D-Day

Let's be honest - this isn't a good time to be an Islanders fan.

You have one legitimate All-Star in Mark Streit, followed by a number of question marks. Your coach has implemented a system that many veterans on the team do not care for. Your franchise goaltender has been MIA for the past two weeks, this despite the team acknowledging that he is medically cleared to play. Your captain is starting to show signs of weariness as the ship sinks deeper underwater. And, to top it all off, your top offensive player is injured, just the latest in the endless string of Islanders to land on the IR this season.

Here's the reality for those of us who bleed orange and blue. D-Day for the 2008-09 Islanders season comes on June 20, 2009. If Charles Wang, Garth Snow, Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy, and the rest of the Islanders' brass walks up to the podium at the Bell Centre in Montreal and says, "With the first pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, the New York Islanders select John Tavares, center, London Knights," everything we're going through will be worth it. The agony of seeing our entire team hurt, of having no idea of the status of Rick DiPietro, it will all be worthwhile. Tavares, you see, represents the future for the New York Islanders. Because John Tavares is the kind of player who can help keep the Islanders on Long Island. 

With all due respect to Victor Hedman, there is nobody else who can save this team the way John Tavares can. The Islanders can't draw a big-name free agent. They don't have the bargaining chips to swing a big trade. The Lighthouse Project, tied up in political battle, is going nowhere. The only thing the Islanders can do is draft John Tavares and hope he turns it around sufficiently enough that the Islanders can stay put while the Lighthouse Project is straightened out.

I know we're not supposed to think about these things. As fans, we're supposed to be loyal to the bitter end, not worry about the draft, not worry about our team moving, so on and so forth. But this is not a typical situation. Most fans aren't blatantly lied to by their own team regarding the injury status of their 15-year goaltender. Furthermore, most fans aren't slammed with propaganda regarding a massive arena renovation that nobody has any proof will ever happen. Those of us who are still left, the real Islanders fans, have given plenty to this team and we deserve something a little better in return. And if daydreaming of John Tavares in an Islanders uniform gets us through these dark days, I think that's a hell of a lot better than the alternative. When Pittsburgh drafted Sidney Crosby, we saw how one player can completely change a team's fortunes. Islanders fans deserve the same chance to watch our team rise from these dire straits.

And if we don't land Tavares? That's a discussion for another day. But I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the absolute worst.