: NYI select G Chris Osgood from DET with first pick in 2001 NHL Waiver Draft.
10/03/01: Michael Peca is named captain.
01/14/02: ANA trades RW Jim Cummins to NYI for LW Dave Roche.
03/19/02: ANA trades LW Dave Roche to NYI for LW Ben Guite and the rights to RW Bjorn Melin.
03/19/02: FLA trades D Darren Van Impe to NYI for 5th round pick in 2003.
06/22/02: NYI trade RW Mariusz Czerkawski to MTL for RW Arron Asham & a 5th round pick in 2002(Markus Paulsson).
06/22/02: CBS trades D Mattias Timander to NYI for a 4th round pick in 2002(Jakabs Redlihs).
06/23/02: FLA trades RW Eric Godard to NYI for FLA’s 3rd round pick in 2002(previously acquired, Gregory Campbell).
07/03/02: FLA trades LW Jason Wiemer to NYI for D Branislav Mezei.
10/11/02: NYI trade RW Juraj Kolnik & a 9th round choice in 2003(later traded to SJ, Carter Lee) to FLA for D Sven Butenschon.
03/09/03: NYI trade C Claude Lapointe to PHI for a 5th round choice in 2003(later traded to PUT, Evgeni Isakov).
03/09/03: PIT traded RW Randy Robitaille to NYI for PHI’s 5th round choice in 2003(Evgeni Isakov). (basically, Lapointe for Robitaille).
03/11/03: Islanders trade LW Brad Isbister and prospect LW Raffi Torres to the Edmonton Oilers for D Janne Niinimaa, WSH’s 2003 second round pick(Evgeni Tunik) and a 2003 fourth round pick.
03/11/03: Islanders trade G Chris Osgood and a 2003 third round pick(Konstantin Barulin) to the St. Louis Blues for C Justin Papineau and a 2003 second round pick(C Jeremy Colliton). Papineau assigned to Bridgeport of the AHL.
01/22/04: NYI trade D Mattias Timander to PHI for TB’s 7th round choice in 2004(D Chris Campoli).
03/08/04: PIT trades RW Steve Webb to NYI for D Alain Nasreddine.
03/09/04: CHI trades D Alexander Karpovtsev to NYI for a 4th round pick in 2005(D Niklas Hjalmarsson).
10/03/05: Islanders trade C Michael Peca to EDM for LW Mike York & a conditional 4th round pick in 2006(3rd round pick if Peca re-signs. Trade of 3rd and 4th round picks in 2007 if not re-signed).
10/03/05: Islanders sign RW Miroslav Satan to free-agent deal.
01/10/06: NYI trade D Janne Niinimaa & a 5th round pick in 2007 to DAL for D John Erskine & a 2nd round pick in 2006(RW Jesse Joensuu).
03/04/06: RW Mattias Weinhandl put on Waivers. Claimed by MIN.
03/08/06: NYI trade RW Mark Parrish & D Brent Sopel to LA for LW Jeff Tambellini, D Denis Grebeshkov and a conditional 3rd round pick in 2006(dependant on LA making 2006 playoffs. They didn’t qualify).
03/09/06: NYI trade D Brad Lukowich to NJ for a 3rd round pick in 2006(later traded to PHX for two 4th round picks in 2006: C Tomas Marcinko & C Doug Rogers).
03/09/06: NYI trade LW Oleg Kvasha & a conditional 5th round pick in 2007(if Kvasha doesn’t re-sign in PHX) to PHX for a 3rd round pick in 2006(later traded to BOS for a 4th round & 5th round pick in 2006: 98th pick & D Shane Sims. 98th pick later traded to SJS for a 4th and 6th round pick in 2006: G Jase Weslosky & G Stefan Ridderwall).
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 10, 2012 3:40 PM EST reply actions
Jesus
I hope you cut and pasted this.
NY Islanders, just one irrational free agent signing away from contention!
Website:Lighthouse HockeyTwitter: @KeithLHHockey
A pathological need to trade
Look at the dates. Rarely does a month go by without a trade. Sometimes multiple trades in a day or a week. If you averaged them out, it would be a trade a month from 1996 to about 2002.
That is insane.
"He's depriving some small village of a pretty good idiot" - Mike Milbury on Ziggy Palffy's agent. On Twitter: @Dan_of_Science
by PGI on Jan 10, 2012 4:12 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Good point
that’s a solid observation
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 10, 2012 4:13 PM EST up reply actions
Especially the 98-99 season
Holy hell, it was like a revolving door that year.
Must have made setting down into the team very rough. The good news was, guys weren’t around that long. The bad news was, guys weren’t around that long.
"He's depriving some small village of a pretty good idiot" - Mike Milbury on Ziggy Palffy's agent. On Twitter: @Dan_of_Science
that had to have been a negative for team chemistry too
guys always flying in and out
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 10, 2012 4:15 PM EST up reply actions
Below is an idea of what the team should have looked like, minus 5 or so really bad trades that everyone questioned at the time
Centres:
Jason Spezza Olli Jokinen Michael Peca
Wingers:
Todd Bertuzzi, (Choice of Heatley or Gaborik), Jean-Pierre Dumont, Trent Hunter. Raffi Torres, Jason Blake, Arron Asham, Jason Wiemer
Defense:
Bryan Berard Zdeno Chara
Kenny Jonsson Adrian Aucoin
Darius Kasparaitis Bryan McCabe Eric Brewer (or Hamerlik whom Brewer was traded for) Scott Lachance Brad Lukowich
Jason Strudwick
Goalies:
Roberto Loungo
Tommy Salo
What we see is MM did good for the most part on “small” trades, but hung himself and sent the team down the river when he pursued those media staged mega prospect trades, particularly going after players who already had negative reputations
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 10, 2012 4:03 PM EST reply actions
Jesus
That defense. That defense.
by afrosupreme on Jan 10, 2012 4:46 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Snow's Trade History
Snow’s Transactions
10/25/06: NYI trade D Ryan Caldwell to CBS for C Eric Boguniecki.
12/16/06: NYI trade D Alexei Zhitnik to PHI for D Freddy Meyer and a conditional third round pick (third round pick in 2007 (D Mark Katic) or second round pick in 2008).
12/19/06: NYI trade C Mike York to PHI for C Randy Robitaille and a 2008 fifth round draft pick (D Matthew Martin).
01/06/07: NYI trade C Matt Koalska to OTT for D Tomas Malec.
02/18/07: NYI trade D Denis Grebeshkov to EDM for D Marc-Andre Bergeron and a 2008 third round draft pick.
02/26/07: NYI acquire LW/RW Richard Zednik from WSH for a 2007 second round draft pick (D Ted Ruth).
02/27/07: NYI acquire LW Ryan Smyth from EDM for C Ryan O’Marra, RW Robert Nilsson and a 2007 first round draft pick (D Alex Plante).
07/05/07: NYI acquire 2008 second round pick (D Travis Hamonic) from EDM for D Allan Rourke and a 2008 third round pick.
09/11/07: NYI acquire C Ben Walter and a conditional second round pick in 2009 (later traded) from BOS for C Petteri Nokelainen.
01/09/08: NYI acquire RW Matt Keith from ANA for LW Daryl Bootland.
02/26/08: NYI trade 2008 seventh round pick (D Jason Demers) to SJ for D Rob Davison.
02/26/08: NYI trade D Marc-Andre Bergeron to ANA for 2008 third round pick (LW Kirill Petrov).
02/26/08: NYI trade LW Chris Simon to MIN for 2008 sixth round pick (LW Justin DiBenedetto).
06/20/08: NYI trade 2008 Entry Draft first round pick (fifth overall – D Luke Schenn) to TOR for first round pick in 2008 (seventh overall – later traded) and, at NYI option: either PIT’s 2nd round pick in 2008 (60th overall, previously acquired) and TOR’s 3rd-round pick in 2009; or TOR’s 3rd round pick in 2008 (68th overall – later traded) and TOR’s 2nd round pick in 2009 (later traded) (NYI selected option two).
06/20/08: NYI trade TOR’s 1st round pick in the 2008 Entry Draft (seventh overall – C Colin Wilson, previously acquired) to NSH for FLA’s 1st round pick in 2008 (ninth overall – C Josh Bailey, previously acquired) and FLA’s 2nd round pick in 2008 (40th overall – D Aaron Ness, previously acquired).
06/21/08: NYI acquire CHI’s third round pick (72nd overall – D Jyri Niemi) and fourth round pick (102nd overall – W David Ullstrom) in 2008 for TOR’s third round pick in 2008 (68th overall – D Shawn Lalonde, previously acquired).
09/29/08: NYI acquire D Thomas Pock off waivers from NYR.
10/08/08: NYI acquire C Nate Thompson off waivers from BOS.
01/13/09: NYI acquire RW Junior Lessard from ATL for D Brett Skinner.
02/20/09: NYI acquire C Dean McAmmond and SJ’s 2009 first round pick (26th overall – later traded) from OTT for D Chris Campoli and C Mike Comrie.
03/04/09: NYI trade RW Bill Guerin to PIT for a conditional 2009 pick (5th round pick if PIT misses playoffs, 4th round pick if PIT makes playoffs, 3rd round pick if PIT wins first round) & contingent on Guerin playing in more than 50% of PIT’s remaining games. Resulted in Islanders receiving PIT’s 3rd round pick (91st overall – later traded to PHX for 2010 third round pick).
06/26/09: NYI trade the 26th pick (first round – later traded), 37th pick (second round – later traded), 62nd pick (third round – later reacquired), and 92nd pick (fourth round – later reacquired) overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft to CBJ for the 16th pick (first round – later traded) and 77th pick (third round – later traded) overall.
06/26/09: NYI trade the 16th pick (first round – D Nick Leddy), 77th pick (third round – G Matthew Hackett), and 182nd pick (seventh round – LW Erik Haula) overall to MIN for the 12th pick (first round – D Calvin de Haan) overall.
06/27/09: NYI trade the 56th pick overall (third round – C Kevin Lynch) to CLB for return of 62nd pick (third round – G Anders Nilsson) and 92nd pick (fourth round – C Casey Cizikas) overall.
06/27/09: NYI trade the 91st pick overall (third round – G Michael Lee) to PHX for a 2010 third round pick.
06/30/09: NYI acquire C Tony Romano from NJ for C Ben Walter and future considerations.
08/31/09: NYI acquire C Bobby Hughes from CAR for C Rob Hennigar.
03/01/10: NYI acquire D Dylan Reese & C Mike Radja from CLB for C Greg Moore.
03/02/10: NYI acquire 2010 second round pick from OTT (previously acquired from SJ) for D Andy Sutton.
03/02/10: NYI acquire future considerations from SJ for D Brett Westgarth.
06/26/11: NYI trade 2010 fourth round pick (95th overall – D Stephen Silas) to COL for 2011 third round pick.
06/26/11: NYI trade two 2010 sixth round picks (155th overall – Kendall McFaull) & (160th overall – Tanner Lane) to ATL for 2011 fifth round pick.
07/30/10: NYI trade conditional 2011 third round pick(NYI choice of NYI pick or COL pick) to ANA for D James Wisniewski.
12/28/10: NYI trade D James Wisniewski to MTL for a 2011 second round pick (compensatory) & a conditional 2012 fifth round pick(if MTL make 2011 playoffs & Wisniewski plays in at least 50% of MTL’s playoff games).
01/01/11: NYI trade G Dwayne Roloson to TB for D Ty Wishart.
01/22/11: NYI acquire G Evgeni Nabokov off waivers from DET.
02/09/11: NYI acquire G Al Montoya from PHX for 2011 sixth round pick.
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 10, 2012 4:06 PM EST reply actions
I see a few key observations from Snow's trade history
1st, he is the GM of two distinct teams, and I think it should be viewed as such, 2007 and post 2008 draft is clearly a dividing point. That would mean, the Smyth trade was a different team, different plan/reaction/type of trades.
2nd, Snow has made a number of good “small-ball” transactions that have worked out very good, such as Hamonic, but are not as noticeable. MM also made a number of these same trades, but of course flip flopped between development and trying to be a now team.
3rd. In the post 2008 era, Snow has not made any major media grabbing trades involving prospects for vets.
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 10, 2012 4:10 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
What I see is the Islanders could have had Schenn and Leddy instead of Bailey and DeHaan.
Everything else is incremental improvement and addition of depth through additional picks. His best work in terms of immediate results has been on the waiver wire; which is a transaction, just not a trade.
Although don’t forget about Hamonic (and Petrov) regarding Bailey. I’d probably rather that worked out the way it did.
by afrosupreme on Jan 10, 2012 5:03 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
also, it's early
Not quite as early for Bails (though he’s still just 22) but definitely for de Haan. (Shoulder worries me, though.) That could still work out decently for Isles.
We may be in the box, but you get the penalty.
Lighthouse Hockey - a beacon of greatness on the rocky coast of sports blog mediocrity
Non-hockey scribblings at nightflyblog
i tohught that too but Hamonic didn't come from the Bailey trade down, Ullstrom among others did
Schenn has been inconsistent and up and down too, but like Bailey, he’s young and the jury is still out…myself and others are on record stating we would have taken Kassian over de Haan, whose been playing pretty good AHL hockey until the injury, but that was part of the knock on de haan, injury prone…
the rumour has been that snow et al were chasing ryan ellis and settled on de haan…
maybe the lesson is don’t try to outsmart everyone else, and draft BPA.
by CanadianIsleslifer on Jan 10, 2012 8:12 PM EST up 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.
