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Progression of the rebuild

Jester9881

Jester9881

Registered User
May 16, 2006
14,352
3,460
Long Island NY
It's been a long and slow, but steady rebuild.... but we're starting to see the fruits of it.

I consider the end of the 07-08 season the start of the rebuild. This is what our opening night lineup looked like that year:

Goaltenders
39 Rick DiPietro
34 Wade Dubielewicz

Defensemen
32 Brendan Witt – 24 Radek Martinek
25 Andy Sutton – 47 Marc-Andre Bergeron
14 Chris Campoli – 8 Bruno Gervais

Forwards
16 Jon Sim – 18 Mike Sillinger – 7 Trent Hunter
26 Ruslan Fedotenko – 89 Mike Comrie – 13 Bill Guerin
11 Andy Hilbert – 63 Josef Vasicek – 81 Miroslav Satan
20 Sean Bergenheim – 10 Richard Park – 27 Darryl Bootland

I believe, the only prospect we had of note was Kyle Okposo.

This is why it's taken so long. For the people that have pissed and moaned about how slow it's been, and charged that we have made no progress....

I want you to look at that roster long and hard. I want you to look at what we have now both at the NHL level and in the minors. Ruslan Fedotenko was on our first line.... Andy Hilbert was on our second line. Think about that for a moment, and be happy where we are right now.
 
It's also important to remember that they were pretty much forced into a rebuild. None of the FA's they wanted would come to LI, so they had no choice but to rebuild at that point.

The '06-'07 team overachieved by making the playoffs that year.
 
Jester9881 said:
It's been a long and slow, but steady rebuild.... but we're starting to see the fruits of it.

I consider the end of the 07-08 season the start of the rebuild. This is what our opening night lineup looked like that year:

Goaltenders
39 Rick DiPietro
34 Wade Dubielewicz

Defensemen
32 Brendan Witt – 24 Radek Martinek
25 Andy Sutton – 47 Marc-Andre Bergeron
14 Chris Campoli – 8 Bruno Gervais

Forwards
16 Jon Sim – 18 Mike Sillinger – 7 Trent Hunter
26 Ruslan Fedotenko – 89 Mike Comrie – 13 Bill Guerin
11 Andy Hilbert – 63 Josef Vasicek – 81 Miroslav Satan
20 Sean Bergenheim – 10 Richard Park – 27 Darryl Bootland

I believe, the only prospect we had of note was Kyle Okposo.

This is why it's taken so long. For the people that have pissed and moaned about how slow it's been, and charged that we have made no progress....

I want you to look at that roster long and hard. I want you to look at what we have now both at the NHL level and in the minors. Ruslan Fedotenko was on our first line.... Andy Hilbert was on our second line. Think about that for a moment, and be happy where we are right now.
Click to expand...

Haha wow that line up was terrible. I won't lie, I thought Jon Sim was a great pick up. I liked him in Atlanta and thought he would get better shot at succeeding playing more minutes for us. In short my predictions are terrible
 
Jester9881 said:
It's been a long and slow, but steady rebuild.... but we're starting to see the fruits of it.

I consider the end of the 07-08 season the start of the rebuild. This is what our opening night lineup looked like that year:

Goaltenders
39 Rick DiPietro
34 Wade Dubielewicz

Defensemen
32 Brendan Witt – 24 Radek Martinek
25 Andy Sutton – 47 Marc-Andre Bergeron
14 Chris Campoli – 8 Bruno Gervais

Forwards
16 Jon Sim – 18 Mike Sillinger – 7 Trent Hunter
26 Ruslan Fedotenko – 89 Mike Comrie – 13 Bill Guerin
11 Andy Hilbert – 63 Josef Vasicek – 81 Miroslav Satan
20 Sean Bergenheim – 10 Richard Park – 27 Darryl Bootland

I believe, the only prospect we had of note was Kyle Okposo.

This is why it's taken so long. For the people that have pissed and moaned about how slow it's been, and charged that we have made no progress....

I want you to look at that roster long and hard. I want you to look at what we have now both at the NHL level and in the minors. Ruslan Fedotenko was on our first line.... Andy Hilbert was on our second line. Think about that for a moment, and be happy where we are right now.
Click to expand...

No question, this organization was pretty barren on the pro and amateur ranks. 5 Years later with limited resources available (remember most rebuilds begin with fire sales that teams can use to accumulate resources to expedite the rebuild process).

The Islanders top Prospects back in 2007?

Kyle Okposo
Robin FIgren
Frans Nielsen
Rhett Rahkshani
Jesse Joensuu
Mark Katic
Max Gratchev
Jason Gregoire
Blake Kessel
Jeremy Colliton
Dustin Kohn
Trevor Smith
Tomas Marcinko
Shane Sims
Simon Lacroix

Sure some of those guys had decent profiles 5 years ago, but the Islanders current prospect list in terms of pedigree, projection, production Blows this group out of the water.

There was one thing we had in 2007-08 that we dont have now. A REAL Head Coach. The one we have now is miles behind the one we had then.
 
Wow i would be the first to say i have been completely frustrated with the lack of progress we have had in this rebuild. Looking at that lineup though, you have to somewhat admire the few pickups we made and the draft picks that are contributing this year and say we havent done that bad. That being said a FA signing could have moved us forward quicker but i do see your point and its valid.

Still think we should try to trade for Bernier on the kings...could be a goalie that makes us competitive for years
 
Im as optimistic as any isles fan but we are still in a rebuild. That should tell you everything.
 
There is no support structure for the prospects, the coaching sucks, and bad prospects are kept for their cap hit. That is the bad side to what is happening here.
 
Some GREAT guys to have while rebuilding, though....Siilinger, Guerin and Witt can play on my Tavares/Hamonic/Martin team ANY DAY THEY WANT.
 
A Pointed Stick said:
There is no support structure for the prospects, the coaching sucks, and bad prospects are kept for their cap hit. That is the bad side to what is happening here.
Click to expand...

And that is the problem with the way the rebuild is going. I think every Isles fan wanted a rebuild when it first started. But it's pretty ridiculous that they haven't brought in a single significant already established forward to help this group.
 
OlTimeHockey said:
Some GREAT guys to have while rebuilding, though....Siilinger, Guerin and Witt can play on my Tavares/Hamonic/Martin team ANY DAY THEY WANT.
Click to expand...

Agreed - beats the hell out of Reasoner and Okposo.....waiting for A-Mac & Hamonic to pick their games back up and a guy like Witt would be a great presence.
 
OlTimeHockey said:
Some GREAT guys to have while rebuilding, though....Siilinger, Guerin and Witt can play on my Tavares/Hamonic/Martin team ANY DAY THEY WANT.
Click to expand...

I would love to have guys like Peca, Witt, or Sillinger on this team right now. Players that the young guys could actually learn from. Any one of those three would be a better captain than Streit, imo.
 
macleod50 said:
I would love to have guys like Peca, Witt, or Sillinger on this team right now. Players that the young guys could actually learn from. Any one of those three would be a better captain than Streit, imo.
Click to expand...

I've mentioned iginla for 2 months now...he would be a great fit for this team for the reasons you listed above...would have to sign him to a 2-3 year deal though after trading for him
 
CaptDenisPotvin said:
I've mentioned iginla for 2 months now...he would be a great fit for this team for the reasons you listed above...would have to sign him to a 2-3 year deal though after trading for him
Click to expand...

Okposo has to be included in the package for him. :sarcasm:

Iginla is everything that you could want in a captain and leader. Unfortunately, Wang is not going to open up the pocketbook for him.
 
InformTheMasses said:
No question, this organization was pretty barren on the pro and amateur ranks. 5 Years later with limited resources available (remember most rebuilds begin with fire sales that teams can use to accumulate resources to expedite the rebuild process).

The Islanders top Prospects back in 2007?

Kyle Okposo
Robin FIgren
Frans Nielsen
Rhett Rahkshani
Jesse Joensuu
Mark Katic
Max Gratchev
Jason Gregoire
Blake Kessel
Jeremy Colliton
Dustin Kohn
Trevor Smith
Tomas Marcinko
Shane Sims
Simon Lacroix

Sure some of those guys had decent profiles 5 years ago, but the Islanders current prospect list in terms of pedigree, projection, production Blows this group out of the water.

There was one thing we had in 2007-08 that we dont have now. A REAL Head Coach. The one we have now is miles behind the one we had then.
Click to expand...

This. This is the problem. We have a much better looking team and prospect pool than that year, but our head coach is a joke compared to Nolan. We need to get a coach that will get the most out of this group. Thank god we at least have Weight and Thompson behind the bench because this team would be lost if it was just Cappy.
 
We're not going to get a real HC, or a veteran still in his prime until this team turns a corner. I think between the strides we've made recently, and the arena situation coming to a close.... this coming off season might be that time.
 
Too soon to judge.

The draft picks that have arrived on the roster since 2007: Tavares, AMac, Hamonic, Ullstrom, Bailey, Okposo, Cizikas, Martin. That group has 1 sure star,2 promising mid pair defenseman, 2 question mark forwards, and 3 promising or solid bottom 6 forwards.

Still in development in the system but showing signs of hopeful NHL careers in 1-2 years: Nelson, Nino, Sundstrom, Persson, Donovan, deHaan, Kabanov.
That group has 2-3 promising potential 2nd line forwards, 2 of which could be eventual 1st line, 3 promising potential 3rd round forwards, 1 promising mid pair defenseman, 1 questionable defenseman.

Not rating or counting non-pro level drafted prospects that are not in the system yet such as Strome, Mayfield, Pedan, Lee, Reinhart, Pelech, Theoret, that are anywhere from highly regarded to project. Off by himself is Petrov.

In all, the next 2-4 years will determine the success of this rebuild and will be led in all ways by the continued excellence of Tavares.
 
I don't think it's too soon to judge at all. This team is leaps and bounds better than it was at the start.... that includes the prospects. You cite guys like Amac and Hamonic who would quite easily been the first pair.... Cizikas and Martin who are holding down the 4th line, but are better than players we had on our 1st line back then and Bailey/Okposo/Ullstrom who, by themselves are better than anyone on the roster from back then.

How can anyone look at this and say any different?
 
Jester9881 said:
I don't think it's too soon to judge at all. This team is leaps and bounds better than it was at the start.... that includes the prospects. You cite guys like Amac and Hamonic who would quite easily been the first pair.... Cizikas and Martin who are holding down the 4th line, but are better than players we had on our 1st line back then and Bailey/Okposo/Ullstrom who, by themselves are better than anyone on the roster from back then.

How can anyone look at this and say any different?
Click to expand...

Remove Tavares from this club the past two years and we own the first pick, including this years. While we have more developing, non-UFA depth than we had before, and have some promising kids that could be great players on the way, this club minus Tavares sucks and is possibly worse than the one you name.
 
A Pointed Stick said:
Remove Tavares from this club the past two years and we own the first pick, including this years. While we have more developing, non-UFA depth than we had before, and have some promising kids that could be great players on the way, this club minus Tavares sucks and is possibly worse than the one you name.
Click to expand...

not as bad as Phoenix.

Oh, wait.....:sarcasm:
 
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