Ready for Crazy Times?

The free agent spending frenzy will begin at 12:01AM this Saturday night/Saturday morning. Are we ready?

I've got a great family trip planned for Sunday but I still have a buddy standing at the ready to give me any big news. I'm not much of a cell phone user, but open season on NHL free agents may be the best reason to have a cell phone aside from auto emergencies.

I know we all are crossing out fingers that the Isles can work something out with Ryan Smyth. From what I've been able to read, the team is really making a great effort to bring him back. And I have to say that I wholeheartedly agree with Newsday's Greg Logan on his point about the trade for Smyth at the deadline. Some people grouse about the fact that the Isles may have given up too much for someone who may end up being a late-season rental but after being an Islander fan for 3/4 of my life, I think it was a great statement that showed that the Islanders are committed to winning...or at least making an honest effort to do so.

I always get a weird kick out of hearing some people who complain about trading away really young players for established superstars in the NHL. I mean, the NHL draft is probably the most inexact science there is. Back in the day when the league was drafting guys who were 20 years old, it was a bit different. There's so much that changes for anyone in the two years it takes to go from 18 to 20. At 18, some of these players are like Al Bundy--at their peak--and that's where they are going to plateau. By the time you're 20, you have a good couple of years of personal, mental, and physical development to go with your experience. Saying that, we don't know what is going to happen with Ryan O'Marra and Robert Nilsson and whomever the Oilers picked in this past draft. The kids are super-young and think about it--are you the same person now that you were when you were 18? Did you have a ton of pressure on you that early in life? If so, how did you react? All I know is that I would hate hate hate to have been typecast (for lack of a better word) at the age of eighteen. Maybe it's time we lay off these kids a little bit.

Somebody asked me about Scott Gomez yesterday. Would he be a good fit on the Island? Well, sure. I think he'd be a very good player for the Islanders. A lot of the so-called experts think Gomez is fixing to have some kind of offensive outburst once he's freed from the Devils patient game plan. I've always thought he was a creative player who looks like he is having a great time on the ice. That sort of attitude can be infectious.

One red flag: Gomez has already won some Cups. Why is that a red flag? Well, after years of (perhaps) feeling offensively stunted in the New Jersey system of play and payroll, if I am Scott Gomez, I am looking to get paid. Does Gomer sell himself to the highest bidder regardless of playoff opportunity? Is he in it just for the money now that he has had some of the glory? Does that make him selfish? All questions that I would need to be able to answer for myself before I make any kind of offer to Gomez if I am Garth Snow; or any free agent for that matter. This is not to disparage the career of Scott Gomez either. It would just be a concern if I were the GM.

One guy I hope we stay away from is Paul Kariya. I just don't know that he has been the same since he got crushed by Gary Suter of the Flames a few years ago. Kariya was great in the 2002 Olympics for Canada but that was five years ago. I am sure everyone figured that he may end up back with the Ducks now that he has decided to leave the Nashville circus behind. If his good buddy Teemu Selanne retires, GM Brian Burke may have a good solution in Kariya. The champs have a lot of gritty youngsters on the roster who can do the dirty work so that a guy like Kariya can hang around the circles and score some goals.

Besides, we all know that Gomez is going to the Rangers and that Kariya will end up on the Maple Leafs anyway!

Greg Logan also reported that Tom Poti is going to test the waters. Can't blame him one bit after that contract the Flyers game Kimmo Timonen. Timonen is reportedly the second highest-paid player in the NHL right now. Wrap your head around that one for a minute. Kimmo Timonen, a guy even the most hearty of hockey fans probably couldn't pick out of a police lineup, is just behind the mulletless Jagr in pay as it stands right now. Guys like Tom Poti owe it to themselves to look around and see if they can get some of that six-million dollar pie. It would be pointless for the Islanders to overpay for a guy like Tom Poti--who I became a big fan of, by the way. But you need to proceed in a careful, calculated manner in free agency. Sure, you can go all Crazy Eddie like the Flyers--where the prices are INSAAANE!--or you can try to build a contending team without the potential salary headaches in the room from players who aren't pulling the rope with the rest of the guys. The Isles just got rid of that guy. No need to make another mistake.

I'd make some predictions but I am notoriously bad at this sort of thing and besides, I don't want to jinx anything. We'll see what happens Sunday and on Monday we'll have some sort of recap and/or update from the weekend on Monday. Hold onto your seats and cross your fingers.