The Islanders will have a new captain this year.
Islanders GM Mad Mike Milbury was up to his old, bold ways yesterday as he pulled the trigger on a truckload of deals that shook the hockey world. Captain Michael Peca was traded to Edmonton in a cap-clearing move just hours after the Isles inked sniper Miroslav Satan to a three-year deal.
Peca, who was in the final year of his contact and was slated to earn $3.99 million this season, was sent to the Oilers for former Ranger Mike York. Satan, who will turn 31 in October, was signed to a deal that will pay him $4.25 million per season. The Isles also traded a draft pick to Vancouver for defenseman Brent Sopel, who like York, is an unsigned restricted free agent.
Milbury acknowledged Peca helped “restore credibility to the New York Islander organization,” and thanked him for his service.
“It’s not easy to trade anybody,” Milbury said. “Tougher still when that person is your captain.”
The flurry of moves signals a change in philosophy on Long Island, as the team got faster and more skilled in the hopes of exploiting the new and supposedly wide-open game. It also became more reliant on Alexei Yashin being a go-to player.
“The table has been set for him,” Milbury said, adding his work in the free-agent marketplace is likely over for now.
Trading Peca, the team’s captain since he came to the Islanders before the 2001 season, is Milbury’s boldest move in years. Peca was never the same after Darcy Tucker submarined him in the 2001 playoffs and had shown only flashes of his old Captain Crunch persona during his injury-riddled tenure. In Satan, the Islanders have one of the most dynamic scorers in the league and someone to ride shotgun alongside Yashin. York is a proven character player with exceptional speed, grit and offensive ability.
In Sopel, a scraggly haired puck mover with a nice outlet pass, the Islanders have a shooter that will help ease the loss of Adrian Aucoin.
“This new look gives us balance throughout the lineup,” Milbury said. “We’ll have a 25-goal scorer on each of our top three lines.”
