NHL Preview: New York Islanders

The Isles won’t win the Cup, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make money betting on them. Charlie Boccanegra reports.

The New York Islanders played terrific hockey down the stretch last season. Wel,l at least to their standards. The Isles were competitive, playing over .500 and not embarrassing themselves. This is something I expect to see for the duration of the 2011-12 season.

By no stretch of the imagination are they Cup Contenders. Just making the playoffs would be a huge accomplishment, so don’t be tempted by any longshot NHL betting odds to win the division, conference or Cup. The only way to play them over would be the season point total, which is 81.5 Even at that last year they had 73 points and the year before 79 so it would still require some drastic improvement.

Rather I will consider looking at betting on OVERS during their games due to a good young group of forwards and a far below average defense and goaltending.

2008 first round pick John Tavares is making slow strides but improving. This year I expect him to take a big step forward and become an elite scorer. Joining him is a collection of young talent with tremendous upside that we saw in the second half of last year with Moulson, Grabner, Nielseon, Okposo and Bailey.

The key players are Okposo and Bailey because they have the most upside with potential to be legitimate stars with Tavares, while the other players are more likely to be second liners. The signing of veteran forward Brian Rolston may prove to be valuable as he can mentor the youthful talent upfront.

If everything falls into place and the forwards continue improve at their current pace the Isles could challenge for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

That still remains unlikely and I believe is a couple of seasons away because the rest of the team has many holes, all starting on the back end. #1 defenseman Mark Streit is a good offensive defenseman but is not nearly physical enough and makes to many turnovers to be relied upon in that role.

Mark Eaton is the only veteran reliable shut down defender on the back end. That is simply not enough as they are still trying to develop this year first round pick Calvin De Haan and youngster Mark Homonic. Milan Jurcina and Andrew MacDonald are not the type of players I would rely on should the two youngsters falter with inconsistent play.

In the net there is some upside if Rick DiPietro can remain healthy. But that is a big if because it something that never seems to happen since he signed that ridiculous 10 year contract a few seasons back. With the defense being one of the worst in the NHL DiPiero will have to prove himself worth every cent.