Alexei Yashin would be a solid secondary offensive option for an Islanders team on the rise.
Did you chuckle when you heard the New York Islanders were in negotiations with Alexei Yashin to return to the NHL? Or perhaps you laughed out loud?
Yashin? Back in the NHL? With the team that bought him out?
Go ahead and laugh all you want because regardless of what happens with Yashin, the Islanders have poised themselves to take a significant step foreword next season.
Having missed the playoffs the past four seasons and in five of the past six years, there is certainly no guarantee the Islanders will make it into the post-season in 2011-12. However, based on their solid play in the second half of last season coupled with the fact they have a fine group of young and developing players, it shouldn't be considered entirely farfetched.
After going a team record 15 games without a win through late November, the team changed coaches bringing in jack Capuano to replace Scott Gordon and the new bench boss seemed to have the ear of the players.
Some people laughed when controversial owner Charles Wang named his backup goalie, Garth Snow, as the team's general manager in 2006, but to Snow's credit, he has done a nice job rebuilding a franchise that, if the truth were told, not many players want to be a part of. We all know about the Islanders arena woes and the fact they play in the worst building in the NHL and had the lowest average attendance at just over 11,000 per game.
Still, there is reason for hope starting with budding star John Tavares. After taking junior hockey by storm, Tavares has been slow to make his mark in the NHL. However, in the second half last season, the 6-foot-3, 198-pound 20-year old really started to blossom. Not surprisingly, he led the team in scoring with 29 goals and 67 points in 79 games; five more goals and 13 more points than he managed as a freshman. The first overall pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft looks like a kid who could be a top 10 scorer in the NHL for the next 10 seasons.
It doesn't stop with Tavares, either. Matt Moulson, a free agent signed by the Islanders after a cup of coffee with the Los Angeles Kings, shocked the hockey world when he fired 30 goals in his first full season in New York. Many wondered if he was a flash-in-the-pan -- a one-hit wonder, if you will -- but Moulson proved his worth last season by following up with a 31-goal year. Moulson parlayed his output into a three-year contract with the Islanders for $9.45 million.
If that wasn't enough to give Snow credibility, then how about his waiver wire pickup of Michael Grabner last season? The 14th overall pick by the Vancouver Canucks in 2006 kicked around the minors for the better part of three years and even failed to make the Florida Panthers -- the Florida freakin Panthers! -- last season before being grabbed by the Islanders. One of the fastest skaters in the NHL, all Grabner did was lead the Islanders in goals with 34 and was named a finalist for the Calder Trophy, given to the NHL's rookie of the year. If this guy could learn to consistently convert on breakaways, he could be a serious threat for the Rocket Richard Trophy which is awarded annually to the league's top goal-scorer.
The Islanders were hampered by injuries last year when shoulder boo-boos limited young Kyle Okposo to just 38 games and caused star defenceman Mark Streit to miss the entire year. Getting those back healthy would go a long way in helping the Islanders make it to the playoff dance. Goaltender Rick DiPietro also continued to be in and out of sickbay.
As for Yashin, nobody ever questioned his talent. It was his heart that often came into debate. Did he badly want to win or was he just in it for a paycheck? At 37, his best days are unquestionably behind him, but that doesn't mean he could not contribute as a secondary scorer on a team that is being led by its young guns.
In 53 games with St. Petersburg of the KHL last season, Yashin scored 15 goals and 33 points and then added five points in four playoff games. His regular season numbers were eerily similar to those he put up in his last NHL season on Long Island in 2006-07 when he scored 18 goals and 50 points in 58 games.
With or without Yashin, I believe the Islanders are definitely a team worth keeping an eye on this season.
