March 22, 2004
State Of Affairs On The Island
While the New York Islanders went a long way toward securing a playoff spot with their performance over the weekend, there's still plenty to worry about on Long Island. Larry Brooks of the New York Post on the state of the franchise:
If the Islanders do hold off the Sabres, they'll be in the playoffs three straight years for the first time since their run of 14 annual invitations to the ball came to an end in 1988. That's something, especially when measured against the disrepair and ownership disrespect that preceded [Charles] Wang's purchase of the club. But it isn't a lot, except, that is, when measured against the ongoing failure in Manhattan. The Islanders aren't closer to winning the Cup than they were three years ago; indeed, they are farther away.
And who's to blame for that state of affairs? Who else, but General Manager Mike Milbury -- the man who after dealing with years of unstable ownership, has indeed managed to put the Islanders back in the playoff picture on a more or less regular basis. Unfortunately, it came at the cost of seeing multiple Islander prospects turn into stars with other clubs, while the massive contracts given to Alexi Yashin and Michael Peca have erased any payroll flexibility the club might have had.
There isn't much doubt about it -- this year's version of the Islanders isn't anywhere near as good as the team that took the ice as the fifth seed in the playoffs two years ago.
Certainly, untimely injuries to both Peca and Yashin have contributed to that, but Milbury's personnel decisions deserve a closer look as well. Please recall that it was Milbury's idea to package up Roberto Luongo to Florida, only to push his chips to the center of the table with Rick DiPietro.
The magnitude of that mistake has only become clearer as time has worn on. DiPietro has been an inconsistent performer on the Island, while Luongo has turned into the one reason to go see the Panthers on a nightly basis. Bottom line: the best goalies steal wins for you. Luongo does that with stunning regularity; DiPietro still can't. If Luongo were still in between the pipes on Long Island, the team's prospects would probably look a whole lot brighter.
If we weren't looking at a possible lockout, Milbury would probably be looking for another job. But with the league probably going into stasis come next Fall, it simply doesn't make any sense to continue to pay Milbury, as well as a new GM at the same time.
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It's a mystery how Milbury keeps his job:
1) todd bertuzzi, bryan mccabe and 3rd NYI (jarkko ruutu) to VCR for trevor linden
2) bryan berard to TOR for felix potvin
3) tommy salo to EDM for mats lindgren
4) roberto luongo, olli jokinen to FLO for mark parrish, oleg kvasha
5) chara, muckalt, 2nd overall pick = spezza for yashin
6) chris osgood to STL for justin papineau
Posted by:
at March 22, 2004 03:19 PM
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