Post by Rayven on Feb 4, 2008 12:23:12 GMT -5
Well coming in last place wasn't fun at all last year. The fans hate me, the players hate me and the board is hoping we can turn things around this year and make a run for the playoffs.
Things obviously have gotten worse since the team lost Jason Blake, Ruslan Fedotenko, Mike Comrie, Josef Vasicek and a handful of lesser players to free agency. Not one free agent I tried to sign would come to the Island. I had to do my best to resign as many of my own free agents as possible.
After countless attempts, Chris Campoli finially decided to remain an Islander. I had to resign Chris Simon for depth and retained Trent Hunter and Andy Sutton for a few more years as well. I also brought back Brandon Sugden and Sean McMorrow for my LNAH tag team and let Andrew Peters and Darryl Bootland walk. Pascal Morency and Kip Brennan will take ther place down on the Bridge.
We traded our first round draft pick to Colorado after losing the lottery so we had a clear cut shot at Zach Hamill who was the best rated player this year. Colorado took Patrick Kane with the pick we sent them and also took our 7th rounder as well. I'm not too sure how long the board is going to buy my "build from within" policy before giving me the boot so I have to act fast and make this work.
My first order of buisness is to add more scoring to this team. Losing Blake hurts a lot and replacing his point totals from last season is going to be tough. The only deal I made was sending a 4th round pick to Phoenix for Oleg Kvasha to take Vasicek's place of another checking center.
I signed Okposo out of college for three years and have invited every prospect I could from our organization, to training camp.
So with training camp over and the last of the preseason games to be played, my roster looks like this:
G Dipietro
G Dubiliewicz
D Joly
D Sutton
D Martinek
D Witt
D A Aucoin
D Campoli
D Gervais
W Tambellini
W Bergenheim
W Marjamaki
W McMorrow
W Comeau
W Nilsson
W Okposo
W Hunter
W Sc Thornton
W Simon
C Colliton *
C Yashin
C Kvasha
C Park
C Sillinger
-Bold: Players in bold played 5 or less games for the Islanders last season.
-*: It should be noted that Jeremy Colliton played 3 games for the Islanders last season and recorded 3 goals and 2 assists.
I also picked up Mike Komisarek from Montreal to add to the depth at the defensive position.
I am one player over the NHL limit of roster space and I am deciding whether to rush Okposo up or let him develop further in the minors or to send down Marjamaki for another year.
This is obviously going to be a very imprtant season for this team, carrying so many young guys but its something that has to be done. My next post will take a look at all of the rookies from last seaon who have made the jump up from the minors.
Things obviously have gotten worse since the team lost Jason Blake, Ruslan Fedotenko, Mike Comrie, Josef Vasicek and a handful of lesser players to free agency. Not one free agent I tried to sign would come to the Island. I had to do my best to resign as many of my own free agents as possible.
After countless attempts, Chris Campoli finially decided to remain an Islander. I had to resign Chris Simon for depth and retained Trent Hunter and Andy Sutton for a few more years as well. I also brought back Brandon Sugden and Sean McMorrow for my LNAH tag team and let Andrew Peters and Darryl Bootland walk. Pascal Morency and Kip Brennan will take ther place down on the Bridge.
We traded our first round draft pick to Colorado after losing the lottery so we had a clear cut shot at Zach Hamill who was the best rated player this year. Colorado took Patrick Kane with the pick we sent them and also took our 7th rounder as well. I'm not too sure how long the board is going to buy my "build from within" policy before giving me the boot so I have to act fast and make this work.
My first order of buisness is to add more scoring to this team. Losing Blake hurts a lot and replacing his point totals from last season is going to be tough. The only deal I made was sending a 4th round pick to Phoenix for Oleg Kvasha to take Vasicek's place of another checking center.
I signed Okposo out of college for three years and have invited every prospect I could from our organization, to training camp.
So with training camp over and the last of the preseason games to be played, my roster looks like this:
G Dipietro
G Dubiliewicz
D Joly
D Sutton
D Martinek
D Witt
D A Aucoin
D Campoli
D Gervais
W Tambellini
W Bergenheim
W Marjamaki
W McMorrow
W Comeau
W Nilsson
W Okposo
W Hunter
W Sc Thornton
W Simon
C Colliton *
C Yashin
C Kvasha
C Park
C Sillinger
-Bold: Players in bold played 5 or less games for the Islanders last season.
-*: It should be noted that Jeremy Colliton played 3 games for the Islanders last season and recorded 3 goals and 2 assists.
I also picked up Mike Komisarek from Montreal to add to the depth at the defensive position.
I am one player over the NHL limit of roster space and I am deciding whether to rush Okposo up or let him develop further in the minors or to send down Marjamaki for another year.
This is obviously going to be a very imprtant season for this team, carrying so many young guys but its something that has to be done. My next post will take a look at all of the rookies from last seaon who have made the jump up from the minors.