M*A*S*H

Another injury hits the Isles - this time Andrew MacDonald goes down for 4-6 weeks with a hand injury that required surgery. Going into the season the Isles had 9 defensemen on the roster and only enough playing time for 6. Since then, Streit was lost to a shoulder injury and won't be returning until sometime in January or February at best. Wisniewski had to sit a pair for his lewd gesture in the Ranger game. And now A-Mac is lost for more than a month.

It's a good thing Garth stockpiled the defense going into the season. Now Hillen and Gervais get a chance - well, at least Hillen does. Reports from Isles veteran blogger extraordinaire Dee Karl was that Gervais was seen skating in practice as a forward. He's had a few games at forward in the last few years and it just might give a chance to get out of Gordon's doghouse and onto the ice. Bruno had a rough go of it in a number of games last season and didn't seem to make the progress the team had hoped for.

Isles lost a tough one to the Panthers and wasted a nice game by Tavares who netted his first career hat trick. I saw some media-types report that they thought DP over-handled the puck and also coughed up a fat rebound for the 4th goal. Some have gone on to suggest that Roloson should be the number one goalie. I strongly disagree for a few reasons.

First - I watched the Florida game and Ricky did not cough up a rebound leading to Florida's go-ahead goal. It was a shot from the point that was deflected on its way to the net and Ricky just got a piece of it with the bottom of his pads and it took a lucky trip onto Dvorak's stick. Not Ricky's fault, in fact -- who was responsible for picking up Dvorak? Why is he sitting wide open, alone behind the defense? Second, while Rollie has certainly played well and has earned the "starting goalie" tag - let's not lose site of the fact that he is 41 years old and has a limited future. Moreover, this team is not likely to be making a run at the cup (especially with Streit & Okposo out for half the season). Like it or not, DP is only 29 and can play another 10 years ---- if course, if he stays healthy. I know he's not been spectacular - but don't lose site of the fact he's played less than a dozen games in the last 2 years. He needs some time to knock the rust off. The Isles will need DP to be their number one for the next few years until one of the guys in the system is ready to step into the crease. Until then, it is in the Isles best interest to get DP back into his old form (or as close to old form as he can get) and to help build his confidence.

Last - I think some people got a little delirious over the past 2 weeks with the Isles being in first place and playing well. They've played 10% of their games -- they are doing better than anyone predicted - but at some point they will come back to Earth a little. Until then, let's just hope they can get through the next game without having someone leave the ice with an injury.