While it may have not had the feel of a training camp just yet, you could sense the excitement in the air for many of the players at Islanders Ice Works in Syosset on Friday.
The players, many of whom have already been at Ice Works skating informally, had to take their physicals and perform off-ice exercises as they prepare for yet another training camp.
By the time Sean and I were able to get there this morning, some of the players had already come and gone. However, we were able to catch up with John Tavares, Blake Comeau and Bruno Gervais.
All three have interesting story lines surrounding them as we enter camp. For Tavares, the big question is what kind of a follow up he'll have to his overall good rookie season last year. Comeau was on a hot streak until his season was cut short due to a broken foot, and he now has to use the camp in order to find that level of success once again and go into the season with it. Gervais was very up and down last season, and with three new defensemen in the fold, his job got a little tougher.
All three are very well aware from these stories and you can hear that in our interviews with them.
In lieu of a lengthy post for the training camp primer, Sean and I got together and made a two part, one hour and 30 minute podcast for you guys to listen to. We go through the different battles, speak about many of the players and the stories surrounding them and really focus in on Gervais, Comeau and Tavares and play those interviews for you.
As always, these podcasts can be found at our NYI FYI podcast site here. You can even subscribe to our podcasts through iTunes by using the links on the side of the page to be sure you keep up with us as we record shows.
For those of you who don't feel like listening to the preview and analysis and are only interested in what the players had to say, then feel free to check out the NYI FYI site and look for the sound bites on the right side of this page.
In the Bruno Gervais interview, a couple of questions came from Christian Arnold of Islanders Hockey Blog. He asked some good questions, so we left those in and just wanted to give him a shout out for that.
A couple of items of note before we leave you to enjoy all of our coverage from the day. Tonight, the Islanders announced lines for the two training camp squads. These are obviously going to change as we go along with camp, but Scott Gordon seemed to make some very interesting combinations up. I feel that the Mark Streit - James Wisniewski pairing was a very likely scenario, so it is obvious to have them as the top pairing on one of the squads. I'm very curious to see how the Josh Bailey - Frans Nielsen - Nino Niederreiter forward line does. Matt Moulson - Rob Schremp - Kyle Okposo is another very interesting one to keep an eye on as well.
As far as injuries go, we are going to have to wait a little longer to see enforcer Zenon Konopka and new defenseman Mark Eaton. Konopka has suffered some lower back issues and has no timetable set for his return, while Eaton has some back spasms and should be able to practice late next week. Let's hope that happens, and that Konopka returns quickly. He was a guy that many players spoke highly of today since he brings an element that the team has lacked for a few years.
Looking for ways to expand our coverage for you guys and bring you some extra goodies, we have created a newsletter that you can sign up for on the NYI FYI main website. Sean has been adding a lot to the site over the last couple of weeks, and we are trying to make that the main hub for all things NYI FYI and make it easier to access all of the items we have to offer. So please, definitely check that out and take a look around.
That's all we got for now. Tomorrow, with players finally jumping onto the ice I'm sure there is going to be a lot to discuss and analyze and we'll be sure to give you some sort of summary.
Enjoy the audio and the podcast!
-Chris
nyifyi@gmail.com
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