The Islanders dropped both of their split squad games last night, with the "A" team losing to Calgary 3-2 in Saskatoon and the "B" Team losing 3-1 to the Flyers.
Unfortunately, only the game in Philadelphia could be seen online. Although the feed wasn't the greatest, I was able to see enough to get a good idea of where some players are at.
As far as Dwayne Roloson goes, I thought that he looked pretty good. Sure, he may have had some early-game jitters and whatnot, but I thought he settled in nicely and looked sharp to me. When you're talking about a soon-to-be 41 year old goalie, the main thing you want to look for is speed and quickness. He doesn't appear to have lost much, if any yet which means that he can still play at a high level and give us similar play as last year.
Jack Hillen played a lot, and the team tried to run some of the offense through him. He played a solid game, and had some good offensive chances. There was one particular play, in the slot where he had a chance that turned out to be a good one, but if he was only a split second quicker. He's one of the players people are looking at to step up during Mark Streit's absence, so naturally many people are going to be watching him closely in these games.
Krys Kolanos scored the only Islanders goal. He has always been an excellent scorer at the AHL level, and I would hope the Islanders keep him around for that. Jon Sim and Andy Hilbert will probably be call-ups at various points this season, so it would be good to have a proven vet scorer down there all the time.
As far as the Isles' game in Calgary, the best we can go on is what we've read in various reports online. Andrew MacDonald seems to be a guy who shined, playing most of the night with James Wisniewski. Rick DiPietro played two periods and gave up the three goals, but looked OK. He had one bad turnover to give the Flames their 3rd goal. The Isles goals were scored by Calvin deHaan and Trevor Gillies.
The most important thing to come out of the night, however, is that everyone remained healthy.
The Islanders's next game will be Friday in New Jersey against the Devils, with the team having an off day today. No word on potential line-ups yet.
PETROV TRADED IN KHL: Russian prospect Kirill Petrov was traded in the KHL, going from Ak Bars to Yugra. Petrov was consistently a healthy scratch in Ak Bars, seeing as they are a much more veteran-laden team than Yugra.
While we won't see Petrov until next season at the earliest, this could possibly be good news as he will now get some more playing time so he can properly develop. It was very frustrating to see what was going on in Ak Bars, and some people wondered if the team was doing it intentionally to make an example out of him.
My initial thought of the trade, which sent a 5th-round pick to Ak Bars, was that that it was even more evidence that the KHL was trying to mess him up. But looking at it now, this could be a good move. After all, he signed a contract there, and it is only right to honor it. Hopefully we'll see a better developed Petrov next season.
SOURAY ON WAIVERS: There's not much of a story here, but I wanted to address this before more people asked about it. Yes, Sheldon Souray is on waivers once again. No, they won't claim him (if he gets past Columbus, that is). NHL.com writer Brian Compton agrees. The Islanders added Mike Mottau the other day, and that's that. There are eight defensemen on one-way contracts. Save your waiver claim for a forward who could possibly hit waivers (see Ryder, Michael).
-Chris
nyifyi@gmail.com
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