What is the definition of a true fan? Is it a supporter who would rather see his team win any game, regardless of it's meaning, or is it someone who advocates losing in the short term if the prospect of long term success can be achieved?

This is a quandary many New York Islanders fans are currently wrestling with. I was one of them.

Being an advocate of this team hasn't been easy since the mid-'80s. However, amid the general chaos and outright embarrassment of recent years, there have been glimmers of hope of a better future.

The playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2002 was an exciting, thrill-a-minute rollercoaster, a rallying point among longtime fans who screamed, "This is OUR moment! We have suffered for so long. Now is our redemption."

Alas, it was not to be, as the Leafs eventually won that series, but the way the team fought was a source of pride. Islanders fans are hungry to experience that same pride again.

The current situation is as follows: The Islanders, beset by injuries at just about every position and with a fragile mindset, are quickly fading from the playoff race and appear to be putting themselves in prime position to snag a blue chip prospect at the NHL's rookie draft in June. In order to accomplish this feat, they will need to lose the majority of their remaining nine games as they are competing against other organizations with the same issues.

So, should fans be rooting for their team to play out the rest of the games with pride and actually win some or should they pray to the "Hockey Gods" that every contest ends up in a loss?

As a longtime devotee, I hate watching my team lose. It sickened me the other night when the marginally talented Tampa Bay Lightning destroyed New York, 8-4. I think about what it must be like to be a player on my team during this current losing streak – how they feel knowing that they're going into every game undermanned and outgunned. It might make some of them wonder why they even bother to show up at all.

This rookie draft is allegedly one of the deepest in years, and it has been widely prognosticated that any one of the top 10 picks are capable of single-handedly altering the downward trajectory of any of the bottom teams. While all this talk may be hyperbole, the fact remains that the top 10en all seem to be, at the very least, truly special players.

Therefore, I fall on the side of "lose now, win later." I've taken the view of watching this team not as a blind extremist who revels in all things Islanders, but as a well-informed observer who is anxious to see the developing youth we have take the ice. Due to the roster being injury-riddled, last night's game treated me to my first look at prospects like Steve Regier and Matthew Spiller. No, we didn't win the contest, but to me, that doesn't matter anymore  I'll take losing if it offers a chance to greatly improve in the near future.

To all Islanders fans, I quote Margaret Thatcher, who emphatically stated the following to her constituency after instituting austere measures in an effort to right her country's failing economy: "You may not like the medicine, but it's the only way the patient is going to get well."