He was given the largest valued contract in the history of the National Hockey League by a man that was learning his hockey from a "Dummies" theme. There was a wind of change blowing in the NHL on that day in 2000. With Michael Peca and Alexei Yashin a part of an Islander team that spent the prior decade in a state of chaos, being an Islander fan was getting to be fun for the first time in quite a long ways.

Three years of playoffs were part of Islanders history following the deals. Although they were first round exits, the last to the eventual Stanley Cup champions, it still was a good time at the Nassau Coliseum.

However, there was one big mystery…

What is with the $89 million man?

He was leading the team in scoring, but it just never seemed to be the upper echelon level of offensive prowess that we hoped number 79 on your scorecard would deliver to the Uniondale faithful. Many defenders of Yashin would state categorically, that other teams defensive forwards would put massive amounts of pressure on Yashin, causing him to cough the puck, or just not get the great scoring opportunity.

However, the fans, for the most part, were enthusiastic with Yashin. They knew that with the potential changes for the ‘post lockout’ NHL, he was destined to shine.

Enter disappointment number two.

Expectations were high, with the acquisition of Miro Satan to play on Yash’s wing. A bona fide scorer was given. This has to be the time. Would the Islanders get to successfully win a playoff round, thus moving forward with the owner’s expectations of reaching the pinnacle of NHL success?

Not even close.

Yash only played a few games with Satan. Their styles seemed to clash, and not develop into a solid unit. Whether it was the coach and/or the line selection jumble that happens when a team is not playing to potential, or just a lack of punch, Yashin struggled again, scoring only 66 points in 82 games, leading the team with 38 helpers to go with his 28 goals.

Scoring just 66 points is definitely not the expectations of the highest contract in NHL history?

From the looks of things, the owner very much likes his star player. Charles Wang does not seem to be one to make up stories or play a different role than what he truly is. He plays his cards out and tells it like it is; whether you like it or not. The owner likes his star player, and the feeling seems to be mutual. Obviously when you are getting that kind of cash, you should like him too.

If you were in the shoes of the coach, what would you do?

It should be a pretty interesting scenario for new coach Ted Nolan to deal with. Nolan, a former NHL coach of the year, is a strong motivator with a tough streak in him. He is the type of coach that players seem to want to run through fire for. The hope is that the burning desire to go through said fire becomes a Yashin feature as well.

The Islander captain did play quite well at the end of the season with the two youngsters Sean Bergenheim and Robert Nilsson. With only the latter returning to the Islander lineup, Nolan will have to juggle a little, to see who can work well with the other two. In the opinion of this writer, I think Jason Blake can work in that spot, as long as he (Blake) learns that there are two others on the same line.

Fans are calling for Yashin’s head to be brought to the center of town on a plate. They are just not happy. They feel that he is lazy and just does not want to work hard. In many instances, I argue that they (fans) are not seeing what Yashin has to do on many occasions. A lot of his problems seem to come from a great deal of extra attention being paid on him from opposing forwards. Many times he is getting booed after trying to beat three men all over him. But there are the times, that he looks indolent and just going with the flow. A good motivating coach will remove that trait in the first week of camp.

With Nolan on board, Yashin has to show that he is the man. He has to set the tone as soon as his skate sets on that Yarmouth, Nova Scotia ice. This is supposed to be his team. He has to carry it. As many fans on the various boards say, "…earn your damn check!" Either make the fans feel you deserve it, or that fans will want you to take the same road that Oleg Kvasha and others have from this team. This is Yashin’s shot to put up.

They are tired of waiting, and unfortunately, so am I.