The New York Islanders appear to have found a left wing for Aleksei Yashin, and they did not have to bust their budget on the free-agent market to do it. The winger, Shawn Bates, is to make $550,000 this year, and he is grateful to play next to a creative center making 13 times as much money.
"He keeps me on my toes," Bates said of Yashin. "If you're open, he'll find you. It's amazing how he does it."
Yashin is not the only amazing story on the Islanders' top line. As recently as the 2000-01 season, Bates was a rarely used center who was lost at the bottom of the Boston Bruins roster. That was before he signed with the Islanders as a free agent and revived his career.
"They seem to be pretty good out there," Islanders Coach Peter Laviolette said of Yashin and Bates.
Laviolette proved in his first year as the Islanders' coach that he likes to change his lines, and he could again. Yashin scored 32 goals last year, but Laviolette never could find wings to divert attention from Yashin, who could have found more open space in a restroom on an airplane.
"He's a good player, and he proved it in the playoffs," Yashin said of Bates. "But it is important to get together and play like a team."
Russian impresses
Tampa Bay Lightning center Alexander Svitov said he understands about 30 percent of what is said to him on the ice.
Imagine if Svitov, a Russian who came to the United States in August with an English vocabulary not much beyond hello, thank you and Coca-Cola, understood it all.
Imagine if Svitov could do every drill, and figure out every nuance of the plays described by Coach John Tortorella without going to teammates Ruslan Fedotenko, Nikita Alexeev or Nikolai Khabibulin for a translation.
On the other hand, Tortorella said, maybe it is better that way.
"Sometimes it is good that he doesn't understand everything at once because then the instincts take over," he said.
Those instincts are so good, Svitov, 19, might be playing himself onto the team. The No. 3 pick in the 2001 draft has shown a crisp wrist shot, a willingness to play in front of the net and a defensive sensibility.
Tip-ins
Nashville Predators F Denis Arkhipov was arrested on drunken driving charges after an exhibition game in Nashville, Tenn. He was released after posting $1,000 bond. ... The Phoenix Coyotes assigned D Martin Grenier, LW Darcy Hordichuk, and C Martin Podlesak and Jeff Taffe to the Springfield Falcons.
NHL Notebook: Islanders find cheap alternative to team with Yashin 
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