Enough is Enough

OK. I have had it. I was never one that thought this team needed to have a designated enforcer, and I still do not think they need one. But somebody needs to step up and protect John Tavares. Two more times last night he was on the receiving end of a cheap shot and not one of his teammates stood up for him. This needs to stop.

There are plenty of big, tough players on this team that can stand up for our future superstar. There is Trent Hunter, Tim Jackman (when healthy), Andy Sutton and Brendon Witt (when playing). But I am going to focus on two players: Kyle Okposo and Blake Comeau.

Blake Comeau has the size and natural ability to be a very good power forward in this league. He just needs the heart to put it all together. Comeau needs to sit in the video room and watch tape after tape of one player: Clark Gilles. The first power forward. What do you think Gilles would have done if Mike Bossy or Bryan Trottier was elbowed in the face? He would kick the you know what out of the player that did that. I am not trying to compare Blake Comeau to Clark Gilles, or saying he needs to end up being as good as Gilles. I am arguing that he needs to model his game after Gillies. And in order to do that, he needs to start stepping up for his teammates.

Kyle Okposo is the future Captain of this team. I am think we can all agree that there is no question about that. They would not have given him an "A" at the age of 21 if the captaincy was not in his future. Now he needs to start acting like a Captain. Kyle is not a small guy. He is very strong, especially for his age. He needs to show that he is the unquestioned leader of this team and start to stand up to players that take cheap shots at our best players. A great Captain cannot just be a leader in the locker room; they also need to be the leader on the ice.

This is not to say if someone put a big and CLEAN hit on one of our star players that we need to go after the other team. I have very strong feelings about that as well. When Sutton lands a crushing hit on a player and the other team comes after him, I commend him for never fighting the other team. There is no need to. He has done nothing wrong. Other teams in this league need to stop acting like a bunch of five year old's when one of their teammates get hit hard legally. That never used to happen. Gilles would not go after someone if the hit was clean. This is a new phenomenon in the NHL and it needs to stop. But that is a debate for another day.

No. 1 Goalie? Sorry Rolo, it's DP

There has been lots of debate on message boards and blogs on what should be done with Rick DiPietro once he is FULLY recovered. I am here to say that there is no debate. When Ricky is healthy, HE is the number one goaltender of the New York Islanders.

This is in no way a slight to Roloson. He has played outstanding hockey thus far this season. There is no question about that. If there was an All Star game this year, he would probably be their representative. He is tied for 13th in wins, which is pretty impressive considering the goalie duo we had last year, and the continued lack of depth on the blueline. But he could be tied for first in the league in wins and it would not matter.

Why?

15 years, $67.5 million

It is that simple. Really. Once Ricky signed that contract, that was it. When healthy, he became the number one goaltender for this franchise for the next 15 years. They made their beds with that deal. Now they need to live with it. You cannot have your $4.5 million per goalie as your back up. Not when there are 12 years left on his deal. This is not the same as the Giguere situation in Anaheim. He does not have 12 years left on his deal. He can be traded. Ricky cannot be traded.

Now the question of WHEN he resumes his job as number one goalie is a good one. And the answer is still not known. He needs to be COMPLETELY healthy before he resumes the workload of a number one goalie in this league. But when he is healthy, the job is his. He does not need to win the job back from Roloson. And do not start feeling bad for Roloson. He was well aware of this when he signed the two year contract this summer. He is a 40 year old goaltender who was offered a two year contract by the Islanders when everyone else was offering him a one year deal. He knew when he signed that deal he was giving up playing time for more job security and money.

All this being said. I do not believe Ricky will ever be the type of goalie that will play 70 to 75 games a year. They will always need a very capable back up. We should feel very fortunate that for the rest of this year and next year, that back up goalie will be Dwayne Roloson