Maybe the New York Islanders\u2019 switch back to their totally badass, retro jerseys the last couple of seasons was an omen. The beautiful sweaters hearken back to a better time, an era when the Islanders churned out Hall-of-Famers. They were relevant then. <\/p>\n
While the 2011-12 Isles are in no way ready to emerge as a dynasty, they could build on last season\u2019s strong second half and actually contend for a playoff berth. Shock and awe!<\/p>\n
NEW YORK ISLANDERS<\/a><\/strong> Make no mistake: the New York Islanders actually have a few things to be excited about this season. John Tavares\u2019 development as an effective offensive center continued last year. The 2009 No. 1 overall pick jumped from 24 to 29 goals and from 54 to 67 points. After the All-Star break, he had 31 points and was a plus-five in 33 games. He hasn\u2019t come anywhere near his ceiling yet. Tavares\u2019 raw physical skills may look ordinary but he has good hands and amazing offensive instincts. The puck just finds his stick in the right places.<\/p>\n The Isles had been waiting for another offensive player to step up and join Tavares as the key to the future; more than one guy threw his name into the hat last season. No one impressed more than Michael Grabner. The Vancouver castoff exploded for 34 goals in his first full NHL season; he scored 19 goals over his final 31 games. He\u2019s possibly the fastest hockey player on Earth and, like Tavares, is just scratching the surface of his potential. He looks like the next Marian Gaborik.<\/p>\n And what\u2019s with Matt Moulson? Everyone thought his 30-goal campaign two seasons ago was a fluke. Then he backed it up with 31 more goals last season.<\/p>\n See a trend? I\u2019m not saying the Isles are an elite offensive team but they\u2019ve developed a few legitimately dangerous snipers. P.A. Parenteau, Blake Comeau, Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo all have the ability to make the next leap. [ad-4437448] <\/p>\n The Isles\u2019 Achilles heel last season was defense; they were 27th<\/sup> in the league with 3.2 goals allowed per game. It seems there\u2019s nowhere to go but up this year. Milan Jurcina adds some beastly size to a so-so group led by Mark Streit, one of the league\u2019s most underrated offensive defensemen. Now that goaltender Evgeni Nabokov has agreed to report to the team, New York doesn\u2019t have to worry nearly as much about Rick DiPietro\u2019s next injury. And believe me, there will be one this season.<\/p>\n The Isles still have a long way to go but their future finally looks promising. All their high-impact offensive players are young; Ryan Strome, this year\u2019s first-round pick, will eventually boost that group even more. Jurcina and Nabokov could help the team improve slightly on \u201cD.\u201d<\/p>\n I don\u2019t expect the Isles to beat out other bubble teams like Toronto, Montreal and Carolina for the eighth and final playoff spot this season. <\/p>\n But I expect them to come very close. Last year, they won 30 games and tallied 73 points. <\/p>\n I think 35 wins and 80-plus points are within reach this season.<\/p>\n Prediction: <\/strong>4th<\/sup>, Atlantic Division<\/p>\n CappersPicks.com\u00a0NHL Betting<\/strong><\/a> and gambling site provides the BEST Online\u00a0hockey predictions<\/strong><\/a> for you to bet on for the 2011\/12 NHL hockey season! Stick with us all season long! <\/p>\n Shea Matthews weighs in with his 2011-2012 New York Islanders Season Gambling Picks and NHL Preview, plus he provides the lastest NHL odds, Islanders future lines, and Stanley Cup predictions\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":32341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[52102,52103,52104,52105,52106,52107,43272,17638,17823,1968],"class_list":["post-43143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl","tag-2011-islanders-predictions","tag-2011-islanders-season-preview","tag-2011-2012-nhl-predictions","tag-201112-nhl-preview","tag-islanders-nhl-schedule","tag-islanders-odds","tag-n-y-islanders","tag-nhl-hockey-predictions","tag-nhl-season-preview","tag-stanley-cup-odds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/195"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43143"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43167,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43143\/revisions\/43167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nStanley Cup odds: +6500<\/p>\nCLICK HERE TO OPEN AN ACCOUNT AT BETONLINE.COM AND BET ON HOCKEY AT THE BEST SPORTSBOOK ONLINE!!!!!<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"