head coach: Rick Bowness

roster: C - Robert Reichel, Travis Green, Bryan Smolinski, Claude Lapointe, Sergei Nemchinov. LW - Mike Hough, Paul Kruse, Ken Belanger, Tom Chorske. RW - Zigmund Palffy, Mariusz Czerkawski, Dan Plante, Todd Bertuzzi, Steve Webb, Vladimir Orszagh. D - Scott Lachance, Bryan Berard, Dennis Vaske, Richard Pilon, Bryan McCabe, Kenny Jonsson, Doug Houda, Zdeno Chara. G - Eric Fichaud, Tommy Salo.

injuries: Dennis Vaske, d (concussion, indefinite).

transactions: None.

standings:

Eastern Conference - Atlantic Division   
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
New Jersey   44  28  14   2    58  132   92  
Philadelphia 44  25  11   8    58  134   97  
Washington   46  21  17   8    50  128  122  
Florida      46  15  21  10    40  117  131   
NY Rangers   45  14  19  12    40  114  123   
NY Islanders 45  15  25   5    35  112  132  
Tampa Bay    44   9  27   8    26   78  135  

game results:

12/29 at Pittsburgh L 5-1
12/31 at Colorado   L 3-1
01/02 at Dallas     L 2-1
01/03 at Phoenix    L 2-1
01/06 Pittsburg     L 4-2
01/08 Montreal      L 8-2
01/10 at Carolina   L 2-1 OT

team news:

by Phil Maddaloni and David Strauss, NY Islanders Correspondents

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
A Mid-Season Report on the Islanders

Here we are at the midpoint of the season and many of the same questions that were floating around in September remain unanswered:

* Where will the Islanders scoring come from?
* Will the young defense mature?
* Will the goaltending be solid enough?
* Who will step forward and provide leadership for this young team?
* When will the ownership situation be resolved?
* Will the attendance problems turn around?
* Is Rick Bowness qualified to be an NHL head coach?

OK, maybe that last one's been answered (Ted Nolan, hope your resume is ready), but many others still remain. At times this young Islander team has looked like they could be contenders and at other times they've looked like the same inexperienced team they were last season. This club has shown that when they play their best and put their minds to it, they can compete with the big boys. They had impressive victories over Detroit, St. Louis, Montreal, the Rangers, Phoenix, and Buffalo and disappointing efforts against supposedly weaker teams such as Ottawa, Carolina, Buffalo, Calgary, Chicago and Florida.

This season so far has been one of ups and downs for the Isles. Just about the only thing that has been consistent for the Isles has been their inconsistency. Doing their best impression of Jekyll and Hyde, the Islanders version of Jekyll prevailed during the early part of the season, but more recently Hyde has been rearing his ugly head more often than not. (Of course, we're talking the classic Jeckyll and Hyde. None of the Sean Young stuff here.) Jekyll appeared in most of the road games early on, while Hyde had been typically reserved for home games much to the chagrin of the Coliseum faithful. Jekyll also took control during power-play and penalty-killing situations earlier in the season where the Islanders enjoyed much early season success.

During the second quarter, however, Hyde took over on the road and during special teams play, while Jekyll started to make his move during home games, but not enough to prevent a landslide toward the lower half of the Eastern conference. Early on, the Islanders seemed to thrive in front of large crowds, notably gaining victories in its first four home sellouts (two NYR, home opener vs. TOR, STL), and in Detroit. Later, though, not even the large crowds were enough to bring about good efforts as they were blown out at home in the 5th sellout against Florida.

While there have been problems everywhere, the defense and goaltending have been mostly solid. The problems the Isles have had in those areas have been magnified due to the fact that the much larger problem (offense) cannot seem to make up for defensive lapses that inevitably occur, especially in such a young team.

THE OFFENSE

While there have been a few pleasant surprises this year on the offensive side, there have been far more disappointments. Leading that charge would be former 26-goal man Mariusz Czerkawski who has shot blanks through most of the first half. He's currently on pace for six goals and 21 points after posting 26 goals and 21 assists last season in Edmonton while supposedly not getting enough ice time.

The next biggest disappointment would be Bryan Smolinski. Smoke had 28 goals last season in only 64 games. He's on pace for a paltry 12 goals and 33 points, not to mention the fact that he seems to float through games all too often. At least Travis Green, while putting up similar numbers, looks to be making an effort most of the time.

Next on the list is everyone's favorite fall guy, Todd Bertuzzi who posted 18 goals in his freshman campaign, but probably wished he hadn't. He's on pace for 12 goals and 32 points. Not what we'd expected from him, but pretty good when you put those numbers alongside Smolinski's. Bert has started to deliver some pretty good hits recently and needs to shore up his skating and stick-handling. With a bit more maturity, the Isles may finally get some of what they've been waiting for from Todd...as long as he's not traded away by that time.

Travis Green is doing OK in the goal department (on pace for 22), but has not lived up to his reputation as a set-up man primarily since most of his time has been spent centering the third line with players like Czerkawski and Paul Kruse. Green is on pace for only 22 assists, far below his recent totals of 41 and 45. Bowness has been reluctant to reunite Green and Palffy, both of whom seem to play better when they are playing together.

As for disappointments, last but not least would be Mr. Islander himself, Ziggy Palffy, who is, incidentally, up for a new contract at the end of this season. Even though the entire league is down in scoring, Palffy is down more and unless his numbers improve, the Isles won't make the playoffs and you're likely to have quite a drawn-out contract dispute. He's currently on pace for only 37 goals and 70 points versus 48 and 90 figures for last season when he missed two games. This comes after the infamous 60-goal prediction by GM Mike "Foot-In-His-Mouth" Milbury.

On the positive side, offensively, the Isles' most consistent performer has clearly been the steal of the century, Robert Reichel. After the Flames all but gave up on him, he has roared back this season to be the brightest spot in an otherwise dim Islander offense. He's on pace for 31 goals and 80 points, when you take into account the paltry offense throughout the league this year, that ranks right up their with his career bests of 40 and 93 in 93-94 (in an 84-game season).

The second best offensive surprise this season has been off-season pick-up, Sergei Nemchinov. He's on pace for 14 goals and 47 points after having only eight goals and 24 points last year. More importantly, he has been the team's best defensive forward, leading with a +8 and one of the better penalty killers as well. On top of that, he's only taken four minor penalties all season, an amazing feat considering his grinding style of play. Sergei's game should be a model for some of the younger Isles.

Not far behind Nemchinov as far as surprises go would be Claude LaPointe. We all knew going into this season that he was as hard a worker as you can get, but what we maybe didn't know was his potential to contribute offensively, often at the most important times. He's on pace for 14 goals (21 pts) which would be a career high. That, however, doesn't begin to tell the story of LaPointe's contributions. At 5'9" and 181 lbs, he has probably been the best and most consistent hitter on the Isles. He logs far more ice time than a typical fourth liner, primarily during the penalty kill or protecting the lead late in the game, but also filling in on other lines to spell his teammates now and then.

Former NJ Devil, Tom Chorske, a pre-season waiver draft selection, has also performed admirably in this first half. He is on pace for 12 goals and 33 points. While the goal total is fewer than he's had the past two seasons, the point total would be his highest since 93-94 and much more than is expected from a waiver draft pick-up. He's also been one of the better penalty killers, having already notched two short-handed goals with a 3rd one incorrectly waived off in Dallas. His +5 also ranks him right up there among the leaders on the Isles in that category.

As for the rest of the Isles forwards, they have been mostly invisible and taking up space. That includes off-season free agent signing Mike Hough, supposed to be a tough 3rd or 4th line grinding forward who could provide a little scoring and some leadership. Thus far, with the exception of penalty killing, where he has made some contribution, he's been virtually invisible. He's not nearly the grinder that Nemchinov or LaPointe are, and he's contributed zilch for offense. Last season he had eight goals and 14 points in 69 games -- not much, but on this team every bit helps. For the Isles, though, he has only managed one goal (which never touched his stick and should have been awarded to LaPointe) and five assists, which works out to 12 points on the year. That would be OK if he was as good a grinder as are LaPointe and Nemchinov or provided the leadership that this team sorely needs, but there's no direct evidence of that. It's possible the team would be better served giving Hough's ice time to a prospect who could use the chance to develop. A primary candidate would be Vladimir Orszagh who has shown that he can be the grinder that the Isles need. Even a fireplug like Steve Webb, who loses more fights with more heart than any player in the NHL, could provide a spark that Hough cannot.

Kenny Belanger has filled the role which he was asked to play and has been making steady improvements in his game as well. With more ice time and maturity, he may be able to become a solid contributor in skills not involving his fists. He is notably a 0 in the +/- department, which may say something about his ice time, but Paul Kruse who fills a similar role, although he's played more and has somewhat more skill, is a -11. Unfortunately, any development by Belanger will be delayed. His recent thumb injury will keep him out for almost three months.

THE DEFENSE

Until the recent losing streak, the Isles defense had been solid, with some of the inevitable mistakes of youth often becoming more important than they should due to the ineptness of the offense. But their mistakes have multiplied during the last three weeks as the team went down faster than a Damon Wayans movie.

A perfect example has been the play of last year's Rookie of the Year, Bryan Berard. Berard started off the season on fire, primarily on the power play. He was on pace to be among the league leaders in defensive scoring. He sustained a groin injury which kept him out of seven games and now he, like the rest of the team, is in a scoring slump and is barely on pace to beat his point total from last season of 48 (53-point pace). However, he already has 1 1/2 times as many goals as he had all of last year and is on pace to more than triple last year's total. His assist totals, however, are a bit disturbing. He's on pace for 27 this year when he rang up 40 last year. If he doesn't resume his early season offensive pace, he's going to have to concentrate on defense more, as this has been a sore spot in his game where he is currently a -17.

Kenny Jonsson has been possibly the biggest surprise of the season. He has blossomed into one of the better two-way defensemen in the NHL. He has played the body well, has been excellent covering in his own end and is on pace for an impressive 14 goals and 37 points, although his pace has dropped off somewhat lately. His being left off the Swedish Olympic team due to some mental disorder by the Swedish coach is a travesty.

Bryan McCabe has had an up-and-down year. After having been awarded the captaincy at the start of the year, he got off to a rough start, looking shaky through much of the early part of the season. After a while, though, he began to settle down to the point where he has been one of the more solid defensive defensemen and second most physical, right behind Rich Pilon. His shakiness has still shown up from time to time, but much less often than it did in the early part of the season. In addition, he has provided most of the little leadership that this team has had, even if his efforts are sometimes misguided. With more experience, he will learn to pick his moments better and how to avoid taking bad penalties.

Scott Lachance has been steady defensively for the Isles, despite his -9, which is largely due to his pairing with Berard. Despite having been a healthy scratch the other night, he has been one of the Isles' most consistent defensemen. He does, however, lack the physical dimension that they get from McCabe, Pilon, and even Jonsson. Lachance is primarily a solid positional defender with little offensive output.

Pilon, who is often underrated and overlooked among the so-called "Fab Four," has nevertheless been possibly the most valuable of all Islander defensemen. He is by far the most physical player on a club that is glaringly lacking that dimension. He is one of the few Isles who can intimidate the opponent and is also solid defensively largely due to his physical play, though he's also positionally sound. He is willing to go toe-to-toe with anyone in the league and will stick up for his teammates, sometimes to a fault. His 170 penalty minutes leads the team and his 40 minors leads the league.

The other defensive position has been shared among Vaske, Houda, and a battalion of minor leaguers eager for their shot at cracking an NHL lineup. Those include Jason Holland, Zdeno Chara, and Jason Strudwick. The 6'9" Chara has been the most able, even if his size sometimes gets him in trouble with the law (i.e. stick at side is often a high-sticking call). He can be a fierce body checker, has been surprisingly solid positionally and is seemingly willing to fight with anyone. He's likely to take over the next permanent spot that becomes available, should the Isles lose a d-man in a trade.

THE GOALTENDING

Both goaltenders have been solid this season until the last few games, especially in the face of a sometimes shaky young defense. Each has, however had some bad games, which is expected of any goaltender except, of course, Martin Brodeur.

Tommy Salo has handled the bulk of the load and until recently has looked like one of the better goaltenders in the league. If it weren't for his recent tough stretch in which he was pulled in consecutive games, he might've edged out Khabibulin or Kolzig for a spot on the World All-Star team (he did finish 3rd in voting). He did come back strong, however, in a solid showing against the Coyotes the other night. Overall, he has a respectable 2.58 GAA with a .905 save percentage.

Eric Fichaud, while hampered with injuries, has at times been quite impressive. He has had some bad luck, having had little offensive support during his starts, 2.17 goals per game, compared with 2.7 goals per game for Salo. He has also faced more shots on average in his starts, in fact having faced half the shots that Salo has in a little over a third as many starts. His GAA is a less than impressive 2.76, but his save percentage of .915 puts him among the league leaders.

Goaltending is possibly the one area where the Isles really don't have a problem...yet. They will have to address this situation before expansion, as they can only protect both goalies if they leave an extra two forwards AND two defensemen unprotected. The advent of Roberto Luongo may mean that one of the goalies will go.

THE SPECIAL TEAMS

The special teams was the cornerstone of the early season success when the Isles, at one point, had the 2nd best power play and the 4th best penalty-killing unit. That success was largely credited to Assistant Coach Wayne Fleming and Berard, Reichel, and Palffy on the PP and Nemchinov, Chorske, LaPointe, and Hough on the PK. Unfortunately, when you live by the sword, you die by the sword. And the special teams that the Isles were riding to victories early in the season have been virtually absent during the recent losing streak.

The power play, though, has in fact been missing for quite a while now. After game 14 of the season, the PP was at an impressive 23.7%. Since that time, the Isles scored only 13 PPG in 110 attempts, a pitiful 11.8%, not to mention the fact that they've given up six SHG during that period as well. A +7 on 110 power plays just isn't going to cut it, especially on a team like this that produces such little offense. If we want to point at contributing factors to the downslide, that's probably the main one right there. The Isles had 18 PPG in the first 14 games (6-5-3), and only 13 in the next 28. That's a drop of OVER one goal a game just from the power play.

The penalty killing has been much more consistent, having fallen from its peak of 91.3% (game 12) to its current 86.1%. This has possibly been the most stable aspect of the Isles' game and has clearly been bolstered by the additions of Nemchinov and Chorske and to a lesser extent Hough. Even Palffy has done an admirable job on the penalty kill and has netted two SHG of his own. The Isles have given up 2+ PPG in a game only four times (two goals three times and three goals once) and one of those was opening night. They've shut out the opponent on the PP an impressive 20 times, especially considering that the young team is the 5th most penalized in the NHL.

THE COACHING & MANAGEMENT

There's not a lot that hasn't already been said about Rick Bowness. He has clearly not been able to get the best out of what looks to be a fairly talented, but young team. There aren't many facets of the game on which he hasn't been criticized. He seemingly has not handled the young players well, which is a huge concern with this team. Neither has he been able to provide the leadership, direction, or motivation that a young team needs. He has had trouble developing cohesive offensive units and has made some questionable goaltending decisions, at times starting Salo on back-to-back nights even after having had a shaky game the night before.

One of the biggest worries concerning Bowness is his seeming inability to fire up the team after a bad effort or between periods. It's OK to lose a game and even have a bad effort now and then, but the next game you had better come out fired up and ready to play. This team has not done this on numerous occasions and losses to mediocre teams were often the result. On top of all this, there's question over whether he has very much skill as a strategist. He often pulls the goalie or calls a timeout when it is already too late. From the comments in the press and the way the team reacts, it seems as if the players may not have the proper respect for Bowness, either.

All of these factors point to the need for a coaching change, especially since many feel Bowness doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt due to his dismal prior record.

Wayne Fleming and to a lesser extent Brad McCrimmon have done a decent job from all accounts. Fleming with the special teams and McCrimmon with the defense. Fleming had better figure out how to turn the PP back around and McCrimmon should work with Berard some more on defensive coverage or they both might be on the way out along with Bowness.

Milbury hasn't done much this year, besides pissing off a few more agents. The only transactions of note were the acquisition of Czerkawski for prospect Dan LaCouture on which the jury is still out, but not looking too good so far. While LaCouture certainly would not have contributed anything this season, Czerkawski hasn't done much either. LaCouture, though, hasn't exactly been burning up the AHL either, with only eight goals and 13 points in 35 games with Hamilton. His size and physical play might get him into the NHL, but probably closer to a 3rd liner or 2nd liner at the outside.

The only other transaction was the pickup of Chorske during the waiver draft. This is turning out to look like a pretty good move as he has helped deepen the team's extremely shallow offense.

Milbury's lack of activity on the trading front could be construed as a negative, but he also hasn't made a mistake by doing anything rash. The longer he holds out, the less desperate he looks while also waiting for the right deal to come along. Once Berard, McCabe, Jonsson, or Lachance is gone, the deal is done. If a better deal comes along, it'll probably be too late. In all probability, though, Milbury's hands were tied in terms of making any big deals due to the impending ownership change.

THE OUTLOOK

This team could easily go either way. If they end up keeping Bowness and not making a deal until it is too late, they may very well end up with another high lottery pick. Even if the Isles do make a coaching change and/or major trade, it may take the team long enough to get used to the changes that they still end up missing the playoffs or barely squeaking in.

Either way, once Steve Gluckstern officially takes ownership, everything changes. You could see quite a bit of change in terms of coaching, head office personnel, uniforms, and players. If Gluckstern can come in and influence a coaching change, possibly installing former Isle Butch Goring as coach (who has won two Turner Cups in the IHL with Utah) and even one medium to large trade that is carefully orchestrated by Milbury, the Isles may be able to squeak into the playoffs or more.

Unlike Pickett and Fraudo, er, Spano, Isles fans hope that Gluckstern will NOT stand for a losing franchise and especially not a losing image.

STARS OF THE HALF SEASON

*** Reichel
** Jonsson
* Nemchinov

PLAY OF THE HALF SEASON

Bryan Berard's end-to-end PPG against the Devils was one of the prettiest plays that I've seen by an Islander since the days of Bob Bourne. Unfortunately, it came in a loss.

NEXT UP: Jan. 17th, the ownership transfer to Steve Gluckstern...He may just get the #1 star in the POST-SEASON report if he plays his cards right.

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