First ever Weird Islanders guest Carey Haber is back to chat with Mike and Dan about Justin Papineau, the vaunted return in the trade of Chris Osgood that turned out to not be.

With a young Rick DiPietro (allegedly) ready for starting duty, the Islanders chose to trade Osgood to St. Louis for one of the Blues' most tantalizing prospects. Papineau was capable of flashing skill but it was often either in exhibition games or on very rare occasion during the regular season. After two up-and-down seasons between Long Island and Bridgeport, a major injury took him out for months. Following the 2005 lockout, he made his way to Europe for a long tour. But somehow, he became somewhat of a symbol of a very weird transitional period in Islanders history.

Papineau was one of many Islanders prospects that were sold as the future of the franchise and ended up fizzling out. If you think the current Islanders prospect pool is the worst in the NHL, let us take you back to the early 2000's, a truly dire time. When Janne Niinimaa is your leading scorer in a playoff series, you got problems.

Thanks again to Carey for coming on. It's always a pleasure talking with him, and we've been waiting a long time for this and to get to Papineau. Between this and our Osgood episode, it feels like that weird circuit is now closed.

Don’t forget about our live event at the brand new Offside Tavern in NYC on March 30th at 4 pm. Bring your Weird Islanders jerseys, shirts and swag because we want to hear your stories for a live podcast to be released soon after.

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