On the Islanders Beat

Now that activity in the NHL free-agent market has slowed to a crawl, it’s time for me to go into hibernation until mid-September just before training camp opens in Moncton, New Brunswick. I will return if the news demands it, but in the meantime, here are a few items to keep the discussion going through the dog days of summer:

SNOW’S QUEST FOR DEFENSE: When Sheldon Souray’s five-year deal worth $27 million with Edmonton was announced yesterday, it effectively marked the end of the free-agent frenzy in the NHL. Although the status of Anaheim’s Teemu Selanne and Nashville’s Peter Forsberg remains uncertain, the rest of the top players are gone.

As much as the Islanders would like to add another solid veteran defenseman, they weren’t going to offer Souray more than a three-year deal. Some have said Islanders GM Garth Snow overpaid for the free agents he signed, including Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie, Ruslan Fedotenko and Jonathan Sim, but their combined deals add up to $18.65 million.

Who looks more desperate than Oilers GM Kevin Lowe to pay such a premium for Souray? In February, Lowe unloaded defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron to the Islanders. Now, he has replaced Bergeron’s booming slapshot on the power play with Souray’s cannon for roughly five times the cost. While Bergeron may have his lapses on defense, he’s a much faster, more mobile skater than Souray, and his minus-4 rating last season (plus-5 with the Isles) was nowhere close to Souray’s minus-28.

Under the circumstances, it’s easy to understand Snow’s reluctance to ante up the fortune Souray was seeking. Looking over the remaining pool of free agent defensemen, Danny Markov probably is the best one left. After playing with the Red Wings, he might have his heart set on landing with another guaranteed contender. Agent Jay Grossman believes Markov is undervalued after playing in the shadow of Nicklas Lidstrom. He’s a stay-at-home type, but Grossman noted that he has quarterbacked the power play for the Russian Olympic team.

If Snow isn’t sold on Markov or doesn’t want to overpay, then, he might spend much of the summer looking for the right trade for a top defenseman or waiting for a solid player to fall through the cracks as a result of the arbitration process if a team walks away from a player because of a large salary award. Toronto would love to unload defenseman Bryan McCabe, who has four years worth $28.75 million left on his deal, but even if the Maple Leafs took back salary from the Isles, it probably wouldn’t work. It seems McCabe’s contract has onerous bonus provisions that make it even more cost-prohibitive. So, it’s unlikely the former Islander will return.

Trying to guess Snow’s eventual move in this area should be a blogger’s delight for the next month or so. The recent signing of Aaron Johnson, who played 61 games with Columbus last season, was billed as a way to improve depth at AHL Bridgeport, but he might ultimately wind up on the Isles’ blue line.

TRENT HUNTER’S ARBITRATION CASE: Although Snow might be Trent Hunter’s biggest fan, it appears the Islanders are content to settle the restricted free agent’s contract in arbitration. Agent Brad Devine said negotiations for a multi-year contract have ceased, and the case is scheduled to be heard on Aug. 1. All arbitration decisions must be rendered by Aug. 6.

“It looks like arbitration is the path of least resistance to determine the numbers,” Devine said. “Just because it goes to arbitration doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to be an Islander…It’s pretty obvious what is happening in unrestricted free agency. But sure, in a perfect world, he’s definitely an Islander.”

Arbitration results in a one-year deal after which Hunter would become an unrestricted free agent next summer. The salary explosion that took place over the past two weeks is the obvious incentive for Hunter to put himself in position to cash in, but Snow has until next July 1 to lock him up, and unlike the negotiations with Jason Blake, both sides appear interested in getting a deal done in the future.

“Trent has never ever waivered [in his loyalty to the Isles], but the CBA has the tools to create an end result,” Devine said. “We didn’t want to pass up arbitration because it controls the term. It’s hard to give up [the possibility of] unrestricted free agency at this point.”

IT TAKES TWO TO REPLACE DANNY FLYNN: The Islanders finally got around to announcing the hiring of assistant coaches Gerard Gallant and John Chabot today as the replacements for Danny Flynn, who takes over as head coach of Moncton in the QMJHL. Assistant Dan Lacroix, who came to the Isles with head coach Ted Nolan and Flynn last season, remains on the staff.

Critics wondered if Flynn and Lacroix were up to the job because they had no previous NHL coaching experience, but they helped Nolan and the Isles reach the playoffs. Nolan followed the same pattern this time around of hiring coaches who already are familiar to him and have his trust. The only difference this time is that Gallant has three years experience as an NHL head coach at Columbus before his firing in the middle of last season.

Gallant and Chabot both have played on the same team as Nolan at some point in their careers, and they also were teammates with each other in juniors with Sherbrooke in the QMJHL. Gallant and Nolan played for the Adirondack Red Wings, Detroit’s former AHL affiliate in Glens Falls, N.Y., and Nolan and Chabot were teammates with the 1985-86 Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL. Like Nolan, Chabot also is a member of Canada’s First Nation and has been active in the aboriginal community.

SCHEDULE QUIRKS: I really don’t like the way the NHL arranged the Islanders-Rangers rivalry next season. They play the first four games by Nov. 29, which might help boost early-season attendance. But then, they don’t see each other again until March, when they play back-to-back on the 4th and the 6th. Then, they finish the season with a Thursday-Friday back-to-back on April 3-4. One back-to-back set with the Rangers in March at the height of the playoff race is enough. I’d rather see the other games spread more evenly over the course of the season.

The opening back-to-back against Buffalo is a little funky, too, because half the season series will be over before the teams really get settled. The last two Sabres games will be over by Dec. 19. Thanksgiving is a tough holiday for the Isles with a game in Montreal the day before the holiday and a back-to-back with Boston on the two days immediately after the holiday. Selfishly, I don’t like being away for New Year’s Eve in Carolina, and my experience is that the road team always is at an extreme disadvantage in those holiday games.

The longest road trip of the season follows almost immediately, starting Jan. 5 in Colorado, where the Isles meet up with Ryan Smyth. For some reason, their next stop is Edmonton, where Mike Comrie will hear it from his hometown boo birds. Then, the Isles head west to Vancouver before returning to Alberta to visit Calgary. For bettors, the lock of the year is an Islanders loss in the final game of the trip after a long flight to Ottawa, where they have a long history of futility.

Other red-letter dates include Jason Blake’s first visit to the Coliseum with Toronto on the day after Christmas, and the return of Tom Poti and Viktor Kozlov with Washington on Oct. 8 in a Columbus Day matinee. Stanley Cup champion Anaheim visits on Feb. 5, but other than the Rangers games, the most exciting games of the year for my money are the ones when Sidney Crosby and the Penguins visit on Nov. 3, Dec. 15, Feb. 26 and Mar. 24.

Two significant stretches of the schedule would appear to be in the Islanders’ favor. From Oct. 20 through Dec. 3, they play 18 games of which 12 are at home and only two road games require them to board a short flight to Pittsburgh and to Boston. The other four road games are bus trips. If they’re going to get off to a good start, this is the Isles’ opportunity to make a move in the standings. The final nine-game stretch of the season is similar in that the four road games require just one short flight to Pittsburgh along with bus trips to Philadelphia, Madison Square Garden and the Meadowlands.

AND SPEAKING OF NEW JERSEY: Many of you keep asking about the unveiling of the Islanders’ new jerseys. Three teams were permitted to display theirs at the recent NHL draft, but the rest of the league will put them on for the first time in September. Reebok won’t be able to deliver a full complement of uniforms until then. The exact date is uncertain, but the Islanders anticipate unveiling their jersey either just before they leave for training camp on Sept. 13 or just after they return on Sept. 22.

Hope you all have a great summer vacation.

National Hockey League teams are set to release their 2007-08 schedules this afternoon at 2:30, and it appears the Islanders will pick up where they left off in April. The Isles open on Friday, Oct. 5 in Buffalo, where their season ended with a Game 5 loss in the first round of the playoffs. The meet the Sabres in a rematch the next night in their home opener at Nassau Coliseum.

The opening week of the schedule should capture the fans’ interest right away. The Islanders face Washington in a 2 p.m. Monday matinee on Columbus Day, Oct. 8. This game has been designated as the kids’ season opener, and will feature former Isles Tom Poti and Viktor Kozlov plus Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin. Then, the Rangers rivalry heats up right away with a visit from the Blueshirts on Wednesday, Oct. 10 at the new weekday starting time of 7 p.m.

Check back later for further schedule highlights and Islanders news tidbits.

When the free agent market opened last Sunday, most projections had Montreal’s Sheldon Souray atop the list of available defensemen after a season in which he scored 26 goals and totaled 64 points. But while the high-priced forwards – Daniel Briere, Scott Gomez, Chris Drury and Ryan Smyth – all were snapped up in the first 11 hours, Souray still is sitting there for the taking.

Like several general managers, the Islanders’ Garth Snow is wrestling with the question of Souray’s minus-28 rating last season at even strength, his slow feet on the defensive end and how much that is offset by his 100-miles-per-hour slapshot from the point on the power play. It’s a tough question.

At this point, defense has become Snow’s priority. He could add Souray’s offense and a more-defense-oriented puck mover, but that might come at the expense of the continued development of either Bruno Gervais or Chris Campoli. Given the offense that division rivals Philadelphia and the Rangers have added, not to mention Pittsburgh’s firepower, Snow at first seemed to be leaning toward the addition of a physical, stay-at-home guy who can skate.

But the longer Souray sat without signing, the more intrigued Snow became. With the addition up front of 30-goal scorers Bill Guerin and Mike Comrie, one agent advocated the notion of putting together a power play with those two plus Miroslav Satan, another past 30-goal scorer, teamed with double-barreled blasts from the point by Marc-Andre Bergeron and Souray.

It would take a lot of fortitude for opponents to stand in the line of fire from those cannons. On the flip side, long rebounds might result in an unusual number of short-handed goals against.

Still, it’s something to think about. Souray is 31, and his total goals over the past three seasons (15, 12, 26) came as soon as he received increased ice time. But in the end, Montreal chose to invest $5.5 million per season in hulking defensman Andrei Markov rather than spend even more on Souray’s slap shot. Apparently, that raised questions for most teams around the league, and it now appears Souray will command less on the market than expected. But it still could wind up in the same range as former Isle Roman Hamrlik, who got $22 million over four years from the Canadiens to replace Souray.

As of this posting, it doesn’t appear the Islanders are going to sign anyone today. Along with Souray, Snow is considering a list that includes Detroit’s oft-injured Danny Markov, Atlanta’s Andy Sutton, Nashville’s Vitaly Vishnevski, Colorado’s Ossi Vaananen and likely a few others. Former Isle Bryan Berard might be a consideration, though he played only 11 games last season and 113 over the past three years because of injuries.

The possibility of trading for Phoenix’s Ed Jovanovski has been junked because of his no-trade clause, but a trade for former Islander Bryan McCabe can’t be ruled out even though he has four years worth $28.75 million remaining on his deal. If that happened, Snow undoubtedly would be sending considerable salary the other way and might pick up a decent forward or two in the process.

Some Islanders fans have wondered if there is a chance former Isle Kenny Jonsson might be persuaded to return from Sweden. If that could happen, I’ve been told, it would have happened by now. So, there is no easy answer. Just a riddle on defense that Snow is trying to puzzle out this weekend.

Close on the heels of their earlier signing of Bill Guerin, the Islanders just wrapped up a one-year deal worth $3.375 million with Mike Comrie. Coach Ted Nolan most likely will pencil Comrie in as the center on his top line with Guerin.

Comrie totaled 20 goals and 25 assists last season when he was traded by Phoenix to Ottawa, where he helped the Senators win the Eastern Conference title. Twice in his career he has scored 30 goals and 60 points, and he has two other 20-goal seasons all while never getting the opportunity to play with the top line.

More to come later.

The Islanders took a major step toward recovering from their losses in the free agent market this afternoon when they signed right wing Bill Guerin to a two-year deal worth $9 million that includes a $2 million signing bonus in the first year, according to an NHL source. If Guerin is in the fold, then, center Mike Comrie might not be far behind.

The two free agents spent part of the day talking to each other about the prospect of joining the Islanders together to make sure they are coming to a team that can remain competitive for a playoff spot. Guerin previously told the Islanders he wouldn’t come unless they could add offensive help. Comrie had the same reservations. In essence they could sign almost as a package deal.

Earlier today, Comrie’s Edmonton-based agent, Ritch Winter, said the two players “are talking about things like what they need to do to help these guys [the Islanders]…Mike has been buoyed up by their commitment to go out and get guys.”

After learning of the Guerin signing, Winter said he expected negotiations for Comrie to continue tonight. Comrie is prepared to accept a one-year contract, Winter said, “for the opportunity to establish himself as a first-line center.” Landing Guerin, he added, makes it a more attractive destination for Comrie because “he would have a 35-goal scorer on the wing to pass the puck to.”

The 36-year-old Guerin had 36 goals and 56 points last season while playing for St. Louis and San Jose. As one Western Conference personnel expert said, “He proved he had a lot left.”

If Comrie joins the Islanders, he might center a top line with free-agent wingers Guerin and Ruslan Fedotenko, though veteran Miroslav Satan also could be in that mix. Should Comrie sign by Friday, he might have company. Although the Isles have shown some interest in free-agent defenseman Sheldon Souray and his 26-goal slapshot, they are more focused on adding a defensive stalwart. Detroit free agent Danny Markov might be the leading candidate along with Nashville’s Vitaly Vishnevski and Colorado’s Ossi Vaananen.

Ever since Islanders general manager Garth Snow invoked the shopworn condition of Nassau Coliseum as the “common theme” for why he missed out on signing Ryan Smyth and several other big-name free agents, I have received a raft of e-mails from unhappy fans threatening to cancel their season tickets and demanding that I rip the organization for its failure to spend enough money to put a contending team on ice.

I responded at length to one particularly heartfelt condemnation of the “Coliseum excuse” and Snow’s failure to “blow free agents out of the water” with much higher offers than the competition. I’m going to expand on that answer here as my general response to everyone who has written to me on this subject, and I hope you’ll understand if I don’t reply personally because of the volume of e-mail on the same topic.

As I explained to the angry fan who thought it was lame to blame the Coliseum, I have a different take. I’m certainly not saying the arena situation is completely to blame for the Islanders’ failure to attract top free agents. But the poor conditions combined with low attendance (which is a factor of past personnel misjudgments by the organization) has created an environment that often is as depressing for the players as it is for the fans.

There were some great moments at the Coliseum last season, such as the Monday afternoon game against Pittsburgh when Mike Sillinger scored in the final minute for a 6-5 win in front of 15,472 thoroughly entertained fans and, of course, all of the Rangers games. But after having been away from hockey for 13 of the previous 14 years, I was stunned to see how much the fan base had deteriorated and to see how different the Coliseum felt compared to the 1993 playoffs I covered when support still was strong.

On the night Smyth made his Islanders debut, only 12,263 fans were in the seats. If you’ve ever been to a game in Edmonton or Calgary, you know it’s packed and alive. It struck me last season that one reason the Islanders performed so well at Madison Square Garden is because they were looking forward to the electric atmosphere. The contrast for the Isles when they return home from the Garden or from Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Buffalo often is disheartening.

Smyth went to Colorado, which has a recent winning history, a modern arena and a solid fan base. As one prominent agent said to me, Smyth wasn’t the kind of person who figured to be comfortable in the New York area. Denver’s a whole lot more like Edmonton than Long Island is.

Looking back at the first day of free agency, it almost seemed as if the destinations of the top three players were pre-ordained. Everyone knew Daniel Briere would wind up in Philadelphia or Montreal. Scott Gomez and Chris Drury had their hearts set on the Rangers. Team president Glen Sather said he never felt the Rangers were in a bidding war even though many other teams wanted the same players. The Islanders were among the teams that made substantial offers to two of those players at 12:01 p.m. on July 1. But that was the last they heard from those agents.

They made an offer for Paul Kariya, but they apparently didn’t agree he was worth the $18 million St. Louis will be paying over the next three seasons at this stage of Kariya's career. Could Snow have thrown silly money at a few players to get them on board? Sure. And when they didn’t win and the Islanders were stuck with them for three or four more years, fans would go nuts the way they did about Alexei Yashin’s 10-year contract.

Should the Islanders have locked up Jason Blake and Tom Poti earlier? They might have undervalued those two, and they certainly could have kept Poti, who worked hard on his end to find a way to stay. Blake might have taken less than the $20 million he received from Toronto, but his insistence on five years starting at the age of 34 always was going to be a stumbling block.

Would it have made sense to bump the Islanders’ five-year offer worth $32.5 million to Smyth to $35 million? If he was the leader coach Ted Nolan absolutely had to have, then, I say yes. It would have given Smyth a little more to think about compared to the five-year, $31.25 million deal he signed with the Avalanche.

Should the Islanders have focused earlier on some top second-tier players? Probably. But there are 29 other teams bidding, and when I see a defenseman like Scott Hannan choosing Colorado for about the same money or defenseman Mathieu Schneider getting a whopping $11.25 million over two years from Stanley Cup champion Anaheim, I understand their decisions.

I’m sure the Islanders considered bringing back defenseman Roman Hamrlik, but was he worth the $5.5 million per year he’s getting from Montreal for the next four years? Absolutely not. Is former Rangers center Michael Nylander worth the $5 million per year he’ll get from Washington at the age of 35? I doubt it. Maybe he can achieve the same chemistry with Alexander Ovechkin or Alexander Semin that he had with Jaromir Jagr, which would make it a sensible deal for the Capitals. But he would have been a bad fit for the Isles, who didn’t pursue him.

If Snow made some mistakes this time around, maybe it will be a learning experience for him in his first full year on the job. As I told the angry fan in my earlier reply, Islanders fans are entitled to their feelings of frustration after so many years of poor personnel decisions and mismanagement. But the fact that Snow didn’t panic and compound whatever mistakes he made by throwing money at the wrong players to appease the fans was smart. He didn’t try to paper over his losses.

Snow’s aim is to get players he and Nolan believe are capable of competing for the Stanley Cup. He doesn’t want to make a mistake now that will haunt him for years to come. So, you see him sign Ruslan Fedotenko to a $2.9 million contract today that seems a little high. But it’s a one-year deal. If Fedotenko, who has won a Cup, works out, maybe they extend him before the trade deadline. If not, they’ll have salary-cap space again next year.

As I wrote for Thursday’s editions of Newsday, the Islanders’ attempt to trade for Phoenix defenseman Ed Jovanoski, who has a no-trade clause, is an indication of their determination to get the right kind of player for Nolan’s system. It’s a longshot because Jovanoski would have to convince his family to move after building a new home. But if it happened, he would be under contract for another four seasons and would provide leadership and toughness.

The Islanders did not ignore free-agent defenseman Sheldon Souray. But they have to ask themselves if it’s worth it to tie up more than $5 million per season over the next four or five years in a player, who would be a slightly better version on the power play of Marc-Andre Bergeron, whose booming slapshot costs less than $1 million per year. And Souray’s lack of speed would be a greater liability on defense.

If there’s a free agent with obvious appeal to the Islanders on the market right now, it’s center Mike Comrie. He’s 27 and twice has reached 60 points and might do more with increased ice time. If they could land him, it might help them bring in more complementary offensive talent.

If not, Snow might use more than $20 million in cap space to pick up a player who figures to win a salary in arbitration that is too steep for his team. At the very least, if Snow doesn’t lock himself into long-term mistakes this summer, he should be in position to make dramatic improvements at the trade deadline or in next year’s free-agent market.

Of course, the aging Coliseum and low attendance still will be a factor working against Snow’s pursuit of top free agents. But having been through this experience once, he’ll have a better grasp of the market and how much money it takes to overcome the negative perception many players have of the Islanders and the place they play.

After a three-day drought since their minimalist signing of Jonathan Sim on Day 1 of the NHL free agent market, the Islanders announced the addition today of left wing Ruslan Fedotenko. The seven-year veteran signed a one-year deal worth $2.9 million with the Isles.

The 28-year-old Ukrainian produced a career-low 12 goals last season while totaling 32 points. But he had a career-high 26 goals and 41 points the previous season, and he was a major player in Tampa Bay’s surprising Stanley Cup championship in 2004 when he tied Conn Smythe Trophy winner Brad Richards by scoring 12 goals in 22 playoff games, including both goals in the Lightning’s 2-1 Game 7 victory over Calgary.

“Ruslan brings so much to our team with his speed, versatility, work ethic and ability to score big goals,” Islanders general manager Garth Snow said in a statement released by the club. “He was one of Tampa Bay’s most valuable players when they won the Cup, and at 28, he’s just entering the prime of his career. I strongly believe [coach] Ted Nolan is going to get the most out of him.”

Fedotenko also was quoted in the statement, saying, “Last season was a disappointment for me, and I’m determined to show the Islanders and our fans what I can do…I really like Ted Nolan’s style of play. I looked at a lot of offers, but I’ve come to the right place.”

Shortly after Ryan Smyth’s decision to sign with Colorado became official around 11 p.m. Sunday night, my phone rang. It was a player who had been an Islander for six years, not six minutes. It was Jason Blake.

How was he feeling after signing a five-year deal worth $20 million with Toronto? Silly question.

“Awesome,” Blake said with a little laugh.

Whatever criticism Blake might have received for his long shifts and tendency to dominate the puck at times, no one can say he didn’t work his butt off to make himself a better player, going from an eight-goal penalty killer in 2001-02 to a 40-goal scorer at the age of 33 last season. As Tom Poti, another departing Islander, said earlier yesterday about Blake, “He hustled every minute he was on the ice.”

Until yesterday, Blake was the senior Islander in terms of service since his debut on Jan. 4, 2001 after being traded from Los Angeles. He expressed a desire to finish his career with the Isles back in January before the All-Star break when he worried about being traded because of the lack of progress in contract negotiations with general manager Garth Snow. Blake was seeking a five-year deal for $18 million, but the Islanders were offering $9 million over three years, a number they improved only marginally before the NHL free-agent market opened Sunday.

Asked if he felt vindicated to get such a good contract even though he will be 34 when training camp opens, Blake said he “wasn’t trying to prove anyone wrong.” It simply was a matter of believing in his ability to maintain the level of play that has seen him produce 115 goals over the past four seasons.

“Our goal from Day 1 was to get a five-year deal,” Blake said. “As the year went on, they weren’t ready to do a long-term deal. Each organization has their own direction they’re going into. If that’s not what they want to do, that’s fine, but we wanted a five-year deal…I had a great time in New York for the time I was there, and it’s a great organization and I wish them the best.”

Blake expressed his gratitude to Islanders owner Charles Wang and former general manager Mike Milbury for taking a chance on an undrafted player and providing him the opportunity to grow as a player. “Without Charles and Mike, I don’t know where I’d be today,” Blake said. “I owe a lot to them, and I want to thank them. I want to thank the whole organization and all the fans, the [media], the trainers and the equipment staff for everything they did for me. I appreciate it.”

When the Islanders qualified for the playoffs on the final day of the regular season, the team they bumped from the Eastern Conference field was the Maple Leafs. Adding Blake’s speed and determination to a team that has huge forwards who will create more space for Blake might put Toronto solidly into the playoffs. After years of struggling to help revive the Islanders, Blake heads to a place where there’s no question the franchise has the resources and the environment to produce a winning team.

“It’s exciting to go to Toronto,” Blake said. “They fill the building every night, and it’s all about hockey there. They want to win, and that made the decision easier to go to Toronto. They’ve had good teams in the past, and they’re still a good hockey team. They were plagued by injuries last year and didn’t make [the playoffs]. Hopefully, we’re going to turn that around this season.”

As for the future of an Islanders franchise decimated by its free-agent losses, that’s no longer Blake’s concern. He’s ready to turn the page. “[Winning] means a lot when you’re there for a long time,” Blake said. “The Islanders will do fine. They’ll bring some guys in, I’m sure. This is a new chapter in my life, and we’re excited. It’s going to be fun.”

As excited as the Islanders were to acquire Ryan Smyth on Feb. 27 at the trade deadline, that’s how depressing it was to lose him to Colorado as the first day of the NHL free agent market drew to a close tonight. But it wasn’t money that made the difference.

Smyth signed a five-year contract worth $31.25 million with the Avalanche. The Isles offered $32.5 million for five years.

Islanders general manager Garth Snow compared the loss of a player he and coach Ted Nolan hoped to make the leader of their team to the emotion he felt as a player after losing a big game. “As a player, you work as hard as you can, and sometimes, you come up empty,” Snow said. “We offered a very good contract. There’s still players out there who can help us win, and we’re pressing on.”

Just got the call. Rangers are having a conference call in a few minutes to announce the signing of both Chris Drury and Scott Gomez. Coupled with the Islanders’ loss of Jason Blake to Toronto (5 years, $20 million), Tom Poti to Washington (4 years, $14 million) and Viktor Kozlov to Washington (2 years, $5 million), the imminent possibility of losing Ryan Smyth and the mega-deal Daniel Briere received from Philadelphia, the NHL’s cupboard of top free-agent talent is draining fast. The Islanders aren’t the only ones who have been hit hard this afternoon. Imagine how they must feel in Buffalo, where the Presidents’ Trophy winners just got gutted.

The Islanders Web site is reporting they signed a three-year deal likely worth a total of $3 million with LW Jonathan Sim, who totaled 17 goals and 12 assists in 77 games with Atlanta last season. As of 9:45 p.m. ET, they still were engaged in active talks with Smyth and his agent, Don Meehan.