Tell me if these names sound familiar...
Joel Bouchard, Jozef Balej, Josh Green, Mike Green, Chad Wiseman, Cory Larose, Chris McAllister, Mike Siklenka, Richard Scott, Jamie Pushor, Ken Gernander, Ben Dusablon, Layne Ulmer.
If you are an Islanders fan, of course not. If you are a Rangers fan, they probably bring back horrific memories that you thought you forgot. I apologize.
Now, how about these names...
Steve Regier, Rob Davison, Matthew Spiller, Joey MacDonald, Tim Jackman.
The first group of names is who the Rangers finished off the 2003-04 season with, after the Lindros Concussion against Washington and the Great Purge saw names like Leetch, Nedved, Kovalev, Rucinsky, de Vries, Barnaby, Malakhov, and yes, Simon, traded away. A group of no-names (as well as Jaromir Jagr and then-rookies Fedor Tyutin, Jed Ortmeyer, and Dominic Moore) just took up places on a roster so that the Rangers could put a group on ice so they could sell $5.50 hot dogs and $8.25 Labatt Blues.
This year, the Islanders are doing basically the same thing, mostly due to injuries. Reading the morning papers and seeing unfamiliar names reminds me of the darkest days of the Rangers, from March 3, 2004 until October 5, 2005, when Jamie Lundmark, Marcel Hossa, and Jason Strudwick scored on opening night.
Did the Rangers get through it? Yes, but only after Mark Messier's final game was played with Sandy McCarthy and Dale Purinton on the ice congratulating him.
Will the Islanders? Eventually, yes. Kyle Okposo has a bright future. But next year should be a rebuilding year as well. Just like Miro Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Josef Vasicek should have been shipped at the deadline for some picks in a deep draft, next year's deadline should see Mike Comrie, Bill Guerin, Mike Sillinger, and Brendan Witt traded.
A few more years of them looking like competitor's until Christmas until they fade away will do nothing for the fan base. Who would support building a new arena or going to it if they haven't cared about the team in years? Who would support the inevitable price increase in delicious pretzel twists or crappy cheesesteaks if there is no one there to buy them?
The Rangers got through it, and the Isles can as well. They just need time to rebuild. Next season they should have already decided on doing that, and maybe the season after they could be last year's Penguins - young, hungry, and surprisingly good.
No comments:
Post a Comment