Staple: Islanders veterans have left their mark

Many of the young, carefree Islanders swept out of their final meetings with coach Scott Gordon and general manager Garth Snow and immediately headed for offseason homes.

The likes of John Tavares, Blake Comeau, Jack Hillen and Matt Moulson will be back in uniform next season, but there's nothing keeping them here beyond Monday night's farewell team dinner.

Interestingly, three of the older Islanders who might not be back are hanging around the Island, waiting for school years to end.

Doug Weight, Richard Park and Jon Sim are unrestricted free agents and may have played their final games as Islanders. All three deserve to be given some appreciation for what they did for the franchise in their time here.

"I think you just try to show some of the guys the way to be a National Hockey League player," said Weight, his left arm still in a harness as he prepares for a summer of rehabilitation after shoulder surgery. "How to treat people, getting to the rink early, riding the bike before a game. The little things. These guys learned a lot from last year to this year."

The time for analyzing how these veterans, these character guys, played is past. Sim, 32, muddled through after being sent down midway through the 2008-09 season and was a regular this season, on a better team. Park, 33, played through a broken foot and reduced a hideous minus-20 near the three-quarter mark of the season to a respectable minus-9.

Weight, 39, played through that bum shoulder for 39 games, a shadow of himself no matter what his age is.

Along the way, they imparted some wisdom to the young guys in their locker room. Weight wore the "C" for the half-season he played; Kyle Okposo, entering his third season this fall, might be ready for that letter stitched on his jersey for the 2010-11 season.

The Islanders might be ready to make a jump in quality when it comes to free agency. Sim made $1 million this season; Park made $800,000. Neither will be a bank-breaker come July 1, but Snow may believe he has enough role players to fill the depth spots, or may just feel it's time for a change.

"You've got a devout owner who badly wants to win here," Park said, "and a GM and coaching staff that are going to find ways to improve the team. You have to try and get better, because those teams in the top eight in the conference are going to try and stay there."

So it may be that Park, Sim and Weight will not be Islanders next season. All three believe the team is moving in the right direction. And all three can feel good about being big reasons why this team is moving in the right direction.

Sim didn't want to hear about how proud he'll be in two or three seasons, when the Isles might be a regular playoff team.

"I want to be here to be a part of it," he said. "There are good things coming here. I don't want to miss out."