Islanders Trade Deadline Review

Sure, it's a few days late... but this sort of thing tends to happen when you don't start your blog until two days after the deadline.

Anyway.

In the days before the trade deadline, Garth Snow labeled the Islanders as "builders". As in, not buyers or sellers. I guess this was his way of saying that he had no idea what his team would be doing at the deadline, which is the predicament quite a few teams found themselves in. Given the constant change in the East standings throughout this season, it was impossible for any of the middle-tier teams to figure out what to do. That's one by-product of the widespread parity we've see in the East this year.

The other by-product, of course, is a large amount of teams making big moves. Since there are very few elite teams, the middle class of the NHL is very tightly compressed - and each of them thinks they're one move away from making a run at the Cup. We've seen it a million times in the past, and we'll see it even more in the future as the gap between the haves and the have-nots diminishes. Last year, we saw the Islanders go this route with the Ryan Smyth deal. Needless to say, it was fairly obvious we wouldn't see a repeat performance from Mr. Snow.

So what did we expect this year? Not much. Maybe a trade or two to dump a few of the team's many unrestricted free agents, but that's about it. And that's what we got. I've been a pretty big Marc-Andre Bergeron fan since he's been here, but getting a third-round pick for a player who spent a significant amount of time watching the Islanders from the press box is a great deal. So is getting a sixth-rounder for Chris Simon, a player who many people thought should have been cut immediately after his latest suspension. Sure, a sixth-round pick is roughly as vaulable as a Lotto scratch-off ticket, but one never knows what gems can be unearthed in the draft.

As for additions, the Isles only picked up one player, defenseman Rob Davison. And he's already playing quality minutes in clutch situations. It's tough to say where he fits in with the team's long-term plans, but I'll take Davison over the Drew Fatas of the world any day. He already scored major points with me by playing the same night he was traded, three thousand miles away no less. That's dedication. That's what Islander fans like. Davison already has a fan in yours truly. The trades the Islanders pulled off also means they have a (supposedly) regular spot for Jeff Tambellini in the lineup, and I must say it's about time. All this guy has done is tear up the AHL, yet he still can't seem to latch onto the big club. After watching the likes of Darryl Bootland, Chris Simon, and Tim Jackman produce nothing for the Islanders, they had better give Tambellini a real chance to show he belongs. It's hard to rebuild if you can't trust your young players to play at the NHL level.

The other big news to come out of the trade deadline is the re-signing of Mike Comrie. Yeah, it's only for a year, but still. Here's a decidely above-average player who actually wants to play on Long Island. How about that? Even the most optimistic of Islander fans saw Comrie as a one-and-done player, following in the footsteps of pretty much every good player we've had since the lockout. It'd be a stretch to say that Comrie's decision to stay will convince other players to do the same, but it certainly doesn't hurt. And say what you want to about Comrie, but since he was given the "A", he's been a force for this team. He even has three fights on the year, a very high total for a player not known for his physical presence. Again, maybe Comrie isn't the guy to build the team around, but he should be good for the young players thanks to his passing ability and overall hockey sense.

Even though the Islanders didn't really do much of anything at the deadline, they did make a great deal of progress. They got back decent value for some dead weight, re-signed their best skater, and cleared out space for some young talent to step up. Which certainly beats a huge firesale or an ill-fated deal for a rental player. Will these moves get the Isles into the playoffs? Tough to say. But they're no worse equipped to make a run than they were a week ago, and that's the most important thing.