| Scott Essman. 29th December, 2007 - 4:55 pm
 El Diablo has arrived in, of all places, the New York City suburbs. Czech-born right winger Miroslav Satan (no, it's actually pronounced Say-TAAN) is a 13-year NHL veteran now on his third team. But, after stints in Edmonton, who drafted him, and Buffalo, he may finally be making his career mark with the New York Islanders.
Though not a natural playmaker - he only gets about as many assists as he does goals - this pure shooter has established himself as one of the Isles' most reliable players. With 35 goals in 2005-2006 and 27 last season, the Islanders look to him for instant offense, calling to mind longtime Islander scorer Mike Bossy, who played on the team ten years from 1977.
In the first 36 games this year, Satan already has 10 goals and 12 assists, keeping par for his great career. At 6'3", 192, he is an ideal winger though he oddly shoots lefty though he plays on the right side of the ice.
Now one of the most popular Islander players, it's unthinkable that the Oilers gave up on him after two subpar seasons of under 20 goals. They must have lost hope at that point in 1997, as Satan was only a fifth round pick. At Buffalo, after his third season in which his playing time was severely limited, Satan regrouped and improved to 40 goals in 1998-1999. That began a string of six seasons in which he never dipped below 26 goals in a playing year.
He brought high hopes from fans with him when he arrived on Long Island in 2005, fulfilling those promises almost immediately from his first games. Though he's now aging, he provides the punch that the newly reborn Isles need, having made the playoffs last season after not making it the previous year. Perhaps Satan can lead them past the quarterfinals which is where the Isles have exited in their last four trips to the playoffs.
Though they had a rough December at 5-8 thus far, the Isles will look to Satan to keep his goalscoring pace through the rest of the season with the hope of returning again to the postseason and perhaps beyond.
Odd Note: After last Saturday's game, Satan has 666 total points in his career. |
