New York Islanders

Throughout the next month plus, we’ll be reviewing the season that was and over-analyzing the various players that contributed to it. That’s what the offseason is for, after all. This is the first in the series.  Josh Bailey — LW/C — #12 11-8-19 in 38 games Most often seen at: Frans Nielsen’s left wing Contract status: Restricted Free Agent, $1.3 million in 2012-13 (1.05M cap hit) Obligatory YouTube video of: His shootout winner in Philadelphia on March 28th Thoughts on 2012-13: Bailey returned a bit late to the lockout shortened season after being injured while playing overseas, missing the first ten games. Once he was back in the lineup, Bailey returned to the left wing spot that he had success with at the end of 2011-12 and never went back to his traditional center position. In 38 regular season games, Bailey notched 19 points in 38 games (.50 points per game) and found success on the second line with Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen. Maybe due to recovering from the injury or maybe just off to a slow start, Bailey didn’t register a goal during this first ten games. That changed down the stretch as he finished off the year with six goals and four assists in April (13 games). He certainly had a hand in the Islanders successful stretch run to reach the post-season. Once the playoffs started Bailey was held off the scoresheet in terms of goals, but still notched three assists in the series, and was shifted to John Tavares’ left wing. Grade: B Bailey stepped up for the stretch run this year, helping the Islanders playoff run and upping his points per game average to .50 from a career mark of .41. With only 38 games this season, that’s over a very small sample and still not quite what should be expected of Bailey, especially if the Islanders want to continue to move forward. The team needs the Bailey of April and May, not the one who was still ineffective at the beginning of the season. There have been such flashes of Bailey before, so it’s tough to say if this is something he can continue over the long-term. Bailey, unlike other players on the team of similar age, does not have a long-term deal with the team and is a restricted free agent this summer. We saw a better Bailey this year, but with a short season and not a significant improvement, it’s hard to imagine him getting a long-term deal over the summer. If the Islanders take another step forward next year, Bailey is going to have to continue to improve. We’ll see exactly how much the team believes in him when his contract is renewed later this summer. Add your thoughts and post-season grades in the comments.

To say John Tavares is special is to repeat what has been said about him, in increasingly broader circles, for the last 15 years. He was the first to be granted exceptional status by the OHL. There was the attempt to let him into the NHL draft early since his birthday was so close to the cutoff. There were the stories from both hockey and lacrosse. As his mother told the New York Times in 2007, two years before he became essential to the Islanders' future: "It was one of the reasons why I moved him up an age. I had to. He played so aggressively and he was so strong." read more

To say John Tavares is special is to repeat what has been said about him, in increasingly broader circles, for the last 15 years. He was the first to be granted exceptional status by the OHL. There was the attempt to let him into the NHL draft early since his birthday was so close to the cutoff. There were the stories from both hockey and lacrosse. As his mother told the New York Times in 2007, two years before he became essential to the Islanders' future: "It was one of the reasons why I moved him up an age. I had to. He played so aggressively and he was so strong." Barbara described lacrosse games and soccer games where John would play so hard, he would be thrown out of games for simply running over other players. He was 5. But as that article and so many others pointed out then, there have been plenty of special players at young ages. Each new level up the ladder weeds another crop out. Although Tavares broke records and generated a hype machine coming out of the OHL, he wasn't even the consensus top pick at the time of the draft in 2009. (Majority? Yes. Consensus? No. Victor Hedman and Matt Duchene drew some votes. Thankfully the Isles went with the majority.) There was reason to believe he would be a very good player, but perhaps not a franchise star. There's no reason to think that anymore. In his rookie year Tavares exhibited the body weakness typical of a 19-year-old and the skating weakness projected by his draft year critics. Some wondered if his future would be at wing, not center. They don't wonder that anymore. Though Tavares was a great power play poacher in his rookie year, the power play did not run through him. It does now. Though Tavares was a dangerous scorer in his rookie year, his weaknesses mad him a ripe for targeting by opponents' best lines. He's not a target now. He used to feed Matt Moulson for the majority of that dynamic duo's goals, but in 2013 Moulson flashed his dishing side while Tavares scored at a rate that dwarfed his previous years. Tavares scored 28 goals in 48 games, three short of what he scored in 82 games in 2011-12 and four more than what he scored in 82 games of his rookie year. I know when I watched Tavares during his rookie year, I saw a player who I thought would be a really good scorer but not a franchise cornerstone. Not someone to be mentioned in those generational superstar discussions. But he's improved dramatically each season to the point that you can even wonder if he's following in Sidney Crosby's wake. He's starting to get that attention, too. He is a Hart Trophy finalist in 2013. Media are routinely raving about him, with The Hockey News putting him just behind Crosby for its own MVP award. You see him high up on lists (the contract helps) more often than not now. I don't expect him to be a Crosby (in the area of incessant whining about officiating, I expect him to be better), but an oft-cited trait about him, most recently in The Hockey News, is reminiscent of Crosby and makes you wonder how high he can go: "All of us in the room see how hard he works every day," Matt Moulson said. "He just keeps getting better and better and that desire to not be satisfied with where he's at is one of the things that makes him so special." He's just 22 years old and already drives his team. How much better can he get?

Can't sleep? Too much coffee? Just got in from your Friday night and need some time to wind down? Here are some reading suggestions since personally -- I got nothing. Shall we go from the rediculous to the sublime? Yes. Here is an example of the rediculous: Eyes on Isles by Michael Willhoft and his idea of what John Tavares' personal journal would look like. Um. No. But it's a distraction. Here is Tony Stabile's End of Season review for Hockey This Week and the respect the team walked away with -- for a change. And here's the reason for that respect, all the work that Jack Capuano did these past few seasons. This is a great article by Travis Betts on Jack and developing a belief in his system. read more

Can't sleep? Too much coffee? Just got in from your Friday night and need some time to wind down? Here are some reading suggestions since personally -- I got nothing. Shall we go from the rediculous to the sublime? Yes. Here is an example of the rediculous: Eyes on Isles by Michael Willhoft and his idea of what John Tavares' personal journal would look like. Um. No. But it's a distraction. Here is Tony Stabile's End of Season review for Hockey This Week and the respect the team walked away with -- for a change. And here's the reason for that respect, all the work that Jack Capuano did these past few seasons. This is a great article by Travis Betts on Jack and developing a belief in his system. Then if you want to spend money, there is the Islanders jersey auction. Got $6,000 for a John Tavares jersey? I was out of it as soon as I noticed I couldn't find a Matt Martin jersey. What's that all about??

Canada, you may want to sit down. The Pittsburgh Penguins advanced to the Eastern Conference finals Friday, eliminating the Ottawa Senators -- the last remaining Canadian team -- with a decisive 6-2 victory in Game 5. With that, an American club will win the Stanley Cup for the 19th straight season. Now comes the annual Canadian tradition where the country shifts from counting Canadian teams in contention to Canadian players on American teams. The Senators made a slight improvement in Game 5, holding the Penguins to fewer goals than in their previous game. Unfortunately, it was just one fewer, and that's not nearly enough when they allowed 7 the last time around. This game was a lot like Game 4, come to think of it: All Pittsburgh, and not all that close.

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Phoenix Coyotes general manager Don Maloney signed a long-term contract extension Friday with the NHL-owned team. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

As the New York Islanders assembled some success, or at least progress, in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, you'd hear more and more other teams and hockey media note their team speed. The Penguins noted it as the Islanders had them on their heels -- and outshot them -- in four of six playoff games. But what is it, really? "Team speed" is one of hockey's many amorphous measures that has no trusty, well, measure. You think you know it when you see it, but you can't exactly pinpoint it nor average out everyone's 40-yard dash to get a rating. read more

As the New York Islanders assembled some success, or at least progress, in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, you'd hear more and more other teams and hockey media note their team speed. The Penguins noted it as the Islanders had them on their heels -- and outshot them -- in four of six playoff games. But what is it, really? "Team speed" is one of hockey's many amorphous measures that has no trusty, well, measure. You think you know it when you see it, but you can't exactly pinpoint it nor average out everyone's 40-yard dash to get a rating. Tallying up individuals you think could win a lap around the ice doesn't quite tell you what you want. Counting breakaways doesn't tell you much. (Yes, the Islanders have breakaway machine Michael Grabner. What about the other 17 skaters?) Even observing how fast a team gets in on the forecheck is more of a stylistic thing -- are they aggressive or passive? -- than a measure of speed. But that last point might be closest to the mark. One age-old principal in coaching is that the puck moves faster than any individual player can skate. From that premise comes the idea that if you maintain puck possession -- and do it securely and quickly -- then you are creating discomfort for the opponent, who is now scrambling to keep up. There is plenty of talk about the league being a fast, young man's game now. Part of that is probably an echo chamber, but part of that is real: Transitions, keeping the puck, getting other teams' off their game, it's always important but it is more so when younger (and faster) talent is taking over and obstruction is the exception rather than the rule. In an official team site article about Jack Capuano that talked a lot about all kinds of the usual indefinable hockey concepts of "grit" and "determination" and "accountability," there was also a little of this: "You can look at our team individually, man-for-man against other teams that we play," Capuano said. "Maybe we’re not as fast individually, but there’s a certain style. We have to play fast and we have to play on our toes, and I thought we did a good job of that this year." and this: "Every single day, we had the focus and the work ethic, and the right details in practice," forward John Tavares said. "Guys bought in and were doing the right things. I think early on, we didn’t have the success. There were a lot of ups and downs. But we developed a lot of good habits early in the season during practice as far as how we needed to play, and that kept us going, kept us in the mix, even when things weren’t going well." For me those descriptions bear out: As the season went on, the Islanders had "good habits" and "details" in place that aided whether their team speed mattered. I look at their breakouts, and how consistently wingers were able to receive and move passes from the half walls, how consistently a center or second winger was able to receive the relay breaking out of the zone, and how consistently the third forward was joining that rush and able to convert a breakout into a transition to the opposition's zone. None of this is new or groundbreaking stuff. A hockey breakout is quite simple, really. But to have consistent success, "speed" sure helps. And even if the opponent knows what you're going to do, if you can speed it up ... catch me if you can. But that doesn't just mean the foot speed to get there before the opponent. It means the speed to handle the puck quickly and accurately, making a quick decision to move it onward. (The second line of Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey became machine-like in this area on transition plays down the stretch. Consistent breakouts and audibles that got the puck out with possession, limiting time in their zone.) It also requires the work ethic to make sure you keep going at that speed, breakout after breakout, even when things aren't working out. Skating and moving at high capacity is hard; quick decis

The NHL announced today that the winners for five major awards will be announced prior to Game Two of the Stanley Cup Final in a television special. The special will air at 7pm, although the date of Game Two is not yet known. The Hart, Calder, Norris and Vezina trophies, as well as the Ted Lindsay Award will be announced during the special. The Islanders’ John Tavares is a finalist for the Hart Trophy, given to the player judged to be the most valuable to his team. The other finalists are Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. Tavares’ teammate Matt Moulson is a finalist for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship, along with Patrick Kane and Martin St. Louis. That award will be announced on the NHL Network at 5pm, the day prior to Game Two of the Finals.