January 2012 Power Rankings: A Playoff-Level Month?

my tenure as an Islander fan has given me is a large, some would say almost deluded sense of patience. To remain on board with this hopelessness through the 1990s and 2000s, gives me a massive headache thinking about it wiliingness to wait for results which some would say is bordering on the pathological.

Garth Snow was appointed GM in the summer of 2006 and the Mickey Mouse hats were on full display. Charles Wang had made an effort to bring in the an experienced GM in Neil Smith which simply didn’t work. Setting aside the DP Contract fo now, Snow took over a team with absolutely zero prospects and no real chance to compete. He made the moves to try to compete in his first seaosn and at the same time emptied the cupboard of whatever youth the team had. When the Ryan Smyth experiment failed, we were left with no options but to blow it all up and start from a point where not even expansion teams begin — at least expansion teams begin with a full roster of NHL players.

With no draft picks left in the 2007 draft, my take is that the rebuild started with the 2008 draft and, while reasonable people can disagree over the results of that draft, the rebuild has gone very well, in my view.

The 2009 Draft may well go down as the greatest draft year in Islanders history. 2010 and 2011 are obviously works in progress. In five years, this franchise has gone from a nuclear wasteland to the having the nucleus of a Championship contender.

There have been speed bumps along the way. 2010-2011 was lost to injury (it’s interesting to note that the Islanders apparently have the second most man games lost to injury this season as well, although for some strange reason, we don’t seem to notice it).

Free Agents (or at least, highly touted Free Agents) don’t seem to want to come here. There is no reasonable explanation for that. More importantly, Snow cannot be blamed for that. I’m guessing that there is no one here who would have paid Ehrhoff or Wisniewski the insane salaries they eventually got from desperate or stupid teams. We can quibble over whether it was the right move to let Jack Hillen get away or whether more could have been done to keep Jared Spurgeon or Blake Kessel from using their free agencies to their best advantage (note that Kessel is playing in the AHL right now).

The primary concern, frequently expressed, is frustration with the signing and playing of three old guys formerly from New Jersey by the names of Rolston, Staios and Pandolfo. These Cap Mules, as they are derogatorily and derisively known, are, as they say, what they are: fill ins, bridges between what we had and what we have coming, and mechanisms by which the Islanders meet their obligations to the NHLPA under the CBA without over committing long term payroll to underdeveloped players.

What we hear is, “Bring the kids up. Bring the kids up.” This is, in my opinion, shortsighted and ultimately, self defeating. If the kids aren’t ready, bringing them up does us no good. Even if they are marginally ready, and by this, I mean, perhaps ready to learn how not ready they are, then bringing them too soon exposes them to injury, loss of confidence and being part of a losing experience that I am hopeful we will have seen the last of, come tomorrow night, when the Isles are below .500 (NHL .500, true, but w/e) for the last time in the JT age. Bringing them up means waiving the Cap Mules, which means we are (and I am not 100% sure on this, but I’ll say it any way) risking falling below the Cap Floor, which risks costing us a draft pick, if my CBA understanding is correct.

More importantly, Cizikas, de Haan, Ness, Donovan, Wishart, Ullstrom, DiBenedetto, Nillson, Poulin, and the other Sound Tigers are right now learning what it takes to WIN. Currently, they are third in thir conference (6th actually, but division leaders/winners get certain perks), on an 11-0-0-1 tear and looking ahead to a long playoff run. deHaan, Ness, Donovan and Wishart are what replace Staios, Eaton and possibly Jurcina next fall. Cizikas, Ullstrom and DiBenedetto are what replace Rolston and Pandolfo next fall — when they’re ready, when they have an understanding of what it feels like to win.

There may be an argumant that the month of November has again destroyed our playoff chances and it’s hard to argue with that. But the players who lost those November games are the same ones, for the most part, who are winning now. Having Staios, Rolston and Pandolfo on the roster doesn’t change that.

Stay the course, I say, in my long winded manner. This team will be very very exciting in September. We’re going to have some serious fun watching for the next two months or so, but whether they challenge for that 8 spot or not, the Islanders of 2012-13 and beyond are going to be exactly what our patience has earned us. And Gawdamighty, it’s gonna feel sooo good.