This year something strange is happening in the NHL; the New York Islanders have a share of the division leads and are currently (as of Weds) the hottest team in the NHL. For it to happen this early is something not seen since the 2001-2002 season. It has finally made the Islanders a relevant story in the NHL.
Follow me below the unclean ice surface for a brief history of my fandom and why I am so excited about this season and the future.
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I have been a fan of the New York Islanders since before I can remember. I was born in late August 1980 and thus was unable to remember and likely watch any of the actual Cup winning series since those ended in 1983. One of my earliest memories was watching the Easter Epic game in which Pat LaFontaine, my favorite player, scored the series winning goal in quadruple overtime. Still the longest game 7 ever played in NHL history. The team continued to be decent the next few seasons leading up to their last great run in the 92-93 season.
The Islanders played the Washington Capitals in the Patrick Division Semis. Pierre Turgeon, the Islanders best player at the time scored the game winning goal in overtime only to be viciously checked by the capitals tough guy, Dale Hunter, immediately after the goal. Hunter would go on to coach the London Knights of the OHL and coached current Islanders superstar, John Tavares which led to many questions after he was drafted about how much Islanders fan hate Dale Hunter to this day. Turgeon suffered a separated shoulder and miss most of the next series which would be against the two-time defending Cup champion Penguins led by Mario Lemieux.
The Penguins, who were also the President's Trophy winning team (most points), had finished the season ahead of the Islanders by more than 20pts and were the heavy favorites. The Islanders found a way to beat the Penguins in seven games due in part to Darius Kasparaitis shadowing Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr. This would be the last time the Islander would win a playoff series to date.
The Islanders next faced the Montreal Canadiens in the Wales Conference final in what was arguably the worst officiated series in NHL history. The Isles lost and Montreal went on to win their 24th Stanley Cup.
Ever since then the team has either been flat-out awful or mired in mediocrity. The team went through a number of awful ownerships changes including one owner who attempted to buy the team by fabricating his net worth. In fact, 4 of the owners the Islanders have had in the last 20 years have either ended up in jail or will be in jail for some white-collar crime.
They also had what could easily be called the worst general manager in NHL history: Mike Milbury. Milbury who had his own storied career as a defenseman for the Boston Bruins came to the Islanders as a coach after coaching the Boston Bruins. Things didn’t go well and yet was still elevated to GM position where set out to make many horrible personnel moves. Often he traded away budding superstars for mediocre NHLers especially at the NHL draft. Among his many exploits was trading away one of the future top goaltenders Roberto Luongo to draft Rick DiPetro number 1 overall. He called one of his players a “gutless puke” and made another cry at an arbitration meeting. His coaching hire were at times even more abysmal. His reign lasted almost 20 years before being moved away from hockey operations to head the Islanders’ owner’s sports businesses. Recently, on NBCSN’s intermission show, Milbury went on a rant about how lucky Brendan Shanahan was to skip coaching and being a GM to become president of the Toronto Maple Leafs and how he wished he could have had the opportunity to skip right to a team president position. Bob McKenzie, arguably hockey top inside media-person, replied to him “so do the New York Islanders” acknowledging for Isles fans everywhere what we always knew.
After Milbury was excised away, things didn’t get much better as the current owner wanted to have his hands in every decision made around the team. This lead to the newly hired GM quitting after only 40 days of service and the then back-up goalie (Garth Snow) becoming the general manager.
While the Islanders made the playoffs a few times between 93 and today, no team with the possible exception of the 2001-2002 team (and even that’s debatable) ever looked like it would be the beginning of a new era. The current GM was often hampered by payroll limitations while claiming he was free to spend if the players were worth it, but mostly the players brought were either looking to salvage their last couple of NHL seasons, players looking to find a way to bounce back after poor seasons, other teams waiver-wire cast-offs or rushing the team’s current draft picks.
After the Islanders made the playoffs in 2013, things looked like they were turning a corner. Unfortunately in the ensuing off-season, Snow failed to upgrade the two positions the Islanders were most lacking: goaltending and defense. Instead he went back to the old staple of signing projects. He made one terrible move early on when the team was winning but playing poorly to shake things up. Instead of going for defense or a goalie, he traded for the one position we didn’t need, a left wing. The Islanders once again crashed to last in their division.
However things got brighter this offseason when Snow sign two upgrades in goaltending early on in the off-season and in addition signed two in their prime forwards to add depth to the offense. Then it what may have been one of the best trades the Islanders made since the Cup years, Snow grabbed one top quality defenseman from two teams who were struggling to stay under the NHL’s salary cap. This immediately turned the Islanders from a potential playoff team to one that could, on paper, challenge for the top of the division. Still there was hockey to be played.
As we head past the 1st qtr mark of the season, the Islanders are playing inspired up-tempo hockey and are beating some of the top teams in the league regularly. Most recently the team swept the Metro leading Pittsburgh Penguins in a back-to-back home-and-home series. The hockey world has taken notice and man does it feel good. Islanders gear is being worn all over town. I liken it to the Munchkins coming out after Dorothy kills the Wicked Witch of the East.
What will happen as we go through the rest of the season? I have no idea. Islanders fans are always waiting for the other shoe to drop. At least for now the ride is fun.
I hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving.
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11/27, 2014
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