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By Mark D, April 7, 2011 3:30 am

So it’s now 2012-2013, have I finally turned the page for the Islanders?

Yep, 19 games into the season and JT is done for about the year. So It’s another wonderful season of trying to turn things around for the Islanders.

We’re at game 42 now and they have actually turned it around a bit. Blake Comeau has just set a career high (21) in assists about a week ago, while Josh Bailey has set a career high in goals (17) just last game. The lineup at the start of the season was:

Moulson – Tavares – Okposo
Comeau – Bailey – Nino
Schremp – Nielsen – Figren
Martin – Konopka – Joensuu

Wisniewski – Streit (Oh and they hate each other, I get constant news of Streit talking to Wisniewski after the game)
McBain – DeHaan
Hillen – Katic

Mikko and DP rotate starts.

After JT’s injury here’s the new lines

Comeau – Bailey – Okposo
Moulson – Nielsen – Nino
Schremp – Kennedy – Figren

Unfortunately while the first line is working out great (Comeau, Bailey and Okposo have some of the best +/- on the team) the Moulson/Nielsen/Nino line is pretty dead in the water. All 3 of them are -9 or worse, and only Moulson has more then 20 points. Nielsen has 16 and Nino 12. The third line is even worse, but at least they are better defensively. Tim Kennedy has 5 points in 23 games and a -5, Schremp has 7 points in 42 games and is a -7 and Figren has 14 points in 42 games and a -10 but he’s the only one of the three on the PP so he has 4 PP points.

The game gives players 1-10 ratings after every game, and compiles them for an average on the stats scene. It probably isn’t surprising to find out that Schremp, Kennedy and Figren (who last year was a candidate for the Calder) are the worst three forwards on the team. The next forward after them is Frans at 6.05 rating, while Schremp has a 5.83, Kennedy has a 5.65 and Figren has a 5.55. At this point I might be better off bringing up someone from Bridgeport.

Here’s the current BP lineup.

Ryan Reeves – Tomas Marcinko – Rhett Rakhshani
Jason Gregoire – Corey Trivino – Reilly Smith
Tomas Vincour – Justin DiBendetto – David Ullstrom
Brad Snetsinger – Brian Day – Brett Leffler

Hamonic – Blake Kessel
MacDonald – DeHart
Klementyev – Nemeth

Poulin – Rosen rotate starts

BP is insanely good at defense, they are second in the league in giving up goals at 59 in 42 games. Of course with only 79 goals they are one of the worst teams in the league offensively. I’m thinking of calling up Marcinko (74 Defense rating) Reaves (67 Defense rating) and Leffler (63 Defense rating) and either bouncing up the 4th line to the 3rd line or replacing the whole 3rd line. I’m leaning towards the first option, as the 4th line has some of the best +/- of the whole team and has created nearly as much offense as the 3rd line anyway.

So here’s a bit of a surprise after all that, The Islanders are actually doing alright. They are 18-21-0-3 which is good for 39 points and 8th in the Eastern Conference by 3 points. The problem as always seems to be their inability to win away from home, as they are 12-8-0-1 at home. They are getting decent goaltending from Mikko and DP.

Speaking of DP, these are some of the transactions I made in the offseason.

Listed DP and Robbie Schremp as Trade Bait to see if I could get anything for them.
Drafted Aatu Pekkala an offensive defenseman from Finland first overall. I know, I have a ton of offensive defenseman. But he was the highest rated defenseman without reaching as the next dman wasn’t taken until 13th overall.
Drafted Herbert Gefrich in the 2nd round, a defensive defenseman from Slovakia.
Drafted Leopold Elias a goaltender from the Czech Republic in the 3rd round
Drafted Arsi Sari an offensive Defenseman from Finland who has horrible offensive skills, in the 4th round
Drafted Paulo Schimpf a physical defenseman from Switzerland in the 5th round
I picked up Jamie McBain in the waiver draft, unprotected Trent Hunter who was claimed by Columbus.
Also playing for BP right now is Shane Sims and Matt Donovan who I signed to two way deals.
Also made Andrew MacDonald the captain at Bridgeport.

And that’s this season halfway mark as my Simulated Islanders turn. Any Advice/thoughts from the peanut gallery would be appreciated!

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By Mark D, March 7, 2011 5:36 pm

Well I appear to have more Snow in me then Milbury, as I’ve managed to make the Islanders marginally worse. On the bright side, Robin Figren had a 50 point season. He finished 2nd in Calder voting and in points to Sean Courtier who had a 53 point year. Okposo, Tavares, Moulson continued to improve. On the downside Schremp disappeared, Comeau sucked again, DiPietro was steadily underwhelming and Koskinen was erratic. Everytime he had a good game and DP had a bunch of bad ones, I tried giving Koskinen a few games in a row and he’d bomb out even worse.

Want to see how annoying he was? The game rates players 1-10 depending on how they did that night. Here is his # rating for each game graphed:

Interesting Happenings:

Boston Wins the Cup defeating the Predators. They have now won the Cup in back to back years.
The Western Conference bracket was sort of strange, as none of the Western Playoff regulars made it:

The Calendar for the year
The Calendar for the Playoffs

The New York Islander Stats
Last Years Stats
The Bridgeport Stats
Last Years Stats

Pro Stats

Mighty Ducks
Thrashers
Bruins
Sabres
Hurricanes
BlueJackets
Flames
Blackhawks
Avalanche
Stars
Red Wings
Oilers
Panthers
Kings
Wild
Avalanche
Canadiens
Predators
Devils
Rangers
Flyers
Coyotes
Penguins
Sharks
Blues
Lightning
Maple Leafs
Canucks
Capitals

Farm Stats

Albany River Rats
Chicago Wolves
Cincinatti Mighty Ducks
Cleveland Barons
Detroit Vipers
Grand Rapid Griffins
Hamiliton Bulldogs
Hershey Bears
Hartford Wolfpack
Houston Aeros
KC Blades
Louisville Panthers
Lowell Lock Monsters
Manitoba Moose
Miluwalkee Admirals
Manchester Monarchs
Norfolk Admirals
Philly Phantoms
Portland Pirates
Providence Bruins
Quebec Citadels
Rochester Americans
St Johns Flames
St Johns Maple Leafs
Springfield Falcons
Syracuse Crunch
Utah Grizzlies
WB Penguins
Worcester IceCats

Playoff Stats

Wild
Ducks
Predators
Oilers
Coyotes
BlueJackets
Canucks
Blues
Bruins
Hurricanes
Flyers
Senators
Capitals
Lightning
Penguins
Sabres

The End of Year Standings
The Scoring Leaders
The Playoff Scoring Leaders

And now it’s time to look at the upcoming Free Agents:

Mark Eaton: Is done, easily replaced by a number of youngsters in BP
Matt Martin: Keep
Tim Kennedy: Probably Keep unless he’s expensive. Good as a fill in player at any forward position.
Frans Nielsen: Keep or else I will be Lynched
John Tavares: I’m not on crack
Mikko Koskinen: I could let him go, and give Poulin a chance next season. But I think I’ll keep him and maybe go with 3 men.
Tyler Spurgeon: Gone
Joel Rechleicz: Gone
Tony Romano: Gone
Justin Keller: Gone
Mark Katic: Keeper and probably promoted
The following guys are sticking around but running out of time: Justin DiBenedetto, Rhett Rakhshani

I’m probably not going to sign any big name Free Agents. I have the first overall pick in the draft, and I think I’m going to draft a fin. Aatu Pekkala is an offensive defenseman (yes, another) who is rated as an average NHL’er, but is insanely consistent. Also he’s the only Dman in the top 10 so that’s that. Seth Ambroz and Nino will probably be graduated to either BP or NYI, depending on if I can dump Schremp/Comeau.

So let’s hope next season is a bit of an improvement. I mean they have to be better then this hopefully.

Oh and virtual NHL’ers don’t like playing in the WCs:

PS: As always, I’m still recruiting for an EHM league. If you’ve messaged me before I have your info written down. Comment here or on the forums if you want in.

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By Mark D, March 1, 2011 2:01 pm

So we’re halfway (41 games) through the 11-12 season with the Islanders now. At the Draft I took RW Seth Ambroz 4th overall. I didn’t make any big signings in the FA Period, but I did pick up Brooks Oprik in the Waiver Draft.

I’ve also gotten some interesting messages meant to torture me such as:

Yes Blake, you haven’t been playing because you BROKE YOUR LEG!

Oh and btw, Injuries have been FUN this season. So far:

Blake Comeau 2 months due to his Leg injury
Mark Streit 1 Month with a head injury
Andrew MacDonald 4 Months with a thigh injury

The Blake Comeau one is pretty bad, because I was just about to promote him over Rob Schremp who is struggling hugely this year.

So the current lines for the Isles are:

Moulson – Tavares – Okposo
Schremp – Bailey – Figren (Who is in contention for the Calder right now)
Martin – Nielsen – Joensuu
Kennedy – Konpoka – Hunter

and the D Pairings are:

Wisniewski – Oprik
Hillen – Eaton
Katic – Hamonic

The starter is DiPietro still, with Kosikinen backing him up.

Our current standings in the East and by Division:

We’re in a bit of a tailspin, but hopefully we can stay in contention. I really want to make the playoffs this year.

Here’s the current stats for the Isles/Bridgeport and League Leaders.

And here are our current prospects, Nino and Ambroz are probably both going to be called up to play in the NHL next year.

Still holding out hope on making the playoffs. It looks like I really need Comeau to come back so I can demote Schremp because he’s really struggling this year. Most of his points have come at totally useless times. Whenever I give Mikko more then the odd start here and there he always bombs. I keep thinking maybe he’ll be better then DP, and then he gives up 4-5 goals. Also I’m amused that Cody Rosen is becoming such a good goalie.

I also posted the pic about Comeau last night on twitter and got this wonderful reply from Nightfly/Mike.

I just advanced a few more games, and I shake my fist in rage at Virtual Bettman

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By admin, January 2, 2010 2:55 am

Its amazing how stuff works in my head sometimes. Originally I wanted to compare the 99-00 Islanders Depth Chart to the 09-10 Islanders Depth Chart. If anyone can actually find a depth chart or the regular lines from the 99/00 season contact me. There were too many players who only played 40 games for me to guess. But instead I realized something else. The Five youngest players of each team had a good deal of potential that went unrealized for the Islanders. So lets compare.

1999-2000 Islanders

Tim Conolly

Aged 18 and the Islanders #5 pick overall in 1999, he played in 81 games that season. With 34 Points but a minus 25 rating (only ahead of Chara’s minus 27) Conolly finished third on the team in scoring. It was a hopefully promising start to his Islanders career. He ended up being traded in the deal for Peca. Although solid but unspectacular, he tends to get hurt easy and hasn’t played a complete season in over five years now.

Mathieu Biron

Aged 19 and the 21st pick overall in the 1998 draft. He was acquired as part of the Palffy/Smolinski trade with the Kings. He played 60 Games, Managed 8 points and was -13 on the year. The 60 games would be a career high for him as the following season he was in Milbury’s doghouse and sent to the AHL. He was eventually traded for Acouin. He spent last year and this year in the German Hockey League.

Olli Jokinen

Aged 20 and the 3rd overall pick in the 97 draft. Olli was highly touted and was part of the same Palffy/Smolinski deal with Biron.  This was his one season on the Island and he managed 21 points in 82 games. On the bright side he did finish with a Zero in the +/- column. He would later be dealt with Luongo for Parrish and Kvasha. He was the Panthers Captain for five seasons and has racked up a good career with 539 points in 827 games.

Eric Brewer

Aged 20 and the 5th Overall pick of the 97 Draft. Brewer found himself in Milbury’s doghouse rather quickly in his second season. He managed a minus 11 in 26 games with only two points. Brewer ended up being dealt in the deal for Hamrlik with the Oilers. It ended up better for Brewer, as he is currently captain of the Blues, a Gold Medal Olympian and considered a top dman.

Roberto Luongo

Aged 20 and the 4th overall pick in the 97 draft. Originally angry at not making the team out of camp, he was eventually called up given Potvin’s trade. He had a good season for a rookie on a horrible team, matching or improving upon the stats of former All-Star Potvin and older Weekes. He ended up being dealt with Jokinen for Parrish and Kvasha.  He is a four time all-star, the captain of the Canucks, and has more Records then I could list here.

I’m actually surprised at how Talented the 99-00 team was. Three of the Top Five picks of the 97 Draft played for the team. That might be the only time that’s happened. All of them except Biron are still in the NHL Today, and Luongo – Jokinen – Brewer might have been a good core for any team to build around.  All three of them have been captains of their respective teams. So how does the future hold up?

2009 – 2010 Islanders

John Tavares

Aged 18 and the first overall pick of the 2009 draft. He currently leads all rookies in Points and Goals, and should be leading in the Calder trophy if the Islanders continue challenging for the playoffs. Obviously one year does not make a career, but Tavares has been everything the Islanders could have wanted out of him this year. Teams are game planing to keep him out of “his office” in front of the net.

Joshua Bailey

Aged 19 and the #9 overall pick in 2008. Although he hasn’t been the scoring machine he was in the OHL (At least this season is an improvement on last) his defensive play has been highly rated. His plus 6 is second on the team and he is third on the team in goals. I sense this could go either way, but I’ll be happy if he just ends up a solid defensive center.

Kyle Okposo

Aged 21 and the 7th overall pick of the 2006 draft. Okposo is proving that 39 points in 65 games last season (Good for 2nd on the team) was no fluke. He’s already racked up 27 points in 41 games which is good for 2nd on the team and puts him on pace for 54 points barring injury. Okposo looks like he is going to be a force for years to come on the Island.

Andrew MacDonald

Aged 22 and a former 6th Round pick in 2006. MacDonald is a sign of something new on the Island, patience. Given time to work up to the NHL level, MacDonald was an all star in the AHL last year, led all Bridgeport dmen in points and was sixth on the team in points himself. Over the course of 18 games MacDonald has managed a plus 5 on the season and has managed to earn the trust of Scott Gordon and given more ice time as his play showed he was worthy. MacDonald might be a drop in the bucket, or he might be a long term dman for the Islanders. But after years of late round picks being wasted he is a good sign of what can come of patience and the right player

Blake Comeau

Aged 23 and drafted 47th overall in 2004. Although he hasn’t been impressive enough to earn a full time slot this season (11 Points in 26 games). He is yet another sign of a change of culture. This is now his fourth season on the Island and there is no talk of doghouses. There is no GM running around bashing him in the press. There is just that feeling that as the Islanders improve, this might be one of the last chances for Comeau to prove he can play with the big boys. Whereas in the past his 15 points in 51 games in 2007/08 might have meant the trading block, he’s still on the Island knocking on the door and working for the chance.

In Conclusion

This article became something I didn’t think it would. Its not about a comparison of Luongo – Jokinen – Brewer to Tavares – Bailey – Okposo. Instead its a story of how the culture of a team can change. How a team can leave the dark ages and show you the light is at the end of the tunnel. How one man can shamelessly destroy a team. Of the 99 team, Luongo played 24 games as an Islander, Conolly 163, Biron 74, Jokinen 82 and Brewer 89. You can’t look at a 20 year old or younger playing under 100 games and say what the future will be.  By the same token, Comeau has 133 games, MacDonald has 110 AHL games, Bailey 109, Okposo 115 and Tavares 41. By now in the past Okposo and Bailey would probably be on the trading block, Comeau would be long gone and MacDonald would have never been called up (A questionable Vet would have been brought in).

So for the first time in years, I can look at the Islanders and feel like the future might be bright. That in a few years we might be talking about the cup. I don’t have to worry when Snow goes to the Podium at the draft because he’s not insane. Lets just hope the future on the Island is as bright for Tavares – Okposo – Bailey as it was once for Luongo – Brewer – Jokinen.