New York Islanders

Isles to be aggressive, but that’s been their problem

Listening to Scott Gordon, the newest in a long line of Islanders head coaches, speak, I got the feeling that I had heard all of this before.

Gordon, the reigning AHL Coach of the Year who beat out a handful of NHL-experienced candidates, some even with Stanley Cup championships on their resume, says the rebuilding Islanders will be an aggressive club that will try to force turnovers in the offensive end, ah la the great Devils teams of old, as a way to generate sorely needed offensive chances.

I’m all for a killer forechecking system that pays extra attention to the defensive end and preventing odd-man rushes, but the Islanders have played this style under their last few coaches, only to get repeatedly killed due to a lack of discipline.

Yes, applying pressure and trying to get opponents to get rid of the puck before they want to is a very effective way of creating turmoil, but the Islanders of the last few seasons were entirely over-aggressive and that often meant a puckbag-full of penalty minutes and power-play goals against.

Gordon has to find a way to instill in his young players — and veterans — control. He must teach them to attack the opposition with the body, not the stick. I have watched on in horror far too many times as the Islanders would take lazy penalties on the forecheck, primarily because they either weren’t quick enough or in the proper position to effectively use the body. The resulting shortcomings would usually result in stupid stick penalties — hooking, slashing, holding, take your pick.

Make no mistake, the Isles’ past problems in this regard had little to do with conditioning. Ted Nolan worked his players to the bone, but they came up short on the forecheck because, tactically, they lacked the requisite wherewithall and execution.

Gordon certainly has his hands full. The good news is he’s got the type of veterans that will buy into what he’s selling, thus making the youngsters’ transition to the new system easier to stomach and then pull off on the ice.

Bill Guerin, Mike Sillinger, Jon Sim, Richard Park and Doug Weight are responsible veterans who, though lacking offensively for the most part, can process direction and transition into a solid work eithic that the younger players will have no choice but to emulate.

I do not worry about this team defenisvely. Between Brendan Witt, Andy Sutton, Radek Martinek and the rest of the probable nightly six, they’ll be able to construct enough of a wall in front of Rick DiPietro. Further, Gordon and DiPietro need to form a bond that only goalies can create. One has to hope that all of DP’s knee and hip surgeries don’t catch up with him. He has to make 60-70 starts. He’ll have to keep a goals-against average no higher than 2.50 and a save percentage well above .900 for this team to have any shot of being a threat on a nightly basis.

The Islanders are going to win and lose their fare share of 3-2 and 2-1 games. It would help Gordon immesaurably if the defense and goaltending end up being what many assume each will be — better than average and certainly good enough to provide the offense a chance every night.

It’s far too early to even discuss what, if any, plan Gordon has to improve the goal scoring. Odds are there will be many young players among the four lines. To me, the continued development of Kyle Okposo and Blake Comeau is a must. Of all the young players, Jeff Tambellini may have the biggest bull’s-eye on his back. He must find the scoring touch he showed in the minors.

Sean Bergenheim should already be more productive than he’s shown. Andy Hilbert has no more excuses now that he’ll be playing under a coach he once scored 35 goals for in the minors.

Islanders fans need to just prepare themselves for an up-and-down season that will, ultimately, not be the disaster many think it will be. If the Isles had no defense, I’d be worried. The guys they have patroling the blue line and their goaltending will keep them in every game every night.

Gordon has to find a way to keep his players out of the box and develop the neophytes into consistent scorers. An improved power play would surely help, but that’s why Mark Streit and Weight were brought here. As Gordon said Tuesday, a good power play is designed to fail 80 percent of the time.

Well, one way that can happen is if opponents don’t get five or six chances of their own each game.

Basically, this will all boil down to smarts.

Let’s just hope Gordon takes his years of experience working with young players and makes a genius out of Garth Snow.

It’s not out of the realm …