Sad Island

Boy, I bet NBC hockey commentator (and former New York Islander general manager) Mike Milbury was trying not to slit his wrists last night. After watching game seven of the Stanley Cup finals and seeing Zdeno Chara shake hands with Roberto Luongo at the end of the game my first thought was, 'Wouldn't the Islanders like to still have both of those guys."

If you'll recall, it was Milbury who traded Chara to Ottawa- along with a 1st round draft pick, which turned out to be Jason Spezza (yikes) and forward Bill Muckalt- for Alexei Yashin. How did that work out? Despite playing his last game in an Islanders sweater in 2007 the Islanders will still be paying Yashin $2,204,000 a year till July 1, 2015. What has Chara done since getting off the Isle? Just score 119 goals and 260 assists in a little over 700 games.

Three times a finalist for the Vezina Trophy (2004, 2007, 2011) as the league's best goaltender, Roberto Luongo was drafted fourth overall by the Islanders in 1997. His time with the team lasted exactly three years, as Rick DiPietro was selected first overall in 2000 and Luongo made his escape from New York that same day.

Mike Milbury could have selected either Dany Heatley (2nd) or Marian Gaborik (3rd) who were also drafted in 2000, but instead he went with DiPietro and traded Luongo to the Florida Panthers (with center Olli Jokinen) for winger Mark Parrish and center Oleg Kvasha. Ouch.

What is the difference between Luongo and Dipietro? How about, despite the fact that Luongo only started his NHL career one season earlier, he has more wins (308) than Dipietro has games played (307). Way to go, Mike. Way to go.