It took a very long time, but the first major deal of the year was struck between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders, just minutes before their regular season matchup. Coming to the Islanders is scoring threat Mike Sillinger, who has a cap-friendly $450,000 contract for the next 3 years (this year included). Going to the Penguins are solid LW Krisitan Huselius and highly regarded prospect Petr Kalus. Kalus, a late round pick of the Islanders in 2005, had been coveted by the Penguins for over a year. Although the Islanders felt he would someday make an impact in the OTHL, there were simply too many people ahead of him on the depth chart. He thus became expendable.
Sillinger gives the Islanders a legitimate #1 LWer to play with Forsberg and either Selanne or Hemsky. Although this many not be the difference between a contender and a pretender, it moves the Isles just a bit closer to being a legitimate playoff team.
What have the Isles done since? Without captain and star centre Peter Forsberg they have put up an astonishing 5 strait wins and now sit only 1 point behind 8th in the East. A big reason has been the play of Dominik Hasek, who has temporarily removed himself from the dog house, perhaps just at the right time, as he has been the subject of many trade rumours lately.