It seemed somewhat curious for the Islanders to name Anders Lee as their captain before the season, given the winger was (and is) eligible to become a free agent next July in the aftermath of the preceding captain having left as a free agent last July. It does no team any good to have three captains in three seasons.
But it was a master stroke by general manager Lou Lamoriello, coach Barry Trotz and the new organizational hierarchy on the Island. For it not only filled a void created by John Tavares’ departure, it preempted uncertainty about the team’s leadership before it could blossom into an issue. It stopped the conversation before it even began.
Think of it. When is the last time Tavares was even part of the discussion? Just one month into the season and it is easy to trick yourself into believing Butch Goring is still the only Islander to have worn No. 91. Lamoriello has an historic past, but his eyes are always trained on either today or tomorrow, and never yesterday.
Lee, meanwhile, has developed into one of the most productive scorers in the NHL, ninth since the start of 2016-17 with 79 goals entering Saturday night’s match against the Devils. Just eight guys are ahead of him: Alex Ovechkin, Patrik Laine, Nikita Kucherov, Auston Matthews, Evgeni Malkin, Connor McDavid, David Pastrnak and Sidney Crosby. They are all way more famous than Lee. And they all are — or will be on their next contracts — among the highest-paid players in the league.
One of the most community-minded players on the club, Lee was selected by the Islanders out of Edina (Minn.) High School in the sixth round of the 2009 draft. That’s one for Garth Snow. The winger is operating at a $3.75 million cap hit while earning $5 million on this final year of a four-year contract. The next deal will be considerably more. It remains uncertain whether the Islanders will pony up or whether Lee will indeed hit the open market and then the road.
Maybe that becomes an issue approaching the trade deadline. But it is not an issue today. More to the point, neither is Tavares.
If there is a name with which a Devils’ top first-round pick does not want to be associated, it is Neil Brady.
Sorry about that, Pavel Zacha.
Zacha, for whom we will attach the obligatory disclaimer noting that he is still just 21 years old, was sent to the AHL on Friday after a terribly disappointing start to the season in which he had already been a healthy scratch multiple times.
This is the player New Jersey selected sixth overall in the 2015 draft ahead of Ivan Provorov and Brad Werenski, defensemen who went seventh and eighth, respectively, to the Flyers and Blue Jackets. By the way, wingers Timo Meier and Mikko Rantanen went ninth and 10th to the Sharks and Avalanche, so there is a panoply of regret here if Zacha (16 goals, 35 assists, 51 points in 150 games) does not develop into a meaningful NHL player.
Brady isn’t one of those names that roll of the tongue in the recitation of franchise history, and for good reason. An earnest enough fellow, he was selected third-overall in 1986 because management believed he would develop into the type of big center necessary for success in the then-physical Patrick Division.
Alas, Brady never filled out and never fulfilled the Devils’ projections. He played a sum of 29 games for New Jersey (two goals, four assists, six points) before moving on to play 60 more games with the Senators and Stars. His pro career lasted 13 years, but an 89-game NHL career is not what you’re looking for from a third-overall draft pick.
Especially with a defenseman named Brian Leetch there for the taking, and no, the fact five more teams passed on No. 2 does not ease the pain of those at the time in the New Jersey organization.
You tell me: Which team will be equally morally void and cynical enough to hire Slava Voynov if the defenseman’s application for reinstatement is approved by Gary Bettman, who has sole authority in the matter via Article 18 of the CBA and the corresponding absence of an NHL domestic abuse policy?
Your team? Will you continue to cheer the laundry if it is worn by this player, suspended indefinitely by the NHL in October 2014 in the immediate aftermath of Voynov’s arrest for felony domestic assault against his wife, Marta Varlamova, that preceded his plea of no contest to the misdemeanor charge of corporal abuse to a spouse for which he served 30 days before self-deporting to Russia?
Voynov’s rights are maintained by the Kings, so the team committed to signing him would have to complete a deal first with LA. And if we’re talking about cynical, how about we start with the Kings’ operation that doesn’t seem to have compunction about obtaining the equivalent of blood money — the Redondo Beach police report of the incident obtained by the LA Times quotes Varlamova as saying the couple’s bedroom “was covered in her blood” — in return for this, um, asset.
The Golden Knights became just like every other team as soon as they traded a bundle to Montreal for Max Pacioretty and committed a bundle to sign the veteran winger to a multi-year extension in a classic missing-link move the Rangers can tell you all about.
And now, with Pacioretty at two goals in 10 games before suffering a shoulder injury, they’re playing like just about every other team, too.
So is Elias Pettersson enough proof on his own that a team can get a dynamic, skilled, game-buster at fifth-overall?
So I see that the Sun ran a piece this week with the headline, “What if Bobby Orr had been a Toronto Maple Leaf?”
That got me to thinking.
What if Marcel Dionne had been a New York Ranger?
Never mind.
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