The New York Islanders, my first favorite team, are in the midst of an historical run. A once proud franchise, the Isles are 1-17-3 in there last 21 games and the laughingstock of the NHL. For those who don't know much about hockey, the Islanders have earned 5 points out of a possible 42 since October 23. That's about 12% of the total points available to them. What makes it even more disappointing is that the Isles started out the season so promisingly, going 4-1-2 in their first 7 games and earning 10 out of a possible 14 points (71%). What the heck happened???
By most expert accounts, the Islanders were not really considered a playoff team at the beginning of the season. They were a team that finished 30th during the 2008-2009 season and earned themselves the consensus number one overall draft pick - John Tavares. JT, as Isles fans affectionately refer to him, showed promise as a rookie and despite a porous defense and depressing lack of offensive talent, the Isles showed modest improvement under the guidance of coach Scott Gordon and improved by 18 points over the previous season's total. Realistic or not, both the Isles management and players began to send a message to its fans that the 2010-2011 season would be the season the franchise would find itself back in the playoffs.
Those aspirations took a huge hit during the preseason as the Isles' two biggest stars went down with shoulder injuries. Allstar defenseman Mark Streit and budding offensive star Kyle Okposo were considered cornerstones of the Islander rebuild and without them in the lineup, prospects for the upcoming season quickly became gloomy. Despite the injury setback, the Isles came out of the gate HOT and totally overachieved in the first two weeks of the season racking up several heart stopping victories including a 6-4 "W" over their hated rival New York Rangers on Columbus Day. They even played the vaunted Capitals and Penguins to one goal games on the road. Things were looking up, fans were getting excited!
Since then, the Islanders have completely flamed out. They experienced a near franchise record 14 game losing streak in which their coach lost his job and talented youngster Josh Bailey was demoted to the team's AHL affiliate. The team finally earned a "W" by beating the Devils 2-0 over Thanksgiving weekend. Unfortunately, the Devils are the only team within 10 points of the Islanders (they have 20 to the Isles 15). Since the win against the Devils, the Islanders have lost six straight and haven't even gotten to overtime to earn a point. It gets worse. They are 29th in goals scored and 30th in goals against. During this especially putrid 21 game stretch the Islanders have given up 78 goals and have only scored 36. A third of the way into the season they are 21 points out of a playoff spot!!!
Off the ice the team is in just as much disarray. The owner has seemingly given up on caring about the team since he was unable to secure political support to build a mini-city around the Islander complex. The GM acts as if he's guarding the secret formula to Coca-Cola and even revoked media credentials from one of the seemingly four people who actually cover the team because he "was the story" rather than "reporting the story". In an era where NHL teams have to deftly maneuver their roster to avoid exceeding the salary cap, the Islanders maneuver to avoid dipping below the salary floor.
They've got money to spend but no free agent wants to come and play in the Coliseum. In use since the inaugural 1972 season, it is annually voted the worst building in the league. I went to a game earlier this season and walking in there is a complete joke. Granted, it's beautiful to see all the banners and think back to the glory days of the late 70s and early 80s but those days are long gone. There were entire sections that had no one sitting in its seats. What's even sadder is that the actual experience (not the product on the ice) was actually really enjoyable. The Islanders marketing team has done a great job of getting the fans, and more importantly the kids, involved in the game. But, in an almost comical move, the Islanders raised ticket prices this season. Maybe that contributes to the average attendance of 10,711 (66%) through the first 12 home games. If this type of play holds up, be sure to expect that number to get even worse as apathy roots itself into the soul of the diehard Islander fan.
I have tried to be an optimist about the situation. I thought maybe it was because they've had so many road games during the stretch - a tough thing for such a young team. A closer look led me to find out its been 12 road games versus 9 home games, not terribly daunting. So I've come to lean on the fact that 15 of the 21 games have been against, currently as it stands, playoff teams. I guess the experts were right in labeling the Islanders a 13th-15th place team in the Eastern Conference. If you can't compete with playoff teams you can't expect to make the playoffs. Furthermore, it is still an undeniably young team. Presumably, a lot of these guys have never experienced losing on this level. It would be nice if the locker room had a youngster who stepped up and put his foot down on this embarrassment but the stink is so strong right now that no one seems to want to do it.
The Isles play the Ducks, another playoff team, at home tonight. For one, I will be watching to check out rookie standout Cam Fowler, an American-born Notre Dame commit whom the Isles passed over in the 2010 entry draft. All I want for Christmas is an Islander win. Hopefully, I'll get that tonight.
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