1 Month
UNIONDALE, N.Y. – In the midst of a 4-game winning streak, The New York Sun sat down with GM Kevin Wu on Sunday to discuss his moves since becoming the Islanders’ general manager almost one month ago.
New York Sun: Many Islander fans were extremely upset when you moved superstar defenceman Sergei Gonchar to the Calgary Flames back in November. You ended up acquiring Eric Daze though, and he’s been fantastic for the Islanders since arriving. Can you explain your reasoning behind the move?
GM Wu: Sergei is one of the top defencemen in the CPHL. If Daze were not included in the deal with Calgary, it wouldn’t have gone through. We felt that we needed to strengthen our left side to take some of the pressure off Samsonov, and Daze has done all of that and more.
Another key player in the deal for us was Zigomanis. We’re extremely excited about this kid. He’s got great hands, and his work ethic is huge. We’d like him to improve his defensive game, because the other aspects of his game, in our opinion are there.
NYS: Another move which garnered much negativity on the Island was your shipping of Alexei Kovalev to the Hawks. Did his play this season coupled with his salary have a lot to do with the move?
GM: Kovalev is a dynamic player. When he’s on his game, he is arguably one of the most talented players around, but he was having trouble getting going in New York. When you’re the highest paid guy on the roster, you’re expected to perform.
NYS: So what you’re saying is that his salary was a factor.
GM: I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a factor. Believe me, despite his reputation as being the kind of guy who can take control of a game all on his own, his salary hindered a lot of talks with other GMs around the league.
NYS: If we take a look at the defencemen on the Islanders, since you’ve arrived Gonchar, Quintal, Rivet, and Karpovtsev have been moved with Foote, Phillips, Tverdovsky, and Kuba coming in. It seems you might have had a plan when you first shipped Gonchar to Calgary. In our opinion, the defense looks a lot stronger today than it did before the moves.
GM: I had a few specific players I wanted to add to our roster. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s a lot stronger. But I do feel that our back-end is more balanced now. We wanted to get a little younger and not specific to just the defense, but the entire team, we wanted to get better value for the money spent. The new guys have all been great since they’ve arrived. There’s still more than half a season left though. A lot can happen in that time.
NYS: You’re still a few days away from holding the GM position for one month, and you’ve already moved 14 players. You just acquired Pavel Datsyuk from the Penguins. Are you finished making moves, or should fans of the Islanders remain on the edge of their seats?
GM: <laughing> I get paid to at least try to make this team better. If a move is there that I think will help push us towards being an elite team like the Oilers and Hurricanes are, I’ll definitely make that move.
Who’s come, who’s gone?
Goaltenders
IN: Jamie Mclennan, Rob Zepp
OUT: Byron Dafoe, Milan Hnilicka
Defencemen
IN: Adam Foote, Filip Kuba, *Chris Phillips, Oleg Tverdvosky, Tuukka Mantyla
OUT: Sergei Gonchar, Stephane Quintal, Craig Rivet, *Chris Phillips, Alexander Karpovtsev, Matt Walker
Forwards
IN: Eric Daze, Pavel Datsyuk, *Martin Rucinsky, Valerie Bure, Mike Zigomanis, Tuukka Pulliainen, Ivan Novoseltsev, Dragan Umicevic
OUT: Alexei Kovalev, *Martin Rucinsky, Mike Ricci, Clark Wilm, Kristian Huselius, Anson Carter
* acquired and then moved
Quick Facts
Team Salary:
Dollars OUT: $37.62 MIL
Dollars IN: $29.3 MIL
Difference:
+ $8.32 MIL
Standings:
November 25th:
5th place in Gretzky Conference
December 19th:
3rd place in Gretzky Conference
