(Yeah, Chris Botta stole my would-be-”Slapshot” reference!)

Well, what a couple of days can do for Islanders fans. Just a few days ago, Isles fans were writing this team off as quickly as their income taxes with the departures of Smyth, Blake, Kozlov, Poti, and Zednik, and honestly, I didnt blame them. I was on the “Rome is burning” bandwagon just like everyone else, but I also held out hope as well that Garth and Teddyhad some sort of plan in their back pockets.

Billy Guerin and Mike Comrie instantly make up for the goal production lost from Blake and Smyth.  Ruslan Fedotenko is almost a perfect replacement for Kozlov, providing that he can return to his 26-goal form in the 2005-2006, plus he seems like a player that Ted Nolan can get the most out of with his speedy and relentless play.  And Jon Sim is a nice little gritty 3rd-4th line center that can pop 10-15 goals.

I think this team is getting better and better.

Also have some other minor signings and trades to report and analyze.  I will get to that in a bit.

Until then…