Now We Have A Youth Movement

This quote is from Bill Geurin in a Newsday article:

"Well, I won't lie to you," captain Bill Guerin said. "It's not great, but we don't have a choice. But this is a great opportunity for some of our young players to step up. They're going to get a lot of ice time, they're going to play on the power play, they're going to kill penalties, they're going to do a lot of things. This is their time. This is the perfect time for them to become players."

Could not have said this better. Now the youth can really show us what we've been waiting for: a chance to see them play full time, and see what they can do.

So Is It The System Again?

So now, we're we are dealing with the defenseman against the system. I think Sutton is a + 3, and he's the only one currently on this team that is a positive.

So for conversation sake only.....Should all the players not performing well in the system now (young or veteran) be traded for picks, or be given more time to understand the system better, or should the coach bend in his ways, and create a tighter defensive system, say for the last period, and not give up so many goals and possibly steal a few games.

Just here for conversation....thoughts?

Laviolette Fired

Sources tell TSN the Carolina Hurricanes have fired head coach Peter Laviolette and in a unique about face, have replaced him with former Hurricanes head coach Paul Maurice.

This move comes amid weeks of speculation of change in Carolina and the teams' battle with consistency with Laviolette at the helm.

Laviolette, last month, surpassed John Tortorella to become the winningest American born coach in NHL history with his 240th victory.

Please get him back, Islanders. Put him as an assistant, to help out Gordon, and help some of the other players. The reality is he's under contract and will get paid none-the-less. Just wishful thinking. More to come later.

Is It Tambs Or The System

I have the need to slightly defend Tambellini a little but due to an important "cause" that has not been factored in.

In case some may not realize, the Islanders are last in 5-on-5 situations. There are two ways to determine this

a. there +/- ratings for everyone is on the minus side, no one but Skinner (now at the Bridge), and Sutton has a + number. Both Defensman.

b. take a look at this link on 5 on 5.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/teamstats.htm?fetchKey=20092ALLAAAAll&sort=goals5On5ForAgainstRatio&viewName=summary

It will show you that the Islanders are last on 5-5 goals and need to rely upon the powerplay to win the games.

Now if Tambellini is projected to be 15-20 goal scorer, then he should have scored 4 goals by now. But there are only three players (Hunter, Geurin, and HiIlbert) who have scored 4 goals or more on even strength.

The average amount of goals scored by anybody else during a 5 on 5 is under 2 (1.72 to be exact). I only bring up the 5 on 5 situations because Tambellini is rarely used on the power play.

My point is this. The powerplay is a key component to the success of this team for this year so far and Tambellini is not apart of it. It could still be the players learning the system, it could be a lack of ice time on the powerplay, it could be other things. But for now we should only expect Tambellini to have 1 or 2 goals, because that is what the remaining 78% of the team is doing.