New York Islanders
Matt Martin- 15 fights- Martin was pretty much the only brightspot in an absolute cluster**** year for the Isles on the fighting front. Buffalo seemed to draw out the anger of Martin as 4 of 15 were against Kaleta, Finley, Weber and Kassian. I found that to be pretty funny and two of his best fights were the ones with Kassian and Kaleta. His most decisive win came against
Wayne Simmonds but for the most part, most of his fights were pretty average. The fact that he is one of the most physical players in the league makes up for that. Martin's an RFA, he's really the only other guy on the team with any heart so it would be tragic to see him go anywhere else. I'll give him a B.
Mike Haley- 7 fights- 14 games played, 57 PIMS: I love that stat. It's disgusting that he wasn't up with this team more. The likes of Rolston, Reasoner and Pandolfo sucked his playing time down the drain, and with that went any entertainment this team had outside of Martin. I think it's safe to say that Haley is one of the most entertaining, old-school type players to lace em' up right now. It's brutal that the Islanders don't value that after the spark he provided last year. His highlights include being in
Stu Bickel's nightmares and one of the best fights of the year with Janssen. He get's an A for his time here, the team however....well, **** them.
Other:
Hamonic- 2- He took a slapshot to the face so fighting was out of the question for him most of the season. He had one crappy one against Upshall and another against
Evander Kane.
Mottau- 1- No comment, **** him.
Staios- 1- Retirement should be in his future.....very near future.
Reese- 1- Good kid, managed to piss off the whole city of Philadelphia by fighting Giroux.
Trevor Gillies- Played in a few games at the beginning of the year, never found a fight.
Overall:
The Islanders couldn't figure out that they were soft as ****. They let the old guys clog the fourth line and prevent Haley from seeing the NHL this year. Several shots were taken against them, nothing ever came out of it.
Garth Snow and his cronies get a
D- for this disgrace they put together. It made it even worse considering they were one of the toughest teams in the league the year before. They sure have alot of things to do before next season.