The Bet: Summer assessment time

The trade deadline has come and gone, the 2009 draft has passed, and all the drama of July 1st –– the onset of the all-important free agency period –– has settled. Teams all around the league have lost and found players special to their causes. Through the turmoil, the Islanders roster remains relatively static, and with the liklihood of any significant changes happening soon, it's time to talk about... yep, you guessed it...

The Bet.

In case you missed the details of my March 3rd wager, you can check out all

the dirt here.

The Bet is, in short, my banking on the hopes that the Islanders will rebound strongly next season. In review:

• If the Islanders finish top-20 in the league in 2009-10, this shrewd author receives a brand new Islanders jersey.

• If the Islanders finish below that mark, however, this deadbeat author will unsuccessfully try to back out of buying my critical friend a brand new Sabres jersey.
  

So let's let everyone make their own assessment of the situation, in terms of roster changes. A quick rundown:

Significant "outs":

Bill Guerin - traded, re-signed with Pittsburgh

Mike Comrie - traded, then left unsigned

Chris Campoli - traded, still on contract in Ottawa

Significant "ins":

John Tavares - drafted, near-lock to make the team

Dwayne Roloson - free agent signing

And then the real deal-breakers... the things that will make-or-break The Bet:

The question marks:

Rick DiPietro - will he be back? Will he be healthy?

Josh Bailey - will his added muscle play to his strengths (har...)?

Kyle Okposo - will his numbers continue to improve to the level the Islanders need?

Sean Bergenheim, Frans Nielsen, Blake Comeau, Bruno Gervais, Jeff Tambellini - will these players mature into the effective and productive players they can be?

Trent Hunter, Doug Weight, Brendan Witt, Andy Sutton - Will these veterans provide what they're capable of and lead the youth to new levels?

~~~

The result of this bet will simply depend on these question marks. But the real thing that will keep me going –– and keep me following the team so closely this year –– is that with such levels of youth on the team, anything can happen. I don't think it's at all absurd to say that, given some real great performances, this team can push for the playoffs sooner than later.

And hey, all they have to do is clinch 20th for me to win this thing!

Thanks for reading.

Comments/thoughts appreciated.