Here's something that burns me. Here I am reading the 2009 NHL Yearbook at Barnes and Noble, because I refuse to spend $10.00 on something that will be outdated by opening night.

I get to the Islanders preview. I read through it and basically it's everything we already know. Two guys with 20+ goals returning, a lot of young guys trying to make the team, DiPietro's long contract marred by injuries and 414 man-games lost due to player injuries last season. So be it.

Then I get to the Top 50 NHL stars and Top 15 goalies. Can you guess how many Islanders were on either list?

Zero.

That's right. Have the Islanders done the right thing by going with the all-out youngster approach? I am fully expecting to have the first pick next year and having to trade down because we won't be able to afford it (again).

The Islanders have 11 players on the current roster who had some affiliation with Bridgeport last season, more than any other NHL team.

On Sept. 23 the NHL pre-season camps open up and once again the Isles will be in Moncton, New Brunswick with an abundance of young players trying to make the team. The only difference this year is that many of them will have a chance to make it.

This is not a Rumor Has It blog entry, it is solely my prediction as to who the Islanders will hire as the next head coach to succeed the departed Ted Nolan.

It is pretty basic and will follow the same rule of thumb as almost every other move by GM Garth Snow over the past two years. Who can we afford?

We live in a town where EVERY professional sports team has money and spends it...except the Islanders. We don't have it AND we don't spend it. So, just how many options do the Islanders have to man the bench...besides Sparky the Dragon?

Paul Maurice's teams have missed the playoffs in eight of 12 seasons. AND WE CAN'T AFFORD HIM.

John Tortorella - Too fiery for the young guys...and WE CAN'T AFFORD HIM.

Bob Hartley - Coached Garth Snow with Cornwall of the AHL, but WE CAN'T AFFORD HIM.

Gerard Gallant - If he couldn't hack it in Columbus...don't even bother.

That leaves us with......Scott Gordon.

That's right. We will be signing the cheapest alternative to a head coach. He's got some credibility coming off AHL Coach of the Year honors with the Providence Bruins and he went 221-141-47 at the helm in a five-year span.

Here's a funny note. Tortorella and Hartley won back-to-back Calder Cups with the Rochester Americans and Hershey Bears in 1996 and 1997, respectively, and former Islanders coach Peter Laviolette won the Calder Cup with Providence in 1999, the last time the Bruins have won the title. Coincidentally, Gordon is the only one of the group that didn't win a championship.

Let's hire the guy with NO NHL EXPERIENCE. But the thinking surely will be that he has been used to coaching rookies and the Islanders are no different.

I'm not too pleased with the Islanders' decision to let Ted Nolan go. He is the second coach I've liked, behind Peter Laviolette, that I thought really could have had an impact on the team given a long enough tenure and a chance to work with a group of young guys and some veterans.

But as you know, this is a business and when two people don't see eye-to-eye you will eventually have problems.

Prospect Camp is underway and many decisions have to be made by September.

Here is a list of who I think the Islanders should consider for the head coaching vacancy:

Bryan Trottier, Islanders Dir. of Player Development

Paul Maurice, Fired as Head Coach by Toronto Maple Leafs

John Tortorella, Fired as Head Coach by Tampa Bay Lightning

Gerard Gallant, Islanders Asst. Coach

All of them have head coaching experience, but the most likely candidates are probably Gallant and Tortorella.

Trots won four Stanley Cups as a player with the Islanders (long live the king), two with the Penguins and one as an assistant coach with the Avalanche.

Maurice took his Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup finals in 2001-02, but never made it further than the conference quarterfinals in any other year.

Tortorella is best known for bringing the Cup to Florida with the Lightning in 2004 and his fiery attitude has received mixed reviews during his career. I don't think the New York media would wait too long before losing their patience with him even after his first blow-up at a reporter following a loss...and unfortunately there will be many of those in the next couple of years.

Gallant was the ehad coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets until they fired him in 2006 and has since been on the Islanders bench. Expect him to have the best shot at the position.

Whoever steps in has to have a feeling of reassurance and be on the same page with Garth Snow and Charles Wang. Because it seems like it is a never-ending revolving door at Nassau Coliseum these days and there is no continuity. But once everything and everyone is finally in place there is a chance, a good chance, that the future will be bright for the blue and orange and the Lighthouse on Long Island.

After the onslaught of press recently surrounding the Christie Brinkley-Peter Cook divorce saga, I started thinking.

Should the Islanders keep Christie Brinkley as an ad front for "I'm An Islander, We're All Islanders"?

Even though Christie basically took Cook to town with the results of the proceedings, it didn't do much for her image. She didn't come out looking like the rose she thought she would have. The newspapers slammed both parties numerous times, but Cook got the worst of it.

I think the Islanders should take a look at Christie's meaning to this franchise and really evaluate if she is a good representative of it, and if her image is more negative than positive.

I have friends who are fans of other teams and they all say the same thing to me. "Why the heck did the Islanders pick her for the commercials?"

It's a Long Island thing, but there are many other famous Long Islanders, er even Hamptonites, out there who would be better spokespeople.

Billy Joel's out of the question just for the sake of not competing with Brinkley. The Baldwin brothers, Sarah and Emily Hughes, Peter Jennings, Billy Crystal, Eddie Murphy, Mariah Carey, Vinny Testaverde and Natalie Portman would serve as viable candidates for the job.

What do you think? Take the poll.