I am so happy to be a New York Islanders fan right now

[inthebrain]

I want to personally thank the Sharks for choking. I know how you feel today but we so needed your first rounder to be a 26th overall pick.

I want to personally thank the Pittburgh Penguins. Beating Philly gives us another third rounder to work with.

This draft is going to move the Isles system into the top five in this league in terms of prospects. We are getting either Tavares or Hedman to go along with Okposo, Bailey, Gervaise, Hillen, Nielsen, Bergenheim and Streit.

The future is so bright for this franchise right now I've almost forgotten who Mike Milbury and John Spano were.

Oh, and thank you to Ollie Jokinen for proving once again you are not a big game player. You never could drive a team to the post season and even piggy backing your way there still can't perform. What horrible series. You made the Yashin signing not feel so bad.

[MrSlayer]

1. It's been a long 16 years.

Since the Isles have made any sort of playoff run. I don't know what to think of them anymore. They've had so many top picks and good players go through there and they just can't get it together or keep a team. Their defense alone could/should be all-star from 1 through 6. They're a once great franchise that has been so badly mismanaged it's pathetic. I still go up there at least once a year but they've been awfully hard to watch lately. Hopefully, DP can get fully healthy and stay that way for awhile and they make a play for some skill in free agency. Tavares should help them immediately. They can turn it around if they get their shit together but Garth Snow as GM doesn't exactly make me feel secure in that aspect.

[inthebrain]

2. Snow walked out of last years draft having the highest rated draft

of any NHL team. This is despite trading down and landing Baily who's proven to be a solid NHL player with 33 points as an 18 year old.

He was SIs exec of the year his first year of GM.

Mark Streit was the NHLs best UFA signing of last summer.

The Milbury days are over.

[MrSlayer]

3. Yeah, the trading down last year really pissed me off.

I need to get that Milbury bad taste out of my mouth and forget about the 15 year contract and look at the whole I suppose. I'm so used to them fucking up it's hard to imagine it not continuing. Baily did play well for what he had to play with and is only going to get better. Snow has the perfect opportunity to impress me with this draft coming up. With 3 top 40 picks he can build a solid nucleus.

[inthebrain]

5. I'm really impresses with Ness and Hamonic

Off of last years draft too.

Rahkshani was just named captain of Denver today.

I am so excited to see what Trivino pulls off at DU in his sophmore year. Parker is gonna put him on one of the top two lines. He also had a good playoff for a freshmen.

With Martin, Dibo (Both late sixth rounders) and possibly Tavares the Isles will have three of the top five in OHL scoring in the fold.

This team is gonna be really REALLY good. Snow is making all the right moves (even though they piss us off) and coming up spades later on.

[MrSlayer]

9. I'm patiently waiting for the worm to turn.

It's been a long time coming. I think Tavares has to be the guy though Hedman's size and skill are also very enticing. It would be sweet if Snow could package the two other high picks to grab them both but alas, Phil Esposito is no longer running the Lightning. Fantasyland, I live there a good bit of the time.

[inthebrain]

11. I know that feeling all to well

Word I hear on Hedman is that he has great size but doesn't use it. Hamonic plays a more physical game and can score fromt the point and run the PP. Not as skilled as Hedman but probably the medicine we need back there. I'm OK with waiting for him.

As for the draft, I think Snow should just hold his cards and stick. Then again, he pretty much allows Jankowski to do his thing and that's smart.

Overall, I don't think it's worth giving up what you would need to really move up. To get into the top 15 teams are gonna want Streit or Bergenheim included with picks.

I just hope for Tavares and use the rest to pick some sizable defenders.

We'll be back in the post season come 10/11. Better yet, we'll actually be able to take some teams out this time. Gonna take a few years but the worm is starting to turn.

[MrSlayer]

15. Yeah as odd as it sounds I hear Hedman described as a "finesse" player.

At 6'7" 230 you have be crushing people out there, especially if you can skate like Reijo Ruotsalainen. You can set up kill shots all day.

If Snow does the right thing, the future is bright. We'll see.

[cboy4]

4. Everyone who doesn't believe inthebrain, raise your hand!

Nobody believes anyone could possibly be happy to be a NY Islanders fan.

[inthebrain]

6. WOW!!!! Those are some really loud crickets you brought into this thread.

[cboy4]

7. The crickets you're hearing are inside the Nassau Coliseum

during every postseason.

[inthebrain]

8. Kinda like your hearing right now?

Oh, but I'm sure the Colliseum has seen it's share of second rounds and conference finals.

I think they raised a few cup banners there as well.

Oh, wait.

I'm sorry.

Did you think you were gonna see one of those this season?

[cboy4]

10. You're so easily impressed with your quarter of a century

old banners.

I'm surprised they're not in the Smithsonian yet as faded artifacts.

[inthebrain]

12. Hey, it's nice to have something to put in a museum

or even some hardware that comes from a museum.

Do you have anything like that to speak of?

[cboy4]

13. Believe me, the Stanley Cup will not be leaving Toronto

for Long Island anytime soon.

But you keep on living in the past! :thumbsup:

[inthebrain]

14. You don't have a past or a present to live in

Especially when Joe Thornton.......

Oh never mind.

I think the Isles after June 26th will be potentially closer to winning that cup than the Sharks ever have. You can't even say they are "potentially good".

Win something and then talk trash.

Doing so after winning the presidents trophy and going out in six to the eigth seed is not a good idea. That's perhaps the lowest of the low in this sport. It's much worse than finishing with the worst record.

Especially when you don't even have a draft pick in the first round to show for it. There is nothing worse in this league than losing like you just did. Not to mention doing it year after year.

I know you guys are really new at this and don't grasp that yet. What's happened to your franchise really is the lowest of the low. It stated that even when you are in position to win you can't perform better than the worst ranked team in the tourny. That's just a starting point.

[cboy4]

16. Oh and now you're exaggerating when you know as well as

I do that Anaheim was one point away from being a number 6.

Hiller alone makes them very good.

Behind all of your dramatic paragraphs is nothing but bullshit rhetoric.

It's clear your last place team has made you very angry and you need to lash out.

I don't blame you. I'd feel that way too if my team finished in the basement and the much better Rangers steal all of the glory every year.

[inthebrain]

17. You finishes 26 points above them

and now your arguing about one measely point.

As if that makes all the difference in the world.

When you're a good team and something to brag about you don't complain about one measely point as if the diffence between 25 and 26 makes a difference. Good teams, it doesn't matter.

When the Isles went on their ran they beat the snot out of everyone in their path. They were able to play the game no matter how you played it. They beat you and made you look bad when they did it. The same can be said about the Pens, Habs and many other champions.

You're not a team that's ever done that. Nor are you built to do that now. That's not something to brag about.

When a team really is a good team they win when they are in position to. The Sharks don't.

Maybe next year. Even so, you would still be a long ways away from ever being able to laugh at anyone.

[MrSlayer]

18. No franchise has ever before or since, won 19 straight playoff series.

It's a record that will never be broken.

[cboy4]

20. Who cares? If I'm a fan of the NY Islanders, I don't care about

ancient history.

And I certainly wouldn't be mocking a fan of a team that at least makes the playoffs every year.

That's ridiculous.

[inthebrain]

22. It worse when you finish with the best record and lose in the first

Crap, we could finish eighth or seventh and do that.

And the Isles have made the post post season in five of the last eight years. Sorry, but in that time it's not like you've built a post season record to be proud of either. So lord knows what you're talking about.

So you can make the post season every year and lose in the first round. You guys in San Jose must really set the bar high.

[cboy4]

24. Of course it;'s worse. I'm not denying that.

Don't you see the whole point of our argument is the irony of a fan of a last place team mocking the fan of a first place team?

How do you not recognize that?

[inthebrain]

26. In hockey respect runs much deeper than just finishing first.

You have to prove it when it counts. This isn't baseball where winning your division and losing year after year in the post season gives you bragging rights. Hockey is so much a deeper sport than that.

You can be a last place team and be there because you are doing the right thing. Trying to build through the draft. In hockey that's respected.

YOu can also be a last place team while portraying yourself as someone to beat, making stupid trades, signing every UFA on the block etc. In hockey this is laughed at.

You can also be a first place team and lose in the early rounds year after year. It gets a little more respectful if you can at least choke in the conference finals or lose in the cup finals. People respect that. You're not great but you're also hated cause you send people packing and ruin other peoples seasons.

Think Buffalo from a few years ago.

Respect in this sport is built in the post season and being smart about building.

[MrSlayer]

29. Well I haven't mocked your team.

And I only care about the ancient history because I got to be there through a lot of it. I got to go in the locker room and meet the players and see them hoist the Cup. They were an unforgettable team and it was an unforgettable time for me. But over the last decade the Sharks have been a much better franchise than the Islanders, to say otherwise is ridiculous. I like the Sharks, hell I still have an original Sharks jersey. But they never seem to do well in the playoffs when they are a favorite. The past few years they've just lacked heart. The Ducks wanted it more this time, just as the Sharks wanted it more against the Red Wings in 94 and the Blues in 2000. The Sharks have to make a few changes but should still contend next year whatever they do.

The Islanders are on their way up, there's no where else to go and if they make the right moves can be back in the playoff mix soon. As great as the Cup times were, it does get tiring breaking out the Dynasty team year after year. You'd like to have some glory now. I agree, the past is the past.

[inthebrain]

32. I'm just happy to get the draft pick

Hard to take a Sharks fan seriously when they claim the Islanders are the perenial joke of the NHL. It's the only reason I mention it.

Also because the Milbury days are long gone.

[cboy4]

19. Of course I can laugh at you. You're a fan of one of the

worst franchises in the NHL, mocking my team.

That's like someone driving a 1982 Ford Thunderbird with smoke coming out of the engine laughing at the driver of a 2009 Mercedes out of gas on the side of the road.

[inthebrain]

21. Even when that same 1982 thunderbird has won a few races

and the driver was never stupid enough to allow the car to run out of gas.

I like that comparison.

I can understand your frustration. The anger that comes with losing in this sport is like no other. Although I have to say that my team has never lost in such an embarassing manner as you just did. That's even with the 35 year history to your 16.

That must really suck!!!

[cboy4]

23. Oh I agree that the anger in this sport is like no other.

And I feel robbed and cheated and fooled by my team again.

But I was surprisingly calm tonight, unlike after game 2 because it became clear Anaheim is better. The two games we won were very close and we had to get one of them in OT.

See I can be critical of my team.

But you're suffering from Stockholm Syndrome regarding yours.

[inthebrain]

25. Not even close

When Milbury ran the team I was very vocal about how bad it was. It was horrible. And I still watched every game and attended as many as I could. Despite how bad things were I had always hoped they could rise above it. I probably know suffering like no fan in any sport.

In the end the fan base is probably tighter than any in professional sports. That was some crazy shit. Taking Nilson over Parise wasn't even the low point. It began long before Milbury was even hired as coach. It was the day Maloney traded Turgeon to Montreal.

That trade still rips my heart out. Nothing worse than that. Well, maybe the Kasparaitas for Smolinski trade as well. Watching Darius cry when he heard the news was like a nail right through the heart.

Now adays I'm happy as a clam. They are building the team like Bill Torry did in the 70's. Smart drafting and solid player development. Having guys like Bossy, Trottier and Morrow run things doesn't hurt either.

Snow thus far has been brilliant. ALthough there are times I want to wring his neck. He still manages to come up spades in the end.

You don't build teams like San Jose, Philadelphia, Toronto and the Rangers do. They collapse like a house of cards because of the poor chemestry and all the egos that come with the paychecks. Teams that continually do well do so because of smart drafting, trades and using UFA to fill a few holes.

I'm happy as hell that's what the Islanders have chosen to do. It's the longer route but it's the respectful route and proven to work.

[cboy4]

27. I agree that there is something wrong with the Sharks' chemistry

and my fans are calling for Thornton and Marleau's head on a platter.

We'll see what happens in the off-season. I'm hopeful this latest postseason collapse is the last straw.

The columnists have already started in.

======================


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ratto/detail?entry_id=39224

Okay Sharklets, The Next Move Is Yours

Well, it looks like you're finally going to have confront the fact that Anaheim knew what it was doing, and that the better team won as comfortably as the results showed. No more hiding behind the "We're bigger and faster and we have more points" thing, or the "We didn't play with enough urgency" nonsense. Anaheim kicked serious fin, especially in Monday night's 4-1 series-ending victory, by owning the important parts of the rink in five of the six games and laughing at the Sharks' attempts to counter that dominance.

And now the choice this coming summer is yours.

But first, let's review the ways the Sharks betrayed you this time:

1. Got your hopes up prematurely. Again.

2. Said they could play any way anyone wanted, and forgot the one way that always beats them. Again.

3. Made you think the President's Trophy proves something.

4. Preyed on your relentlessly chipper optimism. Again.

5. Convinced you that Anaheim wasn't a normal right-seed when in fact the problem was that the Sharks weren't the normal one-seed.

6. Exposed you to continent-wide ridicule as the biggest suckers in sports. Again.

7. Assured you that Joe Thornton is the reason for the off-season when the blame is team-wide and ongoing, and that Thornton is just a cheap excuse for unsophisticated scapegoating.

Now let's count the ways you can get back at them.

1. Don't turn your season ticket renewal in unless you get a money-back guarantee that assures that they'll feel more than just momentary embarrassment.

2. Treat them like they were the Raiders or Warriors -- with derisive scorn, or scornful derision.

3. Learn how to boo for more than five seconds, and with lots more feeling.

4. When confronted with Sharks happy talk, get into loud angry and beer-hurling arguments with the perpetrator that start with the phrase, "You've lost to two eight-seeds in four years, so shut the hell up."

5. Don't ask for an all-California rivalry unless it's with the Los Angeles Kings.

6. Demand that the banner saluting the President's Trophy be hung in an empty arena to no fanfare, and that when someone asks you about it, you say, "That's to remind us how we've defrauded the nation."

7. Believe nothing positive about them again until they show they've earned it.

Can you do this? Well, you never have before. But we have faith that you finally see your favorite team for what it is, and that if you can't do it now, you never will.

The choice, boys girls and undecideds, is yours. Choose wisely, or pay for your delusions.

Posted By: Ray Ratto (Email) | April 27 2009 at 09:49 PM

[inthebrain]

28. The Rangers are gonna get it soooo much worse tonght should they lose to Washington

Their gloating media may not go after em but the NHL fans are gonna rip em apart.

This is a seventh place team that pretends they have the stuff. As if they belong with the elites of the league.

They've spent so much money on guys like Redden, Gomez and Drury and are about to blow a 3-1 lead.

That'll make you feel better.

[mmonk]

30. You guys certainly do have a lot of young talent to develop.

I watched your team in person a couple times when they visited the RBC Center. They have good speed and skill sets. Now, all it will take is a little patience. I think they will come along quickly.

[mmonk]

31. Use this guy next season to help your young players along.

He can feeed them looks from behind the opposition's goal.