New York Islanders Bracket Challenge Torrey Division

4 of 5

Mar 11, 2017; St. Louis, MO, USA; New York Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss (1) defends the net against St. Louis Blues left wing Magnus Paajarvi (56) during the first period at Scottrade Center. The Blues won 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

Torrey Division Matchup #3

(3) Billy Smith v. (6) Pat Flatley

With these two final matchups, the gulf in the rankings and in the voting starts to dwindle. This is upset territory. Where the lower ranked player has a conceivable shot at dethroning the player above. Or at least it should.

But when the higher ranked player is Billy Smith, good luck. The Hall of Fame goaltender backstopped the Islanders to four straight Stanley Cups, a Vezina, Jennings and Conn Smythe trophy. What a steal for the Islanders who poached him from LA in the ’72 expansion draft with the fourth pick. Sorry, Atlanta.

And that’s why Billy Smith dominated voting with 94%, to his contestants 6%.

Now compare that to Flatley’s zero Stanley Cups and zero individual awards and the gulf between the two becomes evident.

It’s not to say that our fans only voted for trophies, but it’s obvious that a player who wasn’t around for the dynasty years (he entered the NHL in 1984) can’t be voted as the greatest Islanders.

Flatley has a very respectable 488 points in his Islanders career. But then he went and played for the Rangers in his final year in the league. Something that should have kept his vote total to zero. Maybe some Rangers fans found our little twitter poll.