Moulson signing means more than it seems

By Greg Maker
It’s not often that you get excited when your favorite team signs a player that really hasn’t proven themselves in the league long-term. For the New York Islanders, keeping Matt Moulson through 2014 is a move that matters on many levels. First and foremost the National Hockey League (NHL) is all about winning games. That is what Moulson should help the young Isles do in the future. However, and more importantly, Moulson’s commitment to Long Island tells a dwindling fan base that one of their own is not only willing to stay but actually wants to make the franchise competitive again.
Ever since Kirk Muller turned his back on the Islanders in 1995, a sort of standard has been set with players not wanting to play on Long Island (most don’t admit it). After Muller, Craig Darby and Mathieu Schneider were acquired from the Montreal Canadiens for Pierre Turgeon and Vladimir Malakhov at the 1995 trade deadline, a trend of stupid decisions began though this one was made by former Islanders General Manager (GM) and current Phoenix Coyotes GM Don Maloney who left the organization before the calendar changed to 1996. It wasn’t Mike Milbury time just yet. Turgeon had been the most solid Islanders player since their dynasty years. In only 3-1/2 seasons on Long Island, Turgeon managed to record 340 points in only 255 games including 147 goals. In 1993, the last season the Isles have won a playoff series to date, Turgeon scored 58 times and notched 74 assists. One of those goals also ended the rival New York Rangers chances at making the playoffs that year. Turgeon even won the Lady Byng Trophy as the league’s most “gentlemanly” player. Why is this important? The Islanders have not had a player score 50 goals in a season since then. Even Zigmund Palffy, who tallied 136 goals in three seasons (1995-98), never hit the 50-goal mark. What about Muller? The former perennial 30-goal scorer posted seven goals and eight assists in 27 games with the Islanders before his whining got him traded to Toronto early in the 1995-96 season. Muller was never the same afterwards. He only hit the 20-goal mark once since his trade to the Maple Leafs before floundering in Florida and taking a checking role with Dallas. Muller made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2000 with the Stars but they would have made it without him.
Maybe you can blame Muller’s inefficiencies on the defensive nature of the game from the mid 1990’s to early 2000’s but Turgeon managed at least 20 goals six times in that time period, three of those he scored at least 30. As a member of the St. Louis Blues for five years (1996-2001), Turgeon placed second on the team in scoring four of those seasons, helping the Blues to their only President’s Trophy as the NHL’s best team in 1999-2000. He even led the team in scoring in his final season in St. Louis. Muller was more than washed up by then. What about the other players the Islanders’ got in the trade? Darby only played 13 games with the Islanders, picking up only two assists, and remained a minor leaguer for the remainder of his career other than two seasons back in Montreal a few years after the Islanders acquired him. Schneider acted like a professional and played like an all-star (the Isles only representative in 1996), picking up 14 goals and 42 assists with Long Island, though he never played with the team for a full season. Milbury sent him to join Muller in Toronto, making him one of the leading blue liners in the league with several different teams before his retirement in 2010. Milbury was able to get defensive prospect Kenny Jonsson from the Maple Leafs as part of the trade who remained steady on the Isles blue line for the next nine seasons while Malakhov remained successful.
This history lesson is a little off topic but I include it to prove a point: The Islanders have not been a serious contender for the Stanley Cup ever since they traded Turgeon. A string of more horrible trades, including top draft picks including Eric Brewer, J.P. Dumont, Tim Connolly and Roberto Luongo, not to mention several ownership changes, have left the once proud franchise in the dust. Remember when John Spano bought the team in 1996 only to have them find out that he never had the money in the first place? Moulson is by far no superstar. He probably couldn’t make the top line on 25 teams in the NHL but there is one thing he is: reliable. Moulson has yet to miss a game since GM Garth Snow signed him in the summer of 2009. Moulson has rewarded his boss with 78 points, including 42 goals for the Islanders as of this writing. This included a 30-goal season in 2009-10, which no Islander had done since Jason Blake hit the 40-goal plateau in the last time the team made the playoffs in 2006-07. The season before Moulson signed with the Islanders, no forward even had 40 points! Think about that. The schedule is 82 games. Though defenseman Mark Streit put up a stellar 56 points, finding the back of the net 16 times, top forward Kyle Okposo only managed to score 18 times to lead the team in goals. That awful season landed the Isles the first pick where they selected Moulson’s best friend John Tavares. Tavares has managed to shine for the Isles in his short time there, but skeptics feel that the once Canadian junior superstar is in a bad situation. After all, the Nassau Coliseum can’t exactly hold a candle to new venues across the league where the players have amazing buildings to call home. Playing in front of 60 percent capacity night in and night out has to be frustrating, especially when divisional rivals like the Rangers, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia come to town with their large fan bases that makes you as an Islanders’ fan feel like the home team is playing a road game. Tavares is a restricted free agent so he’d be on the Islanders for the next three years regardless but having his best friend on his wing has to help his attitude. The Isles have picked it up after a stretch of 20 games early in the season where they won only once. Including a defeat of Anaheim on Dec. 16, 2010, the Isles have played .500 hockey (12-10-2). Both their penalty kill and power play are ranked in the top half of the league (14th in PP and PK). Without gaping holes in goal, the Isles might have won five more of those games. Obviously the playoffs have been out of the question since November but it’s tryout time for all the youngsters. For a ninth-round draft pick (Pittsburgh, 263rd, 2003) Moulson has accomplished more than he was expected to, at least on draft day. Injuries have decimated the Islanders this year but so has inconsistent play. Maybe Moulson’s signing will lead to more of these up and coming younger players to follow suit and stay on Long Island. This leads to one of the team’s most pressing issues, even though an injury has kept him out all season, please re-sign Mark Streit.

Photos Courtesy: Matt Moulson: zimbio.com; Kirk Muller: kdshf.ca; Pierre Turgeon: halloffamememorabilia.com; John Spano: John Giamundo/Getty Images

Isles are heartbreakers again

It was four months ago I walked into one of the last rows at the Nassau Colisseum for John Tavares' debut with the New York Islanders. The place was electric. The "Let's Go Islanders" chants were contagious and so loud they drowned out the P.A. system. There was hope and for much of the season they kept it up. Tavares was producing, Matt Moulson, a gamble out of Cornell, is leading the team in scoring, Kyle Okposo looks fantastic, Josh Bailey was looking like the Top 10 pick he was supposed to be and Dwayne Roloson was holding down the fort in goal.
Now they didn't start well and I figured their one win in the first 10 games was a sign of things to come for the whole season. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on the way you look at it) they rebounded. Not only did they rebound but they were in the playoff hunt. This is a team that finished with 61 points all of last season and they are beating teams like Pittsburgh, Washington and Boston. Of course Boston tanked so this is not impressive but still, they were number one in the east a year ago.
The worst stretch for me was Dec. 23, 2009 until Jan. 23, 2010. Wait a minute you say, (well you would but most people don't care about this team) the Isles went 10-3-1 in that time frame. What is so bad about that? It's because once again they teased me. On Jan. 21 I watched with my cousin, who had never been to an Isles' game before, as Moulson's shot hit the twine in the shootout for an Isles win. They were on a roll, in a playoff spot and the Coliseum, though only three-quarters full was louder than most buildings at capacity. What a tease! I mean really!
As I write this, the Isles are coming off a 3-1 loss to a rookie goaltender for Carolina, one of the worst teams in the league (record-wise at least) in his first ever start! It was their seventh consecutive loss and unlike the first 10 games, they didn't manage a single point.
I think it was premature of me to get excited for a team that has 13 players younger than me, no proven NHL goal scorers and a defense that seems to get injured very often. I still have faith that Tavares will develop into the player he is supposed to be but one goal in his last 18 games is unacceptable considering he was a strong Calder Trophy candidate. This year's rookie of the year is Buffalo's Tyler Myers by the way and he is playing for a team that missed the playoffs last year but will easily get in this year.
The Isles are only five points out of a playoff spot but I want them to end my misery now. All I have forward to look for is another lottery pick who will probably bust anyway.