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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 Mark D, February 26, 2011 1:38 pm

Because Islander fans are some of the most insanely loyal fans in sports today. It takes a lot to be a fan through thick and thin, and when the Isles turn it around, we’ll know who was there during the dark days and who wasn’t.

To set this up, Rob Schremp has just been waived by the Islanders along with Lawson. Now it doesn’t really mean anything since he won’t be picked up (eg: He’ll play tonight’s game) and is probably more of a roster move. I’m actually a fan of Rob Schremp and I’m disheartened that he hasn’t done much with his chances this year. But maybe some time at Bridgeport will do him good, especially since they are in desperate need of a Center who can actually score goals.

But I wouldn’t have expected to find this response:

I would recommend never telling her your a Rangers fan, you’ll probably get stabbed.

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By Mark D, December 22, 2010 6:04 am

It was a decade ago that the Islanders had their second worst team point wise. During that offseason the Islanders (well Milbury) went on a spending spree to make the Islanders a contender. Gone were a boatload of prospects and young promising players. For one season the Islanders had finally seemed to turn it all around, a 40+ point turn around and the toast of the town.

It was a mirage. The team never returned to those same heights again, and nearly every youngster traded has proven to be worth more then that 1 good season. The Islanders prospect system was stripped so bare that almost nothing remains from the Islanders draftees of those days. They are not only back to square one, but worse off then when they started.

Yet to hear Islander fans talk, you would think they’d give up everything to be competitive for just one season again. Is Mediocrity that great?

There seems to be a misunderstanding of how the NHL works. Despite the Rangers having the leagues highest payroll year in and out while they failed spectacularly, everyone in NY seems to think you can buy a winner in the NHL. For this I blame the Yankees and Mets especially, but the Knicks too.  For whatever reason though, it just doesn’t work like that in hockey. Actually on a regular basis teams that have tried to buy a contender have had it completely backfire nearly every time.

Yet it seems that Islander fans are living in a fantasy world in which a new owner with deep pockets is going to show up, start throwing around money left and right, sign every big name on the FA Market and start winning. Let’s not even get into whether or not players will come to the Isles instead of a contender, or that the new owner would be more then willing to just start spending.

I don’t know anymore. Everyone screams about Parenteau and how the Islanders should have spent more on a winger. Yet one of the wingers who the Islanders could have signed, Frolov, is having a near identical season to Parenteau. Meanwhile Parenteau is making 3 million less.

It seems like everything that has to do with the Islanders now suddenly becomes some crazy conspiracy theory.

Did you hear about Cody Rosen’s dad having something to do with his drafting?

Did you hear that Wang prefers the team to be bad so he has a writeoff?

Or that Wang refuses to spend above the cap floor?

Look, it was one thing when the string of horrible owners were cutting costs in the mid 90s. But now it seems like all these myths could be busted if you took a logical look at the situation. I almost feel like a broken record at this point, but to believe that Wang or Snow want to purposely hurt the Islanders is just silly.

It’s gotten to the point that I want to tell some people to just back away from their computers. Go outside, get a breath of fresh air. Anything to get your mind off of this.

Look, I was critical of Don Maloney, I was critical of Mike Milbury, but did I ever believe they had anything but the best intentions for the team? No. I can sit down and look at a majority of the Milbury trades and put a positive spin on at least what he was trying to accomplish.

The real litmus test will be this offseason. They have to keep Moulson and the other RFAs who are important to the future of the team. There’s almost no reason I can think of for Moulson to leave the Island, unless they offer him an insulting contract. If that happens, and the Islanders struggle to sign Bailey/Okposo, then I’ll admit that I was wrong all along.

But it should be obvious that the future for the Islanders involves Okposo and Bailey and Moulson and Schremp and a few others. The Islanders have the space under the cap to sign them, and Snow has repeatedly said he is given free reign to spend. We’ll find out this offseason who was right.