Off-Season Shopping list…
During this off-season the New York Islanders should show interest in:
Zigmund Palffy – He`s a player in free agency that would be a great pick up for the Isles. Palffy wouldn`t have that much of a problem signing seeing that hes loved his time on the Island. The fans love him, he plays great, and Milbury knows this would give the team a big boost in making a run at the cup.
Craig Conroy – I`m sure you all think he may be going somewhere else but Milbury may REALLY make a huge attempt to sign him if he release group II free agent, Shawn Bates. Shawn Bates is a HUGE part of the Isles penalty kill. Rumors are going around that he is a trouble maker in the locker room and may be released by Milbury. I wouldn`t be suprised if he goes. He does have a bad attitude towards the fans, and it wouldn`t be suprising that he gives his team an attitude. Letting go Bates means bringing in Conroy. Conroy is awesome on the penalty kill and hes the one guy we would need. He`ll be coming to the Island if Bates is gone… for sure.
Alexei Kovalev – Alot of teams are looking to go after him. Theres especially alot of Penguin rumors. But if Milbury wants to do the right thing in the “Yashin Case”, since Yashins been horrible on the Island since leaving Ottawa… he would sign Kovalev. The chemistry these two would have would be INSANE. There both from Russia, they`ve been struggling as of late with their numbers, and they would get along great. They need each other and if they were united onto one line they would be unstoppable. If Milbury wants to solve the riddle to the “Yashin Game”…he`d go and sign Alexei Kovalev.
Shawn McEachern – There were rumors last year around the trade deadline that he`d be dealt. Atlanta is looking to make some good moves over this off-season. They`ve already signed Modry. I would like to see the Islanders swing a deal with Atlanta for maybe McEachern. The package would be something like Hamrlik/Niinimaa and maybe a prospect/draft pick for McEachern. Reason being that McEachern should come to the Islanders is because he played with Yahsin when Yashin put up MVP numbers in Ottawa. He was a line mate with him and this would help out Yashin alot.
Alexei Zhitnik/Richard Matvichuk – ONLY IF we do not re-sign NHL`s top defensman, Adrian Aucoin. Not signing Aucoin our defense wouyld obviously be weaker. The Isles would have to sign AT LEAST one of these guys.
Miroslav Satan – The Islanders have ALWAYS been interested in Miro. They tried swinging a deal with Parrish and Weinhandl for Satan at the deadline last year. But during that deadline, Satan burned some bridges. Satan is some good trade bait and trading him might get something going for Buffalo. If Buffalo is interested in trading him, the Islanders would be the runner-up.
Lyle Odelein – His name hasn`t been mentioned at all in the rumor mill for free agency this year. This guy is tough, big, and hard hitting. Something that the Islanders DESPERATLY NEED. That was the problem all year for the Isles, they never had a big defensman besides Eric Cairns (who was a third line D anyway) that could clear the crease. This problem needs to be gotten rid of immediatly. The Isles have showed interest in him last yuear at the deadline, now that he`s a free agent, they`ll make a run at him… or even any kind of player of his type.
24 Responses to Off-Season Shopping list…
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The islanders should go for Kovaled or Palffy and
Macheachern(wont cost that much) to play with
Yashin.
Aucoin is good but better then pronger, chara, blake, leetch, and lidstrom? I doubt it.
First and foremost, the isles should go after a new GM. Milbury is the worst one in the NHL.
As a Sens fan, I’d like Murray to stay. It would be neat if we could dump another one of our downslided, greedy, dressing room cancer players on them for DiPietro, Hunter, and another first round pick (it would be a nice bonus to have it a very high pick again, last time it was the second overall! ^_^)
Err… wtf, I said Murray, but meant Milbury
First off, Yashin has not been that horrible since becoming and Islander. In 3 season, he scored 30 once, had an awful season, and then last year was on pace for 30+ before severing a tendon in his arm. Why did he suck when he came back? Have you ever tried to take a 90 mph wrist shot a few weeks after your arm was almost cut clean in half?
Next, Niniimaa or Hammer would be a huge overpayment for McEachern. Mad Mike has qualified all 4 of the big defensemen, and all signs point to him keeping all of them.
Kovalev and Ziggy will be too expensive unless we do unload Hamrlik. Wang’s last name, sadly, isn’t Dolan. I’m hoping that we can scrape something together to make a run at Palffy, Kovie or even Bondra, but it doens’t look hopeful.
Finally, as for Conroy, Steve Stirling wants to play Kvasha at center next season, because he excelled in that role when Yashin was gone. So that would leave us with Peca, Yashin, Kvasha, and Scatchard (who hopefully can return to his form of 2 seasons ago.) Conroy is no 4th center.
All in all, expect a very quiet offseason for the Islanders.
first off, the only way McEachern costs the isles a top 4 dman is if it a salary purge in order to sighn a palffy or Kovalev. Palffy is by far the best option out there simply because it would almost guarantee the coliseum sell out every game. Last season before he got injured he was in the running for the MVP. unfortunatly I don’t see any sighnings happening until a trade of one of the top four is made and by then Palffy may be sighned by someone else. I don’t think Kovalev would be good on the island, they have enough lazy russians on the squad. it really isn’t MM’s style to sighn big names though aside from the osgood waiver claim so we’ll see. In light of Ottawa’s sighning of Hasek and Toronto’s resighnings and philly beefing up the isles have to do something if they are really serious about competing with ANY of those teams one would think…
with the departure of Cairns isles need a top enforcer/stay at home Dman so I agree Odelien would be good, the perfect guy though would be Keith Carney, it would take either Hamrlik or ninimaa but I would do that trade in a second. Then sighn back jason weimer at LW and karpotsev on D for depth and have godard when you have a tough match. would be a solid team me thinks.
what about mapletoft as 4th center, i dont want to loose him for nothing! He will relpace bates on pk so you have peca-blake and mapletoft-kvasha on pk pairings plus Bergenheim waiting in the wings in a season oe so. Isles just have too many natural centers and not enough scoring wingers, LW is pitiful!
The Islanders aren’t going to sign any big namee player to a lucrative contract being that they shot themselves in the foot and are still tied to Yashin.
If Milbury signs Kovalev to play with Yashin, I’d be licking my chops if I’m on the opposing team seeing these two guys on hte ice together. Coming off a turnover, it’ll end up being 5 on 3 the other way.
Milbury’s role is pretty clear this summer. He MUST find a linemate for Yashin, since Yashin is untradeable. Whether it’s Palffy or McEachern…he must acquire a proven scorer. Someone with a finishing touch. The top 4 shouldn’t be messed around with, that is the Islander’s bread and butter. And sending either Hamrlik or Niinimaa to ATL for McEachern is extreme overpayment. And Atlanta has enough offensively minded defenseman right now.
As for Kovalev…whether or not he would succeed with Yashin might not be as clear cut as you might think. They’re both puck possession players….so one of them would have to bite the bullet and play a little differently in order to accommodate the other. Still…Kovalev has what it takes to be a finisher. But I still don’t know about him playing in New York. Even on the Island. I’m not sure that he’s eager to go back to that area.
If Milbury really wants to win over the fans, he’ll make Palffy a very very nice offer, and do what it takes to get him. And Palffy is exactly what the Isles need.
True, we could use Toft as the 4th center. Also, Parrish and Scatchard can kill penalties.
McEachern is UFA so will just cost a contract.
i think the isles will sign at least 1 big name winger, with the departure of some playrs like cesar-wack(u know) and maybe hamrlik freeing salary space
GULP!!! That is a hard one to swallow…….I am glad he is a huge islander fan, but at some point in time even the biggest homer must face reality…..
First things first… the first reply, where do you get that Milbury already made offers to our 4 D? Also… penalty killing is fine. We have an awesome PK. First line PK is Peca and Blake. Second line is Bates and someone like Parrish.
I don`t know if Milbury is letting any PKer`s away in free agency or trades this summer but if he does we always have Bergenheim (I`m sure he`ll be playing this year). I`m almost positive our original goal was to get rid of Bates and sign Conroy but that plan is out now that he signed with LA.
PK is FINE. If we keep the original core of PKers… our PK will only get better with Bergenheim.
Hey dudes this is so far out i could puke. we so bad need nik antropov and wade belak i cant believe we made tha playoffs last year. With nikky-baby at the helm, and alex(da bomb) yashin leading the troops, o baby we would b so hot. someone tell the coach or whoever is running the show to get his ******** out of town or the boyz r gonna kick his **********. dump hunter and cheercawskie and blake, the dudes are going lame on us. Slap the C on belak and give the peca-****** the hook.
Sorry, I had no idea…in that case…what are they waiting for?? Sign him already!!
It’s not only that…but I would be very leefy of my offense being led by two guys who could go into the tank at any given time. If I were Milbury, I wouldn’t go for Kovalev unless as a last resort.
Aucoin may be one of the top 10 defensemen in the league. But he would be around 6 or 7 on that list, definitely not number 1. Guys like Lidstrom, Chara, Niedermayer, Pronger, D. Hatcher, etc, are bigger impact players than he is. But I would put him ahead of guys like Leetch at the moment, and probably McCabe, whom he is better than defensively…Some of McCabe’s defensive decisions are still pretty poor.
The Islanders arent going to consider getting Kovalev, if anything they are going to get Palffy. And mind that is a big if. Also i think that bates is a goner, hes taken some bad penalties because of his attitude. Expect to get a big winger like Palffy if they get rid of a Hamerlik. Also, one other player i would like to see come to the Isle, is Eric Daze, he would make a perfect fit there not to mention hes pretty inexpensive. Like Steve Sullivan a 25-35 goal producer with little cost. But seeing any kind of move is pretty unlikely.
You’re one of the few Islanders fans most Rangers fans can hold good hockey conversations with on this site.
I agree with everything you said.
I think Yashin is quite possibly done for his career, that injury will tamper his game permanently. Getting McEachern to compliment him is a bad idea, seeing that Yashin is damaged goods. If anything, you guys should have gotten McEachern or Amonte 2 years ago in the summer of 02. Both were available at VERY AFFORDABLE prices, and I was surprised to see Mad Mike pass on both of them.
Kvasha and Yashin both need to go, they’re both chronic underachievers who lack work ethic. Take it from me, I’m a Ranger fan, obviously.
Palffy will be expensive, but would he take a paycut to come back to the Island where he had quite the name, and his best seasons? Who knows. He loved it here, and said he’d come back.
Quiet offseason?
Likely.
Ziggy Stardust back in NY?
Not a pipe dream.
A smart Islander fan? I know, it seems hard to believe. But not all of us are that bad.
I’d hope that Palffy would come to the Isles for a hometown discount, but it seems more likely that he’ll take the opprotunity to cash in to me. We all thought that Kasparitus was gonna do the same thing, but the urge to sign a big money contract was pretty tough to resist.
Kvasha made good strides last year and could really breakthrough given the right set of cir*****stances. I think that Stirling is going to try him at center next year to see if it’ll give his game a boost. As for trading Yashin, Mad Mike is taking a good approach: We can’t get rid of him, so we might as well maximise his value by surrounding him with talent.
http://www.nypost.com/sports/islanders/17671.htm
The Islanders made qualifying offers to all FA’s except for Cairns and Webb.
As for Bergie, I’d much rather see him in Bridgeport next year than getting the Papineau treatment on the Island.