New York Islanders

178-foot goal highlights another Isles disappointment

 If you haven’t seen Rob Davison’s knuckling length-of-the-ice shorthanded goal against the Leafs on Tuesday, see it. Then bookmark it for life because for Islanders fans it was the only thing somewhat memorable about the 3-1 loss.

I’d put the clip in here for you to see, but I’m still working out HTML kinks. Just trust me when I say when the shot bounded by stunned Toronto netminder Vesa Toskala I knew the game was over. Because one goal is all the Isles score these days, if they’re lucky. Sooner or later, even without Mats Sundin and Nik Antropov, I figured the Leafs would find a way to get two past Wade Dubielewicz, who by the way has lost a lot of the bloom off his rose.

Rick DiPietro didn’t play due to an MRI on his hip. This news of course can only be bad. At this point Ted Nolan should consider shutting him down for the rest of the regular season.

The one “bright” spot, if there was one aside from the blooper-reel goal, was the debut of highly touted Kyle Okposo. He got 14:45 of ice time and looked at least like he knows how to skate. The first thing I noticed, though, about him is he looks like all of the Islanders out there on the ice. He’s sort of smallish and blended in quite well with the rest of the mighty mites. Yeah, Okposo will fill out and will be great. It’s just I was hoping the guy would get onto the scoresheet in his first game. If he had he would have exactly one more point than Miro Satan has gotten over his last 15 games.

Okposo buzzed the net a few times, and a bounce here or there may have had a goal or two. Toskala stopped him in the first period with a kick save on a low wrister from just to the left of the faceoff dot. It was a good shot and it showed this guy isn’t afraid to unload in the offensive zone.

If I’m Nolan I just march Okposo out there a lot over the final eight games. Give him more power-play time as well.

Injuries have destroyed this team. Five of their first six defenseman didn’t play Tuesday and offensively they are just lost.

Okposo is really the only reason to watch, so if you get a chance to check him out, do so.

I heard you can get a great deal on Gorton’s Fisherman jerseys. I’d act now.

Isles wave white flag on ‘08, bring up Okposo

 Well, if you are a fan of the team from Long Island, put your angst on the back burner for now. The Islanders have decided to showcase their “chosen one” for the final nine games of the regular season.

Nobody knows for sure what kind of impact 19-year-old Kyle Okposo will have in the NHL, but, at least for now, he will give the Islanders watchability for the rest of this disappointing campaign.

Okposo is the type of blue chip prospect the Islanders have had just twice in recent memory if you don’t count the magic Bill Torrey worked in the 1970s. Only Pat LaFontaine and Rick DiPietro garnered as much attention and hype as what will surround Okposo when he steps on the Nassau Coliseum ice for the first time Tuesday against Toronto.

“This guy has a tremendous amount of skill,” coach Ted Nolan told IslandersTV.

Compared quite favorably to Calgary’s Jarome Iginla due to his Nigerian heritage and sniper-like prowess, Okposo will give this franchise a shot in the arm regardless of how he performs Tuesday and throughout the remaining nine games. Make no mistake, the transition from D-I to the AHL is often a wake-up call for even the best of prospects, but Okposo is basically jumping from a year-plus in college to 29 games in the minors to the grand stage. That’s a quick jump for anyone, but for an Islander prospect that’s Star Trek-like beaming. Nolan was quite measured in his comments on what Okposo’s capabilities, at least in the interim, will be, but you couldn’t help but notice a bit of a sparkle in the coach’s eye.

“That’s one thing I try not to do. If you compare Kyle to Iginla … Iginla’s a pretty special player and if Kyle turns out to be similar to him that will be pretty good. I think the bottom line is we have to appreciate Kyle for who Kyle is … to compare him to Iginla or (Joe) Sakic is kind of unfair because if he doesn’t meet those expectations early people are going to be disappointed.

“I’d rather go on the cautious side and say he’s gonna be a great player. Right now, to be fair, he’s a young kid. He has to find his niche in this league and once he does people will be saying he’s Kyle Okposo, not anyone else.”

Okposo (pronounced “OH-poso”) will witness the Isles-Rangers series twice as part of a remaining schedule that features mostly Atlantic Division rivals. And since the Isles are basically done for this season, a chance to create a roadmap going forward is in Okposo’s hands. All indications are despite his relative lack of bulk — 6-foot, 195 pounds — Okposo has the goods to be a force for years. A cannon of a right-handed shot, quick hands and skates and leadership qualities not often found in someone so young are just a few of his attributes, characteristics that could sell out his jersey in minutes.

The seventh overall pick in the 2006 draft, Okposo registered 40 points in 40 games as a freshman at the University of Minnesota. He then quit school and signed with the Islanders in January and went on to put up 24 points during his 29-game stay with Bridgeport. Initial reports of his hefty skills have been corroborated by several of his minor league teammates, who now also find themselves up with the big club because the Islanders have been destroyed by injuries.

Ben Walter, now a 4th-liner with the Isles, told Newsday Okposo is the real deal. His transition to the NHL will have its bumps and bruises but there’s no question he should be around for a long, long time. What struck Walter and several others about the U-19 Team USA star is his playmaking skills, which, considering he’s a wing and not a center, are unusually good. It may take some time for Okposo to become a true, proven 40-goal scorer, but he seems to grasp the team-first concept which Nolan has employed since he arrived on Long Island at the start of the 2006-07 season.

“If he’s one-on-one with a guy, he’s going to try and make a move to beat him, and he can put the puck in the net,” Walter said. “He definitely knows how to score. I’d say he’s a bit of (a playmaker and scorer), but he definitely loves to score goals.”

Obviously any comparison to Iginla without playing a single NHL game is kind of unfair. But since we’re living in the future here I kind of think more about LaFontaine than Iginla because Okposo seems to share more qualities with the former Islander great and Hall-of-Famer than he does Calgary’s greatest player. First off, Okposo is American, second, LaFontaine was every bit the passer that he was the scorer and, third, LaFontaine wasn’t the biggest guy on the ice but could skate like the wind and had a bull’s-eye on his back wherever he went.

Regardless of Okposo’s lack of experience, he brings an intangible this franchise desperately needs. He has star power without anyone knowing the slightest thing about him personally. In laymans terms, he’s an enigma wrapped in a puzzle with the potential to be the next truly great NHL sniper. Rarely have the Islanders drafted or brought up anyone even remotely close to the potential this guy has this quickly.

Nolan basically said straight out that rather than put Okposo on a line with other Bridgeport call-ups like Walter or Jeff Tambellini, he will match him up with a “responsible” NHL veteran like Richard Park, someone who knows his role and is quite cautious and deliberate on the ice when it comes to his responsibilities.

Best case scenario: Okposo doesn’t get hurt and opens enough eyes in the short term to warrant a clean slate come next training camp. I think at this point barring an unforseen flop he’ll be with the Islanders to start ‘08-’09. And if Garth Snow makes good on his veiled promise to spend money and infuse offense into this club in the offseason, Okposo won’t have to deal with the pressure of having to be the go-to guy next season. He’ll be able to quietly just play his game and get accustomed to the rigors of an 82-game schedule.

Right now and to start next season Okposo should be looked at as just another part of the machine. Everyone screamed for DiPietro to be called up after he was drafted No. 1 overall a few years ago. The Islanders, smartly, waited for him to mature a bit. Now the jury may still be out on how much DP has truly matured, but, physically, he’s much more complete of a goalie than he was when he was drafted. With just nine games to play and then an entire offseason of bulking up and conditioning, Okposo will come into camp as someone ready to make a serious contribution as opposed to now when he’s nothing more than an attendance-draw for a team with nothing to play for.

But who really knows? Maybe Pat Iginla or Jarome LaFontaine will show up and get us all giddy heading into our April tee-times.

Franchise goalie acting like franchise fool

 The Islanders have lost eight of their last 10 and are almost assured of not making the playoffs. It’s also sad that despite maximum effort this season they have been done in by injuries. A team like this cannot afford injuries because their margin for error is already so miniscule.

They also cannot afford stupidity and disrespect.

The guys you count on every night to lead by example must do just that. They must be good soldiers in the face of adversity and, more importantly, they need to be held accountable for their poor play and accept the criticisms that come from being thought of as leaders.

Rick DiPietro, as great as he can be on any given night, has a tendency to forget that.

Following the blowout loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday he was a bit snippy with reporters when asked about Ted Nolan’s comments about him continuing to be reckless outside the crease. When asked if he had any comment on Nolan’s criticisms about his irresponsbile puck-handling, DiPietro said, “No. Whatever.”

Then in the third period the next night against Florida he let Karlis Skrastins’ pee-wee slapper from the blueline get by in eventual 4-2 loss.

Listen Ricky … I know you’re frustrated. I know you want to win and want to make the playoffs, but the last thing this organization needs is you tweaking your coach to the press in a time of despair. Those two words you uttered showed a sarcasm and detachment from reality that will trickle down to the younger guys and piss off the older ones.

You were supposed to say, “Ted’s right. I’m a jackass. I think I’m a playmaking center sometimes out on the ice, but I know the best chance for us to win and make the playoffs is for me to stay in the damn net and allow my teammates to do their jobs. It will never happen again. I promise.”

A litte self-deprecation and contrition wouldn’t hurt. Would it?

I am one of the few Islanders fans I know that actually feels his 15-year contract is a steal. The idea that this guy will be paid $4.5 million per until 2021-22 or something like that really appeals to me. Why? Because he will one day be a Vezina Trophy-caliber player. Better yet, he’ll be a bargain, too.

He has all the game to be a world class netminder. No question about it. It’s just sometimes he’s basically a bonehead out there. He wanders from the net, gets caught out of position and often looks foolish scrambling back only to be blinded by the glow of the lamp. If this guy would just stay in the net and work on his angles, he’d have a Brodeur-like GAA. The Islanders, when healthy, are one of the better defensive teams in the NHL. They have to be because their offense is from hunger. DiPietro, however, seems to forget this on a weekly basis.

Until we can pry Alex Ovechkin from Washington or Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier come out of mothballs, for all of our sakes, just stay in the damn net and act like a leader.

Greetings!

 Hey everyone. Starting this week I’ll be offering my insights on all things Islanders. Just a little about me: I’m the senior web producer/news for wcbstv.com in NYC. I spend my life on the Internet and used to be a sports editor at The Associated Press. I’m a hockey nut, but I often find it very difficult to stay glued to the sport when the Islanders are bad. That said though, I am connected throughout the league and look forward to sharing my thoughts with you.

I’ve been a fan of this organization since 1980. I was 9 then so you could say I was an impressionable youth, but whatever it was about the Long Island crest it worked. I have lived and died with this team for almost three decades and, frankly, am a little tired of the Islanders being looked at as the third team in the greater NYC area. That said, there’s been progress. We have the goaltending to take us forward. We certainly have the coach. And it looks like this owner is the real deal. Now, if we can only get the stadium …

 While the 2007-08 season hasn’t gone all that well according to the fans’ lofty standards, it has been a bit surprising considering all of the player turnover following last season’s playoff loss to Buffalo. Nearly every “expert” picked the Islanders to finish last in the Eastern Conference, so the fact that they have competed for a playoff spot well into March says something, mostly about how effective a leader and disciplanarian Ted Nolan is. This guy should be locked up for years. Imagine what he’d do with talent?

 Anyway, that’s it for now. I’ll be checking in several times per week and I’ll do my best to get you as much offseason news and opinion as I can.

 Talk to you soon.

 Jeff 

Coming Soon

We are currently looking for contributors to contribute to this and other team blogs. If you operate a blog focusing on this team and are interested in moving your blog to this location or if you are interested in becoming a contributor to this blog please send an e-mail to david (at) hockeyanalysis.com. Thank-you.