WOW.

I am shocked.

On the heels if the Milbury resignation, another era in Islander-land has ended, as the Islanders have decided to buy out the remaining 4 years of lackluster Captain Alexei Yashin's contract.

The bottom line is a cap hit of $2.2M over 8 years for a total of $17.6M.

A lighting-rod issue above all else in Islanders fans minds for some time, this move is sure to generate a lot of controversy.

Those that support Yashin claim that he never had a chance on the team, relegated to playing with second (and third, and fourth) level talent.

True. Yashin managed to put up respectable #'s this season, while struggling through injury. And I've said all along that there aren't too many players in the league with the class and humility that Yashin has. He's a great guy, a skilled player, and will probably help another team out in a non-captain role on the 1st or 2nd line. But at some point you have to realize that there simply is no room on a team for a player with Yashin's unremarkable the salary-to-effort/leadership ratio.

Will the move be enough to show players like Smyth/Blake that the Islander organization's committment to excellence runs so deep that loyalist Wang would even do away with his pet player?

I for one certainly hope so, especially when it comes to Ryan Smyth. Readers of this blog won't be surprised by how high I am on this player. Smyth could seemlessly slip into the Captain role on the Islanders and lead this team to some serious post-season action, I am certain of it.

But first there would still be MAJOR work to be done, not the least of which includes

1) replacing Yahsin's point production with a marquee-level 1st line scorer

2) re-signing Blake (or a second top-level scorer)

3) re-signing key Islander UFA/RFA's


This is really going to make things interesting.


No matter where you stand, you have to at the very least be impressed with Charles Wang's committment to this team...with the Smyth/Milbury/Yashin moves there's now a consistency here that fans have been waiting for, for a long time.

Join the Discussion: » Comments » Post New Comment

» Isles sign Hunter to 1-year $1.55M

» Hunter goes to arbitration

» Chris Simon to return for another season

» Yashin to join Robitaille on Russian squad

» Another reason to love Ted Nolan (and Al Arbour, too!)