Mine was buy but nice, thank you. With a few days of vacation time in both Dallas, Texas and Las Vegas, Nevada, my batteries have been re-charged and looking forward to the hockey season once again. It always starts to get kicking, once my annual hockey convention is held. The mind starts to race, and thoughts about my Islanders become prevalent in my mind.

Well – how was the summer vacation for the hockey team?

Interesting to say the least.

First thing I learned from this summer:

Do not play Texas hold-em with Garth. You will never know what you are going to get.

It was totally amazing that with minutes left to making the pick, the ‘experts’ had no clue what Garth was going to do. They were expecting one hand, and here comes Garth with something totally different. For all of us Islander fans – he went to the obvious. In securing JT, fans in Islander Country are hoping for similar results that a certain team in Western Pennsylvania received a few years ago, when they drafted an 18 year old with a whole lot of potential. Although many of a Canadian media persuasion don’t give it the same hype, since the Islanders are not a ‘sexy’ team, it would be nice to see them fall on their swords in a few years.

With Doug Weight back in the fold, it seems to be a perfect situation for Tavares to be in. A man with Dougie’s experience (and yes – he SHOULD be the Captain this season), will provide benefits that will be prevalent throught John’s career. I would hope that Coach Gordon will pair JT with Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo. This could be the new version of Trio Grande.

Looking at other acquisitions, you only have to look at one place… THE NET!

We all know the Ricky deal – so we leave him out for now. But who would have expected Snowy to make not only one goalie aquisition, but two. Getting Roloson, I thought was a stroke of genius. A veteran with a good outlook, and still has some good stats. Then to pull Marty Biron and give him a chance, for a small contract, was brilliant. I think this allows #39 to take as much time as necessary. His salary does not count on the cap, as long as he is out, so get better Ricky, and take your DAMN time doing it.

Before getting the NHL guys, Snow drafts Mikko Koskinen in round 2, and he will be competing for a job in Bridgeport this season. A good piece of insurance, this 21 year old was a surprise pick. Now – instead of taking chances with unproven netminders as was last year’s menu, this year has experience at the top level, and giving the boys down in the “A” a chance to grow and develop.

Looking at the roster, with the amount of injuries that the team had last season, it looks like a completely new crew. Hopefully, the number of man-games lost this season will be minimal. We lost over 600 games last season, where the cross-town team had less than 100. That is the difference between a 15th place team in the conference and 8th. Improve that number, and your chances get better.

Hopefully, this season, the doctor does not get a chance to work too much.

So to finalize, I did not expect to get the roster that would make us a top 3 team in the conference. I totally expected the management to build on the youth factor, and sprinkle cogs in to make the team better. I think Garth took a nice step to do just that. Yes, I am always a positive person, and I feel that the team will improve. Hey – there is no way that it can spiral down. Look at Pittsburgh the first season with Sidney. They were not good; and they improved each season from there. Spotting a trend?

My next report, I will look closer at the forwards at try to glimpse at my crystal ball and see what we have.

Please comment, if you will.

Posted under Islanders 09-10