It’s been more than a decade and the Islanders are still trying to find that culture of winning.
CALGARY -- Detroit has it mastered. Pittsburgh has it down now too.
Vancouver looks like they're finally getting it. And San Jose? Who can ever figure out San Jose?
We're talking about culture. The culture, that every Edmonton, Tampa Bay and Columbus out there is trying to develop, after they take a long look in the mirror one day only to realize that they've got nothing of the sort going in their own dressing room.
Florida? They couldn't find it with a compass.
Minnesota? Not with an apple and a road map.
And the New York Islanders?
"It's a process," said their poster boy, John Tavares.
So was putting a man on the moon, John. We wonder, which will take longer to succeed?
Tavares had two goals and an assist on Monday as they stretched a recent run to 7-1-1 with a 5-2 road win over the Calgary Flames. But even with that skein, the Isles wake up Tuesday morning in 29th place in the NHL heading into Thursday's visit to Edmonton.
How long have the New York Islanders been a loser? Since the mid-'90s?
Today, as they try to dig themselves out from under years of neglect, this is a franchise that has become the Petri dish for how low a once-proud franchise can sink both on and off the ice.
GM Garth Snow has slowly built up a stable of young talent here -- Tavares, Travis Hamonic, Josh Bailey, Kyle Okposo, with juniors Calvin de Haan and Nino Niederreiter on the way -- and despite season-long injuries to Okposo and Mark Streit, New York has fashioned a 6-1-1 record in its past eight games.
"There are 30 teams trying to do it. It's definitely not easy," said Tavares on the process of building a winner. "I feel we're building in the right direction, I know Garth has a great plan and his eyes are set on what he wants to do.
"We've had a lot of ups and downs in my first year and a half. Hopefully it starts to come around."
So with all these positive things going on, why isn't this a straight success story?
Well, for one, the Isles were still 29th in the NHL standings as they opened up a two-game swing through Alberta Monday night in Calgary. And it's not bound to get any better until ownership shows signs that it is committed to the project.
With a practice rink in Syosset that a beer league team would be ashamed of, a home arena in Nassau County that is the National Hockey League's version of New Orleans housing post-Katrina, and home crowds that are commensurate to those decrepit buildings, the stench of death hovers over the Islanders -- the team that time forgot.
This is that construction project where the money runs out after the foundation is poured and framing has begun. The carpenters have long since gone home, and now the homeless have moved in.
The horses are here, and more are coming with yet another lottery pick on the horizon for this franchise. But pretty soon the entry-level contracts are going to run out, and these young players will be pilfered by other teams, or simply move along of their own volition.
"The young, core guys are maturing, getting better," said Mark Eaton, the veteran defenceman who signed on as an unrestricted free agent last summer.
He arrived in Pittsburgh in 2006, a year after the Penguins had finished 29th in the NHL. They would make the playoffs that season, win their Division in '07-'08, and then play in consecutive Cup finals.
At the urging of owner Mario Lemieux, general manager Ray Shero steadily built a first-class environment around Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury, Brooks Orpik and Rob Scuderi. Now the Penguins have "the culture," and as each new player enters that dressing room -- as each crop of free agents vie for a chance to play in Pittsburgh -- a winning environment moulds them into winning players.
"There you had Crosby, Malkin, Fleury, Orpik, (Jordan) Staal - guys who were drafted by the organization who went through a couple of tough, losing seasons. But as they matured and grew as players, that's when the team grew as well," Eaton said. "Throw in some veterans here and there, and it makes for a winning team. That's where we are here.
"The young talent that we have here, it's right up there, tops in the league. But we're in that process. We went through a pretty awful 20-game stretch (one win in 21 games). You have to learn how to win, and we're learning that right now."
Ownership has to learn how to win as well, and you simply cannot fool NHL players. You can't operate a franchise the way Charles Wang operates the Islanders, then call for your players to go to the wall for you.
The Isles have the lowest payroll in the NHL, the worst facilities by a country mile, and after firing another coach this season brought up another rookie from the farm team in Jack Capuano. The team is scheduled to spend Tuesday in Banff, Alta., before their Thursday game in Edmonton, but those kinds of perks can't obscure the fact that Wang has stopped trying as an owner.
It's been 17 seasons since the Islanders won a playoff series, more than a decade since goalie Rick Dipietro was drafted first overall in 2000, and still the Isles are dealing away Dwayne Roloson for a prospect and James Wisniewski for draft picks.
When does the cycle stop?
Frankly, there is no end in sight.
