Last year I wrote a column regarding seven dreams that I had prior to this past season, I hit exactly ZERO of them… so why not do the same thing and hopefully come up with a better hit ratio this time around? Dobber and I had a great side bet last year that if Jaromir Jagr were to sign with the Caps he’d rename Dobberhockey to Mahockey. I’ll throw down the gauntlet once again to make Dobber shake in his pants a little.

I won’t list all the unrestricted free agents as Dobber has already done so here . I'll also need to leave the friendly confines of the Western Conference here, but hey – it's my dream I can do what I want!

My first dream scenario begins with Vincent Lecavalier heading back to his grass roots of Montreal and donning Le Bleu-Blanc-et-Rouge. I don’t quite know the details of how the all pieces fall into place but perhaps Montreal’s first rounder (18th overall) plus a combination of Chris Higgins and the Kostitsyn brothers heading south to TB. I’m sure this scenario would make many Hab fans pretty darn happy, while finally quashing all the bloody Vinny to team X rumours that keep floating around. Vinny once again has another unspectacular season with no offensive help in Montreal and Hab fans are once again disappointed.

Speaking of grass roots, my second dream involves Alex Kovalev heading back to his former grass roots in Pittsburgh. The Pens have attempted to find stopgaps for the last couple seasons in Petr Sykora, Miro Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko to fit alongside Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, none of whom have really been home runs. Could Kovalev swallow some salary and finish his NHL career playing alongside two of the most dynamic players in NHL history? Kovalev goes on to have a career season tallying 90 points playing alongside the dynamic duo, Pens reach the finals for a third consecutive season only to lose to the Red Wings once again.

The Capitals have found themselves quite a pair of Russians in Washington. Could they add another into the mix by adding reclamation project Maxim Afinogenov? Afinogenov has blazing speed that would surely add a different dimension to the Washington offense that they currently lack. In my third dream scenario, Afinogenov finally gets out of the coach’s doghouse and has a career year potting 80 points, and then flees to Russia for the KHL and a huge payday.

Brian Burke has had a past history with the Sedins when he drafted the twins second and third overall in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. So my fourth dream scenario re-unites the twins with their former GM Burke in Toronto, where he poaches the Sedins twins on July 1 away from the Canucks for a handsome sum of $14 million per season. The Sedins continue to produce at their normal point-per-game pace, and once again the Leafs finish ninth and out of post-season contention.

Following the loss of the Sedins, Vancouver GM Mike Gillis is peed off and signs the Slovakian duo of Marian Hossa and Marian Gaborik to replace the loss of the Sedins. The signings also complete the Slovakian trio of Hossa, Gaborik and Pavol Demitra that we saw at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics. Of course this basically acts as training time for the Slovakian team to build chemistry prior to the Vancouver Olympics, but secretly Gillis just wants Roberto Luongo to gain a sneak peak at the trio before he leads Canada to gold in Vancouver.

Being the homer that I am, of course I have to include a dream regarding the Oilers. With Jacques Martin fleeing Florida, could Jay Bouwmeester return home to Edmonton? In my dreams I picture the Oilers dealing away a package of Lubomir Visnovsky, Denis Grebeshkov and Ryan Potulny to the Panthers for the negotiation rights to Jay Bouwmeester. I went to high school with JBo and would love to see him donning an Oilers uniform just for sentimental reasons. In terms of salary it’s about even, so salary shouldn’t be a major problem. Florida gets two serviceable D-men and a young offensive prospect in Potulny in return, where as Edmonton frees up the cap space to sign JBo to a long-term contract. Sounds like a feasible situation to me!

Could the Islanders bungle another first round pick? Let’s take a look at their past history:
-drafts Roberto Luongo, ships him off to Florida along with Olli Jokinen
-drafts Eric Brewer ships him to Edmonton
-drafts Tim Connolly ships him to Buffalo
-drafts Taylor Pyatt ships him to Vancouver
-drafts Branislav Mezei ships him to Florida
-drafts Rick DiPietro, signs him to a 15-year injury-plagued deal
-drafts Raffi Torres ships him to Edmonton
-drafts Robert Nilsson ships him to Edmonton
-drafts Ryan O’Marra ships him to Edmonton
-traded their first round 2007 pick to Edmonton
-has fifth overall pick, trades down and passes on Luke Schenn and Nikita Filatov, bypasses Colin Wilson and Mikkel Boedker while selecting Josh Bailey ahead of Cody Hodgson.

There is numerous talk regarding collusion in fantasy hockey, could there really be real-life collusion in what happens in the NHL? Just from looking at this list it looks like the Islanders act as the Oilers farm team rather than making the right choice for themselves. Could dream scenario seven really come true for the Oilers?

“Breaking news from TSN on draft day, The New York Islanders have traded their first overall selection in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft to the Edmonton Oilers for Alex Plante, O’Marra, Nilsson, Gilbert Brule, and Ladislav Smid.” In a statement made by GM Garth Snow, “I thought I’d clear all our past foibles with this trade so that we can take positive steps forward in the future of our franchise, rather than having to look back at our past mistakes.” 12 months later, Owner Charles Wang public states that the Islanders have been sold to Jim Basillie and will be moving to Hamilton…

Have some wild and crazy dreams of your own? Leave a comment below and I’m sure people will have a good laugh or you’ll have a great time defending it to your fellow Dobberites. Next week we'll take a closer look at some potential Western Conference “magical fourth year” candidates for next season.