It's About Time

Our wishes have come true and the Isles have bought out the remainder of Alexei Yashin's contract, making him a free agent. For the next eight years (twice the remaining years of the contract) the Isles will be on the hook for a cap-charge of 2.2 million dollars a year--which is two-thirds of the value of the remaining value of the landmark ten-year deal agreed to six years ago. The albatross is gone!

As Greg Logan put it in Newsday, the buyout can be seen as Charles Wang admitting making a huge mistake with the deal, but Ted Nolan also described it as a chance for a "new beginning" for the Islanders. I tend to agree. It's hard to argue the fact that back in 2001 when the Isles traded for Alexei Yashin and Michael Peca, both men added some desperately needed credibility to the franchise that had been hemorrhaging money and the goodwill of the fanbase for years. Yashin helped, in a way, restore order, pride, and like I said, some sense of credibility. But now the man is a former Islander and Mr. Wang has paid another steep price to prove to the people who love the team that he is 1004% committed to bringing the pride back to the Islanders franchise. Mr. Wang has his detractors--I am not one of them--who can say whatever they will about the way he goes about his business but no one can deny that every move he has made has been to better the Islanders on the ice and in the eyes of the fans.

What does this mean for the Islanders? Well, it means that the team has 2.2 million dollars in "dead money" counting against the cap for the next eight years. (There's a joke about "dead money" and Yashin's perceived lack of effort in here somewhere.) But that also gives GM Garth Snow and the rest of the team's braintrust an additional $5 million to spend on fortifying the squad and securing the type of players Ted Nolan needs for his system.

This also, ahem, sends a none-too-subtle note to guys like Ryan Smyth that they team is putting the past mistakes in the past and that they are ready to move forward in a positive way. The seismic shock felt around the league is the news that the Islanders are truly ready to be players here. Agents have been warned. Don't think that the allure of playing for a family-friendly organization like the Islanders and for a guy as respected as Ted Nolan is not going to be attractive for a lot of players this summer. Suddenly, the Islanders become an option...and not fallback. Good times!