Free fallin’
As quoted by the great Tom Petty, this team is “free, free falling”.
What was once a playoff hopeful is now looking more like a late season seller.
The one time red-hot New York Islanders are now losers of their last seven games and have fallen to 13th in the Eastern Conference standings.
What went wrong? That question can be answered in many ways.
For starters, Martin Biron who was signed in the off-season to be a capable back up has not played anything like the Biron of the prior two season. However, that is much in part due to the two styles of teams that show up on a nightly basis. All season it seemed as if the Islanders skaters would play different in front of Biron as they would starting netminder Dwayne Roloson.
Now with Rick DiPietro healthy again, Biron has become more of a press box representative. The first three games of DiPietro’s returning showed signs of potential. Now, that potential becomes more of an outlook heading into next season.
No, this season is not over yet but we have to be realistic here. Teams in the division as well as the conference are getting stronger and the game plan from the start was to “build”; meaning keep the youth and have them develop.
It would make no sense for Garth and company to add any contracts at this time from a “buyers” standpoint.
The rebuild is still in affect and all of Isles nation will be understanding about this. There were no expectations to start the season and the run was nice. The key to the rest of this season onward is development and positive momentum to carry on into next year.
John Tavares needs to go through the growing pains. Kyle Okposo has grown. Josh Bailey’s knowledge has developed. Jack Hillen and Andrew MacDonald are proving their value. Rick DiPietro found his health. Enough positives now, to move forward.
I do not like the recent rumors of Scott Gordon’s name coming up to be on the hot seat. Gordon has brought in a system that this team has bought into. His players listen and agree with Gordon’s preachings. Just because they have hit a slide does not warrant throwing Gordon under the bus.
Although mathematically the Islanders are still in a playoff hunt, it is not wise to damage the foundation of this team in order to obtain a rental player to make a playoff push.
Just my .02 , logically and realistically.
Quick hits:
Matt Martin will make his first trip to the National Hockey League when he is part of the Islanders line up tomorrow night against the Nashville Predators.
Jesse Joensuu will also be making an appearance with the Islanders as he has been recalled from Bridgeport.
Dwayne Roloson is expected to get the start.
I will have the gameday up tomorrow prior to setting up my live blog as I will be attending the game.
