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By Mark D, April 10, 2013 1:10 am

So with the Islanders getting closer and closer to a playoff birth, I thought it might be interesting to look around the web and see where the Isles were predicted to finish at the start of the season.

ESPN Season Starting Power Rank has them in 27th, behind Calgary and Edmonton.

SBN Season Preview the Atlantic Preview written by some hack had them in last.

CBS Sports Season Preview had the Islanders finishing dead last in the East

The Hockey News had them in dead last in the East

Puck Daddy Atlantic Preview had them in Last

NBC Pro Hockey Talk had some great quotes about the Isles:

2. Which team will finish last overall?

JB: New York Islanders. Glaring weaknesses in all areas.

MH: Columbus Blue Jackets. The Central Division is loaded; they’re going to get slaughtered.

RD: Columbus Blue Jackets. I hate being predictable, but I can’t think of anyone even remotely close to CBJ.

JY: New York Islanders. The rest of their division is a meat grinder and they’re ridiculously young.

JOB: Columbus Blue Jackets. On paper, it doesn’t get much worse.

Sports Illustrated Atlantic preview had them finishing last

And their first power rankings of the season had them in 28th

Looking back at this, the greatest irony for me is how many people mentioned Rick DiPietro’s injuries while ignoring that Nabokov is on the roster. Also they felt fine predicting a big season for the Flyers despite Bryz’s insanity.

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By Mark D, August 10, 2012 2:23 pm

Let me say, I’ve never liked Gary Bettman. I hated the changes he made to both the playoffs and the renaming of the conferences and divisions. Most of all he’s the only commissioner who has presided over two work stoppages, and is now on the verge of the hat trick of lock outs. After the last lockout the NHL was supposed to be dead in the water. It took a few years, but the league is finally back on track and stronger then ever. Yet despite this, Bettman has said without a new CBA deal the owners will lock out.

Look, the NHL doesn’t make nearly as much as the NFL, but even they were able to agree that making money > lock out. This CBA has been good for the league for the most part (don’t get me started on the constantly rising salary cap/floor), and it shouldn’t be insane to think that the owners can’t work under the current CBA while negotiating a new one. What is really so hard about this deal? Didn’t the league get set back enough by losing a whole season? I realize this time they have the NHL on NBC deal, unlike the in the air ESPN deal, but it’s ridiculous.

Play the game, make bundles of money, and then figure out how to fix the CBA. It’s not a crazy idea. The worst thing is most of the proposals I hear are rules to keep the owners from shooting themselves in the foot. For example the not longer then 5 year contracts. It’s not because there are contracts out there circumventing the cap, but instead because a lot of these players quickly become dead weight while just a few years into the contract. There’s ways to fix the cap circumventing without limiting contracts to 5 years. If long term deals are that bad, the owners should just stop giving them out.

Bettman already has a mixed history, among other things the constant moving around of teams. The lockouts, destruction of history, moving around small town franchises and the Coyotes are all part of an amazing journey.  I can not possibly think of something worse for the NHL today then another lockout.  If they really are planning to go into a lockout, there are probably accounting students in community colleges that could explain to Bettman why that’s a bad idea.

Oh hockey, I love you, but why do you taunt me so? I’m an Islanders fan and have gotten 20 years of insanity for one good run to the conference finals. You then gave me back to back years of the Red Wings and Penguins, two teams I could not hate more. It seems like every team I cheer for in the playoffs gets beaten. Then you let the Rangers add Rick Nash to their roster, without having a huge injury to one of their other stars. Hockey, you are a cruel mistress.

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By Mark D, May 26, 2012 3:39 am

Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers is one of the elite goalies in the league. He’s single-handedly carried the Rangers to the playoffs in every seasons except for one. The season the Rangers missed the playoffs, they were only 1 point out. With an offense that actually scored on a regular basis, it’s not surprising that they had a good season. Lundqvist is one of the nominees for the Vezina this year for best goaltender and will likely win because the sportswriters don’t watch the West or Jonathon Quick.

At the same time, Roberto Luongo was once on the same level of being an elite goalie. Yet because he is so good it is always on his back when the Canucks fall short in the playoffs. So how long until the press starts clamoring that Lundqvist can’t take the pressure of the playoffs? That he’s fine when nothings on the line, but during the playoffs he disappears. Would it be fair? probably not, but neither is the relentless attacks on Luongo about the playoffs either. Hockey is a team sport.

Ironically you might be wondering why I decided to compare Luongo and Lundqvist. Well just take a quick look at their playoff career stats (not including last nights loss for Henrik)

Henrik
GP      W      L   T     GA          SA         SV      SV%   GAA SO

Luongo
GP      W      L   T     GA          SA         SV      SV%   GAA SO

They are nearly identical. Except that Luongo has a higher GAA (by .23) a lower SV% (by .01) and more wins in 7 more games. If your going to claim that Luongo is a bust, or that he is a flop in the playoffs, you can make the same claim for Lundqvist. Who can forget 2008-2009 when the Rangers were up 3-1 against the Capitals, and proceeded to drop the next 3 games. Couldn’t he have stolen one game from them?

I’m sure since Lundqvist is probably going to get his hands on the Vezina, sportswriters will just ignore his playoff stats (or that the Rangers had the most blocked shots in the post season). But the second that Luongo gets traded, all you’ll hear about is his failures in the playoffs. Both players have had similar playoff careers, but arguments can be made that the team around them struggled too. Where was Gaborik? In the loss to the Devils he had 1 goal and no assists.

I’m going to love seeing what the headlines and stories are. Especially given NYC’s media love affair with Henrik. I’m sure that Gaborik and Richards will get most of the beating in the press about the loss. It’ll be rare to see someone actually point to Henrik’s 4 losses all involving a SV% below .900. He got outplayed by a 40 year old Martin Brodeur. People thought Marty should have retired 2 seasons ago. Marty meanwhile only dipped under a .900 SV% once, and it was during a win anyway.

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By Mark D, March 9, 2012 1:23 am

Well I’ve been in control of the simulated Islanders for almost 8 years now. For all that, they have 1 playoff appearance in which they were swept in 4 games. A number of things have really worked against me in this time. One season was ruined by injuries to John Tavares and Kyle Okposo. There’s been a few seasons in which we just barely missed making the playoffs. It also doesn’t help that not only was Brock Nelson not an Isles prospect (someone mistakenly thought he was a Shark) but most of the prospects sucked.

For that matter, there really haven’t been too many great players out of the last few drafts. The top of the league’s scoring leaders looks not too far off from what it looks today:

The Islanders current lines are:

Moulson-JT-KO
Kabanov-Bailey-Ambroz
Comeau-Nielseon-Nino
Martin-Marcinko-Joensuu

McBain-Matt Clark
DeHaan-DeHart
B. Kessel-Aatu Pekkala

Belengar gets most of the goalie starts, but I’ve been rotating in and out Poulin/Elias/Rosen just to test everyone.

Here’s a look at the current standings and Islanders Stats:

I love the fact that the Thrashers still exist in the game world. Mostly cause I’m too lazy to edit everything, but oh well. My main problem is the problem I seem to have every year, that the top 2 lines score a lot and the bottom line does a good job grinding but the 3rd line just gets its ass kicked. But there is hope for the future. The season I mentioned in which we lost Tavares and Okposo for the year early on? Well I ended up drafting John Shanahan. I was upset because he was a center, but I had no choice. Check out his stats in BP:

He also leads the whole AHL currently, and is helping Petrov to one of his best seasons ever. Petrov’s highest AHL total is 49 points, and he’s only 10 points off of that with half the season gone. Denny Murray meanwhile is a journeyman AHL’er at best whose skills are deteriorating but plays on Shanahan’s line because of an injury to Anton Roshenko (another former 1st rounder) and has been having a great year. Just to show how good Shanahan’s been, here’s the AHL scoring leaders:

He’s obviously going to be good, and he’s on the verge of being good enough for the NHL. His promotion might mean the end of Frans Nielsen as an Islander. Marcinko is too good as a defensive center to let go. Bailey would get bounced down to the 3rd line and Shanahan would be 2nd line center. Hopefully a small move like that will make the whole team better, especially as Frans has been struggling.

But for now the Isles are floating just outside of a playoff appearance. Considering that not too long ago the team was on an 8 game losing streak, 5 points out isn’t too bad. Just need to get some consistency going really. I wish I could trade one of my goalies and something else (or Comeau) for a better left winger. No one’s willing to trade for a goalie, and I don’t know why so much of the league is under .90 SV%. Well In a few months I’ll probably get back to playing and tell you how the season goes.

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By Mark D, January 12, 2012 1:39 pm

I have no words. All I needed to do was win one of my last two games and I would have made the playoffs. Instead I finished in 10th, one point out of 8th place. Let me go shove my head in an oven for a bit. I no longer know what is going wrong. I have 6 players with 20 goal seasons. 5 players with over 50 points, 3 players with over 60 points. Matty Moulson finished with 49 points. I think the problem is still with my bottom 6, who all finished the season in the negative, and unfortunately the patron saint of LHH (Frans Nielsen) continues to deteriorate.

Kolvachuk drove the Phoenix Coyotes to the Stanley Cup winning the Conn Smythe. They pretty much manhandled the Penguins in the final. Checking the News Stories, it appears that Kovy is going to become a UFA and the Yotes can’t afford to keep him.

I would also be remiss not to mention that Swedish Defenseman Aatu Pekkala who I drafted first overall in 2012 lead all Rookies in points (it was a weak year) and was up for the Calder but lost.

My upcoming free agents are all RFAs who I’ll probably keep. It’s JT, Tim Kennedy, Kevin Poulin, Blake Comeau and Jamie McBain. I don’t have too many free agents in BP, the only going I’m cutting loose is David Toews because I need to make room for First Overall pick John Shanahan whose also a Center.

I don’t particularly have glaring needs at the moment, I’m going to try to aim for forwards and some bottom 6 defensively strong guys.

In the First Round at 13th Overall I select Defenseman Wayne Presely, who is a stay at home dman from Canada. The CSB had him ranked 10th overall.

In the Second Round at 43nd Overall I select Defenseman Kirill Berin, an offensive dman from Russia playing in the OHL. The CSB had him ranked at 45th overall.

In the Third Round at 73rd Overall I select Right Winger Ivan Slazak, a power forward from Slovakia playing in their league. The CSB had him ranked at 74th overall

In the Fourth Round at 103rd Overall I select Right Winger Artur Ambruz, a two way forward from the Czech Republic playing in the WHL. The CSB had him ranked at 105th Overall

In the Fifth Round at 133rd Overall I select Defenseman Evgeni Semiriak, an offensive defenseman from Latvia who is playing in Russia. The CSB had him ranked at 129th Overall.

Okay, so I ended up drafting a lot more defenseman then I thought I would, but they were the best players available.

I’m going to pretty much plow ahead with the same team I already have, and see how it goes. One mistake I realized is that I wanted to hire Joel Quinvelle to be head coach. But because I had re-signed Capuano to be head coach of Bridgeport the game accidentally made him head coach of the NHL team. So I have all that sorted and I’m hoping for the best.

And here are the full stats for Year 6, which would technically be 16-17.

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
Senators
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

Coyotes
Canucks
Predators
Wild
Kings
Ducks
Blackhawks
Blues
Bruins
Thrashers
Devils
Senators
Capitals
Lightning
Penguins
Canadians

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