2006 – 07 New York Islanders season The New York Islanders finished the 2006 – 07 season with a record of 40 – 30 – 12 . They qualified for the playoffs in the last game of the regular season . They lost to the Buffalo Sabres in the first round , four games to one . Regular season . After the Islanders ' upper management cleaned out the team ' s front office during the 2005 – 06 season , owner Charles Wang needed to find a new coach and general manager . Initially , he hired Ted Nolan as coach and Neil Smith as GM , but Smith was removed after a few weeks on the job . Wang envisioned team management making decisions by committee , and Smith was uncomfortable working without the large amount of control that NHL managers usually have . Wang hired Garth Snow , who was the team ' s backup goalie the prior year , to take over . Pat LaFontaine , who had intended to return to the team as Senior Advisor to the Owner , resigned the post the same day that Smith was fired . Reports indicated that LaFontaine decided the fit wasn ' t right after Wang ignored his advice to wait a few days before making a final decision about Smith . Prior to Smith ' s firing , the Islanders made several free agent acquisitions , including defensemen Brendan Witt and Tom Poti and forwards Mike Sillinger and Chris Simon . Andy Hilbert , Sean Hill , Viktor Kozlov and Richard Park signed on after Smith was dismissed . Additionally , in a controversial move , the Islanders signed goaltender Rick DiPietro to a 15 - year , 67 . 5 million dollar contract , among the longest in professional sports history . The Islanders opened the season on a losing streak , but then began to play well enough to temporarily move into first place in the Atlantic division by December . On December 16 , 2006 , the Islanders traded Alexei Zhitnik to the Philadelphia Flyers for defenseman Freddy Meyer and a conditional third round draft pick . On December 20 , they traded forward Mike York to the Flyers for forward Randy Robitaille and a fifth round pick in 2008 . Starting at the end of December , the Islanders went on a seven game losing streak , which ended with a victory over the Rangers . Since then , the Islanders hovered around the last playoff spot . In advance of the February trade deadline , the Isles made a pair of deals with the Edmonton Oilers . On February 18 , 2007 , the Islanders traded defense prospect Denis Grebeshkov for defenseman Marc - Andre Bergeron and a third round pick in 2008 . Sitting in sixth place in the conference at the trade deadline , the team sent a first round draft pick and prospects Robert Nilsson and Ryan O ' Marra to the Oilers for all - star Ryan Smyth and picked up Richard Zednik for a second rounder . However , the team suffered a series of losses down the stretch . Journalists cited two reasons for the team ' s apparent demise : Chris Simon ' s suspension for striking Ryan Hollweg with his stick and Rick DiPietro ' s missing several games with multiple concussions . Backup Mike Dunham had several poor showings with DiPietro out , which prompted the team to call on third - stringer Wade Dubielewicz , who fared better . Entering into the last four games of the season , the Islanders play had improved , but a playoff spot still appeared out of reach . However , the team won each game and received some help from the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs , who failed to win enough games to edge the Isles out . The Isles clinched with a shootout win over the New Jersey Devils in which Dubielewicz poke - checked Sergei Brylin to secure the victory . The team expressed pride that they qualified because many NHL preview predictions had the Isles slated to finish at or near the bottom of the standings . They lost their first round matchup with the Buffalo Sabres , the NHL ' s best team during the regular season , in five games . Playoffs . The New York Islanders earned the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference . Eastern Conference Quarter - finals : vs . ( 1 ) Buffalo Sabres . Buffalo wins series 4 – 1 Transactions . Draft Picks . The Islanders ' picks at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft in Vancouver , British Columbia . References . < div class = " references - small " > Goaltenders : • Defensemen • • • • • Forwards • • • • • • • •