EHM The Blue Line

So a while back I started a game with the Islanders, determined to get them back to the glory days of the 80s, and I expected it to be a challenge. It proved so much of a challenge that I actually neglected the game for a while. However I was inspired by the story of the Rangers and decided to continue in my attempt to bring success to the "red-headed stepchild" of the Atlantic Division.

Assuming control, I knew I had a franchise with aging, overpriced players, and that was something that needed to change. I decided that in order to build a successful franchise you build from the net out. In keeping with the Millbury philosophy I decided that Rick DP would be my cornerstone. I set about acquiring some solid young defensive prospects. Out was Zhitnik and Sopel, and in came Orpik and Whitney from the Pens (I honestly dont remember what I traded). Also in came Semenov and Shea Weber from Nashville (who I settled on after failing to land Ryan Suter). As far as fowards go, I knew that my top priority was to get Alexei Yashin and his whale of a contract off my books, and the Sharks were willing to take him off my hands, they even sent me a first pick (I didnt have the latest update at the time, so Im sure this wouldnt happen these days). I managed to ship out Satan to the wild, and trimmed a little more fat here and there, bringing my payroll down to about 29 million. I knew this season would be difficult, and I braced myself for a season of begging the board not to can my ass. Along the course of the season I also managed to bring in Scott hannon from the Sharks, giving me what I thought was a solid defensive nucleas.

As expected, my team really struggled, and barely showed any signs of life. My strong defense was terrible, giving up waaaay too many goals. I finished bottom-5 in the league, and miraculously won the lottery. A pleasant surprise was that Yashin *gasp* was unable to spark the Sharks in any way. They also finished with a top 5 pick, and I went into the draft with the 1st and 4th picks overall. After careful consideration, I took Michael Frolik with the number 1 pick, because I had an emerging center in Ryan O'Marra and a healthy young Defensive corps. I felt my team needed some snipers, so with the 4th pick I took James Sheppard, with the view to these guys being my top line wingers for years to come.

In the free agent market I made a splash by signing Olli Jokinen, and he formed a very potent top line between York and Parrish. I signed up frolik, but wasnt too impressed with him in the first 10 games, so I decided to let him spend the year in Bridgeport. Sheppard I had decided to leave in Juniors for another year.

The 06/07 season was not much of an improvement. Despite more offensive production with the addition of Jokinen, my team was still largely disappointing. We finished in a pretty ordinary position yet again, with the only bright notes being the surprising additions of Phaneuf and Parise from Waivers. With the 6th pick in the draft I took defensman Alex Plante. I earned myself a reputation as having little patience with my coaches, letting go the replacement whom I had hired for Steve Stirling, and bringing in Wayne Gretzky. With Gretzky disappoint I moved him to the assistant's role (alongside Mario Lemiuex) and hired Mike Babcock after the red wings fired him.

I knew changes would need to be made for the coming season, and boy did I make them...........

So after two expectedly disappointing seasons, I decided that big changes were needed. Parrish was sent to CLB for a first and a prospect, as I needed to make room for Frolik, and Chris Drury and Steve Reinprecht were signed to shore up the middle of the ice. Janne Niinima was let go as a free agent, and I replaced him with Martin Skoula. Pascal Dupuis and Matt Foy, who had come over in the Satan trade, were ready for bottom-6 duty, and I felt I finally had a solid team. It looked something like this:

York-Jokinen-Hunter
Drury-Parise-Frolik
Dupuis-Reinprecht-Bergenheim
Mink-OMarra-Foy

Skoula-Orpik
Phaneuf-Whitney
Semenov-Hannan



This was a lineup that i thought would gain me the playoff push that I(and my board) had desired and I was to be proved correct. Throughout the course of the season, Parise was inked to a long-term deal(despite his poor production the price was right). I decided that I would not be returning Hannan, and proceeded to ship him to the Oilers for MA Bergeron and a 3rd pick. Bergeron wound up providing some some offensive pop from the blueline, and in all was a solid addition. We finished the season 4th in the east, with 103 pts, a solid improvement and one that was bound to keep my board happy.

We were drawn against the TO Maple leafs in the first round and we swept them very easily, moving us into a matchup with the 1st place (and heavily favored) lightning. We got spanked the first game, and I decided the changes needed to be made. I move Bergenheim to second line LW, and moved drury to the third line, giving me a checking line of Drury-Rhino-Dupuis, well this did the trick. The shut down TB's potent top line, and the series went 7 games. By some miracle I was through to the Eastern conference finals to face the 2nd placed flyers, and their stud netminder Robbie Luongo. They blew by my team in 5 games, and went on to sweep the finals.

Nonetheless, I was proud of a spirited playoff push by my team. I had acquired 3 first round picks in the forthcoming draft, but wasn't high on anybody in particular. I traded out of all those picks, and took current second rounders and future first round picks in exchange from teams that had high picks. I got some great prospects early in the second round because of this.

The stage was set........would the Ilses be a cup contender next season, or was our playoff push simply a flash in the pan?

So going into the 07/08 season I still had many aspects of my team that caused me some dissatisfaction. The primary dissatisfaction was that I had no bona-fide setup man for my top line. I decided to let Jokinenand Reinprecht walk, and set about rebuilding my foward corps. Enter Daniel Briere. I pegged him as my go-to guy for my first line. I decided a little more toughness was needed on left wing, and signed up Mark Bell. I also signed Sheppard after two years in Junior, and decided to let him start the season on the third line. In a stroke of luck, 2 weeks into the season I was able to sign Patrick Marleau for 1.6 mil per year. My team looked like this:

York-Briere-Frolik
Bell-Marleau-Hunter
Sheppard-Drury-Bergeheim
Dupuis-Parise-Mink

Phaneuf-Orpik
Skoula-Whitney
Weber-Semenov

After a month I decided that Sheppard was better off going the way of Frolik and spending a year in Bridgeport to refine his game, so he was sent down and Robert Nillson called up to take his place in the lineup.

The season basically was a dogfight between myself, NYR and Philly in the atlantic, though around January there were still some high profile free agents left out there. I knew NYR were meaning business when they snapped up Dany Heatley. Not to be outdone I brought in Todd Bertuzzi. Well us and the flyers eventually managed to put a little space into the rangers, and it was a two horse race for the Atlantic championship and 2nd playoff seed (I didn't want to go into the playoffs in 4th seed again, wanted two home-ice series). It came down to an away game vs the flyers, the 82nd game of the year, as to who would gain that spot. We went in both on 108 points, and I knew we HAD to win. Win we did, with Briere netting a hattrick. This brought us into a playoff matchup with the 7th seeded Thrashers.

After dropping the first game at home we reeled off four straight to take down the Thrashers, and set up a playoff matchup that would be every New York fan's wet dream. Rags v Isles. The Rags had done everyone a favor and knocked off the defending champs, so I knew they were not to be taken lightly. After again dropping the first game again I made a lineup change, moving Bell down to the third line with Dupuis and Drury to assume checking responsibilities on the Heatley-Jagr line, which was a scary proposition indeed. We managed to take the series in 6 and set up a showdown with the top-seeded senators. I was pleased to split the first two games in Canada, and even more pleased to take the next two at home. Up 3-1 in the series, I knew we were on the precipice of a SCF berth, though we were brought back to earth a little with a heavy defeat in game 5. Fate was on our side, however and we won a tight game 6, moving us onto the finals where we would face the ducks. The finals proved to be a non event, as we swept aside the ducks for our first stanley cup in 25 years. Conn Smythe winner was Briere, vindicating my decision to pay him the big bucks. Frolik had emerged as a budding young star, and I had some solid young D-men on long-term deals. The future was bright.

Because of my wheeling and dealing at the previous draft, I had the first round picks of the Penguins, Rangers and myself for the upcoming draft (as I like to call, the Tavares draft). My ultimate goal was to draft Tavares and have him play between Sheppard and Frolik for the next 10 years. I realized that this may be a pipedream when I noticed throughout the season that the Penguins didnt suck quite bad enough to get a lottery pick, and obviously my own good form would eliminate me. That left the Rangers, and once they signed Heatley mid-season I knew there was no way they would be in the running for the top pick. I managed to flip my pick and the Rangers' pick to Detroit, who were definitely a cellar team. Well as luck would have it Detroit did not win the lottery, and I was left with two top ten picks, but I missed out on my man. One of those picks, who I used on Swedish foward Anton Lander, would prove to be a major piece to my puzzle in the following season......

The stage was set, I had a solid core of players, some solid prospects. However I also was set to lose Skoula and Orpik to free agency, creating a huge hole in my defense. Stay Tuned for the next chapter.....

I give you the 2009 Stanley cup champion New York Islanders:

Bertuzzi-Briere-Frolik
York-Marleau-Hunter
Bell-Drury-Dupuis
Mink-Parise-Bergenheim

Phaneuf-Orpik
Skoula-Whitney
Weber-Semenov

Rick DiPietro