What could you possibly say about the 2009 Islanders? It's hard to say that they were an underachieving team, because they didn't have a lot of expectations to begin with in October. This isn't to say that the Islanders are not going anywhere with their franchise, because this wasn't a bad year to be the worst team in the league, especially with the Entry Draft being rich in the number one spot. The team also has some young talent that is getting their roots down in a pot with very little soil, so it's going to take a little bit of time still. Nevertheless, the Islanders do have potential, but first we'll have to wade through the junky season.
Well, this will be the first team that I lead off with the defensemen, since Mark Streit was the number one pool player on the Islanders in 2009. Streit was far and away the best acquisition for the Isles last summer, giving him a 5-year deal in July. Streit finished off the year with 56 points in 74 GP in 2009, ranking him 104th in pool scoring, 7th among defensemen. You can see why Montreal missed him this year. He is a quality defender that should have improved numbers in 2010 with a slightly better team. The blueline does drop off the talent pool a little after Streit, as Bruno Gervais is next on the list, with only 19 points in 69 GP, so improvements can still be made there.Up front, there was little to no consistency with the line-up all year. Injures plagued the team from start to finish, in every position, no less. The forward who played the most games in an Islanders jersey was Richard Park and he played 74 games (registering 31 points). The team's top forward was Kyle Okposo, who finished with 39 points in 65 GP, 17 points less than Streit. On the bright side, the management and coaching staff were able to see some of their younger up & coming talent play through the year. Josh Bailey, Frans Nielsen, Jesse Joensuu, Trevor Smith, Joel Rechlicz among others all got to show off their talent for either long stretches or short appearances. The NHL experience is a good thing for these young players. Mild optimism can be taken from the season that was like that.
The goaltending situation wasn't much better for the Islanders. Rick DiPietro didn't play very much, only won one game this year. Both Joey MacDonald and Yann Danis took goaltending duties for the bulk of the season and tried to manage as starting goalies. MacDonald did finish with 31 points (14 wins, 1 shutout & 1 assist), but it wasn't enough to crack the top 30 in goalies. The Islanders have faith that DiPietro will be back to 100% for October, but his fantasy value has taken a severe beating because of his injury problems.
2010 Season Outlook
If you ask anyone, the outlook on 2010 depends on one thing. How the team does at the Entry Draft. Doe John Tavares get up on stage and put on an Islanders jersey or did the team trade it away for more than one asset? I suppose you could dig a little deeper and put a pin in the hopes that Rick DiPietro gets 65-70 starts and plays healthy, but let's not get too helpful.
| Forwards | Defense | Goaltenders |
| Kyle Okposo | Mark Streit | Rick DiPietro |
| Doug Weight | Bruno Gervais | |
| Frans Neilsen | Radek Martinek | |
| Richard Park | Andy Sutton | |
| Trent Hunter | Freddie Meyer | |
| Josh Bailey | Brendan Witt | |
| Sean Bergenheim | ||
| Jon Sim | ||
| Jeff Tambellini | ||
| Tim Jackman |
The current framework of the club is very salary cap friendly. The 17 players above have a salary cap hit of approximately $29.3 million, way below the cap floor, but more than open to dropping a big name or two in there to help boost the club's position.
Blake Comeau leads the list of RFA's that the Islanders need to deal with, but Comeau was the only player on the list to have a full time job with the team in 2009. He should be a priority to be signed with the team this summer and he'll hope for a healthy season to improve on his numbers.
In the UFA pile, you will find both goalies used for the better part of 2009 on there, Joey MacDonald and Yann Danis. You can also add Andy Hilbert, Dean McAmmond, Tomas Pock and Mike Sillinger to the list as well. I could see players like McAmmond and Pock returning, as they have value with the club as depth players, but it could be open season for the rest. It should be interesting to see how the team spends it's money.
Looking at the Hockey News Future Watch, there isn't a lot of blue chip prospects in their system. Fortunately, they do have the number one overall pick this summer, which gives us something to watch leading up to June. Currently, the Hockey News ranks the Islanders in the bottom third of the league when it comes to their system, garnering only a C+ rating, where the lowest is C-. They have moved up from 24th last year, so there is some promise there. I suppose, when you add a player like John Tavares or Victor Hedman, that grade will shoot up the scales.
The Islanders have been a pretty tough place to get good fantasy picks for a little while now. There is just way too many question marks when looking at their players. Are they injury prone? Will they mesh well with their new teammates? Even the likes of John Tavares may have his fantasy value diminished by the selection to the Islanders. I would be staying away from Rick DiPietro for as long as possible these days, unless he can really put together a couple solid seasons.
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