Nostra-who? Revisiting LHH's 2010-2011 preseason predictions

[Today we look back at JPinVA's "Drop and Give Me Three: Positive, Negative and Surprising" from August 31, 2010]

There was a great deal of fan hope for the NY Islanders during training camp prior to the 2010-2011 season.  Garth Snow had said that the playoffs were the goal after a 15 point improvement in the standings, Rick DiPietro was healthier than he'd  been in years, Doug Weight was on the mend, the youth movement was expected to break out and we acquired an emerging #2 defenseman in James Wisniewski and depth with Mark Eaton and Mike Mottau.  We expected that Garth Snow worked his magic again with PA Parenteau (see Moulson, Matt) also.  Well, we all know how that turned out.  There were bright spots of course, but what exactly were we thinking? 

After the jump, we'll examine the hits, misses, and "damn, I can't believe somebody got that" of some of our community members.

We'll start with some accurate predictions:

Pos- young D Harmonic and A-Mac progress into legitimate #2 pairing [Rickfansince76]
Who knows, he may end up being wrong because they're a first pairing.

Surprise: NHL awards for an Islander. Or at least a nomination. Maybe Streit for Norris and Go-Go for Jack Adams. NHL finally recognizes that there was is a franchise on Long Island, and they actually won a few Cups. [Billymac23]
Hey, Grabs was nominated...we'll find out next week right? Grrrr.

NEG: Midseason retirement due to injury. Not sure who, don’t want to name names and risk jinxing. [MTBVibe] Sounds like Doug Weight to me.

Pos: Roloson has a .915+ svpct and 5 so [Stats] This one is me...okay, the sv% is slightly low, but counting post season, it goes above .915 and lands on 5 SO. He did have a .920 as an Islander though.

POSITIVE – The Isles kill you with a thousand small cuts…[mikb] Indeed, goalscoring was spread around and solid, but mikb's guesses at who those goalscorers will be was iffy, so I cut it off.

 

Where we missed:

SUR: Wang, his family and the Shinnecock Nation make headlines [Wangs and 'Cocks Tangle, Then Smoke The Peace Pipe]. After battling over Nassau County land to develop the Lighthouse Project vs The Shinnecock Resort and Casino the two parties have moved their destinations to Elmont. [JPinVA] Well, there was some tangling, but in the end, it looks like the two will remain separate, but connected somehow.

Hey…that Lighthouse in Elmont was my thought…Thanks for the repost on that i like that idea. It really is a perfect place for all involved…The tough part will be getting in all worked out. [Michael C. Ryan]

Positive: Isles put the pieces together and finish 7th in the conference, bow out in the first round to the rival Pens in a hard fought, 6 game series. [billymac23] Well, that's what Snow told us...but the Pens were a key story this year...

Pos: Tavares has a 35goal/80pt season [ozzyfan] Soo close...

Positive: KO finds his scoring touch and hits 25 goals for the season [ilopan] Stupid goalposts and crossbars.

! … Josh Bailey becomes a Frans-lite two-way force, with passing that reminds people of Turgeon, leading us all to think, "Even when they rush the kids along, it turns out alright in the end." [Dominik] It looked that way for a while, but if by Frans-Lite, you meant not even close, please move this to the accurate column.

Surprise – An actual resolution to their arena issue (not sure if it will be good or bad) [The Fitz] Well, at least we have a beginning of the end now...kind of a just miss.  Update, no new arena in Nassau for now.

 

Some "Holy Cows!!!1!"

Neg: Weight has a career ending injury; Surprise: Wiz has a 35pts/top 2 d-man [stats] year and the Isles finish in the 7th/8th spot. [Ozzyfan] Pretty good stuff right there...some may debate Wisniewski's  #2ness, but the points were there...amazing on the Weight call!

SUR: Martinek plays 65+ games as a reliable top 4 guy and sustains no major injuries [TheMetalChick] Possibly the gutsiest prediction ever made, Radek played 64 games this season and was reliable top 4 (if not by his play than at least by the bad luck of others).

 

What were we thinking?!?!?! (Kudos to anyone who took a risk on DP health predictions, hopeful bold move.)

Surprise- DP plays in 50 games [Rickfansince76] Maybe he meant by 2014.

Pos- Bailey scores 30G; Surprise- RSH finally starts living up to his potential. [anacurt] Don't get your gambling advice from anacurt who had the futility exacta on these predictions.

Surprising – DP is healthy enough to be the backup for the season [Webbard] Nope, somebody made DP 1A, and then he wasn't even healthy enough to be the backup.

DP Healthy [Michael C. Ryan]

Sur: Hunter ties career high in points and leads team in playoff goals. Bridgeport wins championship. [Me again] Feel free to mock me in comments...I deserve it.

Negative: Jeff Tambellini has an impressive, solid season and makes us cry/hate Gordon for not just giving him some darn ice time. [ilopan] Hahaha, Jeff Tambellini is in the 2nd leg of his healthy scratch world tour, moves to Sweden.

POS: Kyle Okposo starts turning his "just wide of the net" near-misses and pingers off the post into goals [TheMetalChick] I'll bet right about now, Okposo is hitting his golf ball into a flag, yardmarker or tree somewhere...the pings continue?