MOST VALUABLE PLAYER D Brendan Witt. All-Star goalie Rick DiPietro clearly carried the Islanders in the first half, but coach Ted Nolan pointed to the selfless leadership of Witt, whose sporadic absences from the lineup with assorted knee injuries took away a key physical component from the Isles' lineup as the goals-against totals rose after the All-Star break.
MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYER RW Miroslav Satan. The Isles were perfectly willing to be used by Satan for a big payday in free agency this summer, hoping he'd post a career-year like Jason Blake did with 40 goals before bolting for greener pastures last summer. But Satan played all season with a tricky knee injury and recorded only 15 goals, the first time the four-time 30-goal man failed to reach 20 in 10 years.
FREE-AGENT FOCUS: RW Miroslav Satan isn't going to get anywhere near the $4.25 million he made this year on the open market, and the Isles would be better served cutting bait and using his salary-cap slot elsewhere. Forwards Josef Vasicek, who started strong but tailed off, and Ruslan Fedotenko, who came on late, both reached the 15-goal mark -- but both are free to leave after signing one-year make-good deals last summer. Leading scorer by default Mike Comrie was re-signed at the trade deadline at $4 million for next season, removing another potential UFA from the Isles' list. Backup goalie Wade Dubielewicz also might see more regular work elsewhere via free agency, although the Isles might not be able to find a more trustworthy backup with starter Rick DiPietro coming off straight years of undergoing of hip surgery.
PLAYER NOTES
--LW Robin Figren, the Islanders' third-round pick in the 2006 entry draft, signed a three-year contract on May 7. The 20-year-old Swedish winger totaled 31 points in 35 games playing for Edmonton in the Western Hockey League this past season, but he is expected to spend 2008-09 playing for Djugardens of the Swedish Elite League.
--RW Joel Rechlicz, whose nickname fittingly is "The Wrecker", also signed a three-year entry-level deal to provide organizational toughness. The 21-year-old enforcer totaled 206 PIMs in 50 games split between Kalamazoo (IHL) and Albany (AHL) this season.
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