islesinfo - Tim Connolly

Tim Connolly was the New York Islanders first round pick, 5th overall in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. In fact, he was the first of 4 first round selections the Islanders made in that draft. While the latter three were acquired through a series of trades made by GM Mike Milbury, Connolly was chosen by the process of the Islanders finishing with the 5th worst record in the league in 1998-99 and missing the playoffs for the fifth straight year. The Islanders believed they had a future star on their hands, and a possible hometown favorite after making the Syracuse, NY native the first American taken in the draft. There was no doubt that Connolly possessed the skill and vision of an offensive whiz, but would he eventually be able to build up his body to last in the NHL so he would be able to use that skill? That was the major question. In a way, you can almost see a contrast between the start of Connolly's career and another high profile and high drafted former Islander, David Chyzowski.

Connolly was one of the rare American born players to choose the Canadian Junior hockey route as he starred for the Erie Otters of the OHL for two years between 1997 and 1999. He won numerous offensive awards and in his draft year saw a series of ups and downs. Despite a poor showing in the 1999 World Junior Championships with Team USA in Winnipeg where he recorded only 1 goal in 6 games, Connolly still managed to lead the Otters in scoring with 34 goals and 68 points in only 46 games after suffering a broken leg midway through the season. That didn't hurt his draft status and he was selected by the Islanders in the top five. Just like Chyzowski 12 years previous, the Islanders again a poorly stocked team threw Connolly right into the fire in the 1999-00 season. And just like Chyzowski, Connolly suffered through some major growing pains his rookie year.

But unlike Chyzowski, Connolly displayed an incredible ability to stickhandle and at times showed flashes of being able to dish the puck off perhaps like a young Adam Oates. He excited Islander fans right off the bat with his first NHL goal in their home opener of 1999 when Tim scored a highlight reel goal against one of the greatest goaltenders in NHL history, Patrick Roy of the Colorado Avalanche. The Islanders won the game 4-2. But as Connolly dazzled the Islanders through his first ever training camp and early on through the season with his stickhandling, some problems in his game began to surface. For one, Connolly began to lose confidence around the net and became too dependant on passing the puck. It got so bad into his second season in 2000-01 that Connolly just about looked to pass on every possession he had. After a respectable first season where he scored 14 goals and 34 points in 81 games, Connolly followed that up with only 10 goals and 41 points in 82 games.

Another disappointing aspect of Connolly's game was his attitude. Whether it was frustration or just inexperience, Tim was not exactly the most engaging person to be around on or off the ice. His reaction after goals was at times that of disinterest and lacked passion. In that aspect he was very similar to Bryan Smolinski. So after two years of hoping he would groom into a prolific scoring machine, the Islanders and Milbury were already willing to part with Connolly. But this time they would get a lot more in return than the Islanders ever did with Chyzowski.

On June 24, 2001 Milbury packaged Connolly and the Islanders second first round pick from 1999, winger Taylor Pyatt, and sent them to Buffalo for holdout center Michael Peca, considered by many to be one of the best leaders in the NHL. Just a day before during the 2001 draft, Milbury had reshaped the Islanders roster by acquiring disgruntled star center Alexei Yashin from the Ottawa Senators. While the Islanders became instantly better thanks to an increase of payroll by new owners Charles Wang & Sanjay Kumar of Long Island's Computer Associates corporation, there have still been some detractors of the moves made by Milbury and the parting of two young talents with "promise." But in just two short years the numbers and facts would so far favor Milbury's decision to pull the trigger.

The Islanders with Peca and Yashin would go on to make the postseason dance for the first time in 8 years during the 2001-02 season. On the other end of the spectrum, the Buffalo Sabres with Connolly and Pyatt in the lineup have missed the playoffs each of the last two seasons. Connolly's game has done nothing but regress even more with the Sabres. In 2001-02 he put up another average 10 goal, 45 point performance in 82 games and followed that up with an abysmal 12 goal, 25 point performance after 80 games in 2002-03. One watching the kid play can instantly draw the conclusion that Connolly has lost all of his confidence, hesitates to shoot the puck, plays the perimeter and just has become an all around soft player. He does still have one thing going for him though, and that's youth. Sticking around in the NHL for four years shows that there are a lot of people who still believe he will break out and achieve offensive stardom. At the same time there are others who question whether he has the drive or mental makeup to do so.

Update: Tim Connolly suffered a major concussion in a preseason game that saw him miss the entire 2003-04 season. At that point, many questioned whether Connolly would ever be able to return to the NHL. There wasn't even questions anymore as to which team had won the trade between the Islanders and the Sabres. But Connolly returned during the NHL lockout of 2004-05 to appear in some games with Langnau of the Swiss League. When the NHL returned, Connolly returned with the best season of his young career recording 16 goals and 55 points. Suddenly the Buffalo Sabres were the class of the NHL under the new rules and Connolly was just one of a crop of young dynamic players that the Sabres have collected. But...Connolly would eventually suffer another setback. While enjoying a successful playoff Tim was knocked out of the Sabres' second round series with the Ottawa Senators. He was diagnosed with another concussion and unfortunately he still has not returned well into the 2006-07 season.

Fast Facts: In his two seasons with the Islanders, Connolly only missed one game. He was a healthy scratch on January 10th, 2000 vs. Phoenix....Became the fourth youngest player ever to take a penalty shot and became the third youngest ever to score when he beat Jean-Sebastien Aubin on March 21 vs. Pittsburgh....Became only the fifth 18-year-old player to score an OT goal in the NHL (since the 5:00 OT rule was instituted in 1983-84) when he tallied the game-winner 3:49 into the extra session on Feb. 10 vs. Tampa Bay....Connolly was the youngest player in the NHL during the 1999-00 season at 18 yrs, 5 months. That is two months shy of Chyzowski, who became the youngest Islander ever in 1989 at 18 yrs, 3 months.