Wait a minute, we have a GM?

Suddenly the Islanders look suspiciously like they know what they're doing.

It's amazing, actually. The Isles traded away Mike York and Alexei Zhitnik for Randy Robitaille and Freddy Meyer; then they traded recently for defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron. They got younger, cheaper, deeper, and quicker. Then they used the money they saved to pick up Richard Zednik from Washington and Ryan Smyth from Edmonton.

Smyth was pricey - their first round pick this year, and two former first-round picks. One of those, Ryan O'Marra, looks solid to me and there's some risk to this long term, especially if the Isles can't sign Smyth to a deal at the end of the year. (It would be an awfully expensive rental.) But, for the first time in a dog's age, the Islanders actually made several trades that all built on each other. In fact, they had a plan. I haven't known what a plan looked like on Long Island since I moved to New Jersey 20 years ago. Seriously, it's like Bill Torrey is back in town.

I'm cautiously optimistic. Just typing that probably ripped Rick DiPietro's ACL or something, but I can't help it. We have a second center! TWO scoring lines, holy shamoley! And we got a guy who can be a leader and a focal point so Alexei Yashin can just play hockey, which he does best when people ignore him and let him play.