ENGLEWOOD, NJ- Being an long time Islander fan I can't help but share my remorse for the inevitable demise of a once proud franchise. The "Fall From Grace" as I like to refer to it, started not so long ago on a cold winter day in 1995. That was the day that I was informed my favorite Islander at the time, Pierre Turgeon, had been jettisoned from Long Island along with Vladimir Malakhov for a package of veterans. The deal made no sense for the Islanders, who were only two years removed from a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals. Turgeon was a key part of that team and I was sad to see him go. However, little did I know that the trade would bring veterans (Kirk Muller, Mathieu Schneider, and little known Craig Darby) who would in turn be shipped off for youngsters in the vast emptiness that we now call the "rebuilding process". Being a sports fan I've always felt that it is OK for a team to rebuild with prospects as long as they can still stay competitive. If a team is not competitive then it almost becomes an automatic win for opponents when they play the rebuilding team. Let me cite two vast differences in a rebuilding process. To do this I will turn to Major League Baseball. In the MLB, the Florida Marlins completed a rebuilding process by dismantling the previous year's World Series Champs. However, although the Marlins stunk last year, they now have a new rich owner, who is willing to mix in some veterans in the rebuilding process. On the other side of the spectrum, however, is the Montreal Expos. The Expos were competitive back in the mid-90's before baseball's strike killed their momentum. From that day on, the Expos have been shipping high-priced, home-grown talent for more and more prospects so that it seems as if the rebuilding process never ends. They have developed over 15 All-Stars in 4 years and all have been traded for prospects. They have moved into a state of disarray, have no more fans, and are threatening to move to Virginia. The Islanders fall into the second category with the Expos. They have been rebuilding for what seems like an eternity now and although they haven't "bred" any all-stars yet, it seems as if some of the people they have traded have that potential now that they've left the Island. They traded such names as Berard, Redden, Straka, Bertuzzi, Johansson, and Clark (Wendel). All have realized their potential (except for Clark, he already fulfilled his potential) on another team. Yet the Isles keep on cost-cutting. Their biggest problem is ownership. They originally had the ownership of John O. Pickett, who knew how to own a team, but was losing too much money. Then "almost" came John C. Spano. Spano was accused of fraud for not having the money to pay for the team, and "poof", there went another owner. Then came the current owners, Howard Milstein and Steven Gluckstern. They are not willing to spend any money on the team, and Milstein was more interested in buying the Redskins than he was in improving the Isles. Now they want to sell the team as well, and as a result they want to lower the payroll even further. That brings us to our feature presentation, the trade of Zigmund Palffy. Hmmm…. seems like I've been here before. Favorite player traded for another crappy package. Yes, I've definitely been here before. However, this time they are on the verge of trading not only my favorite player, but one of the best players in the league, Zigmund Palffy, to their ARCH-RIVALS!!! The New York Rangers. Talk about treason. That is like turning your back on the fans. I don't so much mind the package they are getting, it is just the principle of trading your best player to your arch-rivals. For you hockey buffs, it would be like Detroit trading Yzerman to Colorado for prospects. Then to make it worse, they throw in their best defensive player as well. Why don't they just merge and give the Rangers all of their top prospects? Wouldn't that make more sense? Here's my analysis of the "Doomsday Trade":

The Rangers clearly get the better of the deal in principle because Palffy is a proven 45 goal scorer and Pilon is one of the scrappy defenseman in the league. He is virtually the only one who can stop the E-Train, Eric Lindros. Palffy is of a rare breed of players who can score, pass, and skate. He is a miniature model of Jaromir Jagr. These players don't come around very often, and when they do you have to cherish them. That is why it made me sick to see the Islanders in their contract negotiations with Ziggy last year. As much as the Islanders are rebuilding on prospects, I do not think that is the best they could've gotten out of the Rangers. The Isles clearly had the leverage in this deal because Neil Smith needed to bring in a marquee player to save his job. The Isles should have requested their highly-touted prospect Manny Malhotra. If anything, he is the closest the Rangers have to becoming the next Palffy, which is what the Isles were clearly searching for in this deal. Todd Harvey has a Pilon-type personality and is a sparkplug that can fire up a team. He also showed he could score about 20 goals, which is all you can hope for from a gritty player like Harvey. However, the question is can Harvey stay healthy? That is yet to be determined. I don't know enough about the minor-leaguer Patrick Leahy to say anything yet, but I imagine that he must have a lot of potential for the Isles to do this trade. The $2.5 million goes without saying. They need cash to help this struggling franchise, which does not collect any of the revenues from the current lease with Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Personally, I think they need more money from the Rangers, but the league isn't going to allow much more. I think the 11th pick in the draft is an important part of the deal because the Isles already have the 5th and 10th picks and could package 2 or all of those picks to get into the top 3 and draft either one of the Sedin twins, Pavel Brendl, Patrik Stefan, or Jani Rita. There isn't much analysis to do on Niklas Sundstrom, because Sundstrom is likely to be traded right after the deal, if it goes through. Sundstrom has been a heavily-touted bust, who has never been able to produce at a higher level. Sundstrom just doesn't do anything well enough to be considered a significant acquisition. The Islanders have talked about then sending Sundstrom to San Jose for young defenseman Andrei Zyuzin to fill the void left by Pilon. I haven't seen Zyuzin enough to analyze him well, but from what I have heard he is a good skater with a powerful shot from the point. I would be truly delighted if this deal ended up falling through. If I would trade Palffy to any of the rumored suitors, it would be to San Jose, where I have heard the names of Jeff Friesen and Zyuzin thrown around in a possible package. The reason I would want Friesen over the other prospects is because he has shown he can produce and is molded after Palffy, although he is not as prolific a goal scorer. It looks as if the Kings will make a run at Palffy if the Ranger deal doesn't go through. The names that have been bantered around have been defenseman Aki-Petteri Berg, centers Olli Jokinen and Pavel Rosa, and of course the Kings pick in the upcoming entry draft (8th overall). The Kings have not been willing to surrender Jokinen, which could hold up this deal. Stay tuned for more trade and free agent analysis in the upcoming weeks. I will have a special column on the Thrashers expansion draft upcoming as well. Todd Singer writes for hockeypage.freeservers.com of Cresskill, NJ.