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Interesting Piece...
Though incomplete.
1. I agree with Dee (in comments). Why the West Wing analogy. It’s not that simple and it would take you 2000 words to explain it fully to a non-WW fan.
2. A simple snapshot of the 2006 Islanders and their circumstance versus their present day trajectory would have illustrated the job that Snow has done.
2006
Top three prospects (Comeau, Nielsen, Bergenhiem)
Coach: Chosen by committee, not the previous GM (Neil Smith) Ted Nolan
Top five players: Yashin,. Satan, Hunter, Martinek, Zhitnik
2012
Top three prospects (Strome, Nino, donovan)
Coach: Capuano after Gordon. 6 years he has made two crucial coaching decisions. One based on direction and the other on success. Based on the turn around last year there is no reason to doubt that these were valid decisions… even though one failed.
Top five players: Tavares, Moulson, Hamonic, Okposo, Streit
You have possibly the 26th best player in the league under 25 years old, a consistent 30 goal scorer who is in the 27-30 year old prime, a franchise defenseman in his puppy years, a gritty top line forward also young enough to improve and a PP defenseman that carried the team for two years before his injury last year.
Given those two points on a single line you’d have to say that the team is traveling in the right direction. I may question some of Snow’s moves, btu I think he’s doing a great job overall.
So… Stranded, Marooned, Held Hostage? NO AVERYING WAY!!! Tavares has been tasked to lead a team from murky water with limited resources and he is definitely up to the task… and the support he has gotten, and will most likely continue to get will be consistent with the growth of a team that started from rock bottom.
I believe in ELI! Go Blue!
@JPinVA
I read it this morning and really enjoyed it
Excellent recap. If the media powers that be would pack the same DiPietro, Yashin, Sumo wrestler jokes in mothballs for a minute, they might find a story or two with the Islanders.
(and since others have mentioned it, I have no idea what’s going on with that West Wing stuff, too. I never enjoyed that show)
"He's depriving some small village of a pretty good idiot" - Mike Milbury on Ziggy Palffy's agent. On Twitter: @Dan_of_Science
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SBNation.com Recent Stories
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.
