By Dave Diamond
Think about this one for a second. The July 31st trading deadline approaches and a middle-market team, maybe the Astros or Rangers, want to add a big-time performer to their line-up. Word comes over the sports media, and Derek Jeter has been traded to Houston for three minor leaguers. Would you really believe something like that could happen?
Well, it really did happen on Tuesday, except only the names were different, not the concept. The New York Islanders acquired Ryan Smyth from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for two center prospects and next year’s first round draft pick, and some hockey analysts actually have the nerve to question the Islanders motives for making such a splash.
Does Ryan Smyth deserve the honor of being compared to the entity that is Derek Jeter? Oh, yes. While his sport may not be as popular here, Smyth made his name in Canada, the biggest hockey market in the universe. In Edmonton, to be exact, where Smyth was given the nickname “Captain Canada” when he carried the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Finals last season, one game shy of hoisting the most treasured trophy in sports. He has 265 career goals in 11 and a half seasons with the Oilers, 31 this season, and has turned heads with his aggressive offensive play and knack for scoring the big goal. He is arguably the most popular player to play for Edmonton since Wayne Gretzky left in the early 90’s.
Yet, the ill-financed Oilers neglected to give the unrestricted free agent to be a deal that Smyth wanted, and thus decided to trade him for two good prospects, Robert Nilsson and Ryan O’Marra, plus the Isles top pick this June. Maybe more surprising than Edmonton letting their star go is where he ended up. It was the other team in New York that made some big-market noise on the trading front, and any true Islander fan would say the same thing, “it’s about time!”
With this move, the Isles have emerged as a true threat in the Eastern Conference; some fans are the most excited they have been since a conference title bid back in the 1992-1993 season. The days between then and Tuesday had been tumultuous until very recently, and still things in Islander country were not exactly peachy until GM Garth Snow pulled the trigger on this deal. Suddenly everything is right at Fort Never-lose again (the Nassau Coliseum for those of you born after 1983.)
It was only a few months ago when the Islanders made headlines of a different variety. Snow was ridiculed for being the quickest person to ever go from back-up goaltender to high-level executive when he retired from the game and became the Isles second new general manager in one month. Neil Smith, the man hired by owner Charles Wang only weeks earlier, was fired for failing to uphold Wang’s “GM-by-committee” scenario. He also hired the coach nobody wanted in Ted Nolan. Then he gave Rick DiPietro an unprecedented 15-year deal. And by that point, the Islanders were once again the laughing stock of the NHL.
Who’s laughing now? Ted Nolan should get consideration for the Jack Adams award for coach of the year as the Islanders sit seventh in the east after Tuesday’s overtime victory over Philadelphia; the same award he won back in 1996 with Buffalo, the same team that fired him that season for personal reasons, an incident that made it impossible for Nolan to get another coaching job. Rick DiPietro has been the best player on the ice for the team in its recent jolt into playoff contention. Maybe not worthy of 15 years just yet, but at least people have stopped talking about it. And Tuesday night there were “Garth Snow” chants resonating amongst the fans at the Coliseum, thrilled that the GM just acquired perhaps the final piece to make the Isles contenders for a playoff run this year.
And still, the higher-ups in hockey media have questions to burst the Islanders’ bubble. Did the Islanders give up too much for a player they may only be renting for a few months? There is no guarantee that Smyth will re-sign at season’s end, and the team already has a big-time unrestricted free agent to sign this off-season in Jason Blake. Nilsson and O’Marra are two very good youngsters that may have NHL talent in the near future. Plus, the Isles gave up their top pick in next year’s draft for Smyth, who may very well head back to Edmonton after this season.
This is yet another example of over-analysis at the deadline. Snow did nothing to disrupt the players already in the Islander locker room; in fact he only added talent to one of the hottest teams in the league. He also acquired Richard Zednik from Washington, already on a line with snipers Victor Kozlov and Miroslav Satan as of Tuesday.
For the first time in just about forever the Islanders are more worried about the kinetic than the potential. In the past few seasons, teams like Tampa Bay, Carolina, Calgary and Edmonton have made the finals because they got hot at the right time. None of those teams are considered big-market, so why not the Isles this year? Never mind the potential loss, the gain could be far more valuable.
The addition of Smyth, regardless of how far the Islanders go or if he leaves after this season, shows the Islanders actually believe they can win in the playoffs again. That attitude is the most welcomed acquisition in trading history.