[Triumph36]

To me, Garth Snow has done a tremendous job the past two years of identifying players with NHL skills but whom have nearly fallen out of the league for one reason or another. Last season he snapped up Viktor Kozlov as basically a shootout specialist, and Kozlov ended up turning in the best season he's had since Pavel Bure left the Panthers. This season it's Josef Vasicek, who always had a ton of skill, but could never seem to put it all together. Throw in guys who've practically made a career out of that (Comrie, Guerin, Satan, Hunter), and with the right coach and some luck, they can win games.

The Islanders had a similar start last year - and then collapsed and basically backdoored their way into the playoffs. I expect something similar to occur - that defense is a patchwork almost as bad as New Jersey's, but none of their guys are hurt. I do think they will outperform their Pythag expectations, though - that's Nolan and DiPietro.