A tale of two players

It has not been your average week for the New York Islanders or their fans, although judging by on-ice performance (1-3) things have not changed much. GM Garth Snow did however manage to place a successful waiver claim on goalie Evgeni Nabokov. So all was not lost, or was it?

Nabokov spent parts of 10 seasons with the San Jose Sharks, appearing in 80 playoff games, two All-Star Games, two Winter Olympics, and two World Championships. The Russian net-minder’s contract expired at the end of last season and searched for a new, expensive deal. While easily one of the most accomplished free agents on the market, his high price demands were not met.

Nabokov headed to Russia and signed a four-year $24 million deal with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL. He struggled in 22 games before the two sides mutually agreed to a buyout. He returned to America and inked a one-year deal last week with the Detroit Red Wings (a perennial Stanley Cup contender).

Per NHL CBA rules, any player who begins the season overseas has to pass through waivers before returning to the league. Snow put in a claim for three reasons: Nathan Lawson suffered a knee injury, 20 year-old Kevin Poulin would be best served in the AHL, and Rick DiPietro is frequently hurt. The Isles won the claim and the rights to Nabokov’s NHL contract. This is where the soap opera began.

At first, Don Meehan (Nabokov’s agent) said his client would report to any team that claimed him. Once it was announced that his contract belonged to the Islanders, Nabokov decided not to report to the team. Snow tried calling the player but did not have any messages returned. Instead of contacting the team, Nabokov told Pierre LeBrun of ESPN.com that he had not received any calls or messages from the Islanders. This prompted an impromptu press conference where Snow claimed he called Nabokov and was hung up on once he identified himself. Meehan called back to apologize and said his client would return the call soon. He never did. Nabokov finally contacted the Islanders after the Snow press conference and the two sides agreed to discuss the situation.

Snow has been unsuccessful in his attempts to convince Nabokov to come Long Island and the team has subsequently suspended him. The Islanders have the option to appeal to the NHL and have the deal “tolled” to next season. This story is far from over.

Now to a feel good story and a player that required no convincing about coming to Long Island, Matt Moulson (also a Meehan client). He played four seasons at Cornell University before signing an entry-level contract with the Los Angeles Kings. In three years with the organization, Moulson managed to suit up in only 29 NHL contests. The Kings decided not to re-sign the Canadian forward, allowing him to become a free agent.

Snow took a flier on the winger, who emerged as a leading scorer while playing alongside 2009 1^st overall pick John Tavares in pre-season exhibition games. He made the team out of training camp and went on to score 30 goals in 2009-10 (his first full NHL season). As a restricted free agent, the 26 year-old did not have many options. He re-signed with the team for one year at $2.45 million.

Moulson’s strong play continued this season (29 points in 49 games) but uncertainty about his future prevailed. In a growing concern that players do not want to play for this organization (made public by the Nabokov fiasco), some worried if he would return to the team once he became an unrestricted free agent after the season. Snow traded away pending free agents James Wisniewski and Dwayne Roloson, and many worried that Moulson would be the next domino to fall. Allowing an accomplished forward in his prime to leave a rebuilding team would have sent an already irritated fan base into a frenzy.   

Those worries were happily put to rest Thursday when Moulson agreed to a three-year extension worth $9.45 million. Hopefully this move adds credibility to a franchise in desperate need of good press and an improved public image. Moulson stated the following via twitter following the signing: “Extremely excited to have another 3 years with a great organization...I love LI and am honored to be a part of this team”. 

Now that is what a professional athlete should sound like.

Jets hope to tackle Steelers and play in 1st Super Bowl since 1969

The New York Jets are gearing up to play the second biggest game in franchise history… again.  After dispatching Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts and Tom Brady’s New England Patriots from the NFL playoffs in back-to-back weeks, Gang Green looks to add Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers to their postseason hit list.

Sunday marks the fourth time the Jets will play in the AFC Championship Game since winning Super Bowl III back in 1969. Each time they’ve had golden opportunities to claim victory and return to the big dance, unfortunately the team has consistently come up short. 

• 1982 – Quarterback Richard Todd threw five interceptions en route to a 14-0 loss to the Miami Dolphins. New York’s offense was held to 139 total yards in a game that was scoreless heading into the second half.

• 1999 – Terrell Davis and the Denver Broncos erased a 10-0 deficit and scored 23 unanswered points to finish off the Bill Parcells-led Jets. Once again, turnovers cost the team big time (two interceptions and four lost fumbles). 

• 2010 – The Jets held a 17-6 lead over Peyton Manning’s Colts with under two minutes remaining in the first half. The four-time NFL MVP proceeded to drive up and down the field for the remainder of the game and helped his team score 24 unanswered points.

No one knows for sure what this year’s game will bring, but the key figures to be how the Jets handle two-time Super Bowl champion Ben Roethlisberger. Two weeks ago, Rex Ryan opted to take a passive approach against Manning and drop players back into coverage in an attempt to clog the passing lanes. It worked. Ryan changed his game plan last week and dialed up confusing blitz packages to put pressure on Brady and his offensive line. It worked. Will it be one or the other on Sunday? A combination of both? Only time will tell.

A big topic of debate this week has been which Pittsburgh wide receiver(s) will see Darrelle Revis? Will the NFL’s top cornerback shadow one player, or see a combination of the Steelers two biggest targets (Mike Wallace and Hines Ward)? Ward was the unlucky beneficiary of matching up against Revis in the Jets 22-17 victory in week 15, catching only 2 balls for 34 yards. Wallace, on the other hand, drew Antonio Cromartie and reeled in 7 catches for 102 yards.

The Jets beat writer for the Daily News, Manish Mehta, reported that Ward would once again find himself on Revis Island while Cromartie will have a chance for redemption against Wallace. The matchups make sense, as Wallace is a true deep threat and Cromartie is more adept of getting beaten in short routes as opposed to plays downfield.

The underlying key to the game is how the secondary will handle Pittsburgh’s two rookie receivers, Emmanuel Sanders (7 catches for 78 yards in week 15) and Antonio Brown (3 catches for 75 yards last week against Baltimore). Dwight Lowery and Drew Coleman may be called upon early and often to neutralize the talented youngsters in three and four wide receiver sets.

Regardless of matchups and game plans, the most important thing remains the same: hold onto the football for as long as possible. Oh, and not to repeat the mistakes of AFC Championship Games past by limiting turnovers at all costs.  

Mets hope small signings pay big dividends

The biggest moves the New York Mets have made so far this offseason have taken place in the club's front office. After two late season collapses and a couple sub .500 finishes, team executives decided it was time for some relief. Exit Omar Minaya, enter Sandy Alderson. The new General Manager has a clear plan, fans just hope it works.

Alderson all but confirmed he is under constraints to add any significant contracts to a payroll that is anticipated to be around $130 million once all the current arbitration-eligible players are signed. The problem is the team still has a bunch of holes, mostly in the bullpen and starting rotation. Though reports vary, the one item that can be agreed upon is that Johan Santana will miss significant time as he continues his recovery from rotator cuff surgery.

The current solution? The signing of low risk, potential high reward candidates to either straight-up minor league deals, or heavy incentive-laden major league contracts. Not counting players that were re-signed or had their options picked up, Alderson has added eight players to the organization.

Here are the additions and what is currently known about their contracts:

• Boof Bonser, rhp - Signed to minor league deal. Makes $15,000/month in the minors, but would collect $700,000 if he plays in Queens. Invited to spring training.
• Ronny Paulino, c - Agreed to a $1.35 million guaranteed deal.
• Dusty Ryan, c - Signed to minor league deal and invited to spring training.
• D.J. Carrasco, rhp - Agreed to a 2 year deal for $2.4 million. Gets $1.2 million in 2011.
• Chin-lung Hu, ss - Acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers for minor league pitcher Mike Antonini. Hu is arbitration eligible.
• Taylor Buchholz, rhp - Signed for $600,000 guaranteed, gets a $400,000 bonus if he makes the opening day roster and is not on the disabled list. Can make an additional $200,000 if he makes 60 major league appearances.
• Chris Capuano, lhp - Signed for $1.5 million guaranteed. 
• Taylor Tankersley, lhp - Signed to a minor league deal and invited to spring training.

Combine all of those contracts and they wouldn't amount to as much as the New York Yankees just threw at their new 8th inning man, Rafael Soriano. Sure the next R.A. Dickey might be among the names mentioned above, and a few are due to rebound from injuries, but how likely is that?

Things will be very interesting leading up to the start of the regular season. Unfortunately for the fans, the fight for major league jobs in spring training just might be the most exciting aspect of the 2011 Mets... that is, until the trade deadline approaches and Alderson will be forced to make the biggest decision of his short tenure: what to do with pending free agent Jose Reyes?

4:05 PM update: Mets have signed OF Willie Harris to, you guessed it, a minor league contract and have invited him to spring training. At least now if he robs a Met of a home run it will be during batting practice.

Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts: New York Mets for providing contract details.

Things that make you want to go "D'oh": The New York Islanders

The New York area has been no stranger to divided loyalties when it comes to sports. Baseball, for instance, had its ‘Golden Era’ in the first half of the 20^th century with three local squads. Contrary to popular belief, the Big Apple hockey scene has also typically been a multiple team region.

Who was the first New York franchise to play in the National Hockey League? It’s okay; take your time with this one.

If you answered the New York Rangers, you would be wrong. The New York Americans were not just the first local team in the NHL, but were also the inaugural team of Madison Square Garden in the 1925-26 season. The Americans continued playing at the World’s Most Famous Arena, as a co-tenant with the Rangers, until folding after the 1941-42 campaign.

The Rangers had New York to themselves for 30 years until 1972 when Long Island was granted an expansion team. In an ironic twist, the NHL awarded the Islanders to the area in order to keep the WHA (a rival league at the time) out of the newly built Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. More on the arena later.

The Islanders started off like most expansion teams, and served as a doormat for the rest of the league. Things quickly changed in Nassau through strong amateur drafts led by General Manager Bill Torrey. Bob Nystrom, Denis Potvin, Clark Gillies, Bryan Trottier, and Mike Bossy, among others, were selected and would serve as the core of one of the most dominant teams in professional sports history. The Isles went on to win four consecutive Stanley Cups and 19 straight playoff series from 1980-1984.

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Potvin and Bossy suffered from nagging injuries and the players brought in to replace others that had departed were good, but not great. By the 90s, the team was in a rebuilding phase and times were tough. 1993 saw the lone deviation from what has been a perennial disappointment. In a modern day David vs. Goliath, the Isles knocked off Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, and the rest of the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins to make it to the Conference Finals. Unfortunately for Islanders fans, the team has not won a playoff series since.

It’s been kind of like the on-air progression of The Simpsons. The show started off slow for a couple of seasons and was nothing special, just different. Then unprecedented years of greatness and acclaim would cement its spot in the history books. And what followed? Years of minimal entertainment and not much laughs.

And so here we are, almost 18 years later and the team is no closer to winning a playoff series than they were in 1994 when they got swept by the Rangers and were outscored 22-3 in the four games. Also, the Nassau Coliseum (currently the 2^nd oldest NHL building behind Madison Square Garden) has become severely outdated and an utter eyesore for anyone in the Uniondale, NY area.

Every ownership regime has claimed poverty due to the ridiculous lease that John Pickett (owner during the dynasty era) signed with SMG over 30 years ago. Current owner Charles Wang has run the organization on a shoestring budget but has still managed to lose around $200 million since purchasing the team in 2000 for $180 million.

Who could forget Mike Milbury, who served as the team’s General Manager for close to 10 years? “Mad Mike”, anointed by members of the media, was known for having an itchy trigger finger. Sure some of his moves were forced as a result of owners not wanting to pay high salaries (Ziggy Palffy), but most of his transactions were head-scratchers to say the least.

An All-Star squad can be made of the players Milbury exiled from the island: Bryan McCabe, Zdeno Chara, Bryan Berard, Eric Brewer, Darius Kasparaitis, Todd Bertuzzi, Olli Jokinen, Tim Connolly, Tommy Salo, and Roberto Luongo to name a few. One move that continues to negatively impact the Isles was his decision to draft Rick DiPietro 1^st overall in the 2000 NHL Draft, opting to pass on elite goal scorers Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik.

Milbury finally stepped down (no, he wasn’t fired) in 2006 and was replaced by Neil Smith, the architect of the 1994 Stanley Cup champion Rangers. Smith lasted a whopping 40 days before being fired (yes, he was fired) and replaced with the team’s backup goalie at the time, Garth Snow (yes, the backup goalie).

Snow still holds the title of General Manager and spearheaded a full-blown rebuild that started following the 2007-08 season. Since then the roster has been made up of young, unproven players and cheap, over-the-hill veterans. The organization has no Team President, no Director of Amateur Scouting, no Director of Player Development, and no home when the lease ends, but they have Garth Snow and Charles Wang.

D’oh!