What Happened?

Day one has basically come and gone. We lay nearly $15 million under the minimum for the cap, we can't fill three lines, and we have lost all but one UFA. Our only UFA left is Smyth, and we can only hope that he returns and can help bring some other players with us. What makes this hurt the most is that nearly every single player that we were enthusiastic about going after, signed somewhere else. The most painful of all, Drury and Gomez to the Rangers. I do not know how they continue to do this year after year, cap or no cap, they always make these splashes.

Something tells me Souray is on his way. That would be nice, but you would hope that you wouldn't grossly overpay him. You pray to whoever your god is that Smyth comes back, which would lead to Comrie. Guerin is still out there, as well as Brad Stuart. Kariya has been rumored to be going to a number of different places. At this point, you need to aggressively pursue him. We need puck moving playmakers. We can hope that Zubrus or Petr Sykora can make their ways here as well. We need goal scorers.

If we can get a few of them, we'll be back on track. Our division is going to be at it's most difficult. Philly has Briere, Timmonen, and Hartnell. The Rangers have Gomez, Drury, Jagr, Lundqvist, etc. The Penguins are a hungry fountain of youth. The Devils will be hurting a bit this season without Rafalski and Gomez.

My deepest regrets do go out to the fans in Buffalo. You think we feel bad, could you imagine what it must feel like to be a cup-contending favorite, and to watch the team disintegrate before your very eyes, in the course of less than 10 hours? The defending President Trophy Winners have lost their captains, their most impressive offensive sparkplugs.

Day two needs to be better. Let's face it, day two can't be much worse than day one.

Sean (still optimistic, still an Islander, will love em til I die)