2007-2008 NHL Season Preview - New York Islanders
New York Islanders
Notable moves and changes: Signed F Jon Sim (was with Atlanta), signed F Ruslan Fedotenko (was with Tampa), signed F Bill Guerin (was with San Jose and St. Louis), signed F Mike Comrie (was with Ottawa). Invited D Brian Berard to training camp.
Starting goalie: Rick DiPietro, though rookie backup Wade Dubielewicz saved the Isles’ arse late last season when DiPietro went down with an injury.
Summary of last year: Bringing their backup goalie, Garth Snow, in as GM. Signing Rick DiPietro to a 15 year contract. Hiring Ted Nolan to coach after years away from the NHL. Despite the departure of Mike Milbury (well from the GM role anyway), there were still plenty of reasons to make the Islanders the butt of the joke. They proved everyone wrong by improving by 14 points and sneaking their way past the Leafs into the final playoff spot in the East.
Prediction for this year: The players the Islanders lost in the off-season is an intimidating list: Jason Blake, Sean Hill, Viktor Kozlov, Tom Poti, Ryan Smyth, Alexei Yashin (just seeing if you’re paying attention), and Richard Zednik. They didn’t back down over the summer and signed a number of quality forwards to fill the gaps. Is it enough? And can the team survive a wholesale change of so many of its top scorers? Time will tell, but my money is on Ted Nolan to pull this one off.
New York Islanders, Jon Sim, Ruslan Fedotenko, Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie, Brian Berard, Rick DiPietro, Wade Dubielewicz, Garth Snow, Ted Nolan, Mike Milbury, Jason Blake, Sean Hill, Viktor Kozlov, Tom Poti, Ryan Smyth, Alexei Yashin, Richard Zednik
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