Thursday, July 23, 2009

Building from the Goal Out - Plus Taylor Hall

Garth Snow, former goalie, and current general manager of the New York Islanders, knows what it truly means to build from the goal out. Being a goalie himself, Snow truly understands the importance of not only solid goaltending, but also the importance of a solid defense. If we look at year’s past, solid defense is something the Islanders have truly lacked, and it is clearly visible through not only the poor overall records, but the injuries that DiPietro has sustained. Yes, I do believe poor defense led to DiPietro overworking himself to keep the Islanders a decent team, and little protection from his players has led to him taking a beating, a la Sean Avery hitting him in the head!

Anyway, it seems as if Snow has finally taken it upon himself to build from the goal out. To open up the offseason at the draft table, Snow drafted 6 foot 6, Finnish monster Mikko Koskinen. Koskinen, a 21-year old late bloomer, dominated the Finnish league last year and was very quick to sign his entry-level deal with the Islanders. After reading into the quick signing, it seems that Koskinen had up until July 15th to sign a deal with the Islanders, or a clause in his Finnish contract would have mandated his return to the Finnish league for at least one more season. This was a smart move by Snow, and it shows the desire to bring the monstrous Finn over to the North American game as quick as possible. He will be given one to two years to develop into a solid NHL caliber goaltender before he gets his opportunity in the NHL, barring all injuries.

Snow’s second goaltending move came in the form of Anders Nilsson. The 18 year old Swede is also considered a large goaltender, measuring in at 6 feet 4 inches tall. Nilsson is looking to make his impact known at the international level this year, keeping his hopes up for a spot on the World Junior roster if all goes well. Considered to be a strong prospect, Snow made sure to grab him so that the Islanders have a decent pipeline in net. It will take Nilsson about two years before the Islanders consider signing him to a deal and placing him in the North American leagues, but he could prove to be a very valuable draft pick in about five years time, if all goes well!

As if the drafting of two future NHL prospects wasn’t enough, Snow made his saavy third move on July 1st for the goaltending front. By signing the very talented and experienced Dwayne Roloson to a two-year, $5 million contract, Snow locked up a quality netminder for the next two years that can carry an NHL load for about 60 games per year, and be quite adequate at doing so. At the time, this meant that the Islanders wanted to make sure that the load didn’t fall entirely on the shoulders of DiPietro again, and this proved to be a smart signing. At two years at $2.5 million per season, it can be registered into the books at one of Snow’s saavy and smart signings.

Goaltending move number four came in the form of Scott Munroe. Considered to be an AHL goaltender with small NHL-backup potential, Munroe provided the Islanders with a decent goaltender who could be called up in case of injury. If all didn’t go well with DiPietro in the beginning of the season, the Islanders could start Roloson and have Munroe ride the bench until DiPietro was ready. Up until two days ago, this seemed as if it would be the most logical option, and it seemed okay by many of the fans.

Goaltending move number five by Garth Snow came as the biggest surprise to us all. For a full write-up on my opinion, you can look two blogs down for the Biron update, however, I still stand by the fact I think it was the most telling and saavy signing by Garth this summer. At one year and $1.4 million, Biron proves to be a very affordable stop-gap goaltender who will play a significant role with the Islanders until about Christmas time. I believe that Roloson and Biron will split the time fairly, and once DiPietro is deemed “fully-healthy,” sometime in the range of Thanksgiving to Christmas, Biron will be shipped out to a team who is in serious need for a starting goalie. And yes, you know a team will lose a goalie to a serious injury and inquire about the very cap-friendly Biron! Great, great move by Garth, and yet another move from the goalie out.

So where does this leave us? Well, since the horrid showing of Danis and MacDonald last year, it is obvious that Snow does not want to be in that type of situation again. For the first time in many years, the Islanders have an abundance of quality players in a position. There are very few tandems that can compare to the quality of Roloson and Biron, and once DiPietro is healthy, Roloson and DiPietro. Furthermore, there is a strong pipe-line that will provide the Islanders with stable goaltending for many years to come!

What does this also tell us? Well, it is safe to say that with this type of quality goaltending, the Islanders will be able to win at least six to eight more games this season, which will result in a movement away from the Taylor Hall sweepstakes. It is safe to say that Snow, Gordon, and company do not want to be in a situation where they are the in the basement of the NHL, and Snow’s plan is slowly unfolding.

What to expect? Well, considering the complete buildup of goalies, and the obvious plan of building from the goal out, I would keep an eye open to the defensemen available still this summer, and also to the available defensemen next year. Snow seems to enjoy being a quality bargain buyer, and he will continue to do so until the rebuild requires him to do otherwise. Unless Snow lands in the top three picks for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, and has the chance to draft either Hall or Kabanov (possibly the next Ovechkin with the same great wreckless attitude), you will see Snow look into his number one defenseman at the draft next year.

Building from the goal out seems pretty smart to me, as it will provide a solid core from which to build around. Solid NHL goaltending and a smart, highly-skilled defense are always the foundation for a champion, and proper development is essential for success. With de Haan, Ness, and Hamonic in the pipeline, and Streit and Gervais at the helm, it is time to start looking for size and grit in the defensive end.

Only when all of this is complete will Snow start to look into the offensive end. While it is a slow process, I am excited to see the outcome!

-Justin (IslesNet@Gmail.com)

2 comments:

Glen Miller said...

Snow has had a fine off-season but he needs to do better work during the season. I think he has not done enough at the deadline to add futures to the organization. Last year's giveaway of Guerin was disappointing to me. He's had other veterans that he has failed to get a quality return on too. Hopefully he does a better job when it comes time to move Biron. Now that the Isles have some depth in goal its time to start building depth elsewhere.

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