NYI FYI

Tavares Picks Up Where He Left Off

2012-01-31T23:14:00.003-05:00

I didn't get a chance to write over the weekend as it was happening, but John Tavares did a fantastic job of representing the Islanders in Ottawa during the All-Star break. He had some neat moves in the shootouts on Saturday during the Skills Competition, and was one of the final shooters in the last breakaway portion of the event.

During the actual game on Sunday, he notched a goal and an assist, albeit in a losing effort for Team Alfredsson.

Everyone had nothing but great things to say about the stud forward. Pierre McGuire was particularly complementary, and in his interviews with Tavares continuously brought up his play this season along with the rest of his line, Matt Moulson and Kyle Okposo.

After all of that, the Islanders had to regroup and play a road game in Carolina after a week off. Apparently, this was no big deal for Tavares.

Tavares just went on and did what he's normally done this season. He was a huge part in carrying his team to victory (with a little help from Kevin Poulin) with four points and two goals. The first goal came with the Isles reeling after Carolina had tied the game at two. Tavares capitalized on a miscue by Cam Ward, Bryan Allen and Tim Gleason and put home a loose puck in the slot area.

Aside from generally making things happen, Tavares was able to bring some nostalgia to Isles fans. By notching his 50th point of the season in tonight's game, Tavares became the first Islanders player with three straight seasons of 50 points or more since Mariusz Czerkawski (1999-2002). He's also moved into the top-5 in overall scoring for the entire league.

Moulson, Okposo and P.A. Parenteau also scored. Unfortunately, once again it was the same characters getting it done for the Isles and not any of the secondary scorers.

However, there were plenty of chances from the other guys. Michael Grabner had a few nice rushes, including a breakaway that he was stopped on once again. Rhett Rakhshani, who was called up and played over Brian Rolston, was excellent on a line with Matt Martin and Josh Bailey. They were really quick and had some nice scoring opportunities.

Defensively, the Isles were tight to start off. By the time the third period came around, the wheels did fall off a bit for a few minutes before the Isles were able to regain the lead and regroup. Mark Streit, who had another rough game, only saw just over 17 minutes of ice-time.

Poulin really only had one mishap as he was way out of the net for Carolina's second goal. He had thought he laid on top of the puck, but was mistaken. Aside from that he was solid and really made some huge saves to preserve the Isles win. He finished with 21 overall.

Unfortunately the teams ahead of the Isles all pretty much got points, which is something that they obviously didn't need. They'll have a little more ground to make up most likely by the next time they play, which is Friday in Ottawa.

More to come with thoughts on the Brooklyn pre-season game.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Leafs Get Help to Defeat Isles in OT

2012-01-25T12:57:00.000-05:00

As if things weren't already tough heading into Tuesday night's game for the New York Islanders, their opponents would end up getting help - and a lot of it.

To say that the officiating was a disgrace is putting it kindly. For those of you who have frequented this space over the years, you know it's not something we usually harp on, even in other games where it's been bad. I know for myself, I'm a staunch believer that these things even out, and that missed penalties are one of the adversities that good teams overcome.

But there is no explanation for what happened on Tuesday night. I've since tried to think of the last time I saw a game - forget about the two in a row - but a single game that was officiated that poorly. I came up empty, and mind you I have watched a lot of hockey in the past decade or so. Kevin Schultz from Islanders Point Blank has some fantastic evidence organized in one post of some of what transpired.

It's a shame in the sense that it takes away from what could have been a good story. The Islanders and the coaching staff changed up the system and the game plan in a big way, looking much better than they did Monday night and even jumping out to a lead.

A late period goal on Al Montoya was not a good thing for the Isles, and I feared for the worst at that point. The Leafs had plenty of good chances, and Montoya made some decent saves but also scrambled around a lot, as you would have expected him to in playing his first game since December 20th. Goals in just about the last minutes of periods can be momentum shifters, and that is exactly what happened near the end of the 2nd.

Of course, the momentum shift was a result of several factors, but we won't beat that dead horse anymore. It's a given at this rate.

Montoya gave up a knuckle ball goal to Mikhail Grabovski with about 3:30 left and the game appeared all but over. The Isles and their fans, already frustrated from all the other stuff going on let their voices be heard. Meanwhile, it was Grabovski who tried to shoot the puck around the boards with 12 seconds left when it took a bad bounce, landing in the slot area for a wide open P.A. Parenteau to tie the game up.

The Islanders deserved to win the game as it was, and now had the chance to avenge both bad bounces and bad officiating, but it would not happen. Another missed call in overtime after Matt Moulson was tripped, coupled with terrible timing on a pinch by Mark Streit would lead to Clarke MacArthur's OT goal.

Travis Hamonic smashed his stick on the ground as he exited the ice. Kyle Okposo continuously glared behind him as he walked out with a scowl on his face. John Tavares, who had his own outburst to the refs as he skated off the ice during the second intermission after a late hit from Joffrey Lupul, was at a loss for words and utterly confused on how to explain the events during the post game presser. Josh Bailey, meanwhile, pulled no punches.

And then there is Jack Capuano. I have to give credit where credit is due. I called Capuano out after Monday's game for not changing up his game plan and adjusting during the game. However, he had his team ready to play the next day. But I'm very disappointed that he chose not to address the poor officiating. It seems 29 other coaches out there would have something to say if this were their team. Heck, John Tortorella even had something to say in a poorly officiated game in which his team WON (the Winter Classic). So what gives?

The players may have been as diplomatic as they could have been while still getting their point across, but for the coach not to back that up and just skip over it like nothing happened? Disappointing.

So here we are. Just two games ago, the Isles were poised to be sitting pretty. Now, we have a week off to think about what comes next. The Isles enter the break 10 points out of a playoff spot and prepare to start off with three important games against Carolina, Ottawa and Buffalo.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Opportunity Missed

2012-01-24T13:15:00.002-05:00

Coming off of the 2-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night, the Islanders had a chance to do something special. Going on the road for the first part of a home-and-home series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Isles could have made up a ton of ground on the bottom half of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

So much for that momentum.

The Islanders, some of it due to Toronto playing match-ups right, some due to lack of effort, laid an egg.

They fell to the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-0, which is not an outcome they needed right now, with 35 games remaining and any hopes of the playoffs on life support as it is. With the win, the Leafs tied Washington for the final playoff spot, nine points ahead of the Isles.

John Tavares, Matt Moulson and Kyle Okposo did their thing, but were obviously less effective given the job that Carl Gunnarsson, Mike Komisarek, Dion Phaneuf and Luke Schenn did against them. The Islanders game plan was rather easy to beat, and Ron Wilson was able to figure it out quickly.

Regardless of that, the lack of shots is inexcusable. The Islanders took only five in the second period, and had a total of 11 after the frame. They pressed for more finally in the third and had some decent ones on Jonas Gustavsson, but he was able to handle them all. Would he have been able to if they did that all game though?

It wasn't a great game for a number of guys, most notably P.A. Parenteau, Andrew MacDonald and Mark Streit.

It's unfortunate to see so many individuals have poor games at the biggest point of the season, perhaps even the biggest game to come around in the last few years.

Things will have to be much different Tuesday night as the Islanders get ready to head into the all star break. A win and they'll be seven behind the Leafs, which is still going to be a tall task. Usually, we would say in that case that the Islanders avenged the loss, but there will be no such thing at this point in the season. It will be a very small step upwards.

Will the Islanders, namely Jack Capuano, do what they have to to avoid a repeat? Given recent history, and the Islanders really only having one productive line all season, it's safe to say the odds are stacked against them going into tonight.

Evgeni Nabokov played well, and once again got no offensive support. Al Montoya will likely be in net for this one as the Isles probably want to get him a game before the break.

Of course, none of that will matter if the Isles other lines don't show up again. As up and down as Toronto is, they've won a decent amount of games they should have. Don't give them another easy one with a one-line performance. Parenteau, Frans Nielsen and Michael Grabner, I'm looking at you.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Tavares, Nabokov Star as Isles Win Third Straight

2012-01-22T15:53:00.002-05:00

John Tavares and Evgeni Nabokov are both playing like men on missions right now, and they are single-handedly trying to bring the Islanders back into playoff contention.

So far, so good. The Islanders have picked up a number of points over the past two weeks behind strong play from both, and currently sit eight points out of the picture with 36 games remaining.

Just as they did for their game against these same Carolina Hurricanes a couple of weeks ago on the road, the Islanders did not have a great effort early on. The Hurricanes, coming off of a road game the previous night in Washington, appeared to be the better team.

The Islanders, perhaps realizing the importance of this game, came out a lot better in the second period, and had a few good shifts to start. While they took 23 shots in the frame, they were only able to get one puck past Cam Ward as Tavares lifted a rebound in the slot area over Ward. With the goal, Tavares extended his points streak to an NHL best 12 games. The Isles pressed a number of times, but Ward would make many spectacular saves.

Both Ward and Nabokov gave up their fair share of rebounds. It's how both of them have played the game for years. There were plenty of risky ones, but each made some special saves to keep the score 1-1 for a period and a half.

Nabokov came up bigger of the two though, making two stops on breakaways. His only mistake was misplaying a rebound in the slot, that was whiffed on by Milan Jurcina and picked up by Jeff Skinner. As has normally been the case through the Isles winning streak though, Nabokov settled down.

Tavares would end up being the go to guy once again, notching his second goal of the game in OT after taking a shot on Ward and batting his own rebound out of the air and past him. It was his 19th goal of the season.

While the Islanders defensive effort wasn't as good as we saw in the previous games, they did tighten up a bit after a very loose start, and Nabokov did the job that he had to do. They had their share of chances on Ward, who was equal to the task.

More importantly, for a team with hopes of jumping back into the playoff race, they won a game that was an absolute must. They had a strong performance for the second half of the game, in front of a decently large crowd - in a snowstorm no less! - that was pumped from the start given their recent performances. And they hung on to every shot, save and goal like this was an actual playoff game.

I understand that most of these games are 'must haves' by this point, but given the fact that the past week and a half saw the Isles defeat Buffalo, Washington and Philadelphia - the latter two on the road - the Islanders need to take this positive momentum into the all-star break.

Now, two very tough games where the Isles MUST get three of four points out of. They will first travel Monday night into Toronto before coming home for the second part of the home-and-home with them. The Maple Leafs have fallen on tough times of late, and are coming off of a 3-1 loss at home to Montreal. The Islanders are currently seven points behind 9th seeded Toronto.

Al Montoya is back now, and it's expected he'll start very soon. After these games against Toronto, the Islanders will have a week off before taking on Carolina on the road once again. I'm assuming he'll get one of the games against Toronto, although given the way Nabokov has handled his recent workload it's hard to argue against him. The only thing not in his favor is the number of shots he's seen.

But first things first. The Isles have a job to do, and that's to get three of these points from Toronto.

As usual, we went live on Sunday morning. Catch up with what you missed on the NYI FYI uStream page.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Finally! A Win in Philadelphia

2012-01-20T20:47:00.000-05:00

On Thursday night, the Islanders went into a building that hasn't been kind to them. But a funny thing happened, one that the Flyers have not been used to the last few years. That's right - the Islanders won a game in Philadelphia.

It was their first win at the Wachovia Center since April of 2007. Many Isles fans will remember that as the second to last game of the 2006-07 season, and the third of four straight wins to close out the season and clinch the final playoff spot.

To put it in perspective, there are only two players on this Islanders team who were with them that season: Frans Nielsen (15 games) and Rick DiPietro.

For the second game in a row, the Islanders went to a place on the road not too kind to them and dominated a game. That is quite an accomplishment, and one to be proud of right now. Sure, there's still a lot of work to be done as far as this season goes, but you take any positives you can right now, roll with it and hope that it becomes something even more.

John Tavares extended his points streak to 11 games with two assists. P.A. Parenteau also picked up two assists, bringing his point total for the season up to 41. The Islanders became only the second team this season to have three players with 40 or more points so far (the Chicago Blackhawks are the other).

Evgeni Nabokov did his job and did it well, making 40 saves. While the Isles were out shot 41-27, it didn't feel like it. Many of the Flyers shots came from the point as the Isles did another good job defensively in keeping the Flyers to only the low percentage shots.

Matt Moulson kept up his 40 goal pace as he scored one of his own to open the scoring for the Isles off of a really amazing pass by Tavares. How he did it, and if it was intended for Moulson or Kyle Okposo, we'll never know. But somehow it went right to Moulson's tape. In the first period, Moulson had a goal called back as it was pretty clear he had a distinct kicking motion to put the puck past Sergei Bobrovsky. But there was no doubt on this shot early in the second period and was a good way to make up for the one he missed out on.

Like I mentioned earlier, the Flyers threw everything they possibly could towards the net. While 41 shots got through, there were many more that missed the net or were blocked. Andrew MacDonald and Milan Jurcina each had five blocked shots. Travis Hamonic and Mark Eaton each had three. In total, the Islanders blocked 25 shots, and were quick to get to the loose pucks.

The only really tough part the Isles faced was after the Flyers got on the board to make the game 3-1. Shortly after, the Islanders had two solid shifts, exchanged shots with the Flyers and then were able to regain the momentum and continuously get the puck deep.

For some reason, this game for me had as much of a playoff feel as we have had in a long time. Everyone felt good after the dominating win in Washington, that we all hoped the Isles would put up a similar effort in Philly. After their first couple of meetings, the game certainly didn't disappoint and had a playoff feel for the players as well. There were a number of hits and scrums, and even some cheap shots after the whistles. Dylan Reese got into a fight with Claude Giroux. Okposo went after Brayden Schenn after he laid a very late hit on Tavares, screaming some choice words at him with the refs breaking them up. Parenteau and the Flyers exhcanged hits and verbal barbs all night.

It was a fun game, with the Flyers living up to their Broad Street Bully reputation, and the Islanders coming out every bit as good as they have in recent games, like against Detroit and Washington.

A couple of weeks ago on the show, some of you may have remembered I pretty much said we were done as far as playoff runs were concerned after the 0-for-2 West Coast road trip. Well, I have to stick by my statements but right now I'm rooting for me to be wrong. The Islanders come home Saturday to face Carolina before a home-and-home with the always tough Toronto Maple Leafs. If the Islanders really want to catch everyone's attention, walk out of the next three games with at least five points. Then we can talk more seriously about getting back into the playoff race.

It's best to take these things one game at a time, but be mindful of how many points down they are. Taking it one game at a time allows us to be pleasantly surprised when if all goes well, we can look it up, see ourselves in 10th and within five points of being right there. Baby steps.

For now, we enjoy this win against the Flyers.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Islanders not Intimidated on Road by Captials

2012-01-18T20:39:00.001-05:00

Have you ever seen two Jekyll and Hyde performances in a row as much as we've seen with the New York Islanders? On Tuesday night, the Islanders tweaked some areas and came out in a completely different manner than they did in the game on Monday afternoon.

The Islanders were able to accomplish something that hadn't been done in a while - beat the Capitals on their home ice, and beat them after having played the previous night (the Caps were 6-1-1 this season against teams on the 2nd part of a back-to-back and won their last three meetings in such games).

From the start, the Islanders defensive effort was fantastic. Everyone, both defensemen and forwards, used their sticks to their advantage. The Capitals had a hard time navigating around the Islanders poke checks, and when they did Evgeni Nabokov did all he could to ensure no damage was done.

When it was all over, Nabokov would earn his first shutout of the season, and he only had to make 17 saves to get it. Only a few of them were of the tough variety, as the Islanders did a good job of knocking the puck loose when anyone came close to their net. Washington also hurt themselves by missing the net often.

P.A. Parenteau, who has looked solid on the second line but doesn't have many points to show for it, finally got that monkey off of his back, scoring two goals. The UFA to be now has 39 points in 43 games, and while most of it has come when playing with John Tavares and Matt Moulson it is still quite impressive. He doesn't turn the puck over as much as he did last season, shows some more speed carrying the puck through the zone and makes some fantastic passes. It's no coincidence that once Brian Rolston was moved off of his line, they started to get some chances on offense.

Tavares extended his points streak to 10 games, scoring the opening goal for the Isles on the powerplay. Tavares was also able to keep up with his point per game pace for the season. As usual, he could have had more if not for some nice stops by Tomas Vokoun.

There isn't much to pick on for this game. Even the guys who normally struggle were solid enough, moving their legs and doing something to help the team.

If the Isles have plans to win a game in Philadelphia for the first time in a while on Thursday night, then they'll need to replicate this effort. As a matter of fact, with some of the goal tending issues some of their shots may have a better chance of going in although Sergei Bobrovsky did an excellent job of shutting the Isles down last week. We'll see if he gets a chance to start against them again.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Can't Solve Pekka Rinne

2012-01-16T21:59:00.001-05:00

When one lists the best goalies in the NHL, Pekka Rinne is often overlooked through the first run through. However, Islanders fans got a first hand look at why this guy is one of the top three goalies in the NHL right now.

A lot of people don't pay much attention to the Nashville Predators, so they may not realize how good they are. I was talking with a coworker, who had no idea that they had a solid goaltender and a solid defense. That's what they've always prided themselves on, and what they continue to do. As a matter of fact, it's a model the Islanders should really follow - as it would require more talented defensemen to be added to the roster.

The difference in defensive presence was quite clear during this game. Yeah, it's easy to say that Nashville has it easy when you can throw Ryan Suter or Shea Weber out there. However, when you also have solid guys like Kevin Klein and Roman Josi, or intense spark plugs such as Francis Boullon then overall you're in a good situation. When you compare this to the likes of Steve Staios, Mark Eaton and Mike Mottau, then yes it seems like we have a ways to go on the back end. But we're off to a nice start with Travis Hamonic.

At any rate, the Islanders offensively really did all that they could for two periods. They threw everything but the kitchen sink at Rinne, who was only solved with a few minutes left to play. He made 36 saves and won his 13 game in his last 15 appearances.

The Matt Moulson-John Tavares-Kyle Okposo line was once again the most productive one out there for the Isles. It seemed as though every close call they had, or every quality shot came off the sticks of these guys each time they were out there. Tavares scored the goal on Rinne, and extended his points streak to nine games.

Michael Grabner was moved up to the 2nd line, swapping spots with Brian Rolston. Grabner, who was teamed up with P.A. Parenteau and Frans Nielsen, also had a few nice chances on Rinne. Grabner seems to slowly be getting some of his confidence back.

Speaking of confidence, Kevin Poulin appeared to have none early on. Perhaps it was from his eight-day layoff. Or perhaps he was surprised at how lousy the Islanders defense was. Whatever the reason, Poulin let in soft goals, flopped around a lot and looked desperate. He calmed down a bit after the Preds almost made it 4-0 with plenty of chances and Poulin flopping in the crease late in the first period, but he came out of it and was solid when he had to be for the remainder of the game.

Staios had a pretty rough game, making a couple of turnovers, including one big one that cost the Islanders on Matt Halischuk's goal. After failing to get the puck in deep from the neutral zone, Staios tried to turn around, stumbled into a Nashville player before bouncing off of him and falling trying to skate backwards with Halischuk. Poulin was equally as bad on the play.

Mark Streit also seemed to take a step back, fumbling pucks, not paying attention to faceoffs on offense and letting pucks easily get by him. We had praised him on the show this past weekend for getting back to his old level of play, but this effort was not good and seemed very aloof.

It was pretty much like the Islanders were two teams in one - good on offense and battling a very hot and top-notch goalie, while miserable on defense. Meanwhile, Nashville did what they always do to win hockey games as they played solid defensively and got timely scoring from everyone and a consistent effort.

The Nashville Predators are a perfect team for the Islanders to learn from if they are going to keep playing around the cap floor. Since that's likely going to happen, they may as well follow other similar models and see how it's done. The one advantage that they do have on this team right now is a much stronger offensive line-up. Add a couple of Nashville's defenders to this Islanders team (and no, I don't mean both Suter and Weber) and it's obviously a different story we're singing here on January 16th.

Look for Evgeni Nabokov to get back in and play in Washington on Tuesday night. I'd expect the Isles to roll with the same lines as this one. Washington's defense isn't nearly as good as Nashville's so maybe some of the Islander's chances will come from a little closer in and have a better chance of going in. It's going to be tough as Dale Hunter will surely like to get the win over the Islanders for obvious reasons, and the feeling is mutual. The Islanders really need these two points before heading into Philly on Thursday.

For those who missed it, you can catch the recording of our live show from Sunday here.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Dominate Red Wings

2012-01-11T22:40:00.005-05:00

They may have taken a couple of steps back with their two road efforts in Anaheim and Phoenix, but the Islanders were able to take one step forward on Tuesday night against the Detroit Red Wings.

The Isles came out strong all night, and played the Red Wings very well. They weren't being conservative or tentative - the Islanders out-shot them 17-8 in the first period - but they didn't get a puck past Ty Conklin until later in the frame. He had made some fantastic saves early on, but the Islanders were able to solve him on a power play. That opened up the flood gates once the second period came along.

The Islanders only took four shots in the second period, but controlled the play for a decent amount of it. The shots they took were quality ones, and they were able to score on three of them. Michael Grabner finally scored one of his vintage goals again, while Kyle Okposo's goal from John Tavares was an excellent play all around.

Evgeni Nabokov stood tall, and came up huge in many spots. It's hard to point to just one play that he made that not only kept the Islanders ahead big, but stopped any chance of gaining momentum that Detroit had.

All in all, it was a solid effort by the Islanders with not a lot of flaws. Sure, we would like to see more shots in the second period but when the Islanders took shots of the quality they did, you can let it slide for this one.

They'll have a really tough test on Thursday night against the Philadelphia Flyers, perhaps even tougher than this one. I guess at this point of the season, it goes without saying that everything is a "tough test" for them. At some point though in the VERY near future this team will run out of chances to jump back in it.

At practice on Wednesday, David Ullstrom and Al Montoya appeared to be ready to go. Ullstrom was activated and sent down to Bridgeport where he'll get back into the swing of things. Montoya was never put on IR, so he can come back any day now it appears. Kevin Poulin is still up, but I think that's day-to-day at this point. Many, myself included, thought Poulin was going to start the game against Detroit, only for Nabokov to get the nod again - and understandably so. Due to the shutout streak he had going, Poulin continued to be tapped on the shoulder. But the Islanders now may want to have Nabokov sit on this one for an extra day and go with a different look against a team it feels like they haven't beaten in about 10 years.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Miss Out on Opportunity

2012-01-07T16:01:00.001-05:00

Going into Anaheim with a good amount of momentum, the Islanders were trying to do something they haven't in almost a year - go on a four game winning streak. For a while, the Islanders played a solid game and even were able to grab a lead in the third period.

But with about 13 minutes left, everything came crashing down hard and fast. Defensively, the Isles scrambled around and had no answers to the top line of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan.

Ryan made Andrew MacDonald look more like an AHL defenseman with his goal that tied the game, shorthanded to boot.

Getzlaf's goal that gave Anaheim the lead was his first in just over a month. It was a rather weak goal to give up, but Milan Jurcina didn't provide much help to Evgeni Nabokov on the play either.

The game did have some good flow, as little penalties were called. Even when the Islanders were down 1-0, they were doing things right and getting some chances in on Jonas Hiller. But the defensive breakdowns in the third period are what ultimately did them in.

We've seen Ryan dance around people before, but for him to do it on MacDonald is a bit embarrassing considering he's supposed to be one of our better defensemen. This isn't the first time we've seen that from him this year, so perhaps he's still feeling the effects of the surgery at times.

The Islanders have been caught flat footed in situations like this one too many times, and in games like this is really shows. While you expect the Getzlaf's and the Ryan's of the world to do what they normally do, the fact of the matter is the Anaheim Ducks are one of the few teams that's far worse than the Islanders right now, particularly on defense. And yet, the Islanders let the game get away from them with not a lot of time remaining.

They'll get another shot to walk away with points tonight in Phoenix, but they really needed to walk away with at least three points out West. With chances to nightly jump over teams (as opposed to last year, when they were so many points behind all these other teams) they can't afford to let any more slip away. They already have 18 regulation losses, and can't afford many more slip ups the rest of the way if they want to keep dreaming of playoff scenarios.

We'll see how they handle a solid Coyotes team Saturday night.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Bend, Break but Escape with Win Over Canes

2012-01-03T23:54:00.002-05:00

It's safe to say that the Islanders were hoping the start of 2012 would have gone much better than it did. But in a game that Scott Allen said had a few "peaks and valleys," the Islanders ended up getting the end result they wanted all along, even if it looked unlikely for a decent part of the game.

The Islanders were resilient, despite giving up a ton of shots, and were able to come back and win in a shootout.

Matt Moulson was able to get them on the board early, which is something that's normally important and a good sign for the Islanders. But it only took about half a minute for the Carolina Hurricanes to tie the game up, before eventually taking the lead in the 2nd off of a broken play between Evgeni Nabokov and Andrew MacDonald.

The Islanders were already scrambling by that point, so even though Nabokov was at fault for the goal, his team wasn't doing much to help him out. With an inability to get a good offensive break out going in the early part of the second after a solid first period, Nabokov likely felt that he needed to "help out" in some way, but it backfired on him.

The team came out a little bit better in the third period, but were not physical enough. They were letting some of Carolina's 3rd and 4th line players - notably, Chad LaRose, who has always been pretty effective - get the better of them, get to loose pucks and come in and out of the corners untouched. That's how LaRose got his goal to give the Canes their 3-2 lead with just over four minutes to play. Not to mention a very poor play by Milan Jurcina.

But John Tavares had other ideas. I wish we could say the same for many of his teammates, but it was Tavares who factored in on every Islanders goal, including the spectacular pass to Kyle Okposo to tie the game at three with 1:30 remaining. Tavares would also have two chances to win the game in the final minute and in overtime.

P.A. Parenteau and Frans Nielsen scored on their patented shootout shots, while Nabokov stood tall, only giving up the goal to Jussi Jokinen who has made quite a name for himself in shootouts throughout his career.

All in all, the Islanders were able to piece together a victory despite all the signs going against them. It was the first game the Islanders won all season when trailing after two periods. It wasn't ideal by any means, and the Islanders have to scrap to get every point they can right now and run. But, a similar effort like this against a much better team won't fly. They need to tighten up, and at some point players other than those on the first line must step up and provide some offense.

Now for the tough part of the trip believe it or not as the Isles head out West to take on Anaheim. While the Ducks have struggled mightily this season, it's another game against a weaker opponent that the Islanders could very well handle. Anaheim does still have all their usual weapons like Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry so it will be another tough test and a heartbreak if the Islanders can't come out with at least a point. They have a good shot to really jump over a couple of teams on this road trip, and it can go a long way to getting back into the hunt. But they need to take it one game at a time, and one team at a time.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Finish 2011 on High Note

2012-01-01T13:12:00.001-05:00

As we watched 2011 come to a close, we saw more of what had been good for the New York Islanders during the calendar year - strong play against opponents from the Western Conference.

On Saturday afternoon, the Islanders had one of their better games in the past couple of weeks. They provided offensive output for Evgeni Nabokov, and didn't let some weak defensive plays at the beginning of the game get to them.

The Islanders played a very inspired game of hockey, likely due to a fantastic ceremony put on to honor Kenny Morrow, one of the better stay at home defensemen in Islanders history. Although he was not flashy, Morrow was a solid top-4 defenseman for a decade for the Islanders, winning four cups in the process.

In other words, he's what we hoped Radek Martinek could have been if not for all those injuries.

Morrow seemed to take everything in stride, and was humbled by the entire ceremony. It was a well deserved honor for a classy and bright individual.

From the beginning, the game had the feel of a pond hockey game. Neither team was playing much defense and the refs were letting everything go. The only guys it felt like they were going to call penalties on for a time were Ben Eager and Steve Staios. Eager was running around like a chicken without a head, trying to goad Matt Martin into fights and being a bit reckless. Tom Renney was not happy with Eager for sure.

Meanwhile, Staios returned to the lineup after missing seven games with a concussion. He was a late minute addition, meaning Mike Mottau was returned to the press box.

The Islanders first line was putting on a clinic. This was the same line that dominated much of the Calgary game. John Tavares got the Islanders on the board first on the powerplay after he picked up a loose puck and banged in an easy rebound. The Islanders second goal would come on a pretty play, when Tavares spun around and passed the puck right to Matt Moulson who was breaking in on Devan Dubnyk. Howie Rose certainly enjoyed the goal as much as the fans did.

P.A. Parenteau, who has normally been racking up assists lately, had a goal of his own on the powerplay. The Islanders had some fantastic movement, and Parenteau was wide open in the left faceoff circle for a one timer he sent past Dubnyk.

It may have not been the way anyone wants to score a goal, but Matt Martin's hard work paid off in the form of one when he just threw a puck at the net on Dubnyk. The puck pin balled and rolled off of Dubnyk and eventually into the net, giving the Islanders their 4-1 lead and eventual victory.

On defense, Mark Streit had yet another uninspiring game, a trend that is becoming a frightening norm of late. One can't help but wonder if he's still feeling the side effects of returning from his shoulder injury. The injury that he had and the extent of it was quite severe, so yes it's entirely possible that's the problem here. But he's been fumbling one too many pucks at the blueline still, and making one too many bad passes. It was a bad pass from him at the end of the second that led to a Taylor Hall break, one that Streit had no choice but to tie him up and get a penalty on.

Aside from that, it was a solid effort on the part of the Islanders. After the usual scrambling around at the beginning from both teams, the Islanders tightened up and helped out Nabokov more often than not. He fumbled a couple of pucks but nothing that really affected the Islanders negatively.

More importantly - the Isles gave their fans a good New Years gift as they finally performed well in front of a large crowd.

The Islanders now get to head into 2012 on a two game winning streak. They'll head on the road now for three games to take on Carolina, Anaheim and Phoenix.

I'd like to wish all of you and your family a Happy New Year. Thanks for following along with us, and here's to more of it during 2012!

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles, Nabokov Snap Funk to End Calgary's Streak

2011-12-30T12:04:00.001-05:00

The Calgary Flames entered Thursday night's game with a four game winning streak. Meanwhile, the Islanders went in on a three game losing streak, with two of those losses coming at the hands of their rivals from New York City. One thing that the Islanders did have going for them was the fact that this was a Western Conference opponent.

At this rate, the Islanders may want to petition the league to have them play in one of the Western conferences when relocation happens next season.

Once again, the Islanders showed up to play and did a fantastic job against a Western Conference opponent. You can say what you want about the Flames, but they entered on some hot streak, which was being led by captain Jarome Iginla. The Islanders were very effective in neutralizing Iginla and the other big guns for Calgary.

The Islanders' defensemen were very active, combining for a total of 10 shots. They once again did an effective job of keeping the puck deep in the zone. It may seem like such a simple concept, but the defensemen this season generally have had a problem with getting a puck at the blueline and putting it back in deep along the boards. The fact that they were able to do that created some good scoring chances on Miikka Kiprusoff.

Andrew MacDonald, John Tavares and Brian Rolston all scored for the Islanders.

The goal by Tavares was a thing of beauty. He got a nice pass from Kyle Okposo along the boards, went around defenseman Chris Butler, and deked around Kiprusoff to bury home the shot. It was a fantastic move and showed the best of what Tavares is capable of. It also showed us a benefit of having Okposo on that line. He can do the dirty work on the boards, get the puck and feed it up to a always heads up player in Tavares.

MacDonald chose the perfect time to pinch his goal, which came when the Islanders were down by one. All he needed to do from the slot area was get a quick shot in on Kipper, and that was exactly what he did. Kipper expected the shot, but MacDonald put it just inside the right post and just out of reach.

Meanwhile, Rolston's goal was an empty netter, but worth mentioning anyway - he had returned from missing five games with a concussion (or "concussion-like symptoms," as everyone around the league likes to call them).

P.A. Parenteau got two more assists, giving him the team lead at 24. This was the first game in a long time where he wasn't on that top line, but he still made a few nice passes, most notably to MacDonald for his goal. It shows that he is an adequate play making winger option who can slot in and provide some good plays on any line.

Evgeni Nabokov, who played well enough to win Monday against the Rangers, made some nice saves and looked very strong in between the pipes. The Islanders finally gave him some support to work with, although it still wasn't much. Nabokov played about as error free as you could have hoped against a team coming in with a hot offense. The one goal he did give up was one of those freak plays that just happens sometimes. Nabokov was playing the pass, as you would expect any goalie to.

It would be nice for the Islanders to have a very similar effort on Saturday afternoon against the Edmonton Oilers. They are honoring Ken Morrow after all, and inducting him into the New York Islanders Hall of Fame. The last time the Islanders had a night like that was for Ed Westfall, and they didn't even show up to play, losing 6-0 to the Boston Bruins. After their hot start, the Oilers fell down to earth a bit. If the Islanders have a similar effort to Thursday, they should be fine.

I would expect the Isles to roll with the same lines too. They seemed to work well against Calgary, so no need to change things once again. Let these lines gel a bit. It looks like it's something to build on. It took them long enough to finally roll with what made sense.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Sleepwalk at MSG

2011-12-27T17:53:00.002-05:00

The Islanders had a shot at redemption on Monday night against the New York Rangers, but ended up failing in their attempt.

Neither team got a lot of shots in early, but the Islanders looked disinterested and disoriented at various point of the game. They really could have done themselves a favor and taken advantage early on as the Rangers tried to find their game, but they didn't.

Meanwhile, this game continued an alarming trend that has been going on, where the Islanders appear to be out played, out hustled, out coached and out classed.

The line of John Tavares, Matt Moulson and P.A. Parenteau was the only one doing anything of substance as they continuously generated scoring chances.

The defensemen took a number of shots at the point, with many of them getting blocked. However, Milan Jurcina had a standout performance as far as they go.

Evgeni Nabokov played well enough to win, but the Islanders and their lack of a system and offensive fire power were unable to give him any support.

This game marked two completely different tales for the New York rivals. The Rangers are trending upwards, and have streaked themselves all the way up to the top of the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, the Islanders find themselves in 15th once again before New Years Day even comes around.

It's been very frustrating to watch players like Tavares do everything in their power to create a scoring chance, only to be easily neutralized by three opposing players. They have this ability to cover him as the others around him don't have the skill level as Tavares does, making him an easy target when it comes to an opposing game plan.

Micheal Haley had a great fight with Stu Bickel, the kind that aren't scripted and done from the heart. It was great to see, but unfortunately resulted in a hand contusion for Haley.

The Islanders have a few days to let this one eat away at them, and hopefully it does. It's way past the point of where they should have gotten agitated with the way things have gone. At practice on Tuesday, Kyle Okposo was playing on the first line with Tavares and Moulson. It's about time the lines were shuffled to play with certain players strengths.

More to come.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Comeback Falls Short as Refs Make Questionable Calls

2011-12-24T15:16:00.003-05:00

The Islanders got off to one of the slower starts that we've seen in the last few weeks. A minute and a half into the game, Clarke MacArthur went wide around the Islanders defensive zone coverage and lifted a shot over Evgeni Nabokov's right shoulder. A few more rushes like that and it was 2-0 before you knew it. It looked like it was going to be a long night on the Island.

But after going down 3-0, the Islanders fought back and were desperately trying to get a point out of the game. Kyle Okposo scored on a nice wrist shot to cut the Maple Leafs lead down to two. At the beginning of the second, with the Islanders on the power play Frans Nielsen scored to bring the Islanders within one. The energy was back in the building and many hoped that the Islanders would turn the game around.

But the Isles defensive zone coverage was still lacking, and Joey Crabb scored for the Leafs short handed on a 2-on-1 break to put the Leafs up two again and temporarily kill any momentum the Isles had.

After John Tavares scored on a pretty looking dangle in the slot off of a nice behind the net feed from P.A. Parenteau, the Islanders pressed once again, getting some good chances in on James Reimer who looked just as shaky as Nabokov did.

In the last few minutes of the game, however, the Islanders had the rug pulled out from under them.

Joffrey Lupul delivered a nasty hit on Tavares with three minutes remaining, leaving Tavares sprawled out on the ice trying to shake the cob webs out of his head. Sounds like the Islanders should get a power play, right?

Wrong.

The referees, Don VanMassenhoven and David Banfield, felt that Tavares committed a dive, embellishing a hard check to the head. Really now? I think it's hard for any player to do that.

So instead of getting a much deserved power play, the Islanders played four on four, essentially killing the momentum they were getting at a crucial point in the game.

"They were...tough calls, I think," a frustrated Matt Martin said after the games conclusion. "The refs obviously only have two eyes, and they can't see everything but obviously, I don't agree with that call on (Tavares)."

"It's unfortunate. With three minutes left in the game we had our best player sitting in the box." Martin felt that the Islanders just need to quickly move on from what happened, however. He also pointed out that if they had started the game the way they should be, they would have never been in that position (down one late in the game).

Martin took an inadvertent elbow in the head from Keith Aulie in the second period - one fans were irked about and made no secret about it on our Twitter account. However, there was no malice meant on that play and it was more of a freak thing. Martin said as much, and feels that Aulie was just following through on trying to get the puck up ice quickly at the same time Martin was hitting him.

Travis Hamonic pulled no punches with his feelings on the officiating, although was a little bit more cryptic with his response to my question on the officiating.

"My opinion on the calls," Hamonic repeated, as he stared towards the ground, smirking, thinking of the proper way to say things. "The calls are the calls. I guess that's why they're the refs and we're the players."

"It's frustrating. John takes a cross check to the head, goes down and - well, calls are calls and we have to live with it. It's our job to battle through those circumstances."

Jack Capuano was also visibly frustrated, saying he got no explanation on the refs ruling in that situation. Doug Weight obviously had some choice words for the officials in those last few minutes, and finished the game by squirting water in the general vicinity of the officiating crew.

The Islanders need to harness some of these emotions and use it to their advantage on Monday night against the Rangers. Frustrated with how things have gone lately, they need to take it out against their rivals. No, I don't mean cross checking guys to the head. I mean fore checking as hard as you can, playing tough defense and taking the body. None of this "let the guy skate around me" like we saw in this game. Throw your weight around a bit and show that you mean business.

Now, it's time for everyone to relax a bit and enjoy the Christmas weekend.

To all our readers, we'd like to wish you a Happy Holiday weekend. Hopefully you are enjoying it as much as we are. Like we said last week, we aren't doing a show for the next two weeks but will return to our normal positions after next weekend.

Enjoy your time with your loved ones, and stay safe!

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Can't Sustain Momentum against Rangers

2011-12-23T09:38:00.004-05:00

Any time the Islanders and Rangers get together, you sort of know what to expect. A good effort from both teams, with each alternating momentum and a close score.

Thursday night was already different right off the bat, however, as Henrik Lundqvist sat in favor of Martin Biron. It was the fist time in the past 16 contests against the Rangers that the Islanders would not face the star net minder.

Biron was tested early and often, and made some decent saves. He froze the puck a lot, perhaps wanting to minimize the amount of momentum the Islanders would get. The Islanders would not be able to beat him until the first minute of the second period, with P.A. Parenteau scoring on the powerplay.

Lazy plays is what really killed the Islanders in this one. The Rangers would regain the lead off of a face-off, when Michael Grabner didn't react much after the puck was dropped, allowing Marian Gaborik to get to the front of the net and put a backhand shot past a sprawled out Evgeni Nabokov. Nabokov did all he could there, and didn't get very much help from his team.

As a matter of fact, Nabokov didn't get much help from his team on any of the goals he gave up. It seems like the times when the Isles were floating out there is when they would give up a goal. A combination of Parenteau and Mark Streit created a turnover, which lead to Brandon Dubinsky's opening goal.

To make matters worse, Jack Capuano jumped the gun with getting the extra man, pulling Nabokov with a minute and a half left. Unfortunately, the Islanders never really had sustained control of the puck, and a turnover by Frans Nielsen lead to an easy goal for John Mitchell from center ice. Nabokov stood at the bench looking up to the rafters after that, and that sums it up pretty nicely.

The Islanders had the ability to walk away with this game, but let defensive lapses get in the way. When the Islanders looked disinterested, the Rangers were able to control the puck and use their bigger guys to maintain control of the puck, and just skate around the Islanders players.

The Islanders don't have that much time to let that one stew, as they return home to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs Friday night. The Leafs have slowed down a bit from where they were at the beginning of the year, but are still getting offense out of Joffrey Lupul and Phil Kessel. The Islanders' defensemen will have to key in on these guys and not let them get a lot of open space. Kessel has become an Islander killer in his career, so expect the Islanders to pay special attention to him.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles First Trip to New Winnipeg A Success

2011-12-21T13:39:00.001-05:00

The Islanders made their first trip to Winnipeg since 1996, and it turned out well for them, and better than I actually expected it to.

Both teams came out pretty strong offensively for the beginning of the game, with neither looking too strong on defense.

P.A. Parenteau would get the Islanders' first goal after a nice rush by John Tavares and Matt Moulson. Moulson did a fantastic job of threading the needle to a wide open Parenteau on Ondrej Pavelec's left.

Nikolai Antropov got Winnipeg on the board after tipping in Johnny Oduya's slap shot off of a face-off. It was a very heads up play by both Antropov and Andrew Ladd to cross paths at the right time so one could shield Al Montoya while the other went to get his stick on the puck.

The Islanders would get the lead back in the second, after a shot by Travis Hamonic got through Pavelec and hit the post, sitting there until Michael Grabner came in and finished the job for his tenth of the year. Ladd and Antropov would work together to tie the game up once again, with Antropov using his 6'6" frame to distract Montoya from seeing Ladd's long range shot.

Late in the second period, Milan Jurcina chased Evander Kane towards the crease, leaving the forward little space to maneuver around Montoya. Instead, Kane went crashing into him, leaving Montoya sprawled on the ice for a few minutes. He would eventually get up but did not return. Evgeni Nabokov got his first action since November 17th.

Nabokov did not look rusty at all, stopping all 19 shots that came his way. He didn't have any moments where he looked uncomfortable, and there were definitely no moments where I felt uneasy about having him in the net - well, until the shootout (or so I thought).

But that was also a pleasant surprise, with Nabokov stopping both shots that he saw. Parenteau and Frans Nielsen both scored for the Isles using their signature moves - skate in and shoot high for Parenteau, forehand-to-backhand deke for Nielsen.

The game was pretty much wide open, with neither committing a great deal to defense and the refs swallowing their whistles. I personally like games that go that way, and enjoyed last night very much (for as much as anyone can enjoy a regular season game). If there was any more game left than the 65 minutes, the Islanders would have been in trouble - for much of the third period, it felt like they were beginning to have trouble dealing with the size of the Jets forwards who were doing quite well on the forecheck.

The only constant for the Islanders on defense was Hamonic, who took some nice shots and made several excellent defensive plays. Perhaps being close to home had something to do with that. On offense, the defensemen were quick to get the puck back deep into the zone, and in the general area of the net.

In the end, we should all be happy the Isles were able to walk away with two points. In the back of my mind, I'm not thrilled with giving one up to a team we are chasing, however. But we'll worry about that if the time comes.

The Isles will take their two straight shootout wins back home now, but will make a stop at MSG to take on the Rangers first.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Lose as Injuries Mount

2011-12-16T13:19:00.000-05:00

The Islanders dropped yet another game, this time to the Dallas Stars. The losses are once again piling up as injuries continue to mount, and the Islanders are in danger of going through another loosing streak.

The sparse crowd was not treated to a very strong Islanders effort, and certainly not anything like the 5-4 heart pumper these two played the last time they met, in Dallas.

Kevin Poulin, taking the place of the once again injured Evgeni Nabokov and filling in for the exhausted Al Montoya, played really well in his first action on NHL ice since sustaining the dislocated knee cap last February. With three goaltenders on the roster to start the year, the Islanders had sent Poulin down to Bridgeport where he started off slowly, but eventually regained the starters role. He was just as athletic now as he was then, and showed many glimpses of the strong goaltender we saw briefly last season.

With Steve Staios experiencing "concussion-like symptoms," the Islanders called up Calvin de Haan to take his place and make his NHL debut. In his first few shifts, it certainly showed that de Haan was nervous. But after getting the initial butterflies out of his system, de Haan showed us what he is capable of. He did a good job around his own net, using an active stick to steer loose pucks away from Poulin. He even dished out a couple of nice hits. The Islanders have gone very slowly with the 21 year old's development and it seems to be paying off. He may not be there just yet, but he did make a strong first impression. I'd still like to see him spend a little more time in Bridgeport.

Brian Rolston left the game early with a concussion, the 24th documented in the NHL this season. During the MSG+ post-game, they showed a reel of Rolston's hits, both given and taken and none of them seemed of the excessive variety that would garner a concussion. It's very possible, however, that it was a carry over from last game or just from a series of smaller hits. At any rate, we hope that Rolston can get better soon because no one likes to see any of these concussion problems, no matter the age and skill level.

Despite giving up the first goal of the game, the Islanders came back to tie and take a lead. They showed some spurts of strong play but more often than not appeared to be slacking a bit.

It wasn't until later in the third period when the Islanders were really pressing and the desperation showed. But in the end, it was too little and too late. Poulin would give up a rather weak goal after being perfectly screened to put the Stars ahead for good.

As Jack Capuano said after the game, the team had some lapses that cost them the game. It didn't last over the entire game, but they appeared to get a bit complacent during parts of the second and for a good chunk of the third period. When you're struggling through injuries, particularly to your better defensemen, you simply cannot afford to take any time off. It's not the way teams steal points in games that look unlikely.

The Islanders will now hit the road for a tough trip that runs through Minnesota and Winnipeg before returning to New York to take on the Rangers at MSG. They have their work cut out for them in what will likely be a very telling couple of weeks.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

From The Checking Line: Isles Fight Back to Grab Point Against Blackhawks

2011-12-09T14:47:00.000-05:00

Read the post game report from the Islanders-Blackhawks game on the new Islanders edition of The Checking Line. Be sure you're following myself and the other Isles writers there on Twitter (and follow the main page for coverage of the 29 other teams). Also, become a fan of the Isles TCL sub-site on Facebook.

More to come.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Moulson, Islanders Win Texas Shootout with Stars; NYI FYI Sunday

2011-12-04T09:40:00.001-05:00

The scene was set up pretty nicely for this to be a very high scoring game: Rick DiPietro vs. Andrew Raycroft. If you were an offensive player, neither goalie disappointed you.

The Islanders were able to jump out to a 3-0 lead into the second period, before it all came crashing down on them thanks in large part to DiPietro. He gave up three goals in the span of about two minutes to bring the game even.

But the Islanders continued to do what they did on Friday night in Chicago, and fought adversity. Matt Moulson got the lead back, DiPietro lost it again. Moulson once again had to get it back, and DiPietro would leave the game with a groin injury.

DiPietro had an awkward moment in the second period where he went down in the butterfly and then didn't get up right away. Then, on the next play he fell along the right post with Steve Ott behind the net. It was pretty clear that DiPietro was laboring.

Enter Al Montoya, who as we've now come to expect, came in and shut the door, preserving the Isles 5-4 win and Matt Moulson's flawless performance.

Aside from the goals, Moulson has been playing really well in all areas of the ice. Last night, he prevented a couple of odd man rushes by hustling back on defense. The fact that he wasn't just cherry picking, but was able to score four goals is quite the feat. John Tavares and P.A. Parenteau did a fantastic job of setting him up all night.

Defensively, the Isles were slightly better than they had been but for much of the first half of the game kept Dallas to the outside. Many of their shots were right into the chest of DiPietro. But a couple of breakdowns lead to goals, some DiPietro couldn't do anything about and others that were just soft.

DiPietro wasn't the only player to leave with an injury. Milan Jurcina had a shoulder issue that caused him to miss a few shifts. Michael Grabner left in the 3rd with a groin issue after a failed breakaway attempt and never returned. Nino Niederreiter was hit by Mark Fistric, who left his feet and came dangerously close to the head area. While no penalty was called on the play, I'd expect Fistric to get a call from Brendan Shanahan. Niederreiter clearly had a concussion, as he could barely get up and was unable to walk off under his own power. We can only hope it's not a serious one, as Niederreiter looked like he was coming around during that Chicago game and was only 11 seconds into this one.

The fact that the Islanders came out of this road trip with seven of a possible eight points is huge. Words cannot describe that. Both Sean and I had this pegged as a likely week of Hell for them, and yet here they are showing the resiliency that they had at the end of last season. To go on the road and do this is fantastic. To hold on and win the games by a margin of one is even better still. Talk about confidence boosters.

There is still a lot of work to be done here, no doubt. But for a team that's been pretty miserable on the road, and in scoring goals, this entire trip was huge. They got the first goal of every game of the trip, which for a team that has become accustomed to slow starts is - you guessed it, huge. At any rate, this is a start. They now need to return home and figure out ways to win those games too. As Jack Capuano said a few weeks back, "you need to win the home games if you expect to make the playoffs."

He's absolutely right. It's great that the Isles went out on the road, and had a huge confidence booster. Now, come home and do it and get people excited once again.

NYI FYI Sunday, 11 AM: As always, Sean and I will be back to bantering about the Isles - and with some good stuff to talk about too. You can catch us live by watching on uStream. Be sure to participate in the discussion by using the chat room through the site.

For those who can't watch the live show, no need to worry. You can listen to the recording through the uStream site later as well.

Unfortunately, there will be no podcast. For those who are not aware and missed Sean's post last week, MyPodcast went out of business and closed their website as of Thursday, December 1st. We hope to be able to find an alternative for podcast hosting, but for now there's been no luck. Check out Sean's post for more details on how we move forward.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Come Up Just Short on Blackhawks

2011-12-03T14:39:00.001-05:00

Last season when the Islanders came into the United Center to face the Blackhawks it didn't go over so well. Corey Crawford was sharp on the way to a 5-0 win for Chicago. Friday night was a bit of a different story. With Crawford struggling at this point in the season, the Islanders seemed to have a new game plan: shoot early and often on him.

The Islanders and Hawks would be tied 13-13 in shots after the first period, and the Isles would have a 2-1 lead. Kyle Okposo, who continues to look like his old self, opened the scoring for after putting home a rebound on the power play. He was in the right spot at the right time, and seems to have remembered his sweet spots on the ice. Matt Moulson scored the other goal on a wrister, and he's been picking it up as of late too.

After the second period, in which the Islanders took only two shots Jack Capuano must have given the team a good talking to because they came out with a great deal of urgency in the third. They came back twice in the period, starting with P.A. Parenteau's goal 46 seconds in. Patrick Sharp put the Hawks up by one, and Nino Niederreiter scored on a beautiful rush and wrist shot to tie it back-up at four.

Unfortunately, the Hawks skilled players were able to get the job done in the shoot-out against an Islanders team that should be proud of the way they played.

Well, everyone except Milan Jurcina. In his brief Islanders career, this has to be one of the worst games I saw from him. His partner for the night, Steve Staios, was not much better. Both were on the ice for a few of the Hawks goals and each finished with a -3 rating for the game. On the Hawks first goal, it was Staios and Jurcina backing up all the way to the front of Montoya, allowing for the Hawks to get in some high percentage shots.

You are usually supposed to do a better job of playing the man there, no matter who you are or what style you play.

Al Montoya made some really nice saves on some tough shots, and only let in one really bad goal. I'd still roll with him, and think that the Islanders would be making a mistake if they switch it up once again.

It's really been refreshing to see the Isles efforts these past few games, dating back to the night before Thanksgiving against the Flyers. The fact that the Isles have been able to go on the road and get points in buildings that haven't been too kind to them in recent years is a start. There's still a lot of work to be done, but at least they show signs of life.

The Isles will have their hands full with the Dallas Stars. Struggling or not, this is a team that's getting offense from everyone, including guys like Michael Ryder (16 points) and Eric Nystrom (nine goals). It's going to be a tough test for the Isles defensemen once again and they can't play it the same way they did against the Blackhawks. We still can't guarantee the Isles will be able to cover for the goals they'd give up playing that system, so they need to shore up. In particular, Jurcina and Staios. If Andrew MacDonald returns, perhaps that could help out a bit.

If the Islanders come out of this trip with at least another point, it would be a job well done in my book. Personally, it already is with five points in the three games. If they make it six or even seven though, that's outstanding.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

The Future of The Podcasts

2011-11-29T03:15:00.005-05:00

Hey all,

On Sunday, Chris and I attempted to upload the podcast as soon as we wrapped up the show. As you all know by now, the podcast is always uploaded immediately after the end of the live show. When we could not connect to MyPodcast.com, we didn't think much of it. We figured the website was down for maintenance and would be up and running shortly there after. The day went by, and the site did not return.

I was shocked when on Monday afternoon, Chris sent me a text message informing me that the site was down for good. After looking into it further, I can confirm that MyPodcast.com has, in essence, gone out of business and will no longer operate. We are truly saddened to see that the site is no longer available for use. We have been with MyPodcast since day one of the show, and we always found it to be a great service to not only us, but to you as well.

Unfortunately, MyPodcast is not the only podcast hosting site that has gone out of business after offering a free, unlimited service. Slowly, these sites are fading away, leaving us with very little options. Chris and I have both looked into alternatives, and for now, we want to fill you all in with what is happening:

Over the course of the last 5 years, NYI FYI has seen growth. As of now, there are no websites that can accommodate our needs for free. We would not be able to archive the shows for more than a month, and the bandwidth being offered simply is not enough. Over the course of the last year or so, there has been a lot of money invested in keeping the show alive. Unfortunately, the show is not seeing a return on its investment, so we simply can't afford to pay for a website that can keep the podcast going.

However, we can and will continue to record and broadcast shows live through UStream. Slowly but surely, more and more people have come on board and joined us for the live shows, which is something that we are thrilled about. That being said, there is a chance that the show will make a transition to strictly being a web television series. We apologize to those who looked forward to the podcasts and enjoyed listening to them in the car and at work. Like we said before, we can't afford to put more money into it, and at the same time, we don't want to start charging membership fees so that people can listen to the show. That is not what we stand for, and not at all what we have in mind.

This change is something that was harsh and came without warning. Had we known about this a few weeks ago, we may have had more time to plan and have an alternative ready to go. Right now, we are trying to figure out what we can do to get the show back to normal. As always, your feedback is always appreciated, and we would love to hear from you all in regards to our current situation. If you have any questions, comments, ideas, etc, please feel free to share them below.

We don't want you to worry. NYI FYI is still alive, and we will be back on Sunday Morning at 11 AM EST, live on UStream. Thank you all for your patience and understanding in this matter.

-Sean

NYIFYI@gmail.com

Islanders Get Revenge on Devils; NYI FYI at 10 AM Sunday

2011-11-27T08:57:00.000-05:00

The Islanders stuck to the basics and made some changes after getting shut out 1-0 on Friday afternoon. The slight changes they did make resulted in a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils about 24 hours later.

Michael Grabner was finally able to bury a chance on a breakaway, what was this 6th of the home-and-home set with the Devils. It would end up being the winning goal for the Islanders. Grabner stole the puck from Ilya Kovalchuk, who was carrying the puck up the ice in his own zone on a Devils powerplay. In other words, it was vintage Grabner.

Matt Moulson was able to stop his slide to. Josh Bailey scored his first goal since the Islanders were in Colorado. Both came on nice shots in the slot area - a spot where the Isles have been hesitant to get to lately.

Ironically, when Moulson scored his goal I wasn't happy at first because I thought he was waiting too long, which you normally can't do against a goalie like Martin Brodeur. But when the puck goes in, all will be forgiven.

I was surprised Jack Capuano went with Al Montoya for the game, but he made the right call. I thought for sure they would split the net and have DiPietro play the second game but they finally did the right thing when it comes to a starting goalie. Montoya should get a majority of the starts. It's pretty clear who the team feels the most comfortable with now between the pipes, and who gives them the best chance to win.

Nino Niederreiter sat for a fourth straight game, leading many to question what exactly the team is doing here - myself included. No one can seem to get any answers out of Garth Snow or Capuano as to what is going on with him, but the team has said it's not related to his injury. During the first period, a frustrated Niederreiter Tweeted to fans asking him why he was sitting by simply stating "I don't know." The Tweet was later removed, likely at the request of the team. Uh oh.

The Islanders are creating their own PR mess here, as they have a 19-year-old kid who has played two games and only about 10 minutes in each. We have no idea if he can stick or not from that sample size, but the Islanders don't seem to be as worried about the kid riding the pine. It really makes no sense whatsoever. One can't help but think about those games played incentives in Niederreiter's contract.

Defensively, the Islanders had a better effort than we've become accustomed too but still struggled at points. Mike Mottau struggled again, and rode the pine at points again. Unfortunately, there aren't many other choices right now seeing as the guys in Bridgeport aren't ready for prime time just yet. At least the Islanders are developing some of their blueliners the way they should be.

For the Isles, it was important to get that first road win out of the way as this was the start of a string of four straight on the road. They're all tough games too - Buffalo, Chicago and Dallas. The Islanders will have their work cut out for them.

NYI FYI Sunday, 10 AM: Sean and I will be back at it Sunday morning for what promises to be a passionate show. However, we will not be on at our usual time. Instead, we'll be going live at 10 AM. You can still catch us live on our uStream page, and participate in the chat room. You can also send us your thoughts through Twitter.

For those who miss the live show, be sure to download the podcast later in the day.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Comeau Claimed on Waivers by Calgary

2011-11-26T09:44:00.001-05:00

For the last few weeks, Jack Capuano has publicly warned his team that if some of them didn't start to perform, actions would be taken. It started with simple, yet necessary scratches. Now, changes will involve eliminating players from the roster all together.

Blake Comeau is the first casualty. After starting the season with 0 points in 16 games, and sitting out two games as a healthy scratch, the Islanders placed the winger on waivers, free to be taken by any team. Of course, that came with one caveat - the claiming team would have to take him at his full salary of $2.5 million.

For the Calgary Flames, this was no problem at all. The Flames and their struggling offense were all too happy to add Comeau and whatever potential he may have left to their line-up.

Comeau played on Friday night for the Flames, and once again had a rough go at it, turning over a puck that lead to a St. Louis Blues rush and goal at the other end.

A lot of people wondered why Jay Feaster would claim Comeau, and how he would work with Brent Sutter. It would seem to me that Sutter was in favor of the claim, having coached Comeau at the World Juniors in 2006. Comeau led Canada in scoring that winter, and was a huge part in helping them win the gold medal.

In the end, it was something good for all involved. Rival GM's were weary of the season Comeau had in 2010-11 and wanted to see more. The Islanders gambled and lost, hoping Comeau would get off to a similar start. In the end, his trade value went way down, and there was simply nothing out there for Garth Snow to do. Comeau will now get a chance to develop under a true hockey ops department, with a very experienced coach at the helm who may be able to fix him.

It's become clear in recent years that Comeau was hoping for a fresh start, and he gets that now. It will be interesting to see if there is anything he can provide to the Flames that they are currently missing. He may not have gotten the greatest start with them, but at the same time I'm surprised that the Flames threw him in the line-up that quickly.

Best of luck to you, Blake.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Shutout by Devils

2011-11-26T09:16:00.001-05:00

There is quite an alarming theme going on with some of the Islanders home games this season. It seems every time they get a fairly large crowd, they put a goose egg up on the scoreboard.

Montoya Stops Kovalchuk. Photo by C. Hessel

The Islanders were shut out again, 1-0 to the New Jersey Devils on Friday afternoon. Johan Hedberg made some nice saves and the Islanders had a few good chances, but it all resulted in the team suffering their 6th shutout of the season, and 5th on home ice.

To put it in perspective: the 2008-09 Islanders, one of the worst I've seen, was shut out a grand total of four times all season.

Michael Grabner had two chances on breakaways, with one on a penalty shot and he couldn't put one past Hedberg. P.A. Parenteau had a wide open net to shoot at but couldn't lift it high enough and a sprawled out "Moose" was able to kick it towards the corner.

The Islanders powerplay had a rough go at it, experienced a hard time getting shots through and kept a lot of their movement only at the perimeter. They hesitated to take some shots, instead waiting for Hedberg to perhaps go down a bit early.

Thinking twice about taking shots is something that Jack Capuano was obviously frustrated with after the game.

"You can say what you want about their goal, a broken stick, an unlucky bounce for us but it started with a shot, and Sykora was in the right place."

That is one of the challenges facing Capuano as he prepares for the second of a home-and-home against the Devils. He specifically mentioned the perimeter play, and needing to get more people towards the net. There aren't enough guys doing it consistently, and when the Islanders did have guys cutting the passes were way off the mark. There doesn't seem to ever be anything in the middle, but rather one extreme or the other here.

Al Montoya was brilliant, stopping Zach Parise on a breakaway and Ilya Kovalchuk point blank in the slot area. He was really involved with playing the puck, and almost put it into his own net on one occasion. I am glad to see Montoya play with so much confidence after not playing the last two weeks, and given the way he's played he should be the go to guy. We'll see if this is how it plays out. It's a shame the Isles couldn't support him yet again.

The Islanders don't have much time to figure out what went wrong as they have their rematch Saturday night in New Jersey.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Sid Puts on a Show Against Isles

2011-11-22T13:04:00.001-05:00

The Islanders held Sidney Crosby off as long as they could: Five minutes and twenty-four seconds.

Crosby opened the scoring of the game, slaloming through Marty Reasoner, Jay Pandolfo and Travis Hamonic and driving around Andrew MacDonald with ease before lifting a backhand shot over a sprawled out Anders Nilsson.

That pretty much set the tone for the remainder of the night. The Islanders took most of the shots early on, but Pittsburgh got the goals and later on took better control of the play.

The Islanders had yet another one of "those" games, which is quickly becoming more of the "norm". They've been shut-out five times this season, and continue to be dead last in the league in goals per game (1.9). To be outscored 11-0 in the last two games and go through yet another listless effort is alarming. This could be the beginning of the end for certain players or coaches.

It's clear there's a lack of a number of things here, and everyone has their own ideas of what to fix. I'm going to refrain from going into that right now, for my sanity and yours. I'll do so at a later date. But make no mistake that this kind of stuff won't be tolerated for much longer. It can't be. And if it is, well then shame on all those involved. However, they're likely a huge part of the problem too.

Some of this onus has to be put on the players though. What happened to "matching our opponents intensity?" How exactly did they expect the Penguins to come out for this one, in the return of their captain after a 320 day absence? Teams in professional sports are generally up for games like this, unless they are completely dysfunctional from top to bottom.

In the meantime, there was even more bad news out of this game aside from the loss. Mark Eaton suffered a sprained MCL. Given the injury, and Eaton's history with knee injuries, expect to see a lot more of Mike Mottau in the next several games, with possible appearances by guys like Dylan Reese and Ty Wishart down the road.

I was a bit surprised to see Nilsson get the start in this game since it had a lot riding on it. But it speaks volumes as to the status of Rick DiPietro at this time among this current coaching staff. I really wouldn't have exposed the 21-year-old rookie to this stuff, but Jack Capuano thought some of the things Nilsson could provide would translate well on Monday night. Nilsson made some nice stops and was left out to dry a few times by his skaters, but he also gave up a couple of weak, awful goals.

David Ullstrom made his NHL debut, and actually looked like one of the Isles only forwards doing what it takes to win. He was driving to the net, and likes to cut through the slot area to get there. He used some good speed too. He'll be a successful player in this league if he doesn't get away from playing the game this way. I just hope the bad habits exhibited by those currently around him aren't infectious.

Aside from that, it was lather, rinse, repeat - a carbon copy of the Bruins game, with one less goal. The Islanders need to find a way to win a couple of the remaining games this week, and fast because it may not be long until the next show drops.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

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Islanders Have Embarrassing Effort on Westfall Night; NYI FYI Sunday

2011-11-20T00:41:00.002-05:00

On a night when the Islanders honored Eddie Westfall, the first captain in team history, they played like they were waiting around for him to step out onto the ice.

Of course, Westfall also scored the first goal in team history. The Islanders couldn't even score a goal in this game.

The Bruins, who Westfall spent his first 11 seasons with, did a good job of clogging up the areas of the ice where the Islanders like to go. Due to this, the Islanders never felt the need to try and adjust. Instead they kept falling into the same bad habits that have plagued them all season long.

Rick DiPietro started and did not last past the first period. The Bruins second goal, scored by Nathan Horton, came off of a failed pass by DiPietro. Anders Nilsson, who was called up from Bridgeport earlier in the day replaced DiPietro for the start of the second. Nilsson looked OK in his NHL debut, making some decent saves but giving up three goals. Unfortunately, he was left out to dry by his defensemen on a couple of the goals he gave up.

The Islanders best forward was Jay Pandolfo, and he's been that the last two games. That's not a good thing.

The Bruins were given every opportunity they wanted tonight on a silver platter by an Islanders team that quite frankly looked disinterested, disoriented and over-matched in every area of the game. The loose puck battles they were winning on Thursday night were missing. The much bigger Bruins team was able to walk into the offensive zone any time they wanted, uncontested.

In sports, this would often be one of those games where you would say "burn the tapes." However, it shouldn't be. Jack Capuano made it sound like that too in the post game. He spoke about his team not trying hard enough to win, and not willing to take the bumps, bruises and cuts necessary to win hockey games. I think at this point you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who thinks otherwise.

There isn't much else you can say about this game that hasn't been said before. It was an embarrassing effort on what was supposed to be a special night for Westfall. The ceremony before the game was the only thing that went right, which is just a sin.

New NYI FYI Sunday: Sean has returned from his trip, and we'll be back on the air live at 11 AM on our uStream account. As always, you'll be able to catch the podcast shortly after the conclusion of the live show.

You're all encouraged to submit your thoughts and questions via the chat room through uStream or by sending us your thoughts on Twitter.

Enjoy it everyone!

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Nabokov, Montoya Hurt; Nilsson Called Up

2011-11-19T10:37:00.002-05:00

A week ago at this time, we were all lamenting that fact that the Islanders had too many goalies. Today, it seems like they can't get enough.

The Islanders tried to solve part of their log jam on Monday when they announced they were loaning Mikko Koskinen to KalPa of the SM-Liiga.

On Friday, the Islanders announced that Evgeni Nabokov will be out indefinitely (although Art Staple says that means 3-4 weeks) after suffering a groin injury in making an awkward save about seven minutes into Thursday night's contest against the Montreal Canadiens.

This morning, it's been announced that Al Montoya is suffering from a strained hamstring, which he suffered after being run into numerous times in his last game in Colorado.

While Montoya is currently listed as day-to-day, it appears as though he is unable to even dress as a back-up. The Islanders have called up rookie goalie Andres Nilsson from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers to back-up Rick DiPietro.

Nilsson has been called up from AHL. Photo by C. Hessel

Nilsson, 21, leads the Sound Tigers in wins and GAA this season. His strong play, coupled with the promising future of Kevin Poulin had left Mikko Koskinen out in the cold. He sought to go back to Europe, and the Islanders obliged. Now, they'll need to find another goaltender to back-up Poulin in Bridgeport.

DiPietro will get the starts until Montoya is feeling better and ready to return. He'll likely do so before Nabokov comes back, so the two of them will see the time with whoever is playing better getting the starts. DiPietro came in for Nabokov on Thursday night and looked very strong, and will get the start tonight against the Boston Bruins for Ed Westfall night.

We've now been reminded why the Islanders felt it was necessary to have six goalies on contracts going into the season. It seems as though over the last two weeks, it was starting to affect some of them. Koskinen wanted out, and got his wish. Meanwhile, two goalies went down on virtually the same day, leaving Nilsson as the logical call-up given the fact that Poulin is off to a slow start and will only get better with starting down in the AHL. Ironically, this would have been a great opportunity for Koskinen to come up.

I really like Nilsson, and was pleasantly surprised with him through most of camp. He gave up some weak goals when he played in the exhibition games, but also made some decent saves. He's very young, but when facing other younger players he looked much better which is all you can ask for him at this time. In all honesty, I hope we don't see him get into a game during his stay up here. Montoya's injury doesn't appear to be anything significant and seems more about giving him some time to get back rather than rushing further injury.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Withstand Late Surge by Montreal

2011-11-18T13:19:00.001-05:00

When you go to the net, good things happen. Ditto for hustling to loose pucks.

The Islanders had a good grasp of this concept on Thursday night against Montreal. Three of their four goals were scored by either crashing the net or winning battles for loose pucks.

One of the flaws in the Islanders' games this season has been their inability to be able to win battles for loose pucks. But against Montreal, more often than not the team won those battles.

"It's something we preach every game," Capuano said after when I asked if it was something they focused on more heading into this game. Montreal has a banged up defense that has had a bit of trouble containing the puck around their own net. Simply putting more pressure on and crashing the crease was going to lead to good opportunities.

Mike Mottau had a forgettable time on the ice, making two bad plays on two consecutive shifts to let Montreal back into the game. Mottau would get benched in the third period. Capuano was quite frank about the situation, telling us that he "went with a short bench." Sounds like Mark Eaton has his ticket back into the line-up.

Speaking of the line-up, many folks were surprised that Kyle Okposo sat out for a second straight game instead of Josh Bailey. After Tuesday night's game, I explained why it would have made sense for Okposo to sit out a second time given how they handled Blake Comeau's benching last month. When you think about the fact that Okposo has looked even more lost than Comeau did when he was benched, to me the answer seemed simple - keep Kyle out one more game. Meanwhile, we got to see Bailey make a real nice pass to Jay Pandolfo on the second goal. Bailey still has a long way to go, but that play illustrated all that can still be good with him.

The lack of speed on the team was abundantly clear on some of the rushes that Montreal had. The Islanders did a good job of catching up with them, but must find ways to adjust to faster teams if there are no plans to increase team speed by bringing in someone from the outside.

Evgeni Nabokov injured his groin, allowing for Rick DiPietro to get into his first action since beating Washington at home back on November 5th. DiPietro did a really good job of stepping in cold and made some nice saves on tough shots late in the game. The first two Montreal goals can be attributed to misplays by Mottau. The third Canadiens goal, a power-play goal, was scored when all of the Islanders' PKers moved towards one side of the slot, with Brian Rolston caught in no-mans-land and leaving Brian Gionta wide open for two chances to put the puck past DiPietro.

When the Isles were on, they really took it to the Canadiens. Unfortunately, they let their foot off the gas a couple of times and Montreal was able to maintain puck possession for a decent amount of time at certain points, like just after P.A. Parenteau opened up the scoring. Yes, it was nice to finally have a bounce go your way but that in no way means that you can ease up a little bit. There are still some holes here and there with the Isles strategy, but this game in addition to the Rangers effort shows that it's getting there, and hopefully works itself out sooner rather than later.

All in all it was a good night where the Isles gave their fans something to cheer about. Travis Hamonic told me after that this felt like the kind of game where the team finally played like they know they could. We'll see if they put forth a similar effort for Ed Westfall night on Saturday against the Boston Bruins.

Third Jersey: Back in Black

2011-11-16T22:40:00.001-05:00

The Islanders introduced a new third jersey on Wednesday night, and at the same time introduced a couple of new colors not seen on any previous Isles jersey (aside from certain variations of practice ones, of course).

The last time the Isles had a third jersey that was out of the ordinary, it was primarily orange. Now, the Islanders have joined the current trend and have a primarily black jersey they will wear a dozen times at home for the remainder of this season.

Photo by Official New York Islanders via Flickr

Grey is the other color that has been introduced to the pallet, one that seems to have many people up in arms. I actually like the incorporation of the grey, but maybe not so much on the shoulders.

I like the idea of a black jersey. I wasn't in love with it at the beginning, but the concept is fine. However, there are some aspects of what was unveiled that was good and not so good.

I'm not a big fan of the basketball style numbering and lettering on the front. I wasn't a fan of it when the Atlanta Thrashers did it a few seasons back, and I'm still not today. The jersey would have looked better with an actual logo, even a secondary logo of the old lighthouse patch or something.

Don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure there is a fashion faux pas about combining black and blue. I may have done something else rather than blue on the bottom of the sleeve like thr grey. Or, would have made it all blue and scrapped the black. But again, not totally opposed to the black.

All in all, I'm not excited or upset about them one way or another. I'm naturally more concerned about what we've been seeing on the ice lately rather than what the team is deciding to wear or not wear.

This could have been worse. A lot worse. But in the end, in my opinion it's not the worst thing in the world and is most definitely better than what was originally being discussed at the end of last season. It's not even as bad as some of the others around the league, so we can take that for what it's worth.

I think I've made my apathy on the subject pretty clear by this point, but I can see that this is something the fan base seems to be really passionate about. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below, or hit us up on our NYI FYI Twitter account with your thoughts.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Come Back Twice, Not a Third Time Against Rangers

2011-11-16T13:08:00.001-05:00

Tuesday night's installment of Islanders-Rangers was a tale of two teams trending in opposite directions. The Rangers were coming off their sixth straight victory, while the Islanders had lost nine of their last 10 and had a pretty poor effort in Vancouver.

Jack Capuano said that he was unhappy with the effort some individuals put in that game, and that he would have to adjust accordingly. When asked about Nino Niederreiter coming up, he quipped that he wished two others were coming up with him.

We learned of two players the coach was unhappy with as Mark Eaton and Kyle Okposo both rode the pine. Okposo has three points in 14 games, all assists. Eaton has been a part of a struggling 3rd pair all season, which got better a few weeks ago when Milan Jurcina returned from injury but that didn't last long. The previous two games, Jurcina had been scratched after he and Eaton were exposed against Boston.

The changes did make the Islanders play better, but ultimately it still resulted in a loss. The Islanders twice found themselves chasing the Rangers and twice were able to come back. Brad Richards put the Rangers ahead for good with about six minutes to play on a bad turnover by Josh Bailey, who may soon take Kyle Okposo's place in the press box.

The biggest issue in this game was the Isles power-play. Until their fifth opportunity, there was absolutely no movement from anyone. The Rangers forwards covered the points well, and the lack of movement didn't give the point men any viable options to pass to. Matt Moulson finally snapped the monotony when he broke from the high slot to the right of Henrik Lundqvist, where John Tavares fed him from the other side of the crease for a slam dunk goal.

Marty Reasoner and Jay Pandolfo really didn't have great games. The penalty kill was better than it had been in recent games, but both looked very slow and Reasoner certainly made some questionable decisions defensively. To be honest, it was the first time I noticed Reasoner all season doing anything really bad, so I would imagine this was just one of "those" games for him.

Blake Comeau looked really active and had some nice chances, but ultimately that doesn't amount to anything on the score sheet. He was one of a few Isles forwards who were looking for the perfect shot rather than getting it towards the net, and held on to pucks a tad too long.

I appreciated the effort of Mike Mottau trying to get his team fired up by fighting with Sean Avery. In all honesty, that was one of the better things I've seen out of Mottau lately. Unfortunately, that shouldn't be the case but his defensive play has left something to be desired.

Evgeni Nabokov made some really nice saves, and kept the Islanders in the game. Nabokov got a lot of love from the Isles contingent in the crowd, even though his time here is likely running short. It's a shame he can't seem to get a good 60 minute effort in front of him.

Niederreiter got just over 11 minutes of ice time, and did enough with it to get noticed. He didn't do a whole lot offensively, but defensively was sound and threw a couple of nice hits. I would imagine his ice time will increase as we move along here as the Isles are trying to slowly bring him back to NHL game speed after missing the first month of action. When that happens, and he's playing with better talent then perhaps some points will come.

There's been no word on if Eaton or Okposo will get back into the line-up Thursday night against the Montreal Canadiens. I think there's a good chance Okposo returns, although I'm not opposed to having him sit another game out like what the Isles did with Comeau last month. Defensively though, the effort was a little bit better so I can see Capuano sticking with the same pairings meaning Eaton could be out again for sure.

Speaking of Capuano, what was the deal with the final minutes of play? All season, he has re-invented the wheel of sorts by pulling his goalie with 3+ minutes left when down by multiple goals. Tuesday night, with the Isles pressing, controlling the puck and needing one to tie in the final five minutes, he waited and pulled Nabokov with just over a minute left. What gives there? I didn't understand that at all.

The Islanders will get a very injured Canadiens team who will be coming off of a Wednesday night game. This hasn't affected any of the other teams the Isles have played this season, but there are some weaknesses the Isles can try to exploit if they stop trying to be so fancy and get the puck towards the net.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Fall to Canucks; El Nino Returns

2011-11-14T22:14:00.001-05:00

The Islanders dropped their rare Sunday night game 4-1 to the Canucks as Evgeni Nabokov was tested early and often.

It seems that no Isles goalie can be tested early enough though as Nabokov gave up a goal 1:57 seconds into the game, on a shot by Aaron Rome. It was a bit of a defensive breakdown in front of Nabokov, and would be a sign of things to come for the Islanders.

For much of the remainder of the game, we saw a great deal of uninspired play. The Islanders seemingly let Vancouver skate with free reign on offense, unable to stop them at times. At many points, it truly seemed like men against boys.

Roberto Luongo has been very up and down this season, and unfortunately for the Islanders they ran into him at his best. He didn't get tested very much, but on a few occasions he was tested with great shots that he was able to stand up tall against. It was important for him because Vancouver has made it clear in recent history that they have no problem starting the very capable Cory Schneider.

The Isles uninspired play is something that Jack Capuano was visibly upset about during the post game interview. He took it a step further during the interviews with the rest of the media after. This included an instance where he hoped the Isles would call up "three new guys" from Bridgeport rather than just Nino Niederreiter.

When Niederreiter returns to the line-up on Tuesday, many expect Blake Comeau to sit. I'm hoping that Kyle Okposo is the one who sits. It's gotten to a point with Okposo now where he needs to sit in the press box for a game and watch from above. His play has been all over the place, and he's not even doing the things he used to be good at. He's gotten too fancy with the puck and really just needs a game or two to sit out and think about simplifying his game big time.

Comeau at the very least has been throwing some hits. It's obviously not what we want his primary job to be, but at least he's contributing in that department which isn't something that could be said for Okposo right now.

Niederreiter adds some size to the group of forwards, but he is by no means the answer. It seems a lot of people are pinning a lot of their hopes on him to get this team out of it's funk. Quite honestly, this likely won't happen. He'll contribute in his own ways, but I really don't have him pegged to provide much offensively if he remains up with the team for the entire year. But I'll hope I'm wrong there and we'll see what he can bring. If he can at least cut to the net more often than not and use his big body that way, then we're already ahead of where we were last game.

The Islanders now get to come home and take on the Rangers, who have won six games in a row and are firing on all cylinders. It's going to be a tall task for an Islanders team that has pretty much been sleepwalking through their last four periods now. The Rangers are pouncing on the slightest of mistakes right now, and given the way each of these teams play the other, it will be no different here.

I'm very curious to see who starts for this one. But if the players are going to give more of the same, then it may not matter very much. As Capuano said, it's not about talking a big game. It's about having that will to want to do your best when you know the odds are more often than not stacked against you.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Blow Three Goal Lead in Colorado

2011-11-11T13:58:00.001-05:00

Things were looking so good for the Islanders for so long. As the end of the second period came though, you could sense a change in direction coming. The Avalanche peppered the Isles with 18 shots in the second, with one finally getting in near the end of the period. That would be the beginning of the end.

Many hoped that the end of the period would signal the end of the Avs new found pressure, and snap the Isles out of the funk they were in but that didn't happen. The Avs continued to put the pressure on, and between failed clearing attempts, indecisiveness with the puck and not moving legs around too much, the Islanders buckled and cost themselves two points.

Al Montoya let in a couple of weak goals, but he didn't get very much help from his defense all night. It's inexcusable to give up 51 shots to a team, even if they are at home. The Avs average 31 shots a game, and have had trouble putting the puck in the net at home too. Montoya got beaten by some bad shots, but the Isles defense left the front of the crease very open and Montoya did make some great saves on high percentage shots. A guy can only do so much.

Ironically, it was a very bad penalty by Montoya in overtime that would give the Avs the game winner.

Brian Rolston was one of the Isles best forwards. He was pretty strong on the puck all night, and even looked a step faster. It must have been something in the thin Denver air. Rolston scored a goal and even made a number of nice take aways on Avalanche players. It was a different player than we had seen at points this season.

Rolston's linemates, P.A. Parenteau and Frans Nielsen also had strong games. This is obviously something that works right now. I still like the idea of these two using their speed to get the puck in deep and get defenders down with them and then feeding a hopefully open Rolston due to all of that. Rolston can still put the puck in the net if given the time and space to do so, and could benefit many more times from plays like the Isles made prior to their second goal.

Kyle Okposo gave us shades of the Okposo of old, but late in the third period he still showed some signs of struggling. I thought all in all he did a good job of controlling the puck and holding onto it.

Defensively, there was still a lot of scrambling around, in particular in the third period. The Islanders could really use another solid top four defenseman, and if they are working on a deal for one now should continue to pursue it. Games like this, when things go wrong in crunch time, is where it is really apparent that it's a huge hole.

Josh Bailey, who finally scored a goal of his own in this one, said after the game the blown lead was inexcusable. I couldn't have said it better myself. When it comes down to it, you could sense the young and hungry Avs team slowly come back, and the Isles seemingly let them by going into their defensive shell, playing scared.

The Islanders play a rare Sunday night game in Vancouver. It's a tough one, even though the Canucks have gotten off to a very pedestrian start. The Isles can't afford a 40 minute effort against a team like the Canucks. The same result will happen, and with a team like them may not even have the chance to get to overtime.

A special thanks and Happy Veterans Day to all of our readers. For those that are vets, thanks for all that you either have or continue to do for our country!

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Road woes Continue for Isles

2011-11-07T22:46:00.001-05:00

The Islanders remained winless on the road this season as they dropped a 6-2 decision to the Boston Bruins on Monday night.

You can chalk this one up to a poor defense, which is actually a rare occurrence for this season so far. They were exposed on so many different Bruins rushes, both forwards and defensemen.

All off-season and even now, 12 games into the season, the Isles have been looking for a defenseman who is mobile but can clear the crease. Not having a player like this is fairly noticeable in a game against big team like the Bruins, in particular when you're watching Andrew MacDonald try and shove Milan Lucic out from in front of your goaltender. More often than not, that won't fly.

The Islanders appeared to be chasing their tails though for most of the night on defense, so it's really tough to point out one or two specific guys. Near the end of the game, Jack Capuano began to change his defensive pairings up, switching Steve Staios and Milan Jurcina. Jurcina started the game as usual with Mark Eaton, and both made huge mistakes resulting in two of the Bruins goals.

Not to put it all on the forwards and defensemen, Evgeni Nabokov didn't help out as much as we (and he) would have liked. He seemed to be off all night, which is one huge problem with the three goalie rotation. Guys are going to cool off when they're playing really well, and that's what happened with Nabokov (the injury he sustained was minor and healed well before Monday). If their plan was to showcase him in their effort to get a high draft pick, then it didn't go over so well. They are probably still better off trying to package him with Blake Comeau and get the defenseman they still could use.

In the case of Al Montoya, he came in and stood on his head after not playing since October 20th. Given that, what he did was remarkable save for a bad rebound that become a goal (this was one of the errors that the Jurcina-Eaton pairing made, though). Montoya should be starting for the foreseeable future. If this didn't prove he's the best they got right now, then I don't know what does.

The Islanders didn't throw many hits, and even Matt Martin was pretty quiet except for a fight a couple of minutes into the game. The fight definitely sparked the Isles for a bit, but didn't provide a jolt to their physical play. A smaller team like the Isles may think twice about getting involved in a grind-it-out match with a team with size like the Bruins, but that should be no excuse. Everyone can play physical in their own little way, even if they aren't knocking guys over left and right.

The Isles take their act out West now, where they'll face a team that's very much like theirs but off to a slightly better start in the Colorado Avalanche. The Avs have a young and very fast team, that will turn defensive miscues into scoring chances in the blink of an eye, especially Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog and Paul Stastny. The defensemen have to be alert, and the forwards really need to cut down on their turnovers.

Be sure to download past podcasts of the NYI FYI radio show here.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Winless Streak Ends at Six

2011-11-06T13:24:00.001-05:00

As the losses mounted, Islanders fans began to enter into panic mode, hoping that Jack Capuano would shuffle around some of the lines. He didn't do it when many had hoped, but he finally caved Saturday night.

Even though they still looked out of sync at times, and the passing still wasn't great, the lines clicked and gave the Isles a come from behind 5-3 win over the Washington Capitals.

Until he hit an empty netter to give the Isles the two goal lead, John Tavares didn't factor in the scoring at all and that was actually a good thing.

The new look 2nd line featuring Frans Nielsen, P.A. Parenteau and Brian Rolston was the best. We spoke about the make-up of that line on the show on Saturday morning, bringing up the idea that the Isles likely planned to use the speed of Nielsen, the puck handling of Parenteau and the slap shot of Rolston to find something that worked. Nielsen fed Rolston for a slapper that tied the game at 2-2.

Another unsung hero for this one was Matt Martin, who despite not getting a promotion to a different line still factored into the offense and in a big way. On the show I talked about giving him an opportunity on the second line to get him more involved in playing in front of the net, but he seemed really comfortable doing that on the fourth line. He's got a big body that at times will be immovable, and if the defensemen can get the shot through and have goalies give up rebounds, he'll make a nice living for himself.

Rick DiPietro didn't look as great as he did in the previous two games, but made some nice saves on some tough shots. The third Washington goal was definitely the weakest, but that came on the powerplay after an even weaker interference call by the referee on Steve Staios.

The fact that the Islanders were down 2-0 to one of the best teams in the league made many, myself included, think this was destined for yet another loss. Sean and I even had this one pegged as a loss well before it started. But even though there were still some problems being a cohesive unit, the Isles worked through that and continued to crash the net and good things resulted from that.

The Islanders need to continue to do that because things aren't going to get any easier. They now hit the road for three games, starting in Boston on Monday night. The Bruins are on a two game winning streak now after defeating the Maple Leafs 7-0 on Saturday night. Tyler Seguin is off to an outstanding start to the season, and had a hat trick against the Leafs. Tim Thomas is looking like his usual self. With players like Milan Lucic now finally starting to get going offensively, the Isles are going to have to watch their rebounds. I'm expecting DiPietro to start for this one, which may not bode well in the rebounding department.

If the Isles can take the momentum from their win over Washington into Boston, they may be able to quickly change their course of direction before heading out West. As a matter of fact, they pretty much need to - this team cannot finish well under .500 on the road and expect to be in the playoff conversation.

If you missed the live show on Saturday, be sure to download our podcast.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Big Changes from Capuano as Lines Shuffled

2011-11-05T11:12:00.001-04:00

Remember, remember the 5th of November...as the day Jack Capuano blew up the lines. Of course, that's what anyone should do when their team is only averaging 1.8 goals per game through their first 10 games and is mired in a six-game winless streak.

After the Islanders were shut out by the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night, Capuano voiced his displeasure and announced he was going to switch things up a bit. While they took many shots, they were so out of sync that many didn't hit the net, and many passes were errant.

So here's the new look for tonight's game against the Washington Capitals:

Moulson-Tavares-Grabner
Rolston-Nielsen-Parenteau
Comeau-Reasoner-Okposo
Pandolfo-Bailey-Martin

Rick DiPietro starts again for the 3rd straight game.

As far as the lines go, we have some interesting looks here. In my opinion, when Capuano announced that changes were coming I had some of my own ideas. For example, I would have tried Okposo on the first line, and Martin on line two with Grabner and Nielsen. In a way, I'd like to see Martin get more involved with crashing the net, and I think playing with two faster guys could have helped him get some good rebound opportunities up front.

Bailey looks completely lost to me, and very hesitant to make plays. It comes as no surprise to me that he's now been demoted to the fourth line. In very limited time, I've actually liked some of what I've seen out of Reasoner, so I'm curious to see if he can keep some of that up. He is a bit slower than you would ideally like to see between Okposo and Comeau, but having that veteran presence may not be so bad.

Capuano is certainly taking a leap of faith with some of his decisions, and we'll see if anything changes so close to game time here.

NYI FYI TODAY: Since Sean will be out of town tomorrow, we'll actually be going live TODAY at 12 noon. You can watch us on our uStream page, and get the podcast shortly after the show is complete. We'll have a lot to discuss with the line changes this morning. You're all encouraged to participate in the discussion by either the uStream chat room or leaving a response on Twitter.

Enjoy the show guys!

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Scoring Woes Continue as Isles Blanked

2011-10-26T13:06:00.004-04:00

When you look at the way the Pittsburgh Penguins have been playing, particularly without their two biggest stars in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, you knew that this was going to be a really tough game.

Marc-Andre Fleury, often an after thought when naming the Penguins stars was brilliant, made some nice saves, but also saw some not-so-great shots from the Isles. Malkin looked like he never missed a beat.

Believe it or not, there is something to say for the Islanders having a better effort. When you look at it in a vaccuum this was a game against a tough opponent playing well all around at this time and they shut the door on the Isles all night.

Staios didn't have his best stuff Tuesday. Photo by C. Hessel

But when you look at it in the current situation, it's a three game losing streak. Had the Isles given an effort like this against Florida or Tampa last week, we're singing a different tune after this game. And you can take that to the bank.

Aside from a couple of defensive breakdowns, the Islanders looked much better than in their previous games. The defensive pair of Mark Streit and Steve Staios had their worst showing thus far, in particular Staios in my eyes.

As far as the forwards go, I felt that Kyle Okposo, Josh Bailey and Blake Comeau looked a little better, not that it was hard to do that. Bailey and Comeau weren't as noticeable until the second half of the game though. Each had their chances, but had moments where they held on to the puck a tad longer than anyone should. This is what goes on when you're in a scoring slump.

Evgeni Nabokov said it best in the post game. "We just have to relax." That's absolutely what they need to do and the goals will come. There are a number of moments where a forward picks up a loose puck around the net or in the slot area and for a split second freezes, trying to decide what to do. Sometimes, its best just to not overthink it and just get the puck towards the net. Many forwards are guilty of this, but it's definitely been more noticeable with Comeau, Bailey and Okposo. The same can be said for the defenseman and getting the puck in from the blueline.

Speaking of Nabokov, you can't say enough about his performance. He made some key stops, and when the Penguins were pressing in the third period, he stood tall. Jack Capuano should continue to roll with him. My gut tells me that we may get a Rick DiPietro sighting in Pittsburgh on Thursday though.

Capuano said after the game he has no plans to shake up the lines. He was happier with the effort than the last couple of games, and wants to see them replicate that as is for now. I don't necessarily agree with him and would have liked some changes, but I'll defer to him. This team is a better one than we've seen, and if he feels that letting them stick together for now will help to alleviate the problems rather than having to adjust to new lines too, then I hope it works.

If not, then the next step could be a shake-up of sorts.

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers coaching staff was in attendance. After the game, head coach Brent Thompson and assistant Eric Boguniecki were led by Eric Cairns into the coaches office. There were also a number of scouts in attendance, and some stayed until well after the game to fill out player evaluations on their laptops. One of these scouts was former Sound Tigers head coach Dave Baseggio, now a scout with the Anaheim Ducks.

Clearly, the status quo won't remain for very long. Should the Islanders not be able to cure their scoring woes soon, then they will begin to explore other options be it in-house or external.

If you missed the radio show this past weekend, be sure to get it through the NYI FYI podcast site.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Lack of Secondary Scoring a Problem Again; Tune into NYI FYI Sunday at 11 AM

2011-10-23T09:03:00.001-04:00

The Islanders lack of secondary scoring has cost them yet another game as the Islanders fell to the Panthers for the second time in six games this season.

The Isles had only taken 10 shots through two periods, before getting some powerplay chances in the 3rd and getting 18 in the final frame. John Tavares had seven shots. Blake Comeau once again had none, while Kyle Okposo only managed one. Tavares would finish with a goal and an assist.

Of course, it is very hard to get shots when you are sleepwalking through some of the battles on the boards. There should be no reason why the Isles should not emerge with the puck when they outnumber their opponent on the boards, but unfortunately that happened a few times.

While it didn't come through when needed in the last six or so minutes of the game, the powerplay was definitely clicking. The Islanders got some good chances in on net, and managed both of their goals on the man advantage.

Evgeni Nabokov looked good in his second start for the team. He did make some really nice saves, and when you consider he's still getting his bearings straight in the NHL after 17 months out of it. As I mentioned earlier, the Isles were grossly out shot through the first two periods, and the fact that it remained tied was because of the play of Nabokov, no question about it.

Jack Capuano hinted at line changes after the last game, but was unable to likely try what he wanted with Brian Rolston out due to the birth of his son. I would expect some shuffling of the lines by Tuesday night when the Isles return home to face the Pittsburgh Penguins.

NYI FYI Sunday at 11 AM: Sean and I will be back at it to provide you with our normal bantering on Sunday at 11 AM. We'll have the uStream up and running, along with the chat room component where you can give us your thoughts and questions from the week that was in Islanders hockey, or around the NHL. You all participated a lot last week, and given the circumstances would imagine there's a lot for you to say today as well. It should be a fun show.

For those who can't listen live, be sure to catch the podcast shortly after we complete the show.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Bolts get Revenge on Isles

2011-10-20T22:57:00.002-04:00

Somewhere deep down, I think we all realized we didn't see the real Tampa Bay Lightning last week, even if their defense is a bit weak on paper.

On Thursday night, the Lightning showed us why they still are one of the top teams in the East with their offense. Ryan Malone, Vincent Lecavalier, and Steven Stamkos all scored to lead the Lightning to victory.

The Islanders had some issues with puck possession. It showed in particular around the boards, where the Isles seemed to loose many battles. Losing those battles costs you chances to get the puck to the net, and the Isles had registered only 10 shots through two periods.

It goes without saying that's not very good. It left Al Montoya out to dry. He wasn't as sharp as he had been in his first few games, but he was tested with some hard shots and made some nice saves. The Islanders seemed to be back on their heels for much of the game, and let the Lightning get into the slot areas where they scored most of their goals.

Keeping with the defensive side of things, I thought Steve Staios had a really nice game. He made some good blocks, and broke up that Brett Connolly breakaway by getting the puck before the player. It was a heads-up, veteran play that not many would have been able to make there. He showed some nice speed on both ends and even jumped into the offense a few times, but was responsible enough that once the puck was turned over he got back the other way quickly. I hope we can see more of that from him this season, and so far the Isles are keeping his minutes at a very good level for him to sustain that.

Even though he didn't score, John Tavares has a nice game as far as the forwards are concerned. He skated hard and seemed to be the only one working along the boards at times. He was up against a lot of pressure all night and still got in some nice chances and got to the net more often than his teammates did.

The real story of the game was the Isles scratching Blake Comeau for a second straight game. Comeau sat in favor of Trevor Gillies despite the Lightning not having any goons in their line-up for him to go with. He didn't get much time, but did see some garbage time minutes on the wing with Tavares and P.A. Parenteau.

Howie Rose made some interesting comments during the telecast. He mentioned that he tried to get some information out of Jack Capuano about why Comeau has been scratched. In trying to differentiate if it was on or off-ice related, Capuano wouldn't budge. The fact that he's very non-committal is interesting to me. It's no secret that Comeau's contract, as well as current spot among the forwards makes him a prime candidate to be dealt away. It remains to be seen if that's how this story ends here, or if this drags on a little while longer.

On our podcast from this past weekend, Sean and I both agreed that Capuano should go with a Montoya-Nabokov split for this Florida trip. I still think Nabby should get the nod in Sunrise, despite Rick DiPietro being on the trip. Again, while Montoya wasn't bad tonight, if you start Nabby and he plays well, then I would say he's the hot hand for now and roll with that. The goalie of the evening won't matter much though if the Islanders are going to let themselves get pushed around in the corners again. That will have to change.

Speaking of change, Capuano did hint at some line-up changes during the post game. He was shuffling some of the lines during the game, and we saw Kyle Okposo end up on the 3rd line for a good chunk of the game. I think that's an indication of where we can see things headed as far as line combinations are concerned.

If it gets the secondary offense going, then we'll be better for it.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Feel free to leave your thoughts of the game in comments, don't be shy!

Tavares Gets 3rd Career Hat Trick to Down Rangers; NYI FYI Sunday at 11 AM

2011-10-16T02:22:00.001-04:00

This weekend, it's John Tavares's world and we're just living in it.

Tavares was outstanding once again, and followed up a two goal, two assist performance on Thursday night with a three goal, four point night against the Rangers as the Islanders continued their fast start.

The points gave Tavares eight on the season - all in the last two games. That wasn't for a lack of trying though as he was the Isles best forward in the first two games as well. Now, it appears as though the floodgates have opened for him offensively. He's been showing great improvement on the defensive end and even is beginning to out-skate opponents. Whatever off-season plan the Isles had him on is paying dividends in the early going.

Matt Moulson and P.A. Parenteau also had strong games, even thought Tavares pretty much set the tone as far as the offense was concerned. Moulson was in some of the right spots, and Parenteau made a few nice plays. One that stands out to me from him is on the Isles 3rd goal, when Tavares won the face-off to Parenteau who moved it to Mark Streit for the slap pass goal to Tavares. It was just a nicely executed play by all on the powerplay unit.

Evgeni Nabokov was solid in net. He had to make some nice saves, and looked awkward on a few. He's definitely got some rust to shake off, but you saw flashes tonight of why he's been one of the best goalies in the league for the better part of the decade. The win was the 294th of his career. I'm hoping his performance was good enough for those who still had bad tastes in their mouths from what happened last winter. I certainly didn't and really appreciate his effort in a big win.

There were a couple of problem areas that I saw at least, coming in the form of the defensive pairing of Mike Mottau and Mark Eaton. They were on the ice for both Ranger goals, and let their offense get in deep and begin cycling. In the later stages of the game, Eaton improved but Mottau still looked like a guy scrambling for his positioning. While both make up the third pairing, both are still being put out there for some time and in some big spots. They need to at the very least become a bit better to take some of the pressure off of the other guys, and even the better defensive forwards.

NYI FYI AT 11 AM ON SUNDAY: The Islanders had a perfect week, and Sean and I will be on live to discuss it at11 AM on Sunday. You can listen and watch us live through uStream, where you can even participate in the chat room. For those unable to catch us live, we'll have the podcast up shortly after the show ends.

Enjoy guys!

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Tavares, Isles Shine and Chase Roloson

2011-10-14T16:27:00.001-04:00

John Tavares was probably the Isles most consistent forward through the first two games of the season. On Thursday night against Dwayne Roloson and the Tampa Bay Lightning, he scored enough points to make up for not having any through those games.

Tavares scored two goals and two assists as the Isles went on to beat the Lightning 5-1. Matt Moulson, P.A. Parenteau and Michael Grabner scored the others.

Throughout the first few games of the season, Tavares has shown an improved strength and an ability to power to the net even with opposing defenders on him. In this game, his vision was unbelievable as he made some nice tape to tape passes.

His first goal was put in by Victor Hedman, but his shot sort of caught Roloson off guard as he was unable to catch it in his glove.

Defensively, the Isles had it together for the most part. They did a great job of matching lines with the Lightning, and containing Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos. Al Montoya made a number of great saves to continue his hot start here in the early goings. The thing that's been standing out to me is his post-to-post movements.

Grabner scored a goal that really would have gone in anyway off of a shot by Kyle Okposo. Hopefully it can open up the floodgates of sorts for both players. Grabner has had some problems getting into those scoring areas that made him so successful last season, and hasn't been able to get any good chances on breakaways. Teams will be focusing in on him more, so if everyone on the line begins to step it up then the Isles will be a better team for it down the road.

On the defensive side of things, as forwards go the Islanders PKers stood out, specifically Marty Reasoner. In 5-on-5 play, Reasoner even had a couple of nice offensive rushes and chances. It's always good to see those on lower lines show the ability to have strong two-way games.

Matt Martin was his usual physical self but also had some nice offensive moments. He seems to be getting better with his conditioning as time goes on.

This is the Islander effort we've been waiting for. Until this game, we had only seen it in spurts. Somewhere in there, there's a rant about the short preseason schedule and having a week in between games but you guys have heard that song and dance enough times from us.

I would expect the Isles to keep riding Montoya for as long as he keeps going. The guy is not being penetrated for more than one or two goals a game, which is the same story he ended last season with. Congrats to him for taking this opportunity and running with it.

Now another tough test in the New York Rangers on Saturday night. Would be shocked if it's anyone but Montoya in there.

A side note: I like what Mark Streit has done with the three stars celebration. For those who are unaware, he has all the players line up outside of the gate to congratulate the stars of the game. The game ops people then give t-shirts to the players to hand out to those who stayed. I think it's a neat touch.

What went through my mind while watching this last night was that the Islanders have had an offseason of excitement and disappointment. It's like it's their way of saying "we know what happened, we know Nassau County was unable to see the forest for the trees. But it's OK, cause we know you guys care and support us." Pretty cool.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Beat Wild, Unsatisfied with Effort

2011-10-11T23:27:00.002-04:00

The Islanders were able to eek out a win against the Minnesota Wild on Monday, during their annual Columbus Day Matinee game. The mascots were out in full force as well, as it was also the Isles annual "Kids Opening Day."

The Isles opened the game putting on a good show for the fans, and after the first period led 2-0 and had a shot advantage of 10-2. All seemed to be going well.

Then, the rest of the game happened. The Islanders were able to hold on, but didn't play very well in the final 40 minutes, getting out shot 19-5. They took a few offense zone penalties which didn't help their cause very much, and made both the plays and fans restless.

Brian Rolston was one of the players not completely satisfied with the win.

" The first period we were great, in the second and third we got away from our game. Al Montoya was the star of the game for sure."

Rolston also mentioned that the turnovers "gave them momentum. They had opportunities on us and we were taking penalties."

Just as any grizzled vet would do though, Rolston was optimistic the team would just take the win, learn from it and go from there.

He's absolutely right. The effort was not at all ideal, and a bit concerning. However, for many of these players it's just the fourth time they're really getting to play since the Isles always have insanely short preseason schedules. The turnover factor is very frustrating, and we've seen it in the Isles first two games.

One thing I did like was that they were getting more chances from the point. More players were crashing the net on a consistent bases, which made for some good opportunities when the Isles got the puck on net from the blueline. Mark Streit's slap pass to Frans Nielsen for the Isles 2nd goal shows you what can happen when players go hard to the net.

As Rolston mentioned, Montoya was the player of the game. He had every reason to hold his head high, and he did.

For other plays, however, they weren't as enthused. For some of them it was justified.

I've never heard of or seen NHL players look at the official scoring summary after a game, but walking into the Isles locker room on Monday afternoon, I saw just that.

Matt Martin sat at his stall, carefully reading the numbers and shaking his head. Steve Staios scanned the numbers, talking with Mike Mottau on the amount of penalties and lack of shots the team had. Clearly, this was something they were all on the same page about. The fact they know what they have to do is at least encouraging.

The Isles have a tough test coming up Thursday night in the form of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning have been having some defensive problems early on, so the Isles need to stick to what works and not make it easy for the lightning to pick the puck up off of a turnover.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Blanked in Opener; NYI FYI Radio Show Returns

2011-10-09T08:11:00.003-04:00

The Islanders had an excellent chance to make a statement to their fans, and start the season off in a huge way. Billed all offseason as a different team with different goals and a core that's committed through at least 2016, the excitement was palpable from the moment the Isles came on for warm-ups before the game.

Unfortunately, it didn't go so well.

The Islanders were shut out in front of a sold out crowd. This wasn't just any sold out crowd though - it was legitimately sold out with Islanders fans. The Panthers aren't a team with a huge fan base in areas other than Florida. They don't have a fan base that travels far and wide. Unfortunately, this was a chance for the Islanders to give their fans something to be excited about, and to put it frankly they blew it.

The Panthers are a better team than given credit for. Sure, they added a lot of compliment pieces in an off-season spending spree to make up a $30 million gap between them and the cap floor. But it's a hard working team that, as they have been for the past few seasons, is built with a strong defense.

When you have a team that is built like that, and in front of a shaky goaltender, you have to get pucks to the net. Each time the Isles went on offensive breaks, all you saw was constantly trying to get too cute, making passes that were not there and trying to force plays. That's not going to fly against many teams in this league, let alone a good defensive corps. Many of the star forwards were doing this, the ring leader being Kyle Okposo.

Speaking of defense, the Isles group was less than stellar themselves. The biggest culprit? None other than... Andrew MacDonald?! That's right, MacDonald didn't have a very good game at all. He was knocked off the puck easily, flubbed a lot of passes and made too many turnovers. I'm not sure if this was all due to shaking the rust off after offseason surgery, but it was definitely not a banner game for him.

It's a shame for Al Montoya, because he really was solid. He looked better to me than he did in preseason at times, and kept the scrambling to a minimum. He had a few weird moments, but thanks to heads up defensive plays by Mark Streit and Josh Bailey the score remained at 2-0.

The Isles will have a shot to get into the win column on Monday afternoon when they take on the new look Minnesota Wild in their annual Columbus Day Matinee. I would expect a fairly big crowd for this one too, but not with the same intensity of the home opener. It's kids opening day, so it's a much different group.

And that's one of the things that bothers me most. The Islanders had an excellent opportunity here to win back people that hadn't been coming regularly, and laid an egg. I couldn't tell you the next time they'll get a crowd like that again.

NYI FYI RETURNS AT 11 AM: As I mentioned yesterday, Sean and I are back on the air for our 5th season today! We'll have the uStream up and running, where you can watch us live as we banter back and forth about the offseason and opening night. There's a chat room component where we'll be fielding your questions and comments and we'll discuss those on the air. Be sure to tune in!

For those who can't listen live, be sure to check out the podcast through the NYI FYI MyPodcast site.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Opening Night is Here; NYI FYI Radio Show Returns Sunday!

2011-10-08T15:31:00.001-04:00

Welcome to opening day! In just a few hours, the 40th season of New York Islanders hockey will be underway as they take on the Florida Panthers. We've made it this far, now we just have to wait a little longer.

The game looks like it will be a sellout, which is great when you consider the fact that last years game only brought in over 13,000. When you factor in all that went on during the summer both good (John Tavares, Michael Grabner and Kyle Okposo extensions) and bad (August 1st vote), it is great to be able to get that building packed again. Isles fans are among the most passionate, and tonight should be loud and proud.

Al Montoya, who had a strong preseason will get the nod tonight for the Islanders. Jose Theodore is in net for the Panthers. Many are happy with the decision to start Montoya, and I am too. However, Rick DiPietro had a strong camp I thought. While I won't say that DiPietro was flat out better than Montoya, DiPietro was solid and didn't give as many second chances up as Montoya did throughout the preseason. Not to mention, Montoya also had the benefit of playing with the better line-ups. Having said that, that's a good thing because of that familiarity. Hopefully it carries over into the start of the season.

Milan Jurcina is out due to his groin injury. Andrew MacDonald, who didn't practice yesterday due to a maintenance day, will be in the line-up. He's coming back from offseason hip surgery.

Ryan Strome and Evgeni Nabokov are the Isles other scratches for the night.

Last season, Tavares scored his first career hat trick against the Panthers on October 23rd. He's got six points in eight career games against the Cats. Matt Moulson also recorded a hat trick against them, on February 21st.

NYI FYI RETURNS TOMORROW! Sean and I are proud to be back for what will be the 5th season of the NYI FYI radio show/podcast! We'll record live at 11 AM and the podcast will be up shortly after that.

For those who like to listen live, we do the show using uStream. You can access that by going here. There is a chat room component to uStream, so we'll take your questions and comments that way. As always, you can find the podcast after the show is finished over here.

I'll be at the game tonight, as I have been the last few home openers. For those of you who are too, feel free to @ us on Twitter! Would be nice to meet some of you!

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Finalize Roster

2011-10-05T23:28:00.002-04:00

The NHL deadline for teams to file their final rosters passed at 3 PM on Wednesday with the season set to open on Thursday.

From the Isles press release, the roster is as follows:

Forwards (13)
Josh Bailey, Blake Comeau, Michael Grabner, Matt Martin, Matt Moulson, Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo, Jay Pandolfo, PA Parenteau, Marty Reasoner, Brian Rolston, Ryan Strome and John Tavares

Defensemen (7)
Mark Eaton, Travis Hamonic, Milan Jurcina, Andrew MacDonald, Mike Mottau, Steve Staios and Mark Streit

Goalies (3)
Rick DiPietro, Al Montoya and Evgeni Nabokov

Jeremy Colliton, Trevor Gillies, Mark Katic, Nino Niederreiter and Rhett Rakhshani are all listed on the team’s injured reserve list.

The biggest surprise on the roster is the inclusion of Strome. Strome was just drafted 5th overall this past summer, and is still very small. There's a lot of maturation that has to be done here, and the Islanders know this. I wouldn't expect to see Strome here for very long. In fact, it's been speculated that his inclusion is due to Niederreiter being injured for the next week or so. I would say that's a good bet. Niederreiter had a pretty good camp. Strome showed some nice flashes, but the negatives outweighed the positives at this point in time. Nothing to lose by giving him at most his nine game try-out though, and have him learn a thing or two and get him pumped to bring himself to the next level next season and beyond.

As expected, the Isles go into the season with three goalies. Newsday's Art Staple thinks that DiPietro and Nabokov will be the two active ones on opening night, a statement which has caused some concern among the fan base.

I understand where they are coming from with it, but disagree. While I like what Montoya did last season, and in the preseason, I'm not going to let a 25 game stretch cloud my thinking here. There are still questions as to whether or not he can keep that play up. Also, as I wrote numerous times in this space Montoya didn't look as strong to me as I would have liked in the preseason. There are still some catching problems with the glove. It's nothing major, but to say he was far and away the best in camp is not correct in my eyes.

I know DiPietro and his contract can be a very contentious point, but it's there. If he's healthy and on the team, then he'll be given a shot. It's always been his spot to lose when he was healthy. Now that it appears that he is, why wouldn't they give him the starts at the beginning of the year? He made out well in his preseason games, made some solid saves and had good side to side movement. There were no odd moments of stretching during stoppages.

At any rate, the Isles will rotate all three somehow to make sure all get playing time, until one of Montoya or Nabokov can be traded for a decent piece. There will be little room for error among the three of them, which is good. If someone isn't performing well, then they should be in the press box.

Other notes: Jurcina still has that tweaked groin, but was not placed on IR. He is still a possibility for Saturday night it seems. Reasoner (knee) and Rolston (groin) also appear to be doing well. If they can't go, then Strome can easily fill in for either of them - especially Reasoner, given that he and Strome are natural centers.

We've now reached the home stretch ladies and gentlemen. Islanders hockey is right around the corner.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Pandolfo Gets a Spot, Strome Signs ELC as Roster Takes Shape

2011-10-05T00:19:00.002-04:00

The Islanders had two major contract announcements during the afternoon drive on Tuesday regarding both Jay Pandolfo and Ryan Strome.

Pandolfo had been in camp with the Isles on an invite, hoping to get a spot on the team after being bought out by the Devils after the 2009-2010 season. Pandolfo didn't look like himself after suffering a separated right shoulder and the Devils decided it was best to move on.

Pandolfo spent most of last year without a home, but wasn't content on ending his hockey career at that point. He rehabbed himself after surgery, and agreed to sign on with the Springfield Falcons of the AHL where he got into 12 games and notched six points. He would be released on Christmas, and had to continue to work his way back.

Getting a try-out was just the first step in his comeback attempt. But Pandolfo went out and gave it his all, and ultimately did enough in the team's eyes to earn a spot on the bottom line.

"I feel good," Pandolfo told me on September 21st at media day. "Being able to start at the same time as other guys helps out rather than trying to come in later on. I wanted to make sure I was ready physically, and I am."

"The organization is doing all the right things on and off the ice and that's what you have to do to win. You can tell these young guys are buying into it, when you see a lot of them signing long term deals and committing to the organization. They wouldn't do that unless they expected to win."

The fact that Pandolfo felt healthy gave him a decent chance from the start. In the time I've spent watching him, both during camp and in the games I felt he still had something to provide. Did I think it was better than what some of the other guys had to offer? Not necessarily, but I have no problem singing him to the one-year, $600K contract he got given how unimpressed I was with Micheal Haley during preseason.

I see a lot of people saying he shouldn't be in the line-up over Matt Martin, and I won't disagree with that. But keep one thing in mind: there was a spot open that at the very least Pandolfo, Haley, Tim Wallace and Trevor Frischmon were gunning for, and not necessarily Martin. Did the best man get the job? At this point in time, in the five game sample, yes. I was happy with how solid defensively Pandolfo looked. At this point, that's what you want to see and it gives you some added depth to switch out with Trevor Gillies or even Martin for games that are likely to be less intense.

Strome on the other hand, does not appear to have a spot on this current Islander team. However, with the 5 PM Tuesday deadline looming to sign players to an entry level contract, the Islanders locked Strome up. The clock won't start ticking unless he plays more than nine NHL games this season. In all likelihood, with Marty Reasoner's knee having acted up at times this preseason, the Isles are trying to protect themselves against something drastic happening and needing to scramble to find a replacement center.

If Wednesday during practice Reasoner doesn't feel right, the Islanders can easily make Strome an official part of their roster for the time being when they are due at 3 PM. If not, then they can send Strome back without him or the team having to worry about hammering out an ELC in the future. Nothing lost by doing this now.

Strome is obviously hopeful that he'll stay with the team, but with so many natural centers and a few others who can slide in there if needed (such as Brian Rolston) the odds are stacked against Strome. He really shouldn't see much, if any time in the NHL this season as he didn't physically appear ready to me to be able to handle the daily grind. he's very talented and very fast, but I think by next season we'll see him as a much improved player who becomes better at maintaining puck control at high speeds.

The Islanders have a few more decisions to make before the deadline Wednesday. It should be another interesting day, even if some of the drama has been taken out of it with Pandolfo getting signed.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Steve Staios Hopeful to Make Team

2011-09-27T17:11:00.000-04:00

When training camps rolled around in the middle of September, defenseman Steve Staios found himself in a very unfamiliar situation. For the first time in his 15 year NHL career, he didn't have a contract.

While many players have a hard time accepting the inevitable fate near the end of their careers, Staios has embraced it. He agreed to come to camp with the New York Islanders on a try-out basis.

"I enjoy training, so that wasn't a problem. I was motivated to play, and had myself ready to go but just not sure when or where," he said to me. "As time went on, it became apparent that this was a good young team and I like the mix, so that's why I'm here."

Isles hopeful Steve Staios. Photo by C. Hessel

"I had the option to go to some other places, but it didn't seem like the right fit."

The 38-year-old has shown us over the first two preseason games that he does indeed keep himself in shape. One would be hard pressed to point out a spot where he looked out of place or out of position. This is even more important when you realize that he's coming off of a couple of injury plagued seasons, including a concussion and another upper body injury.

The aforementioned simplified play is something that he prides himself on.

"I would say I'm solid defensively, I try make a good first pass out of the zone and play with poise and leadership. I have a lot of experience, and I'm physical in front of the net."

Staios didn't mention offense at all, and for good reason. He's only scored 56 goals and 212 points in 936 career games. However, in his second preseason game with the team, not only was Staios paired with Mark Streit but he added a goal of his own - even if it went off of an opposing defender before going in. That only helps his cause in trying to make the 2011-2012 installment of the New York Islanders.

In watching Staios over the first two games, I noticed nothing flashy. He may not be the fastest guy in the world, but he compensates for that by being one of the last to come into the offensive zone and then staying really close to the blueline. That helps him get back quick enough to set up for any potential odd man rushes by opponents.

If he is able to continue to do that, then there is no reason to think he won't be doing that October 8th and beyond. While he isn't Christian Ehrhoff, Ian White or Jan Hejda, he can be a good guy who can get the job done - for now - on one of the bottom pairings. If needed, we've seen that he can fill in in a pinch along side Streit.

Staios is one of those rare players who's gotten to experience both sides of the Calgary Flames - Edmonton Oilers rivalry after being dealt to Calgary for former Islander Aaron Johnson and a draft pick at the 2010 trade deadline.

Staios feels he thrives in games like that, and hopes to have the chance to participate in the Islanders - Rangers rivalry this upcoming season.

"Yeah, I would look forward to that. I've seen some of those games. I love playing in those kinds of games, love the atmosphere."

Staios might not do it as much as he used to, but there are numerous occasions you can point to where he steps up the nasty edge in his game and becomes more willing to drop the gloves. An "intense" player, Staios is not a bad guy to have on your side when it comes to facing some of your rivals.

For me, it's one of the things I'll look forward to if (read: when) he signs his deal to play with the team for the season. I liken it to when the Islanders brought Sean Hill to the team in the middle of August in 2006, and that worked out for much of the season (positive steroid test aside).

No, Staios isn't the ideal defenseman we were all hoping we'd get. But after seeing him a few times in practice, and in a couple of games, I'm very open to the idea of having him patrol the blue line for us while Garth Snow continues to work on other options for the defense.

Islanders in Calgary: The Islanders will take on the Calgary Flames at 9 PM tonight, where Staios patrolled the blueline for the previous season and a half. The Islanders are going in with a very watered down line-up from the one we saw on Saturday.

A couple of people are worth keeping an eye on, however. Staios is obviously one of them, and he'll be paired with Milan Jurcina.

Kirill Kabanov makes his preseason debut after suffering a hand injury during practice on media day last week. He'll be on a line with Ryan Strome and Trevor Gillies.

Marty Reasoner will get his first game in too after suffering through a tweaked knee for a good chunk of camp. He'll be skating with Blake Comeau and Rhett Rakhshani.

Of course, the main player to watch tonight will be goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, who makes his Islanders "debut" tonight. The Islanders are wasting no time seeing how much he can handle given the line-up that will be in front of him, so it'll be interesting to see how he fares.

MSG+ will be airing the game via NHL Network (via TSN). Anyone with those channels will be able to tune in tonight to get good looks at newcomers Nabokov, Staios, Reasoner and Strome.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Preseason Game 2: Devils 2, Islanders 6

2011-09-25T15:17:00.001-04:00

The Islanders dressed a much more veteran line-up on Saturday night against the Devils than the night prior in Boston, and it paid off in a big fashion as the Islanders defeated their Atlantic Division rivals 6-2.

The story of the game was Mark Streit. Playing his first NHL game since April 2010 after missing all of last season with a severe shoulder injury, the defenseman lead the Islanders to a win with a goal and two assists. His performance earned him the first star of the game.

Mark Streit provided his usual offence. Photo by C. Hessel

The Islanders won this game thanks to their power-play, one that struggled at times last season with Streit absent. The defensive effort was pretty good too, despite the Devils resting many of their regulars. Streit made some good break ups, and did it all cleanly. The return of the newly named captain will provide a good jolt to the defensive unit.

As far as the forwards go, John Tavares, Frans Nielsen and Michael Grabner all looked like their normal selves. Grabner used his speed to create fast breaks. Tavares looked like he worked on his skating a bit and made some really nice passes. Nielsen and Tavares, along with Matt Moulson all were on the same powerplay line that created some nice chances and a couple of goals to boot.

Nielsen told me after the game that while the effort was good, their timing is a bit off but that's why they play preseason games. To be honest, if their timing was off it was only by a little bit. It's great that with a limited preseason schedule, they are already at that level. The offense will definitely be fun to watch again this season.

Al Montoya got the start and was replaced in the middle of the 2nd period by Kevin Poulin. Poulin looked the better of the two, but they each had a couple of missteps here and there that didn't really cost the Islanders. But, we'd have to see that improve because those mistakes will be cashed in by the likes of the Sidney Crosby's and Ilya Kovalchuk's of the division. Montoya had to scramble a couple of times, perhaps from going down too soon. But this is when a goalie works on their timing, and the fact that both made it work out despite making an occasional mistake here and there is a good way to start.

Defensively, the effort was good too. Mark Eaton got caught a couple of times, but he played in his first game since December. Travis Hamonic had a strong showing, and looked even better on offense than last season. He'll obviously look to take on a more offensive role this season as he'll likely be on one of the powerplay units and may even be on the first pairing with Streit. Good to see him start off on a good note.

Other guys who impressed me on defense are Steve Staios and Aaron Ness. Staios was very steady, and made up a good pairing with Streit. It allowed Streit to play his game as the two were good compliments to one another. At this point, something would have to go terribly wrong for Staios to not get a contract from the team. Ness showed good speed, and played his usual high risk game. However, he was very sure not to get caught out of position and used that speed to get back if need be. He's fast enough that he was able to spring ahead of an opposing forward before turning around to skate backwards and get into defense mode. There is definitely some workable talent there, and he'll have a chance to do great things in Bridgeport this season with Mark Katic likely out for the year.

The Isles have a couple of days off now before their game against the Calgary Flames, on Tuesday night.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Come Home to Face Devils; Blood Drive Scheduled

2011-09-24T11:10:00.003-04:00

The New Jersey Devils, coming off of a 4-3 preseason loss to the New York Rangers arrive at the Nassau Coliseum to take on the Islanders. It's the Isles only true home preseason game on the Island.

According to the Isles website, the lines are as follows:

Matt Moulson - John Tavares - Nino Niederreiter
Michael Grabner - Frans Nielsen - Kyle Okposo
Jay Pandolfo - Ryan Strome - Tim Wallace
Matt Martin - Josh Bailey - Trevor Gillies

Mark Streit - Steve Staios
Mark Eaton - Milan Jurcina
Aaron Ness - Travis Hamonic

Al Montoya
Kevin Poulin

Pandolfo appears to get a bit of an upgrade in linemates, and for good reason. His showing on Friday night with Trevor Frischmon and Jeremy Colliton (until the latter left with an injury) was pretty strong and warrants more of a look.

Steve Staios, who wore an 'A' on his jersey Friday night in Boston returns to action as Mark Streit's partner on the top pairing. Thats another guy to keep an eye on.

Ryan Strome will be playing his first professional game (sort of, I guess) against a decent NHL line-up. We've seen already what he can do against other prospects both in the orgianization and abroad, but now we'll get to see him against NHL players. He's hoping to stick, even if it's only for nine games. A strong performance Saturday night can go a long way in helping him make the case for that.

BLOOD DRIVE: The Islanders and the American Red Cross are teaming up for a blood drive before the game. Fans who wish to participate can donate blood at any time from 12 noon up until game time at the Coliseum. There is an effort to help replenish the blood supply, which is rather depleted. According to the Red Cross, Hurricane Irene cancelled close to 150 blood drives, causing this sudden drop in levels across blood banks.

It's always good to help out those in need, and this is no different. If you are able to do so, it's highly encouraged that you participate. The first 200 people who participate will receive two vouchers to a future Isles home game. Those who donate and are also attending Saturday night's preseason game will be entered into a raffle to "high five" the players as they come out to the ice.

For more info, check out the Isles press release on the blood drive and remember to do a good deed that can go a long way for others.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Preseason Game 1: Isles 3, Bruins 6

2011-09-24T10:41:00.000-04:00

The Islanders finally got their preseason schedule underway Friday night in Boston, falling 6-3 to the defending champion Boston Bruins.

What you really need to know for the game? Trevor Frischmon and Jay Pandolfo got significant minutes. So for those lamenting the final score and slagging on anything you can possibly think of, my recommendation is you tone it down - especially in the preseason. Save it for when the real thing starts.

The only thing I can really gripe about, in my opinion, is the play of Josh Bailey and Blake Comeau. Neither of them looked particularly great, and the floated a lot. The only thing I will say for Bailey is that he was good on faceoffs. If he can keep that up, it can only help as gaining control of the puck can help him put more points on the board. It seems that every season preview done on the Isles, Bailey is listed as a wild card or a player to watch. He needs to step up a bit from what he's done in past years.

Guys like P.A. Parenteau I wasn't worried about, and he looked fine once again. He did a good job to carry the puck into the zone, and use his speed to try and force defensemen to the wall.

I know earlier I made the crack about Frischmon and Pandolfo, but I'd like to give credit where credit is due. Both looked fantastic on the forecheck and Frischmon was able to add a goal.

Dylan Reese looked good too, putting a couple of pucks past Tim Thomas. He reminded us why he's a good option to have as one of the top guys down in Bridgeport and for depth up at the NHL level. He's not afraid to pinch and can play a two-way game.

Ty Wishart on the other hand didn't look too good, and it goes beyond him fanning and falling on that gift wrapped one-time opportunity. He seemed out of place at times and scrambling to get back into position. He was knocked down a couple of times by smaller players. That shouldn't be happening too much when you're 6'4".

The real story of the night, however, from the Islanders side was Rick DiPietro. After proclaiming that he finally feels healthy after going through the offseason with no surgery, DiPietro played his first game and actually looked pretty good. His side-to-side movements were quicker than in past years and going down into the butterfly and getting back up didn't seem to be much of a struggle. It's still a tad off, but the hope now is he'll get some of that timing back in preseason and go from there. Very solid effort.

One more note: Justin DiBenedetto is a solid, hard working kid but with a reckless game at times. We saw why Friday night with the game a blowout. He went after David Krejci, who said after the game he was not pleased with DiBenedetto's actions. I would agree - Krejci's hit was clean in my opinion. For DiBenedetto, who's been described as an agitator of sorts, it is his style and what he does. But there comes a time where he needs to tone it down a bit. The team knows what he can provide, and we saw it last season. There was no need for him to do it, to impress the staff or for any other matter. He'll serve an automatic one game suspension for getting a checking from behind game misconduct.

The Isles next game is Saturday night at home against the New Jersey Devils.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Media Day Brings Plenty of News, New Captain

2011-09-22T12:55:00.000-04:00

Since I didn't get to go to media day last season, I wasn't going to bypass the chance to go this year. But little did I know that this one would be more busy than others in the past.

On Tuesday night, the news broke that the Islanders plannned to announce the new captain and rumors spread about who it could possibly be. Smart on them for making the announcement when anyone in the media who mattered was standing there before them.

Mark Streit was the best and most logical choice for captain at this time. Many folks, myself included, thought for sure that Tavares signing his extension would also bring on the 'C' but we were wrong, and believe me at this time that is a good thing. Tavares just turned 21 on Tuesday.

Mark Streit gets the 'C'. Photo by Chris Hessel

Streit has been a captain for the Swiss national team, so this isn't anything new to him. He's been a part of the Islanders leadership structure since signing his five year deal back in 2008, so you could see this coming. He's got two years left on the deal, and that should give ample time for any of the kids to properly develop and hopefully go on some nice playoff runs prior to getting their crack at it.

Streit is obviously looking forward to the challenge, and with good reason. Can you imagine being the team captain and taking a team like this one back into the playoffs? Can you imagine doing that after missing an entire season with a shoulder injury? It would make it that much sweeter.

It remains to be seen who will be named the alternate captains, and Head Coach Jack Capuano said he and Garth Snow hadn't talked about that yet. They'll go with rotating ones throughout the pre-season though and go from there.

Aside from that, it was a nice day of watching the team go through their drills. One thing I quickly picked up on was how much less vocal Capuano is than Gordon. That's not a good or bad thing, just an observation. Capuano's drills did seem to be a little more of a 'hands off' approach and werent interrupted as many times as Gordon's were. But if guys messed up on a play and laughed about it, Capuano did remind them to get back in line and get ready to try again. We've seen how well the team responded to Capuano at the end of last season, so lets hope it resumes from the beginning of camp.

The goalies looked pretty good. Rick DiPietro's side-to-side movements were faster than in years prior, and there was virtually no odd moments of stretching during down time. That was a pretty frequent occurrence last season. However, the Islanders are taking their time with DiPietro. All three goalies in the first group (Al Montoya and Mikko Koskinen the others) rotated on a fairly regular basis. Meanwhile, group two saw Evgeni Nabokov get most of the time in net (while Kevin Poulin and Andres Nilsson generally split time). When you think about where both of these guys are, this makes sense. Nabokov has stated many times he's using the camp to get into game shape the fastest way possible, and the Isles seem to be trying to accommodate that. I was pretty impressed with Nabokov's glove hand as he made three or four real nice snatches out of the air. If he can get back to the level he was at not too long ago, we might have something fun to watch.

The line of Tavares, Matt Moulson and Nino Niederreiter looked pretty impressive to me. The three of them compliment each other so well. Tavares looks to have improved his skating yet again. Don't forget the fact that he now has nothing weighing on his shoulders for the next several years after signing the long-term extension. He has nothing to worry about now but on-ice performance and within the first few days of camp, he's showing even more improvement.

I'm really hoping Milan Jurcina can stay healthy for much of the year. Jurcina really impressed me last season, and I really liked how effective he was particularly on the PK. He looked really strong during some of the defensive drills. It's great that he's healthy right now, but will that last? Groin injuries seem to have been the only things that can slow him down, so if the Isles new health philosophy changes that we'll have some solid play to look forward to there.

As I mentioned, it was the first time I got to participate in media day but the event was an enjoyable experience. I viewed it as the "kick-off" of sorts for the season, even though the team had been at it for a couple of days already. There is certainly a different feel surrounding the team, and Jack Capuano looks like a man who means business. I don't want to say he seemed really laid back last season, but he has a much different feel going into his first full season as head coach. He'll still be a players coach and still fool around here and there, but it seems there are more levels of seriousness now with a clean slate for all.

In all honesty, Charles Wang and Snow didn't tell us anything we didnt already know. A reporter asked Wang a question about the announced proposal from ABLI that came down yesterday just before the press conference started, but he refused to comment. I can't blame him since he likely hadn't seen all the details yet. But more on this news in another post.

It was a nice day put together by the Isles, to get all the media under one roof and give us the opportunity to get lots of good coverage just prior to preseason games being played. The Isles first one is in Boston on Friday night at 7 PM.

I got to speak after practice with Travis Hamonic and Islander hopefuls Jay Pandolfo and Steve Staios. Look for posts surrounding those individuals over the next few days as well.

For a photo gallery from Wednesday, be sure to check out this link.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

John Tavares to Sign Six Year Extension; Captaincy Next?

2011-09-14T23:06:00.001-04:00

No matter how many times he repeated himself people just didn't want to listen.

Time and time again, John Tavares has repeatedly stated how much he wanted to be a member of the New York Islanders and how he was in it for the long haul. The most recent comments came last week during the ESPN media tour. But people were still skeptical, still scoffed and still looked at the situation from their own point of view rather than from the players.

This is a rare player in the sports world today - one who was drafted by what was a miserable team at the time, one who vowed from that moment that he wanted to be "the guy" to turn them around and the one who is so far standing by his commitment.

When all is said and done, Tavares will have himself a new six year, $33 million extension in addition to the year remaining on his entry level contract.

It's a fantastic deal for all involved. For Tavares, he gets to head into a crucial season for the team and not have the whispers surrounding his future with the team. He can play with a clear head. For the Islanders, they get their franchise player signed for a very nice $5.5 million a season, hardly a back breaker when it comes to building a team. The term is also perfect, since we've seen time and time again what can happen with super-long term contracts both first hand (Rick DiPietro and Alexei Yashin) and abroad (Mike Richards and Jeff Carter). Tavares also gives himself a chance to earn more money in the prime of his career as he progresses towards his potential.

The press conference to make all of this official will be Thursday afternoon at 1 PM. But will there be more of an announcement than just the signing of an extension?

Many have speculated on the idea that Tavares could also be named the team's new captain. I'll admit this is something I never put much thought into because I didn't think they would go with one of the young guys. But I would not be surprised to see this happen now. I'm still leaning towards wanting it to be someone like Mark Streit, but if the Isles plan on having Tavares be the captain down the road, then they may decide to get it over with sooner rather than later.

Time will tell, and we'll find out tomorrow. For now we enjoy the news of the impending extension.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

More Emotion on Tenth Anniversary than Other 9/11's for this Fortunate Blogger

2011-09-11T11:25:00.001-04:00

Ten years. I can't believe how fast it's gone. It's amazing for me to think how time seemed to just slow down on September 11th, 2001. It was a feeling that is often difficult to put into words.

Growing up, my parents always talked about one of the biggest events from their childhood - the assassination of President Kennedy - and how every detail of that day is still engraved in their minds. I never understood the magnitude of the stories they were telling me.

For me, the day started off just like many other September 11ths had for the previous 13 years. It was a sunny day, with temperatures floating between that late summer/early fall range. Seeing as it was just the second week of school, the "beginning of the year excitement" was still there. Not to mention, it was also my first time in a new school as I had just began high school. Shortly after waking up, I was greeted by the voices of my mom, dad and brother singing "Happy Birthday" and received gifts and cards to celebrate the occasion. Little did I know what I was in store for on my first birthday in high school.

Still in the process of getting acclimated and navigating a school much larger than what I had been used to for the previous nine years I was able to find my way to my second period class, Social Studies. This, ironically is the same class that Sean and I talk about on the show as the one we first became friends in. I sat in the second row from the door, first seat. Our conversation on ancient Asia was interrupted by the very shaky and unsure voice of our principal, explaining what was going on in Manhattan.

Panic set in, and no one quite understood what was going on. We knew it wasn't good. My social studies teacher turned all different kinds of colors. It was his first year teaching, and you could tell how unsure he was as he tried to decide if it was better to continue with the lesson or just stop all together. He tried to continue.

The way Northport High School is set up is a bit different from other schools. In the main part of the school is an area that students and teachers alike refer to as the "commons." This is where students can hang out, and it consists of TVs which usually have some kind of news broadcast on them. People surrounded the TVs that day. There weren't many classes that day as many teachers were too distraught to teach, so students congregated around the TVs to try and fathom what exactly was going on.

Students were taken out of school during the duration of the day. My mother didn't come to get me out that day early, but did show up at the end of the day to pick me up. After talking with her for a few seconds, my attention immediately turned to wondering about the well being of my cousin, who worked on the 86th floor of the North Tower. I consider myself and my family very fortunate as he was called out to a meeting in New Jersey at 8:30 that morning.

People always feel bad when they find out that I celebrate my birthday on 9/11, and their wishes often come with condolences. I consider myself fortunate to have not lost anyone close to me. Meanwhile, others have had their lives turned upside down. A birthday seems like small potatoes to me at that point.

However, in 2001 it gave me a terrible feeling as it would for any 14 year old. Just like any good grandparents would do, mine called me as they always did every year to sing and wish me a good day.

"Thanks," I said. "I completely forgot it was my birthday, actually. I didn't want fireworks on my birthday."

Both my grandfather and grandmother tried to explain to me that the day was still special because I was born, and I had the ability to do special things as I move on in life. It's the same grandfather who's viewing will be today, on the 10 year anniversary of the attacks after passing away on Friday morning. There isn't a better person I can think of when it comes to who I want to spend the day with.

I recently came across an interesting article on ESPN about the healing power of sports. While many will downplay it, I truly feel that time and time again it has been proven that they do.

I was always an avid baseball fan, but spent that summer learning about hockey after going to my first Islanders game in December of 2000 and falling in love. I knew I wanted to be a super fan of the sport. For someone young, having entire leagues shut down temporarily just showed you what kind of magnitude this had. Unfortunately for some of my friends, that's what it took for them to get it.

Sports served as the perfect distraction for New York that year. The Mets came back against their hated rivals in the Braves and defeated them in grand fashion in the first few days after play resumed. The Yankees went all the way to the World Series, leaving us with some really memorable moments from late October and early November. And the Islanders, who had been so bad for so long stormed out of the gate to an 11-1-1-1 record. They would finish with 96 points and a 5th place finish in the Eastern Conference.

Sports brought everyone closer together in the days following the events. They gave a lot of folks plenty to be proud of and provided that distraction we all needed. It's these same sports that we can still enjoy thanks in large part to those who either died in the attacks or fighting overseas so we don't have to deal with something like this every again.

For those who were affected by the tragedy, I offer my condolences and my thanks for the part that you're loved one played in me being able to sit here and write about a sport and a team I am so passionate about.

Thanks, and God bless.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles to Induct Four to Hall of Fame for 40th Anniversary

2011-09-08T23:16:00.001-04:00

The Islanders announced on Thursday their intention to induct four players - one from each decade of their 40 year existence - at upcoming games this season.

The first Captain and goal scorer in Islanders history, Ed Westfall will have his ceremony on November 19th against the Boston Bruins as the rep for the 1970's. The 1980's rep is former defenseman and current Pro Scouting Director Ken Morrow, who will be honored on December 31st against who else, but the Edmonton Oilers. The 1990's rep is Pat Flatley and he'll be honored on January 14th against the Buffalo Sabres, while Kenny Jonsson rounds out the group, representing the 2000's on February 11th against the Los Angeles Kings.

The Isles hadn't had any new inductions since Bob Bourne was installed into their Hall of Fame back in 2007. It's a nice touch to do this and try and hit on each decade while planning it around some teams that had significant meanings going against the Isles in those decades. In all honesty, it would not have made sense to put Morrow's night on any other aside from the game against the Edmonton Oilers.

Sean probably knows more about the 90's than I would, seeing as I was more of what you would call a casual fan back then. But I know the 2000's intimately, and grew up for much of my childhood life only knowing of an Islander defense that included Jonsson. To say he was always under appreciated is an understatement, and that includes myself.

It wasn't until I had a better understanding of the game when I appreciated more of what Jonsson had to offer. This was obviously magnified after the lockout ended and the Isles have had problems constructing a competent defense since.

Are there other players who are more deserving? Absolutely, but I think for what they were trying to accomplish, it's a nice touch. None of these guys may have been the flashiest, but they absolutely were unsung heroes of their decades. Do I think it was a stretch trying to include someone like Jonsson? Yes and no. I think for the 2000's, he's a good choice - was a big part of the rebirth and as I mentioned, relatively under appreciated. In all honesty, there weren't many others you could make a case for. Times were lean for so long, and Jonsson came along and remained for a few years before things really got going again. He may not have been able to handle the captaincy, but I respect that he tried and then knowing his limitations, ultimately handed it off but still did his job more than adequately.

In any event, a good move by the Islanders to honor some good players from the past, and cover each decade so as to reach out to all generations of Isles fans.

More to come soon regarding noteworthy items from the summer, and some thoughts on the plane crash that took out all of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. I've been working on a piece, but due to some family issues have not completed it. Just bear with me.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Jay Pandolfo Comes to Training Camp, What About Others?

2011-09-06T06:13:00.001-04:00

The Islanders announced on Saturday that Jay Pandolfo has agreed to a try out with the team when camp opens in a couple of weeks. About a week ago, Newsday's Katie Strang posted a list of players who the club could possibly have in camp on invite: Pandolfo, Sergei Samsonov, Chris Clark and Bryan McCabe. There is strong reason to believe that all were extended invites - among other players as well - but so far, going this route only made the most sense for Pandolfo.

Pandolfo hasn't been in the NHL since the 2009 - 2010 season with the New Jersey Devils. After that season he was bought out and participated in a handful of AHL games last season before his Christmas Day release from the Springfield Falcons.

Neither Pandolfo nor the Islanders have anything to lose with this, and I'm disappointed in some of the comments I see from fans regarding this. The point of an invite is that it gives you a look at someone without having to give them a guaranteed spot on the roster. I want Nino Niederreiter, Matt Martin and others to feel their jobs are at stake and be pushed. Now, how far can someone like Pandolfo push them? Well that remains to be seen, sure. But with so many forwards already on the roster, if I'm a young player and I see a 36 year old veteran coming in, I'm not taking my chances or scoffing at the competition. Especially with an individual who has proven for many years he can be an excellent penalty killer, even though his game has eroded over the past two seasons.

According to Strang, McCabe and Samsonov appear "reluctant" to take the invite at this time, and I can't blame them for that. With camps set to open, any injury could have them signing a guaranteed contract, perhaps for terms even better than they are expecting (see Mike Mottau and his two year deal from the Isles last September 25th). I would imagine the invites are always open, so Clark could still come if he wishes too, despite a similar player in Pandolfo coming (EDIT: Not sure how I missed this, but Strang reports Clark has accepted an invite with the Bruins, who offered one to Pandolfo too). I think as time goes on, McCabe accepts his invite too. Samsonov though, I would be surprised.

I've been asked this a lot over the weekend - if McCabe comes to camp, am I upset? It's a good question. McCabe is not the ideal defenseman this team needs. But at the same time, that's why he'd be coming in as an invite. If he plays well? Then it means he looked fine, looked like he still had enough in the tank and will suffice until someone better comes along (or one of the kids are ready, such as Calvin deHaan). If he looks awful? Then he walks away and is free to talk to other teams (like Brent Sopel did a few years ago after his camp with Detroit). At the end of the day, an upgrade for me in the most basic sense was a guy more durable than Radek Martinek, Jack Hillen or Bruno Gervais. McCabe would certainly be that and a great shot to use on the 2nd power-play unit to keep the opposition guessing after seeing Mark Streit on unit one.

I am always curious to see what players go on invites to other teams, and see who can crack lineups. It's a popular way to fill out rosters or find an extremely cheap gem. The Islanders generally have lucked out with guys like this under Snow, and it'll be a good story line to follow as a distraction from some of your usual ones. We'll see if any of the others accept soon.

More to come on some items we missed on discussing while we were away.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Attention Nassau Voters: Long Island Needs a Facelift

2011-07-31T23:48:00.001-04:00

If someone asked me what this process was like, I wouldn't even know where to start. When you're a die-hard Islander fan who is a Suffolk County resident, words cannot describe how helpless you feel at times.

It's very painful to sit on the sidelines and not know what you are about to witness. It's even tougher when you have many friends who live in Nassau County, all of who are in their young 20's. You get responses like "voting is irrational" or so much complacency it drives you mad. One thing I'll never understand is how someone in West Hempstead can have such a blah attitude about what the surrounding area they live in looks like.

Nothing will be as bad, however, as what the area will look like with a "no" victory on Monday. A no victory means there is no building up of an area on an island that should have a sports and entertainment destination given what activities go on around here. Instead, all a no vote does is still increase taxes and put up more Starbucks, Targets, WalMarts and -gasp!- low income housing.

It's really disturbing to me to see how short sighted some folks have been in the entire process. I'm 23 years old, and graduated from SUNY Stony Brook in 2009. Since then I've heard so much about how "I'm the future" and that "Long Island needs to look after" kids like me.

That's great and I would fully agree. One problem: I don't see it. Not one bit.

There is absolutely no reason why it should take me 16 months to find work. There is no reason why I should graduate with 5,000 other students, with 17% of those having jobs on walk day. None.

I can't begin to tell you the amount of people I've had conversations with - folks entering retirement age - where I tell them what I'm being trained for at work and the programs they have me in and they think its the greatest thing ever. "Long Island needs more people like that" is usually a response I get.

But then don't try to ask them for something that helps your future. Good lord, don't do that.

A common complaint is that people "don't want to see their taxes go up." A fair complaint, sure. But a simple look at the track record of politics on LI and you'll see a trend (hint: they always go up). And what exactly have they gone up for? If you're having trouble answering that, don't feel bad (more money for snow removal for blizzards that don't happen!).

We live in a nation where states set aside money for the study of cow flatulence. Yet here, we can't get people to open their eyes about the area they live in and understand the situation. Private financing to revitalize the area around Nassau has come and gone. We had the chance to do that for a number of years, and no one had the guts to call Kate Murray and her cronies out for stalling on that. Now, we offer the only solution left. It's unfortunate we've come to this, yes. But it's all that's out there. A guys patience can only go on for so long, and I can't believe Charles Wang has given Long Island this long of a chance to wake up, but that's a story for a different day.

I know I'm probably preaching to the choir at this point. But if you were on the fence or a "no" voter who happened to stumble across this entry, know this. There are many people out there my age who are depending on you to help make this happen. Contrary to popular belief, there are many of us who want to stay here and spend our money here. But we're never given that chance.

Some of you may not think you can change the world, and are at an age where it may not seem fitting for you to pay more in taxes. But what about those who have young kids? What about your grandchildren? I can guarantee you that some of you who vote "no" will end up being the same ones complaining when your son or daughter is forced to move because of how high taxes soared when that low-income housing complex (complete with many inhabitants living on welfare) went up in Uniondale.

I have lived on Long Island my whole life, and going to Islanders games is a family affair. It brought my family closer together. My mom and dad lost track of the sport and because of me, they're back into it. If we had the chance, we'd be voting yes. But we don't have that option.

Nassau County, you have that chance to do it for us. You may not know me from a hole in a wall, but my story is on par with many others. Before you pull that lever for your vote I need you to think: Who do I know that's out of a job? Who do I risk losing that I don't want to lose? Who in my life has dreams and desires that won't come true here if I say no?

I like to think of myself as living an ultimate dream and desire. A kid always wishes he could talk to the players he idolized growing up. Thanks to the Islanders, I had that chance this past season and will continue to do so as long as voters let me. I'm not alone in this and I can see it from the various other people out there who have gone out to try and make a difference.

There are a lot of us who you'll be making a decision for. Let's keep those with high aspirations here. Let them make a difference on this Island they grew up on.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Hunter's Tenure Ends, Isles Acquire Brian Rolston from Devils

2011-07-28T23:27:00.001-04:00

Who would have thought a late July trade for Brian Rolston would have created as much buzz and talk as it has?

Everyone seems to be making more comments than they probably should be on the Islanders acquisition of the overpaid 38 year old forward who they got in return for the 31 year old oft-injured and painfully slow Trent Hunter.

Many people right away were able to jump to the conclusion that a big motivating factor in the swap was money, and I'm sure it was - no matter how much Garth Snow tries to play it down.

However, some thought that this couldn't possibly be all Snow was working on and that it had to be a part of a bigger deal. As we sit here on Thursday night, it appears that is the case.

It appears now that Rolston comes in to replace one of the current forwards, at least one of which could presumably be moved to bring in a top defenseman.

Photo by C. Hessel

At any rate, the Hunter for Rolston swap by itself is still a good one. It's not earth shattering, but it's a slight upgrade. Hunter had trouble staying on the ice and went through some prolonged scoring slumps. Rolston is far from the player he once was, but can still contribute 15-20 goals in a checking line role while playing all three forward positions and still be solid enough defensively to get tome PK time. He's also still got that powerful slap shot that will be useful on the power-play.

At the very least, it's better than Alexei Yashin! (Note: I'm not completely against the idea of Yashin back on a one-year deal, but understand what his buyout represents. I'm not going to go into much detail about the rumors on him since I truly think it's helping out a friend to get a better deal in Russia).

I'm noticing a lot of people reading too much into the deal, saying you can do better for the money. Yes, you absolutely can - but when you look at how far behind this team is in overall salary, you can't think about it. Its irrelevant. Snow has maintained all off-season that he wants a top defenseman. There is no reason why picking up $3 million should cause him to deviate from that. If it does, then shame on him.

As far as "helping the Devils out," who cares? If you honestly thought that the Devils were going to have a problem signing Zach Parise to a long-term deal, then you clearly have not been paying attention to the way this league operates. Just look at the New York Rangers. If the Devils want someone signed, they'll get them signed.

As mentioned earlier, this appears to be a precursor of some kind to another move with Rolston replacing a body. Good. It's nice to finally be a part of some exciting rumors now.

Who would move in a trade? Josh Bailey? Blake Comeau? Both? It would all depend on who is coming back. You can safely assume though that the player coming in return would be a defenseman.

Things just got a little more interesting around here. At least it's something to track for a bit to take our minds off of the referendum stuff.

More to come after the possible move. Also look for a referendum related post in the next day or so with my thoughts - those of a 23 year old Long Island kid.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Islanders Sign Marty Reasoner for 2 Years

2011-07-02T02:35:00.000-04:00

The Islanders didn't jump into the fray with some of the other players in what is a fairly weak free agent class, but were able to address one of their needs.

The Islanders signed center Marty Reasoner to a 2 year, $2.7 million contract. Reasoner is a fine 4th line center and will replace the departed Zenon Konopka, who is still searching for a new team.

Reasoner put up 14 goals and 18 assists in a slightly more expanded role than your run-of-the-mill 4th line center last season for the Florida Panthers. He was also in the top-10 in the league in faceoffs.

One of the key things with Reasoner is that he's been around the league for quite some time, and has always been regarded as a leader on and off the ice. He'll fill in the leadership role very well.

Often the Islanders put Konopka on the ice in crucial situations, especially if they needed a faceoff win on the PK. The problem there was that when he didn't win the faceoff, there wasn't enough time for him to get off the ice and a 5-on-4 seemed to become a 5-on-3. Reasoner is the better all around player and can play defense, especially on the PK where he averaged 2:45 of ice time.

It's a nice start as far as upgrading one minor area, but certainly wasn't the top priority. Garth Snow really seems to want to add a top four defenseman, and while he admitted a lot of what's left on the UFA market isn't exciting he still has some lines in those waters. However, a trade is a more likely scenario here to fill that role.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

It's Free Agent Frenzy Day (And Canada Day Too)!

2011-07-01T09:21:00.000-04:00

Good morning everyone and welcome to July 1st! The day many hockey fans look forward to in general.

A lot of guys have elected to re-sign with their respective teams, while a few realized that they could cash in on a weak market. Some had their rights traded, and they cashed in big time (Steve Montador). Christian Ehrhoff said no to the Islanders and before I could get a post up about it, and signed a deal that blatantly circumvents the cap with Buffalo (10 years, $40 million with $18 million in the first to years).

As hockey fans, we love days that have player movement. It's hard to judge what the Islanders will do now after losing out on Ehrhoff, but they have plenty of time to make their team. There are some solid pieces out there though for teams looking to improve, and a few players that if signed by the Isles will only help them in getting out of lottery territory.

As is the case every year, we'll be doing our live show today from 12 - 4 PM. We're going back to our roots at WCWP. You can listen to us through the WCWP sports website.

Special guests today include Kevin Allen, Andy Strickland, Pat Hickey and Ted Wyman.

We'll give you details about how to submit your questions be it through AIM, chat rooms or by calling in to the show. Be sure to listen to what we say for details.

Enjoy the day everyone!

Islanders Acquire Rights to Christian Ehrhoff

2011-06-28T23:39:00.001-04:00

For the longest time, fans have been hoping that this summer was the one where Garth Snow would begin to make significant moves to improve his hockey club. A funny thing happened on the way to that idea.

On a day when many of the top UFA targets were retained by their old teams, the Islanders made a statement and acquired the rights to defenseman Christian Ehrhoff from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 4th round pick.

The move is a bold, low risk move and a perfect chance for the Islanders to try and take the next step that they need.

Does this become a familiar scene on the Island? Photo by C. Hessel

The Islanders were expected to scourer the free agent market for a forward, but over the last few weeks gave subtle hints that they were less than thrilled with their defense, which finished 27th in the NHL this past season in goals against. Bruno Gervais was traded to Tampa, while Jack Hillen and Radek Martinek have been cut loose and are free to sign wherever they like beginning Friday.

The Islanders now have the exclusive ability to negotiate with Ehrhoff over the next 72 hours and try to sell him on the idea of playing for the Islanders.

The sell is going to be a very tough one - make no mistake about it. This is a team that is banking on a 'Yes' vote on August 1st, which Ehrhoff will undoubtedly hear about from Snow, Charles Wang, Doug Weight, John Tavares, Michael Grabner and maybe even Mike Bossy. Make no mistake that those currently associated with the Islanders will come out in full force to bring Ehrhoff here.

Ehrhoff was offered a deal similar to the one Kevin Bieksa signed with the Canucks, which was a five year, $23 million front loaded deal worth $4.6 million per season. Both Bieksa and Ehrhoff reportedly were willing to take hometown discounts in order to stay with the Stanley Cup Finalists, but Ehrhoff decided he would take his chance at 27 to go for the gold in his prime.

Many feel that by leaving a contender to go for the money, he is not necessarily about winning immediately. If that's the case, then there is absolutely no reason to think the Islanders can't get him signed, sealed and delivered by July 1st. Then with Ehrhoff in the fold, this team automatically catapults itself into the conversation for the bottom part of the Eastern conference playoff race but not as a cup contending team just yet.

If it unravels and Ehrhoff decides this isn't for him, then it's nothing lost. The Islanders won't simply whimper and say "we tried." This move says anything but. If Ehrhoff doesn't come, then the Islanders will move right on to their next target.

Snow says he'll have a better indication Wednesday morning of where things are at with Ehrhoff, which indicates to me if something is to be consummated here, he wants it ASAP so they can hold their heads high going into Friday and point to Ehrhoff as an example of them being serious no matter what the future holds. If not, then like I said it's on to the next target be that via trade or free agency.

At the end of the day, this is a right move for a team that is in need of some excitement and buzz from around the league, and on the Island where they are trying to get their arena. The fun has just begun on this ride folks. Buckle your seat belts.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

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Free Agent News: Isles Not Qualifying Hillen

2011-06-28T08:11:00.001-04:00

Monday was the deadline for NHL teams to extend qualifying offers to their RFA's or risk losing them on the open market when it opens on Friday.

While there were a number of surprises that were not extended offers around the league, Isles fans had one that surprised them in Jack Hillen.

Hillen will look for new work. Photo by C. Hessel

Starting out the year as the odd man out, Hillen had a nice finish to the season, ending up with four goals and 22 points with 137 blocked shots. The last couple of months seemed to be the first time he had gotten the confidence back that he had prior to taking the shot in the face from Alex Ovechkin a couple of seasons ago.

It appears that a lot of fans are upset about the news of Hillen testing the market, and that is understandable. Some are going with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" adage, but for the Islanders case it is broken. Very broken. They finished in the bottom five in goals against.

Hillen is a quick, solid puck moving defenseman who can get knocked off the puck at times, leading to a loss in possession and a gain in momentum for the other team. The Islanders seem to realize they need to add some more size to the blueline and the exits of Hillen along with Bruno Gervais allow them to try and go down that path. Hillen likely isn't in line to take a 2-way deal as a depth defenseman now for the Isles and will try his luck on the open market and look for a one way.

A contending team may not be willing to give him an NHL spot, but if those teams came calling Hillen would definitely jump for a NHL/AHL deal for a team like that. On this team, it was evident that he was going to be depth once again. The Islanders already have Ty Wishart, who they did qualify, as the go to guy as the 7th man, and Dylan Reese is being kept for his AHL experience and some leadership in Bridgeport.

It remains to be seen if the Isles agree with the consensus in that they need to add one solid top-four guy this offseason, but this move adds some fuel to that argument.

OTHER RFA NEWS: After failing to offer a qualifier to Tomas Marcinko, the Isles agreed to a one year, 2-way deal with the big center. Marcinko doesn't look like he'll become much of an NHL player, but has been a solid defensive forward down in Bridgeport and will continue to provide that this season.

Defenseman Dustin Kohn, a 2nd round pick in 2004 has likely seen his last days in the organization. Kohn was not offered a qualifier and will try to latch on with a team starting on Friday.

Gervais signed a new deal with the Lightning, getting a one way deal at $550K. That's a bit of a pay cut for him, but it's worth it on the one-way deal to try and re-establish himself and get his confidence back up. Good luck to him.

Josh Bailey, Blake Comeau, Micheal Haley and Jesse Joensuu also received offers from the team.

FOR THOSE WHO ARE CONFUSED: A qualifying offer is extended to a player so a team cannot lose their rights. A player doesn't have to accept it until later in the summer, but it gives teams the ability to match any offer sheets that come the players way.

Often times players will not be given QO's and come to terms with their teams anyway (like the Isles did with Marcinko and the Penguins will likely do with Tyler Kennedy).

A QO gives a player a 10% raise if they made less than $660K in the previous season or 5% if they made up to $1 million.

More can be found here.

If you missed our live show Sunday, you can find the recording here or download the podcast of it or previous shows here.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Bruno Gervais Traded to Lightning

2011-06-25T20:03:00.001-04:00

While many were focused on the madness that was draft weekend, the Islanders made a separate transaction that marks the end of an era for one Islanders defenseman.

On Saturday the Islanders announced that they had dealt defenseman Bruno Gervais to the Tampa Bay Lightning in return for future considerations.

Those future considerations will likely be a late round draft pick in the 2012 draft.

The deal marks the end of a six year run for Gervais on Long Island, a roller coatser ride if there ever was one.

Photo by C. Hessel

Gervais was originally drafted in the 6th round back in 2003. While many players in the later rounds were long shots, after a couple of years it looked like the Islanders may have found a gem. After a solid rookie year in the AHL with eight goals and 30 points in 76, Gervais followed that up with 17 goals and 42 points in just 55 AHL games during the strike year of 2004 - 05 leaving many to wonder what he could do at the NHL level.

Gervais showed flashes, most recently near the end of 2008 - 09 after being paired with Mark Streit. The strong play is what made the Islanders keep him over Chris Campoli when it became abundantly clear that they were very similar players, as Campoli began to show signs of regressing. Unfortunately, Gervais would be unable to keep that up for his remaining two seasons and became a depth defenseman on a team that already had plenty.

Seeing as the Islanders still do have all of that depth and not quite enough top-end blue liners, Gervais became the first casualty of a potential house cleaning on the back-end.

Current Lightning Assistant Coach Dan Lacroix seems to have successfully sold Head Coach Guy Boucher and General Manager Steve Yzerman on the idea of bringing in yet another recent ex-Islander player, of which they are three-for-three so far (Dwayne Roloson, Nate Thompson and Sean Bergenheim). Gervais is due to become an RFA on Friday but I'm assuming Tampa plans on him staying for a year.

Personal Note: Bruno Gervais was one of the first Islanders Sean and I interviewed following one of the opening days of training camp, our first in the Blog Box. We walked into the locker room with one of the other bloggers, and Bruno immediately looked in my direction. After introductions were out of the way, he looked back at me and said "Please don't tell me you're cold!" On the way out he requested that I bring a jacket next time.

It's no secret that Bruno was a great guy off the ice, and that part will surely be missed on the Island. We can take solace in the fact that there have been other players who have had the chance to see that side of him for the past few seasons and will undoubtedly pick up where he left off.

Best of luck to Bruno as he opens up the next chapter of his career.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Take Strome 5th Overall

2011-06-25T09:00:00.001-04:00

Over the past couple of seasons, the Islanders have made no secret of the fact that they wanted to add some more skill up the middle. On Friday night, they took a huge step forward in accomplishing that goal.

After missing out on Ryan Johansen at last years draft when they ended up taking Nino Niederreiter, the Islanders had their choice of a couple of centers in 2011. Many fans seemed split on whether they wanted Sean Couturier or Ryan Strome.

As many of you know by now, I was a big fan of Couturier's and wanted the Isles to select him. But in the weeks leading up to the draft as we learned more about Strome, I was warming up to the idea. It seems like the Isles did as well.

Strome fits a need of what the Isles are looking for. They wanted to add that skill, but in Strome they also add some speed and a great style. Strome is a guy who isn't afraid to cut to the net, and by many accounts is as far from a perimeter player as you can get which is remarkable when you consider he isn't the biggest guy out there.

Knowing that, it definitely puts some more attention into Josh Bailey's corner. While his primary position is center, Bailey has also spent some time at the wing. The Islanders need to decide if they prefer to have Bailey at center or wing, and at the same time Bailey needs to step up a bit and prove that he can play anywhere at any time. He's now going to have Strome breathing down his neck for that 2nd line center spot for sure in the future.

When it comes to analyzing some of these guys that we may not know much about, we usually always rely on scouts. While that is obviously one of the better means, it's also good to hear from analysts who watch him more regularly.

Enter Jeff Marek. In the end, he really sold me on the idea of Strome.

Marek, an analyst/radio host for Hockey Night in Canada, sang the praises last season of Jeff Skinner. I'll have to be honest - as much as people pointed that out, I didn't listen because I was too enthralled with what the "scouts" had to say.

Last week in an interview with Chris Botta, Marek sang the praises of Strome. He even went as far to say the Islanders hit a "home run" with their selection after they made the pick.

I really like the pick of Strome because it helps to solve some of the issues that this team has up the middle. We all love Frans Nielsen and how he plays, but in a perfect world he is centering a 3rd line. Strome has the ceiling to center one of the top two lines, but given the fact John Tavares is a center and should remain there will make for an excellent second line pivot.

Some folks were upset in not grabbing a defenseman, but I'm fine with leaving Dougie Hamilton on the board. The defenseman I really wanted was Adam Larsson, and do think that if he slipped past the Devils at 4th then Snow would have taken him.

The Islanders will have some chances to get some solid, big defenseman in the second and third rounds at the beginning of day two (11 AM ET). Look for Scott Mayfield as a potential target. He's a big, nasty defenseman who spent last season in the USHL. The Islanders have gone down the USHL pipeline before and have picked out a couple of solid guys (Kyle Okposo and Matt Donovan to name a couple).

We got some great video footage last night, and have put up some of the clips from last night on our YouTube page. We have a couple of more that will be uploaded as the day goes on so be sure to check for those. We're also going through some of the photos we took to put into a photo gallery. We hope to have that up for our draft round-up post.

Be sure to check back later for any possible big news in Isles Country.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Don't Expect Trade of 5th Overall for Big Name

2011-06-24T08:48:00.002-04:00

As we get down to the final hours before the 2011 NHL Entry Draft takes place, I'm seeing more and more people saying that Garth Snow should trade the 5th overall pick for NHL talent.

The calls for this seem to grow with the news of the blockbuster trades made by the Philadelphia Flyers as they sent Mike Richards to the Los Angeles Kings and Jeff Carter to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Don't get me wrong - this line of thinking is a great one. Sean even brought this up during our podcast last weekend, saying that he expects them to trade the pick - but was more hinting at trading down to pick up other assets and then parlaying some of those into NHL talent.

In all honesty, while the second scenario seems like it could be a fantastic approach to Friday night, I think that if the Isles are moving down for a player they like then it's with the idea of drafting one or two of those players high on their draft board rather than to move the picks.

When Sean mentioned that he wanted to see that pick moved, I pressed him on who had in his head that could be had in exchange for the 5th overall pick. The only (realistic?) idea he could come up with is Paul Stastny of the Colorado Avalanche. Other names he came up with? Zach Parise and Drew Doughty.

As nice as Paul Stastny is, he's not a player I'm giving up a 5th overall pick for. In reality, there is no one out there that could be had for a top five pick.

When people talk about making trades for "proven talent," you have to keep in mind what they were traded for. The last time a top five pick was traded for proven talent? Our very own New York Islanders did in 2001, in a package for Alexei Yashin (2nd overall).

There are only extenuating circumstances where a player like that becomes available, and as usual that is not the case this year. But what about the trading back scenario? Well, that would be more plausible.

2006:

- The Avalanche traded Alex Tanguay to the Calgary Flames for Jordan Leopold, a 2nd round pick (59th) and a conditional pick.

- The Kings trade Pavol Demitra to the Minnesota Wild for Patrick O'Sullivan and the 17th overall pick.

2008:

- The Flames trade Tanguay and a 5th round pick to the Montreal Canadiens for a 1st (25th overall) and 2nd round pick (48th).
- The Kings trade Mike Cammalleri to the Flames for a 1st round pick (17th).
- The Flyers trade R.J. Umberger and a 4th (118th) to the Blue Jackets for a 1st (19th overall) and a 3rd (67th).

2009:

- The Anaheim Ducks trade Chris Pronger and Ryan Dingle to the Flyers for Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa, a 2009 1st round pick (21st) and a 2010 1st round pick (29th).

2010:

- The Florida Panthers trade Keith Ballard and Victor Oreskovich to the Vancouver Canucks for Steve Bernier, Michael Grabner and a 1st round pick (25th).

At the end of the day, if the Islanders are bringing in that proven vet at the draft then it would most likely come after trading down once or twice to gather up assets they can use to move for talent. Those of you hoping for it to play out this way can keep that in mind with thoughts of Brent Burns, Ryan Malone, Scott Hartnell and whoever else you may have dancing in your head.

What do I think? I think the Islanders are going to stay right where they are at five and make their pick. After the dust settles, the Islanders will have drafted Ryan Strome.

Sean and I will both be at the draft today and are planning to make our way around the parking lot. We'll both have cameras, and I plan to take some candid shots of fan activity for a photo gallery of some kind. So if you see us roaming around, please do come up and introduce yourself. We'd love to meet some of you.

There are couple of things going on that you may have noticed I haven't written about yet (Doug Weight's award, Radek Martinek update, analysis of the Flyers' trades) but that will be coming at some point later. We're trying to focus solely on the draft items for now and go from there.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Weekend Update: Isles Bring Back Gillies; Third Jersey; New Podcast

2011-06-19T23:07:00.000-04:00

The Islanders kicked off a weekend that would bring plenty of news by announcing the return of controversial pugilist Trevor Gilles, agreeing with the forward on a one year, two-way contract.

Many wondered out loud if Gillies' antics leading to two lengthy suspensions would mean that the Islanders would part ways with him. While many folks enjoyed the bashing of the Penguins back in February, some voiced their displeasure for the way Gillies acted in injuring Eric Tangradi.

Personally, I was done with Gillies and really don't see any more use for him on this team. While it's nice that he's a fan favorite and the players might really like him, I'll point out that this is usually the case with tough guys all around the league. Gillies could have been replaced with many other guys who the fans and players would have loved just as much. For example, Zenon Konopka last season. People fell in love with him right away.

Gillies' deal means Konopka is likely out. Photo by C. Hessel

Now, the better hockey player in Konopka will most likely be sent away. It's not hard to be the superior hockey player in this scenario, but when it comes to having additional muscle aside from Matt Martin this should be coming in the form of Konopka, not Gillies.

Furthermore, don't let the two-way part of Gillies' contract fool you. He was on the same kind of contract last year and ended up sticking with the Isles for most of it when not sidelined serving suspensions.
I'm not trying to deprive the developing youngsters on the team of having a guy willing to throw fists around, but there are plenty of guys out there you can bring in who won't provide as much bad publicity, would be liked just as much and can play a semi-regular shift if need be.

To each their own, I suppose.

Third Jersey: There has been a lot of talk since the season ended that the Islanders are coming out with a third jersey to wear for various dates next season.

While nothing has been confirmed, there does seem to be some information available that leads many to believe that we will indeed have one next season, and it will be black.

I wasn't always a big fan of incorporating black into the Islanders color scheme for the sake of trying to produce a new jersey, however there are a few scenarios where I could see it working. Some fans have posted on message boards what they have heard it might possibly look like and have tried to come up with some designs based on that. Like I said, some things seem to work pretty well, others not so much.

While Sean discussed what he heard and his feelings of the idea of a black jersey in the latest podcast, I let it be known that this is so far down on the totem pole for me.

Many teams love trying to put black into their alternates because of the fact that it "goes with anything." I personally don't care so long as it's done the right way and as long as it doesn't affect player performances.

If a well known, respected player is going to be wearing it next season after being signed or traded for a pick in the upcoming draft, then I'm all for it. As long as the product on the ice is superior to anything we've seen for much of the past four years, they can wear what they want.

One Big Happy Podcast: As mentioned earlier and as promised a couple of weeks back, Sean and I got together this weekend to have our annual pre-draft podcast. In the past when on a time constraint, we would normally restrict this to just talking about the draft. But we were able to expand on our thoughts for this one, and talking about the draft went into talking about trade possibilities for the pick (or other picks currently not in the Isles possession), to talking about past drafts, third jerseys, some referendum stuff and a whole lot more.

Two hours later, we were finally content with ending the show. Hopefully, you guys enjoy the extra long banter. The podcast is split up into two parts.

You can download the podcast by going here.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Belated Thoughts on Doug Weight, His New Job and a Personal Story

2011-06-03T07:48:00.000-04:00

We'll file this post under "better late than never."

It's been a week since Doug Weight officially announced his retirement from the NHL and the Islanders announced his new title as Assistant Coach and Special Assistant to General Manager Garth Snow.

Weight announced his retirement at a press conference in the Marriott next to the Coliseum in a ceremony that was done the right way for a guy of Weight's stature.

"It's very difficult and humbling to be here today to officially announce my retirement after 19 seasons," Weight opened. It was in the middle of that first sentence where he really felt it, and you suddenly started to realize that one of the greatest US born hockey players would no longer lace up the skates.

Photo by Chris Hessel

That Weight took the time to talk about every team he played for shows you the class that he was and still continues to be filled with. With each team, he had to take various pauses when speaking about the opportunities that were provided to him and how he ended up in each spot.

When Snow spoke, he brought up a word that a young player used to describe Weight at the team's end of the season dinner: presence. Snow agreed with this and acknowledged that key attribute as a huge reason why he was keeping him on in the new role.

I can agree as well with "presence" as being a perfect word for Weight. Anyone who watched parts of the press conference can see how he was able to capture the audience's attention, leaving them hanging on to every word, perhaps waiting on the next wisecrack.

Weight spent most of my childhood years on a talented St. Louis Blues team that was in the midst of a long streak of making the playoffs - one that would last 25 years and end in 2004. He along with talent like Al MacInnis, Keith Tkachuk and Chris Pronger were a huge part of those talented teams, but they would never bring home a cup.

Weight had always been one of my favorites growing up. He was one of those players you would have loved to see in his prime play for your team, but unfortunately you sort of knew there was no shot you were going to get him.
Given that, you can imagine what it was like for me to deal with Weight personally in my first year as a member of the Blog Box. Unfortunately, I didn't get to have as many interactions with Weight the player as I would have liked, but there's nothing you can do about that when someone has serious injury issues like the ones that plagued Weight in his time as an Islander.

It was September at the first day of training camp. Sean and myself showed up to interview a few players and get some liners from them. No one skated that day as the players only did their off-ice workouts. One of the first players we bumped into upon our arrival was none other than Weight.

He was on his way out, but stopped for a few minutes to introduce himself. After joking with him that he needed no introduction, he asked our names and spoke to us briefly before helping us out with some audio for the first podcast of our new adventure. He ended our conversation by explaining that if we needed anything to have the team contact him, and he "looked forward to dealing with us this season."

So here we were, two guys who love hockey, the Islanders and idolized Weight as we did with many of the Team USA guys, having a conversation with the guy as if we knew him for years.

Presence. That is why the position the Isles have given Weight is perfect for him. This is why the NHL needs to keep Weight around.

Weight will undoubtedly play an important role in attempting to recruit prospective free agents. It's not a bad thing to have a resume like he as, not to mention a reputation.

That reputation is obvious to many players - even those who never met the guy. Upon hearing about the retirement of two Team USA mainstays in Weight and Brian Rafalski, Edmonton Oilers defenseman Ryan Whitney tweeted "Congrats to Doug Weight and Brian Rafalski on two amazing careers. Both American born players, Stanley Cup champions and great guys."

"Best part is I've never met Doug Weight but hear he is a great guy and me saying that makes my other tweet sound better."

Unfortunately, the Islanders spent much of the past year devoid of "names" in high positions to bring some credibility. Weight is a name that brings a good chunk of that back. It's going to mean a lot for some players when they hear from Weight, who spent extended periods of time with some fantastic franchises, speak so highly for the Islanders where he spent only three years.

The Islanders have made some positive waves this offseason with the re-signings of Michael Grabner and Kyle Okposo and maybe the arena bit, but this move for Weight is a very underrated one. Don't underestimate the power of his voice going to bat for a franchise that, to anyone on the outside, may not seem like it would mean as much to him as Edmonton or St. Louis.

Sean and I are both thrilled for Doug and happy we'll still be able to see him around the ranch, so to speak. Hopefully we'll be able to do some interviews with him as he makes the transition from the on-ice to off-ice stuff.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

August 1st the Official Date

2011-06-01T07:54:00.000-04:00

The first day back from a nice, long weekend brought news for fans of the NHL from all angles. While one area officially lost their team, another one - Long Island - took a (small) step towards retaining theirs.

The Nassau County Legislative Board got together as they were supposed to, one week after discussing the proposal by Ed Mangano and agreeing to vote on it.

A week ago, it seemed as though the plan would have a decent amount of support behind it, although not a majority. But when the discussions opened up on Tuesday, there were plenty of disagreements.

Legislator Wayne Wink brought up his ideas again, the main argument being the changing of the vote to Election Day on November 8th. His line of thinking was that you could get more people to vote and get a better representation of where people stand on the arena issue.

This amendment failed however, and that should be a big sigh of relief to us all. A vote on election day would have given this thing the kiss of death that it didn't need. Even if it passed on Election Day, you're losing three months that really need to happen to get workers lined up and estimates complete to do the job.

Dave Denenberg would then try to amend the referendum, asking for the vote to be held on the day that New York holds it's primary in September. Although not too far from the August date, you need to be affiliated with one of the parties to be able to vote in a primary. So, this too was a no go for the legislature.

Denenberg fought tooth and nail up until the part when he was declared out of order.

The real kicker in his antics for the day though? When the time to vote for having the referendum on August 1st came, the vote passed 11-7 with Denenberg being the only Democrat to vote yes. Was that out of spite since he already knew the minor majority needed was in place with more Republicans than Democrats? Or was he being sincere and realizing that he doesn't want to be one of the main reason why the Isles leave if a no vote happens in August?

Remember, there are still plenty of hurdles to climb here. The people have to vote on August 1, and the legislature will have to approve it once more. While I find it hard to believe they won't give it the majority it would need if the people say yes to it, I would be a bit concerned about the NIFA factor. I think that's a greater hurdle than the potential of one of the politicians saying "I'm still saying no because the people who came out to vote in the middle of summer aren't indicative of my constituents," or something to that effect.

Welcome to politics on Long Island folks. We'll provide you with some barf bags.

Please remember, especially if you are in Nassau County, that you must make your voice continuously heard in a respectful manner. If you have friends who live in Nassau, explain to them how important it is they vote for the project. Not just from an Islanders standpoint, but as something we could all benefit from. Offer to drive them to the polls or even buy them a meal after they do their civic duty.

If you're around my age, you understand the importance of trying to get something we can be proud of built somewhere here on this Island. So tell your legislation how you feel. Write to them. Write to NIFA and explain how you hope they won't hold anything up if this is what the people are asking for. Talk to those you interact with on a daily basis. If you're friends with enough reasonable people, just you being so passionate about this could make them more willing to do you a favor (and them in the long run although they might not realize it just yet).

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Please make sure you are following "Vote Yes for NYI Arena" on both Twitter and Facebook for updates and some clarification on anything that may confuse voters.

Okposo Re-Signed for Five Years; Thoughts on Tuesday's Hearing

2011-05-25T23:01:00.001-04:00

The Islanders entered this offseason with a number of items on their to-do list seeing as it was the first year that some of the major players in the rebuild were due for contract extensions.

Two weeks ago and a little more than a day after having the press conference to announce the plan for the referendum, the Islanders made a statement by re-signing Michael Grabner to a five-year deal.

Today, a day after the Nassau County Legislature officially "kicked off" their seven day review process prior to voting 'yea' or 'nay' for a special election, the Islanders made news once again as they agreed to a five-year, $14 million extension with Kyle Okposo.

Okposo's deal will be structured in a very similar fashion to Grabner's - an incremental increase until the final year where Okposo could be earning $4.5 million. With the way the salary cap works in the NHL though, the cap hit will be $2.8 million for all five years. That's not terrible by any stretch.

The amount of years is a bit surprising, to me at least. When you have a player who is still for the most part unproven, you're always going to have the concerns in the back of your mind. What this move was based on however is potential, and we know what we potentially have in Okposo. He already does have a 50 point season under his belt too.

The RFA most likely to be signed next is Blake Comeau. For him, I would only go two, maybe three years. He had a nice season and should get a decent chunk of change for it, but I'd like to see more of a consistent effort before I commit for a longer term there.

Josh Bailey is another RFA who needs to be signed, and I would think the Isles may take their time there. I don't think that they should be looking to deal him for whatever they could get, but if a deal comes up and you need to deal a young player to bring talent in, then he would be the most expendable in my eyes.

The deals the Islanders are signing now, length aside, are not bad deals and won't be coming around to bite them. They know how useful both Okposo and Grabner can be, and for $2.8 and $3 million respectively, don't break the bank. It also allows the Islanders to re-sign John Tavares next summer to a deal.

The one concern I do have is how much these deals take away from needing to get within the salary cap parameters. The Islanders have some solid players in the organization, but need to make a little bit of noise in the off-season to generate even more excitement and give this team a real shot. I don't want to see them blowing all of their available money in just re-signing their own players. I don't think this will be an issue with (relatively) small raises coming so far in relation to the expected jump in the cap floor and ceiling for next season.

CLOSE TO PASSING THE FIRST HURDLE? One of the first milestones arrived on Tuesday as the Nassau County Legislative Board had that meeting I alluded to earlier to "kick-off" their week long discussions prior to deciding if an August 1st vote is in the cards for the referendum put forth by Charles Wang and Ed Mangano.

The day started off with a rally outside of the County's Mineola offices at 8:30 AM, with many union folks in attendance holding signs and chanting. It's been estimated as many as 300-400 workers showed up for the event. Following the rally, folks assembled in the Mineola offices and did what we've come to do best: wait.

The waiting would go on for quite a while, as the Republicans and Democrats started their hearing by spending the first 15 minutes arguing about which items on the agenda they would argue about first. The Democrats got their wish, and they spoke for the first four hours about redistricting, another big issue and fine mess Nassau County has unsurprisingly been able to get themselves into.

When the time finally came, some folks tried to haggle over the date of the vote with opinions stating a vote on election day or even on the primary election day in September as being better options. Both of these were seemingly killed though, and we have a good shot at August 1st being the date - barring a NIFA smack down of the idea.

As the meeting went on, there seemed to be a good deal of support from the legislatures. There only needs to be a slight majority in order to proceed, and it appears that will happen when the vote happens at the end of the month.

It will be at that point where things will begin to get interesting as it'll suddenly become a two month sell job. Citizens need to understand what's at stake, what they are paying for in the interim and what dividends it'll pay in the long run.

One of the more interesting notes to come out of the proceedings was that as part of the contract that is being negotiated, any overages of the Nassau Coliseum contsruction would be paid by Wang himself. That is rather noteworthy, and something that cannot be overlooked in this whole thing.

Mangano says that the details of the plan will be available in June. The Legislators want to see something by July 1. I don't foresee any issues with that request. Mangano, Wang and all others involved however, MUST make everything clear as crystal. Don't say that the plan will be "transparent" and lie like many politicians do. You can't play games anymore - this is it. Answer all questions the first time around, and if you don't have the answer to one get it ASAP.

In the meantime, as fans we can keep doing what we have been doing. Advocate for a "Yes" vote, speak to friends and relatives in Nassau. Tell folks what this means to you, especially if you are a younger person living on Long Island. Remember: this is, and always will be more than just a new arena for a hockey team. This is a transformation of an entire area to make it more attractive to tourists and those looking for places to live.

DOUG WEIGHT PRESS CONFERENCE THURSDAY: Doug Weight and the Islanders have scheduled a press conference for Thursday at 11 AM, where it is expected that Weight will announce his retirement and new position in the organization.

I've missed many of the events so far this summer, but will be making the trip to the Marriott for the conference. Be sure you're following our Twitter account and I will try to update early and often.

Many folks seem split in thinking if Weight will be getting a front office position or a coaching job. I think for now he prefers to stay in the front office, but being one of the coaches is certainly a possibility. We'll see what it is he prefers tomorrow obviously. I think everyone can pretty much agree though that this isn't to announce he plans on continuing to play.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Weekend Notes: Grabner, Referendum Vote, Boogaard

2011-05-17T22:15:00.001-04:00

I'm a bit late in getting the post that I wanted to out, so I've decided to write one entry that includes some other thoughts from items that happened over the weekend in the NHL.

I'll start off with the re-signing of Michael Grabner.

Those of you who have listened to Sean and myself over the past season may recall us saying that the best thing for the Isles to do with Grabner was to sign him to a one year deal, or even his qualifying offer. Then after that, if he proves that he is no fluke give him the long term extension.

A funny thing happened recently though which changed the thought process and in turn made me 100% support what the Isles did with Grabner here.

That funny thing was last week’s announcement of an August 1st referendum vote for the folks in Nassau County. In numerous spaces, it was written that Charles Wang and Garth Snow could help the future of the team out by investing in it now in order to try and make a statement. This could have been either by re-signing your own players or by bringing in some notable players from the outside.

The Islanders didn't give Grabner his five year, $15 million extension just for the hell of it though. They strategically chose him in order to make the statement on how committed they are to keeping this team here.

Grabner now becomes the only Islander with a contract that extends beyond the current lease (Rick DiPietro is the other). Even if it only extends for one year beyond, it still makes a point.

Getting Grabner at $3 million a season now is actually a fantastic investment because the odds are heavily in his favor that this season was indeed no fluke. As a young lad waiting to be picked in the top part of the first round in 2006, many compared his goal scoring prowess to that of a Mike Bossy. I usually hate when players are compared to Hall of Famers that they have no business of even being in the same sentence as, but in order for scouts to be able to say something as incredulous as that you have to be pretty darn talented.

If Grabner repeated or even exceeded what he did this year and had to be re-signed next year, there is no chance you're getting him at $3 million.

Good job by Snow and Wang to react quickly to the news about the vote and follow it up with the re-signing of a huge fan favorite - but one whom also happens to be really good at hockey.

R.I.P. Derek Boogaard: As a diehard fan of not only the Islanders, but the NHL in general I was shaken by the loss of New York Rangers forward Derek Boogaard over the weekend.

Boogaard was a guy I really liked, and last offseason really hopped the Islanders would take a good long look at. He would ultimately sign with the Rangers (for a deal we both bashed at the time, I might add) but beyond that he was a player who had my respect.

I go back in time when Boogaard first came up. I have also been a fan of the fights, so naturally Boogaard was a guy I enjoyed watching be it live or on YouTube.

It's always going to be tragic no matter the cause of death when you're looking at someone who was 28. But unfortunately, it appears that there’s a decent shot that cause of death may make it all the more heartbreaking.

Reports indicate that Boogaard recently checked into the NHL's substance abuse program. Boogaard had only played 22 games this year after suffering a bad injury after a fight with Matt Carkner of the Ottawa Senators that left him with a bum shoulder and a severe concussion.

Boogaard was in the process of coming back, and had been skating but was a bit out of shape from all of the inactivity. The Rangers had sent him home to Minneapolis to work on his conditioning less than a month ago.

Let's hope this story doesn't get any more tragic than it has to. We send our condolences to the family of a man we respected and always hoped would end up playing for the good guys. He is now for sure in heaven.

Random Playoff Thoughts: While watching the first couple of games of the Eastern and Western Finals, a cool thought popped in my head.

1) How nice would it be to see a Lightning vs. Sharks Stanley Cup Finals? Both teams hooked up for a big trade a couple of years ago when Dan Boyle was sent out to California, and the Lightning are having their success without having the main pieces they got in the deal directly contributing for them.

Those key pieces were moved for others that have come up in a big way, however. Matt Carle was traded in a deal that brought Steve Downie to Tampa, while Ty Wishart was sent to the Isles for Dwayne Roloson.

Funny how some of those deals work out just a few years down the road, isn't it?

2) With the way the East and West finals are set up in the NHL and NBA, it's possible the winning teams from each sport could be named the Lightning and the Thunder.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

For Whom the Dice Rolls?

2011-05-10T23:28:00.001-04:00

Throughout the entire season, even dating back as far as two seasons ago, I had made it abundantly clear that I was going to do my best to ignore and not comment anymore on the 800 pound gorilla in the room - the arena situation. Unfortunately, as we get dangerously close to the 11th hour it is obvious that I can no longer ignore this situation.

Naturally, something happens that sort of forces my hand a bit. That's exactly what today's news is going to do.

A "major" announcement is planned for 11 AM Wednesday.

When I originally started putting together this post on Monday night, it was just supposed to be talk about the possibility of a deal with the Shinnecock Indian Nation. I didn't expect news relating to this situation to evolve as much as it did over the past 24 hours, but here we are.

By now, you most certainly have heard about Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano's scheduled press conference Wednesday morning at the Nassau Coliseum.

Here's what we know so far:

- Mangano released a statement around lunchtime saying:

Tomorrow at Nassau Coliseum, I will announce a major economic development & job creation plan for a sports-entertainment center and casino.

One of the things that's bothered me all day is the use of the word "plan." I'm obviously awaiting this announcement tomorrow, but just keep in mind that it could just quite simply mean "here's another idea for how to develop the land."

- Shortly after releasing his statement, the Islanders echoed what Mangano announced in a press release of their own.

- After a whole day of speculation, the Isles confirm on their splash page that Mangano, Owner Charles Wang and Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray will all be in attendance.

- Other attendees include various Isles employees, no matter the department and some available players (Michael Grabner confirmed on his Twitter account that he will be in attendance).

- Since this is a public hearing, anyone can attend. But the Isles have taken this to the next step as season ticket representatives have called their holders to invite them, with some telling their clients that the plan is for "construction on a BRAND NEW arena to begin in June 2012 with expected completion by the 2015-2016 season."

- We also know that the Shinnecocks are somehow involved given that this is a joint announcement, with a casino possibly being constructed in Uniondale, Belmont or elsewhere on the Island, presumably in Nassau County.

When Mangano recently had his State of the Union address to the residents, he talked about a joint project with the Shinnecocks, and even threw out the amount of $400 million of public money to get things going. It seems very unlikely that something of that magnitude would get passed in this economic climate, in a county that is now controlled by the state - especially after a proposed project from Wang's side had most of $3 billion covered by private funds before it was shot down.

The fact that Mangano, Wang and Murray are all going to be together at the same event is the real kicker though. That is essentially cats and dogs living together. When everyone gets together like that, the potential for the photo ops increase where everyone can suddenly puff out their chests and say "see, I got something done!"

I think what the season ticket reps are telling the holders is interesting, and only that for the time being. It would appear to me that they are being optimistic about this "plan" going through what it needs to go through and that is presumably the earliest start date and the target date that everyone else has in their minds.

The real fear that I have is that since this sounds like whatever this is will be going to a vote on August 1st (as reported by B.D. Gallof and Chris Botta), that some of the folks in Nassau will put up a big fight. I don't say that to offend anyone who reads this who is in Nassau, but if you've followed this story long enough you are well aware by now of how some folks in certain towns have this vision that they live in some sort of a Utopian society, where building up means you are becoming too much like the city.

I'm not convinced that a public vote gets us very far. Call me a pessimist, but I think at this point I've been beaten down by this too much just as many of you have been. It seems we've been pelted with rocks from all angles from the past 10 years on the arena issue.

By the way, I find it strangely ironic that on the same day when the future of the Phoenix Coyotes is up for a vote, Nassau County announces this big shindig at the Coliseum. This could turn out to be a huge two days for the NHL and two of their franchises in question. In a span of just a few weeks, the attention can turn to just three teams in question in the Atlanta Thrashers, Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars.

The logical part of me feels that what is widely speculated by fans across various message boards is what will happen. The announcement is a joint one with a casino going up in Belmont, with the tribe paying money to Nassau for the land. Then that money, and the tax on it will then be used to try and fund the new Coliseum, which ultimately won't be $400 million but less (the original number was put out there by Mangano for "sticker shock" effect).

The other wild card in this? Charles Wang. You would have to assume he'd be on board here, or why even bother showing up, right? We'll, we've heard and seen stranger from our owner, and without knowing what square we're on as of tonight we don't know what hurdles have to be climbed if any.

None of us know what to expect tomorrow, but most of the hockey world is waiting with baited breath now for this announcement at 11 AM. Some of the major outlets like TSN and Hockey Night in Canada have picked up on the Mangano statement and are now following what's going on.

Just remember to keep a level head everyone. It's good to get excited, and at the very least we should definitely see the ball begin to roll fast and furiously after this announcement. There really is no more choice anymore on the speed that ball rolls. This is the beginning of the end. We'll find out in due time if it's good or bad.

Have a good night everyone. Rest up. Here's hoping that my pessimisim is unfounded.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Postseason Potpourri

2011-05-09T23:07:00.001-04:00

While the Islanders may not have been able to participate in this year's playoffs, they certainly have been a treat to watch for the hockey fan in general.

I'm trying to think in my lifetime when I have seen a playoff season this crazy and I really can't think of one. The overtime games, the underdogs winning - it's all been really fun to watch.

When I think of what the biggest story has been thus far, I think you have to look at what the Tampa Bay Lightning are doing. Not only did they oust a Penguins team that was still very strong without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but they also quickly dispatched of a Washington Capitals team that up until this point had looked the best of any Caps team I've seen in the playoffs in recent years.

The Lightning are getting top notch performances from Martin St. Louis, Dwayne Roloson and...Sean Bergenheim?!

As strange as it may be to say that, it's not uncommon for solid role players to elevate their game in the playoffs. Bergenheim has always been a very solid role player, and I'm glad to see him having the kind of success he is so far in the playoffs. Some fans may be biter about his departure from the Island, but the reality of the situation is that it just wasn't working out here, and it wasn't going to.

Bergenheim was at the age where you could no longer consider him "the future." That point had come and gone, and when it did Bergenheim was at a crossroads. With many similar players on the roster, Garth Snow had to make a tough decision. Bergenheim was essentially redundant, and cutting him loose gave the Isles the ability to bring in guys like P.A. Parenteau and give him a chance, along with guys like Matt Martin and Michael Grabner.

At any rate, it's good to see him, along with Nate Thompson play well as solid role players on a strong team.

Fans from Minny, Edmonton and LI are unsurprised by Roli.

Meanwhile, fans in Minnesota, Edmonton and Long Island are unsurprised at the way that Roloson has played, carrying the Lightning on a couple of nights too. We knew dating back to his days as an Oiler that he can come up big in the post season, but he remained one of the most underrated goalies in the league. When he became one of the top available goalies on the market, many questioned why a team would want him because of his age. Sure, that has to be a concern, but when it comes to his play I think anyone who had watched him closely enough would know he had plenty left in the tank. Steve Yzerman watched closely, and when it came to giving up a B-level prospect for him in Ty Wishart when other teams balked, he went ahead with the move. Now, he looks like a genius.

Obviously, if it's not clear by now I am pulling for the Lightning to get all the way to the finals. Ideally, it would be nice to see Roli finally add a cup to his resume. He's putting to rest a lot of the talk of age.

Other story lines include the lack of intensity from teams that are fighting for their lives. In their respective game fours, both the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals looked like they would rather be doing something else. Unless that something else was golf, I can't fathom why neither team really showed up. In that final game for Washington, Alex Ovechkin played well and looked good. Unfortunately for him, the list ends there.

While he didn't score in last seasons upset to the Montreal Canadiens, you can't say that Alex Semin didn't try. When you pelt 48 shots at a red hot goaltender, even if he stops them all you did your part. But I can't say I feel the same way about Semin in the 2nd round. He's a very talented player who perhaps got away from the things that make him successful.

The Flyers on the other hand finally hit a brick wall when it came to their goaltender by committee. Going for relievers works well in baseball, and it worked well for the Flyers in the 1st round. But no matter who they had in net against the Bruins, it didn't change the way they played. Of course, it didn't help that the Flyers were missing Chris Pronger and had Jeff Carter at anything but 100%, but they are still a strong team up front and on defense. Goaltending continues to be an issue here, and it will be interesting to see how they solve this problem. Do they continue on with Sergei Bobrovski after giving up on him quickly? Do they try and find a way to sign Tomas Vokoun, even if it means shedding some salary? Or, do they give a call to a team for a cheaper but unknown options, such as the Isles very own Evgeni Nabokov (more on this in a later post)?

One of the other cool stories so far is the rise of the Nashville Predators. This is something I'll comment on more in a few days or so, but I am enjoying the success they are finally having. The team and their fans deserve it.

ISLES IN THE WC: The Islanders sent six players to the World Championships: John Tavares (Canada), Al Montoya (United States), Evgeni Nabokov (Russia), Milan Jurcina (Slovakia), Radek Martinek (Czech Republic) and Jesse Joensuu (Finland).

So far, Montoya has looked pretty good playing for former Isles coach Scott Gordon. Montoya did have one bad start and was ultimately replaced as the starter by Ty Conklin. In general, goalies are changed quite frequently after a bad game when it comes to tournaments like this. Montoya did have a relief appearance though on Monday, and played well again. It remains to be seen if he took back the starting spot from Conklin though.

Meanwhile Tavares has been one of Canada's best players. As TSN pointed out in an article on Sunday, Tavares had four goals and eight points while only averaging 13 minutes of ice time. In Canada's 3-2 win over Sweden on Monday, Tavares added another goal to bring his total to five.

I know a lot of fans were uneasy with Tavares going to represent his country, especially after the injury that he suffered last season. From my perspective though, it's definitely beneficial for a player like him. At that age, you want him playing as many games as possible. Since the Isles can't be a part of the dance this year, it's only natural to think that the next best thing is to play in some meaningful games to your country. While they may not be as important as the Olympic games, they certainly have a lot of weight up North especially for the non-Vancouver Canuck fans right now.

Now, on the other hand a player in Martinek's position should not be participating in games like this. Radek has always taken great pride in playing for two teams, however: the Islanders and his National team. I wasn't surprised Martinek decided to go, but raied an eyebrow when I took into consideration his contract status (UFA to be), his injury history and his desire to be re-signed by the Islanders.

Here's the conundrum now, however. Martinek sustained a nasty injury in the tournament, which ended his participation for the summer. His injuries are not as bad as originally feared, but still sizeable (concussion, but with no spinal injuries).

Martinek hasn't been the poster boy for durability, and neither has the Isles defense. Mark Eaton, Mike Mottau, Andrew MacDonald, Milan Jurcina and Mark Streit all sustained prolonged and season-ending injuries at some point last season, which obviously raises some red flags. Then you take into account that Martinek's injury history (excluding this past season, which we'll say is an outlier for now) isn't the cleanest, and I'm having a hard time convincing myself that the Isles have to keep him.

Martinek's decade on LI has been mired by injury.

Martinek is an excellent and very underrated defenseman, but does that mean the Isles should pay the price and possibly be scrambling for defensemen again next season? I think it's become quite clear that even this improved defense corps (from what it was in 2009-10) needs to be improved once more to add in durability.
When the Isles resigned Milan Jurcina, both Sean and I were happy about it. Not everyone was, and we had some good discussions about it on Twitter and Facebook. Truth be told, Jurcina is very injury prone himself. However, when he played and was used in the right situations he excelled and that's why I have no probelms with him coming back. When he was re-signed, I was under the impression that Martinek wasn't returning anyway.

Defense has become the number one issue facing this team right now in my opinion. It still could use a slight overhaul to add durability. If that means letting a very good defenseman go in Martinek, then so be it.

PLAYOFFS IN JUNIORS: Some of the Isles younger players are benefitting from some great play in the playoffs for their juniors teams too.
The most notable of the bunch is Nino Niederreiter, who is just tearing the WHL up in the playoffs with nine goals and 16 assists for 25 points over 18 games. His team is in the finals against Kootenay, who won the last game in a wild one 7-5. The series is tied 1-1. But for Isles fans, the story is Niederreiter and what he's done.

When you consider the slow start he got off to when originally going back down to the WHL, it is all the more impressive. I would be shocked if he didn't make the team next season - or, at the very least wasn't given a very long leash and every chance to grab one of the final spots on the roster (barring any unforseen changes upfront).

The experience is the reason why it was necessary for Niederreiter to go back down, and why it would have been as equally as beneficial if the Isles did right by Josh Bailey a few seasons ago. Hopefully Niederreiter's team can continue to streak through and make the Memorial Cup.

Casey Cizikas is also going deep into the playoffs as a member of Missagua in the OHL. Cizikas and his Majors are also in a dog fight with the seris tied 2-2 after a tough overtime loss on Sunday.

Cizikas has five goals and 10 helpers for 15 points in 13 games. For the OHL, those are very solid numbers. For Cizikas, each day he seems to add another chapter to a story that seemed very unlikely at one time.

As an Isles fan, you have to be thrilled seeing these two young forwards going deep into their playoffs. We have seen the past few years what Calvin deHaan was all about, as well as fellow defensemen Travis Hamonic and Matt Donovan. Hamonic of course is already up with the Isles, and deHaan had a solid year as the captain for the Oshawa Generals.

The forward picture was a bit more murky as we wondered what the ceiling was for guys like Niederreiter, Cizikas and others such as Kirill Kabanov. All three had solid showings in the post season, although each seemed to take a different route to get there. We want to have these battles in the future, even if it means making a tough decision to get better elsewhere in the organization.

OTHER NOTES: Obviously, both Sean and I have taken some time off to take care of some items we may have put aside. Those of you who have continued to follow us have most likely seen the Twitter and Facebook updates we've had throughout these fantastic playoffs thus far.

I've taken some time to think about what I'd like to write about as we enter some of the slower months and I have some good ideas kicking around in my head that I plan to have some conversations with the Isles on. Once I figure out what I'm able to do you guys will have a better idea.

In the meantime, feel free to continue to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and feel free to tell us what your favorite moments have been so far of the playoffs. As always, we continue to welcome all thoughts and questions, be it on the NHL or the Isles.

One last thing, don't be surprised if some things change on the blog here and there. I know over the winter I said I was going to change the format up, and I held off because I needed to learn some of the bells and whistles and by the time I got to think about what I wanted to do, there wasn't much left to the season so I put any renovations off until the offseason. So if you pop on one day and we're down, down fret and just sit tight.

I promise it won't be three weeks before my next post.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Grabner Nominated for Calder; Will He Win?

2011-04-19T22:53:00.003-04:00

In what was pretty much just a formality at this juncture, Michael Grabner was nominated for the Calder Trophy after having a rookie season to remember.

Grabner scored 34 goals for the Islanders this season. It's funny to look back on things such as this and realize how much of a surprise it was.

Throughout training camp, it was widely thought that if Grabner didn't make the cut, Florida could very well waive him. In all honesty, if you told m they would when camp opened I would have laughed and said you were crazy.

In our preseason "Face Off," Sean and I both agreed that you could put Grabner down for 20-25 goals once he got going. When he did eventually get going, he would far exceed that.

Grabner and Skinner will now battle for the Calder. Photo by C. Hessel

Here's the scarier thought: when he really got going in January-ish, he was sitting at about nine goals. He scored at quite an alarming rate, and did so while often getting 15 minutes of ice-time or less per game, and not a whole lot of power-play time.

But are Grabner's accomplishments enough to put him over the top against his competition in Carolina's Jeff Skinner or San Jose's Logan Couture?

This is the first year that I can recall where there were a number of strong candidates. Between these three, Corey Crawford, Sergei Bobrovsky, P.K. Subban and a few others, some players who had fine years were going to be left out.

While some people think that the Professional Hockey Writers Association strike will affect who wins in the end, I really don't think it will move enough mountains for Grabner to win the trophy. Besides, this boycott started well before the ballots were handed in, and the fact that he's been nominated pretty much puts to bed any idea that this will really sway the voting in one of the other impressive youngsters’ direction.

In my eyes, you'd be hard pressed to not vote for Jeff Skinner.

Sure, you can say Skinner had a better team around him. Steve Stamkos had an even better one around him in his rookie year in 2008, however and didn't have the year that Skinner did.

We can also sit here and discuss how Carolina didn't make the playoffs, so Skinner's season doesn't mean as much.

Be that as it may, you would be foolish to do that. What this 18 year old with a boyish face did - in a men’s league - is absolutely astonishing. Especially when you take into account he was a fairly little known 8th overall pick.

Taking a look back over time, there haven't been many players who went from a late top-10 pick to being a regular on an NHL team in a matter of months. The previous two? Sam Gagner (6th overall in 2007) and the Isles very own Josh Bailey (9th overall in 2008).

Neither has come close to having a season like the 31 goal, 32 assist campaign that Skinner did at any point in their combined seven years of service. It is very tough to come from the back of the top-10 and contribute right away, but that's exactly what Skinner did.

I know my thinking is probably not one of the more popular ones around here, and some of you had made it known during our final show of the season. That's all well and good. Just remember that the rest of the competition is very impressive to, however. I think when you look at some of these facts, while Grabner will put up a great fight, he will most likely finish a close second to Skinner. I understand Skinner has more of the media behind him and whatnot too, and yes that does play a big part.

What bothers me a little bit is when people say this as if it's a bad thing. In my opinion, all of the talk around Skinner is well deserved. People should be more in awe of his feat rather than talking about NHL bias and how that will be why Grabner doesn't win. The fact we can be having a discussion like this is excellent news for the Isles, Canes, Sharks and the NHL. A rookie class like this is something the league needed, and it's good to see they finally got one.

At any rate, Grabner has his work cut out for him. Congrats to him for the well deserved nomination, and good luck!

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Capuano Hits the Lottery, Isles Don't

2011-04-13T21:09:00.001-04:00

On a day when Jack Capuano had the interim label removed and was given the reigns for the next few seasons as the man behind the bench, the Islanders weren't as lucky.

Tuesday night the NHL held their annual draft lottery. The Islanders sat with a 10.7% chance of winning the lottery and moving up to the top pick. Unfortunately, it was the New Jersey Devils and their 3.6% odds that would prevail on this night.

It seems fitting for the Devils to get the pick. All they did for much of the last few months is win, and after just falling short of the playoffs they seemed to have just a little bit more luck in them for one more victory.

After hitting the lottery, the Devils will move up to the 4th spot from 8th. The Islanders, who held the 4th spot going in, move down to 5th as do the other teams down the line to Columbus who now takes the 8th spot.

Just before the lottery show started, I made the comment that I had an odd feeling that a team not in 1st was going to win and jump up. It seemed that statistically speaking, it was time. The previous three seasons saw the worst team win the lottery and retain the first pick.

The Islanders will still be able to pick a solid player at 5th, but unfortunately for me that player most likely won't be center Sean Couturier. Unless of course a few NHL teams are buying what the scouting services are selling and he is slipping in their rankings.

More importantly, it emphasizes the Isles need to have a good offseason. As we said on the show this past weekend, this team can ill afford to have another offseason of just drafting high, putting that player in the line-up, signing guys who have toiled in the minors and hoping for extreme maturation (or in some cases exceeding expectations) across the board. Now, it most likely makes it a little bit tougher to justify putting the player we pick in June on the roster in October (forget for a moment the ability to have players come in for nine game "try outs," of course).

INTERIM NO MORE: Regardless of who is on the roster next season, we know that Jack Capuano will be behind the bench coaching them.

The Islanders officially removed the interim tag off of Capuano as they made him the official head coach.

Of course, this was all just a formality by this point. When you look at what Capuano had done with an injury ravaged roster, it is quite a feat.

Neither Sean nor myself were happy with the decision to fire Scott Gordon back in November. Sean wasn't a big Gordon supporter from the get go, but given what the team was we both felt it was a bit unnecessary.

I can't speak for him, but I can speak for myself and say I have been pretty impressed with Capuano. I didn't think he would come anywhere close to doing what he was able to do, but I was flat out wrong. This was the right decision for the team to make, especially since they still qualify as up-and-coming. Could they have gone out and looked at the Todd Richards' or Corey Clouston's of the world? Sure, but at this point if something works, don't mess with it. The best coach in the world isn't going to make this current team as constructed into a contender over night.

It's nice to have this situation settled barely into the off-season too. I remember how frustrated I was back in July 2008 when the Islanders fired Ted Nolan, which was a long time after teams normally would make coaching changes. There were still plenty of candidates to choose from, but it seemed odd to wait that long to fire a coach.

At any rate, good job by the Isles and congrats to Capuano. This is well deserved.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles efforts vs. Pens, Flyers Pefect Symbols of Season

2011-04-09T23:50:00.000-04:00

For those who watched the ups and downs all season long, the final two games of the 2010-2011 season may have looked awfully familiar.

That's because they were both perfect representations of this season and the future. Everything that went right, that went wrong, that could use improvement and that are set for the future were seen.

On Long Island on Friday night, the Islanders came out very slow. Pittsburgh would get a 2-0 lead, but the Islanders - behind a very inexperienced defense changed the pace of the game, came back to tie it and took the game all the way to the shootout.

This against a team that has been without it's two biggest stars since January, and yet had found themselves vying for the Atlantic Division Title up until the very last day of the season.

The fact that the Islanders tied the game up with 35 seconds remaining showed the grit and determination that we have seen for much of the time from mid-December until now. Losing in the shoot-out to a team like that by only 1-0 shows that we're almost there. That was what everyone felt like after the prolonged losing streak ended in December. A lot of "almosts," a lot of "not quites." But the change happened before our very eyes.

Saturday night in Philadelphia, the Isles went into a building that has not been kind to them. It took 47 seconds for the Flyers to build up a 2-0 lead.

The Islanders would battle back again, tying the game twice before taking a 4-3 lead. After a few weak goals, they found themselves trailing again.

In net for the Flyers game was Rick DiPietro. His play left a lot of folks frustrated to say the least, and that too is a statement for how his season went. Not only was it frustrating at times to watch, but it was frustrating for the team, for Rick and for the NHL. I guess, if you're looking for a positive out of that situation it's that DiPietro ended a season healthy. Considering how things have gone for him, that is a step in the right direction. He now doesn't have until September to rehab something like last season. Now, he can perhaps regain some strength that may have been lost. He'll have that extra time now that won't be spent trying to come back from injury, but in trying to get back to where he was and hopefully be a capable netminder for a half of a season.

Michael Grabner capped off his rookie season by scoring his 34th goal. P.A. Parenteau wrote the last chapter in his Cinderella story for this season by getting his 20th goal. John Tavares scored one of his own, but fell one short of the 30 goal plateau.

Travis Hamonic scored his 5th goal of the season, on the powerplay. The 20-year-old was up much earlier than any of us expected. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone out there who thought he would stick around for as much as he did. But by the time we all expected him to be back down at Bridgeport, Hamonic was a mainstay on the Isles first pair, getting 22+ minutes a night quite often. He became the first Isles rookie defenseman since Denis Potvin to register 20+ assists and 100+ penalty minutes this season.

While neither of these efforts resulted in wins, I was glad to see them battle back and keep things interesting against two of the toughest teams in the East this year. It's hard to see that silver linings at time, especially in a season where you didn't finish with as many points as the previous year. But it is there. We're almost there.

A lot will be riding now on this offseason. Howie Rose summed it up perfectly when he said as the final seconds ticked off of the clock: "For once, a summer of optimism is ahead."

Here's hoping you're right Howie. The players have shown us a little bit. Now it's your turn, Garth Snow.

TUNE IN SUNDAY MORNING! As we begin to tie a ribbon around this season, Sean and I will be on one more time live for NYI FYI tomorrow morning at 11 AM. You can watch us by tuning into our UStream page. Come with your questions and comments and participate in the chat room. We'd love to hear from some of you.

I'll have a couple of reflection type posts within the next few days, so just because the season's over and our show will take a bit of a break doesn't mean we'll be completely silent. Be sure to continue to check up on us, as we'll surely do for some of you.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

R.I.P. EJ McGuire; Thought on Isles - Bruins; Nelson Hurt

2011-04-07T22:31:00.000-04:00

The hockey world received some sad news on Thursday when we all found out about the passing of NHL Central Scouting Director EJ McGuire, who lost his battle with cancer. McGuire was 58.

In all honesty, I had no idea that EJ was sick and when I logged on at lunch time and saw the news I almost choked. EJ was a guy Sean and I hoped to get on the show in the near future to talk about prospects.

He was such a great hockey mind, and one of the most involved folks when compared to others who hold high positions around the sport. When prospect videos were released, he was always the scout talking about the player and could talk about seemingly anyone for any length of time without needing much material in front of him. He never judged a player solely on his numbers.

It's folks like him that make people know so much about the future of this sport. EJ's insights were something I would go out of my way to find in order to brush up on a prospect I did not know.

More importantly, McGuire passing away at such a young age is really a killer. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

ISLES - BRUINS THOUGHTS: Michael Grabner tried his hardest to give the Isles a win over the struggling Bruins, but in the end it wasn't meant to be.

Grabner scored two goals - one on the power-play, the other short handed - but the Isles could not overcome two quick Bruins goals in the 2nd period and lost 3-2.

For the Islanders, it was one of the better efforts they have had in a loss lately. Rick DiPietro, in my opinion, looked the best he had in a number of games. Early on he made some nice saves and really kept the Islanders in the game. On the Bruins 3rd goal (Greg Campbell), Mark Katic looked just plain silly. I have a hard time faulting DiPietro for something like that.

Speaking of goalies, Wednesday night they needed the netminding to be stellar as they were icing five defensemen with under 60 games played in the NHL.

The newest member of the defense, courtesy of injuries to Jack Hillen and Milan Jurcina, was Matt Campanale. Campanale actually has a cool story about how this all came about, starting with originally planning spring break, to signing an ATO with the Sound Tigers, to signing a one-game ATO with the Islanders. Campanale would only get 8:21 of ice-time, and it's difficult to really say how he played. I don't recall seeing him make any glaring mistakes in his brief time, but he didn't do anything spectacular either. Congrats to him and his family, as he can at least say he played one game in the NHL. Who knows what happens to him in the future. In the meantime, he'll go back down to Bridgeport where he had only played two games thus far.

Josh Bailey had a better effort than he's had in the past. He was cutting to the slot area at the right times to get passes and good chances on net. If it were anyone other than Tim Thomas in net, Bailey may have ended with a couple of points to show for all of his troubles. But Thomas was very confident in net, coming far out of his crease at times to make saves. Twice Thomas made miraculous, sprawling saves on Bailey.

Radek Martinek looked a bit shaky, and has in the past few games. I'm chalking that up to the defensemen that he's being surrounded by right now as the clock winds down on the season.

John Tavares played well, had a couple of penalties and didn't get on the score sheet. However, one thing I did notice that perhaps some of you picked up on as well (if Jiggs and Butch discussed it then I didn't hear it) was that he was wearing an 'A' on his jersey with Frans Nielsen now out for the remaining games.

There aren't a ton of options on the ice right now, but I do think it's rather telling that Zenon Konopka, who has pretty much been the voice for the team all season long, did not get a letter to close out the year. I think the team has plans to try and explore other options for their money.

All in all, while it wasn't the greatest effort it certainly was not the worst. It's a shame that a decent start by DiPietro and some great play from Grabner goes to waste, but that's what happens when you play extremely short handed and have such a green line-up.

The Isles now get to return home for their last home game of the regular season as they take on the Penguins. I will be at this game, but not in the press box. I'll be a paying customer for the first time in a couple of months. I'm really looking forward to sitting down in the seats one final time this season.

If anyone is expecting similar stuff to go on like the last time these two teams met, then I'm sorry. Neither I, nor many other folks are expecting much of anything to transpire. This is a very good Penguins team battling for home ice advantage right now, and what they have done without Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin is commendable. A win for the Isles would be huge here.

BROCK NELSON HURT: On Thursday night, Isles prospect Brock Nelson was taken off the ice in a stretcher during UND's final four match-up tonight with the University of Michigan. He was taken to the hospital as a precaution, and the team is calling it a lower body injury for the time being. Hopefully it really is one big precaution. This team has had enough injury and the NHL and AHL level that they don't need it dipping into their prospect pool right now, especially with some of those higher quality prospects playing big games at this time of year.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Hurricanes Show Why They Are Still in This

2011-04-02T23:25:00.000-04:00

The Carolina Hurricanes knew they had what was essentially a do or die game for them as they came into the Nassau Coliseum on Saturday night for their final match-up with the Islanders this season.

By the time the game was over, everyone saw why this is a team that is very much still in this playoff race.

Despite the Islanders getting a 2-1 lead and then proceeding to control the play for a good chunk after that, the Hurricanes did not back down and would score three unanswered goals in the third period on their way to a 4-2 win.

Every Rangers fan was rooting for the Isles in this one, and for a decent portion of the game they were getting exactly what they wanted. However, things would quickly fall apart for them. After the Hurricanes won, the Sabres played a back and forth game with the Capitals, earning a point as they lost in overtime. The Toronto Maple Leafs also won as they defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-2.

The Rangers have a Sunday afternoon date with the Philadelphia Flyers, and they sit one point behind the 7th place Sabres and one point ahead of 9th place Carolina.

The Islanders, meanwhile, put up a good fight against another team that has been playing some really strong hockey of late. The same individuals who have been carrying the Canes were at their top of their games - guys like Eric Staal and Erik Cole.

Jesse Joensuu was one of the top Isles forwards. I feel this was clearly one of the better games I've seen him play. Earlier this season, I felt he was playing well but I was clearly in the minority when the Islanders sent him down shortly after that. I think there is still a decent amount of untapped potential when it comes to Joensuu, and so far he is off to a good start when it comes to making a last gasp impression to the coaching staff and management. He got almost 16 minutes of ice time Saturday night, and given what he did with it, will continue to log significant minutes in the final three games.

I was disappointed with the way that Josh Bailey played. He only got 14 minutes of ice time, and to me was rather invisible. As he gets slightly less ice time and more is given to guys like Joensuu, especially with players like Frans Nielsen now missing time, one has to wonder about his future. He will be an RFA this summer, and hasn't done a ton to warrant a huge pay raise. It'll be interesting to see how that all plays out.

The Isles had to patch together a defense, but I felt they played pretty well. Dylan Reese in the past two games has looked the way he did for a majority of the games to end last season. Mark Katic has looked good to me considering his size and what he is. With the Isles on a 6-on-4 advantage, Katic did fumble the puck that led to the Staal empty net goal, and that is one play you can definitely chalk up to inexperience. But aside from that, I thought he looked steady, picked his spots as far as when to jump into the play and was very strong positionally.

Meanwhile, Ty Wishart and Jack Hillen both returned after suffering injuries against the Rangers and got very limited ice time. That gave both Katic and Reese the opportunity to log 20+ minutes, and they did quite well with it. I would imagine now with a few days off Hillen, Wishart, Bruno Gervais and Milan Jurcina will have plenty of time to rest up. I'm not really anticipating many of those guys to practice these next few days.

Al Montoya wasn't really tested with anything incredibly tough. The Carolina goals were from some tips in front, particularly Cole's goal. That's one instance where the defenseman has to do a better job there, especially on someone who has made a career out of scoring big goals in front like that. But Montoya made most of the saves that he should have and doesn't really get much blame in this one.

In a way, this was like the tale of two games. For most of the third period, the Canes wanted it more and you could feel their desperation and their pressure. At that rate, you knew it was only a matter of time before they started to break through. There's a reason they are still in this race with so little time left.

The Isles have off until Wednesday when they go into Boston to take on the Bruins. That is going to be one tough game. But, the last time these teams met the Islanders stunned the Bruins and beat them 3-2 at the Coliseum. So, we can definitely say that stranger things have happened. But while the Isles have been on a good run since that point, the Bruins have as well.

NYI FYI SUNDAY: Just a friendly reminder that we will be on live tomorrow at 11 AM. You can tune in by watching us on our NYI FYI UStream page. There you can watch us in real time, as well as participate in the live chat. So be sure to come prepared with your comments or questions.

We have a good show planned for you guys as we'll discuss the team's play this week, the re-signing of Al Montoya, the PHWA boycotts in honor of Chris Botta and more. Remember - Sunday at 11 AM!

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Hurt Rangers Playoff Hopes

2011-04-01T17:19:00.000-04:00

Thursday night's installment of the Islanders-Rangers rivalry had a lot more riding on it than some people may have thought.

Just a week earlier, the Rangers were in 7th place by a decent margin and giving the Montreal Canadiens a run for their money. But a couple of losses coupled with some wins by the Buffalo Sabres have put the Rangers in a very precarious situation as they are tied with the Sabres for the 8th spot.

Surely they would come out flying and give the Isles quite the battle, right? No, not really.

Despite an early goal from Vinny Prospal on a really nice play to Al Montoya's left, the Islanders came back and scored four goals in the second period on their way to a 6-2 win over their rivals.

The Rangers had seven chances on the power play, and didn't look good at all on some of them. For some others, the Isles penalty killers did a fantastic job.

Montoya came up big and made some really nice saves when he had to. He only allowed two goals on 27 shots, and frustrated the Rangers. The smile on his face after the game said it all as he finally got a win against his original team.

The Islanders lost a couple of players to injury during the game, as Frans Nielsen was hit from behind by Marian Gaborik and Ty Wishart suffered a shoulder injury after a collision.

Nielsen has a head injury, and it will most likely be determined that it is a concussion. The NHL failed in not suspended Gaborik for at least a game. So much for the consistency that we spoke of during the radio show last weekend.

Hopefully Wishart isn't out for any significant time. He was playing really well and moving the puck well throughout the first two periods of the game.

Any time he has come up to fill in on defense, Dylan Reese hasn't looked great. But on Thursday night he played well, looked good positionally and even had three assists.

Trevor Gillies would score the final goal of the game for the Islanders. The fact that it happened was a perfect icon for how the game went for the Rangers.

Speaking of Gillies, the game had a lot of intensity to it but once the pendulum swung in the Isles favor, they had most of the hits and won most of the fights.

The Rangers are now left with four games to break a tie for 8th and keep the Carolina Hurricanes away, and they only trail by three points. Henrik Lundqvist was pulled in this one, but was seen limping for much of the day prior to the game after suffering an injury in Buffalo. He didn't look too good at all, and perhaps the injury threw him off a bit. The Rangers have a very tall task ahead of them given how the Hurricanes have played of late with the pressure on.

The Isles take on those Hurricanes Saturday night, when every Ranger fan undoubtedly does a 180 and roots for the Islanders. The Isles haven't fared too well against the Canes this season, and the last time they were here they beat the Isles 4-1 on a blizzardy night just before the all-star break.

NABOKOV NEWS: Believe it or not, Evgeni Nabokov's name has resurfaced again with the goalie looking for permission to go to play for Russia in the World Championships. While Nabokov admitted he wasn't talking to the Islanders directly, there were some conversations going on.

Today it was reported that the Islanders weren't returning calls from the KHL, and the Islanders haven't submitted Nabokov's permission slip. What goes around, comes around.

Good on the Isles to take a hard stance. Bad on Nabokov to not be a good soldier in the first place.

DONOVAN'S DEAL: The Islander signed defensive prospect Matt Donovan earlier in the week, which was speculated for a long time. The Islanders had to make a decision on him this year, and he has played really well for the University of Denver.

The Isles drafted Donovan out of the USHL, which has become a bit of a hot bed of sorts in the past decade when it comes to producing NHLers. The Islanders have fared well with all of the guys they got from the USHL, starting in 2006 with Kyle Okposo.

The Isles have to make some decisions on some other guys, but many of them are still playing in the playoffs. As time goes on, we'll get some more news on those individuals.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com