Islanders GM Mike Milbury made one trade that continues to haunt him. Some days, however, the trade he made in sending goalie phenom Roberto Luongo and pudge ball Olli Jokinen to Florida for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha, looks better than others.
Yesterday was not one of those days as the Isles hosted the Panthers for the first time this season. The Islanders have struggled in just about every area of their game, while Florida stormed the Coliseum with a two-game winning streak.
Kvasha, who is being counted on this year to contribute offense, sat out the first of what is expected to be a minimum of two weeks with a fractured left ankle last night. He was pointless through the first six games of the season.
Parrish, who is expected to be a big-time goal scorer for the Islanders, replaced Kvasha on Alexei Yashin’s right wing as the team sat 21st of 30 teams in goals scored with 15. The power play has been horrible, scoring on just three of the last 44 extra-man opportunities.
And from one end of the Islanders’ roster to the other, players like Yashin, Brad Isbister and Kenny Jonsson have been invisible thus far.
Say what you want about Kvasha, who was often booed by the home fans last year. He remains one of the few offensively gifted Islanders who has potential to pump in more goals than the 13 he did last year. But now he’s not an option for at least two weeks, thanks to a second-period slap shot off Bret Hedican’s stick Tuesday night.
“Kvasha is a skilled player and with a team looking for offense it won’t help having a skilled player out of the lineup,” Peter Laviolette said. “However, this will open up a spot for Steve Webb.”
Kvasha’s injury may be a blessing in disguise, judging by the last time he missed any time. He returned from the Olympics last year with a sprained knee and missed less than two weeks, returning like a bionic version of himself to score several clutch goals down the stretch.
“As I recall from the last time he was hurt, he’s a quick healer,” Laviolette said.
Webb was expected to return to the lineup last night after battling a sore back since the first day of training camp. He’s not going to score any goals for the Islanders, but provides an energetic presence the hard-working team has been lacking.
“We’re preparing the same way we have in the past because there hasn’t been anything wrong in our game. We’ve come out strong and played hard,” Webb said. “The bounces just haven’t been going our way, but they will.”