Alexei Yashin
By zach weinstock
There's a "buzz" in the arena, an anticipatory hum when the Islanders' star center collects the puck and begins a rush up ice. It's been around a long time. After all, star centers are an Islander tradition.
Mathew Barzal has always been buzz-worthy, as was John Tavares. It began with Bryan Trottier, who passed it on to Pat LaFontaine, who passed it to Pierre Turgeon, . But when Pierre left in 1995, the buzz went missing.
Then the Isles traded for Alexei Yashin.
That acquisition came with a cost, as some might be quick to remind you. But no one can deny that it was exciting. In fact, it is arguably the most exciting trade in Islanders history.
And it came at a time when the team was most in need of just that – excitement. A name to put on the marquee. A name for fans and opponents to circle.
The Yashin effect was felt on the first shift of his first home game as an Islander, when he bamboozled Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom - a legend in his prime - for a scintillating behind-the-back assist. He later added two goals, making for a sparkling debut and putting everyone on official notice - there was a new "Baron of Buzz" at Nassau Coliseum.
Indeed, until injuries crept in, Yashin was every bit the player star-starved Long Islanders had been daydreaming about since Turgeon and Zigmund Palffy walked out the door.
The sizable Russian rifleman could snipe from as far out as the blue line, or deke around anyone, and was superb along the boards and near the crease as well. In an era of extreme hacking, holding, hooking and hugging – when virtually anything shy of vehicular manslaughter might go uncalled – Yashin still managed to flaunt his offensive elegance on a constant basis.
With a new headliner in town, memorable moments were inevitable. Few can forget the night in 2002 at Madison Square Garden when Yashin scored three highlight-reel goals in the first period. The hat hailer, in which he slipped the puck between Mark Messier's legs and sizzled a snapper past Mike Richter, was gorgeous, triumphant and symbolic.
That year he led the team with 75 points in the regular season as well as seven points in seven games in the playoffs. Yet Alexei's best work as an Islander might have been the following season, when Michael Peca's lingering knee issue left Yashin the Isles' undisputable "alpha" up the middle. The Svengali from Sverdlovsk picked the perfect time to go ablaze, scoring 12 goals and eight assists in the final 14 games of the year to carry his team to another playoff berth. Simply put, Alexei was "unconscious" in the 2003 stretch run, especially on the evenings of March 20 and March 25, when he scored five points in a match up in Montreal, then four goals in a game in Chicago.
After his third season on Long Island was derailed by a freak arm laceration, Alexei bounced back to lead the Isles in scoring yet again in his fourth, and surprised everyone with a stunning return to dominance for the first two months of his fifth, making sweet hockey music with Jason Blake while racking up 28 points in his first 22 games.
The 33-year-old former MVP runner-up hardly ever looked better. But at the climax of the hoopla, with the Isles seven minutes from completing a momentous, Yashin-led, three-game Thanksgiving weekend sweep, he took a knee-to-knee hit from Matt Bradley of the Washington Capitals, which landed Yashin back on the sideline. Sadly, the party was over.
Alexei swallowed the pain, weaved his way in and out of the lineup and finished his final season as an Islander with a solid 50 points in 58 games. But by then his name was off the top of the marquee for good.
Injuries are by no means Yashin's legacy, nor is the price tag on the 2001 Draft Day Blockbuster that made him an Islander. His legacy lies in the many days between the trade and the injuries. It lies in what he brought to Long Island - where star centers are a tradition - his trademark size, strength, power, speed, finesse, dexterity, shooting, puck handling, and most importantly, the "buzz." Some guys just look different out there. And Alexei was one of those guys.