2009-10 NHL Preview: New York Islanders
The New York Islanders are a mess. There is really now other way to say it. They have Owner Charles Wang, who just may be the worst NHL owner not named Jerry Moyes, and they have failed to make it past the first round of the playoffs since 1993. A lot of that is due to either bad drafting or the team inability to keep top prospects on the roster. Far too often this team has traded away its top prospect, including a trade that sent away star net minder Robert Luongo away.
General Manager Garth Snow now appears to be willing to build this team from the ground up through the draft. In 2009 they had the number one selection in the NHL entry draft and used to select John Tavares. Now they hope that Tavares added to other high draft pick Kyle Okposo, and Josh Bailey as the nucleus for which this team can build around.
These three young forwards have a Herculean task ahead of them. The Islanders finished 29th in scoring last season averaging just 2.42 goals per game. Veteran Doug Weight will lead their supporting forward cast with Trent Hunter and Richard Park adding grittiness to the team.
On defense the Isles would like to see last season’s all star Mark Streit will match his 40 assists and 56 points from last season. They are also hoping Brendan Witt can rebound from an injury prone campaign that saw him end last season with a NHL worst -34 rating.
Things aren’t much better in net as the Islanders bring back often injured Rick DiPietro who is coming off knee surgery. As their main backup plan the team has also signed two veteran net minders in Dwayne Roloson, and Marty Biron.
Key Additions- D Mark Flood, F Greg Mauldin, LW Matt Moulson, RW Greg Moore, LW Jeremy Rich, and G Scott Munroe
Subtractions- D Joe Callahan, G Yann Danis, D Jamie Fraser, D Chris Lee, G Joey MacDonald, G Peter Mannino, and C Ben Walter
