Isles Win Over Rangers; Rolston Waived; NYI FYI on Sunday

The Islanders latest test came from one of the NHL's top teams and their division rivals, the New York Rangers. On the surface, this game had the makings of a very tough match-up.

But the Islanders got some good news a day before the game when it was announced that both Travis Hamonic and Evgeni Nabokov would be returning to the lineup. Both were integral parts in helping the Islanders to a 4-3 shootout win over their rivals.

Islanders not Intimidated on Road by Captials

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.

Isles, Nabokov Snap Funk to End Calgary's Streak

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.

Isles Lose as Injuries Mount

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.

Isles Blow Three Goal Lead in Colorado

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.

Winless Streak Ends at Six

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.

Big Changes from Capuano as Lines Shuffled

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.

Isles Beat Wild, Unsatisfied with Effort

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.

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

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

Wisniewski Shipped to Montreal

In a bit of a stunner, the Islanders shipped defenseman James Wisniewski off to the Montreal Canadiens today. The Islanders got back a compensatory 2nd round pick in 2011 that Montreal was getting for not signing their 2006 1st rounder and a conditional 5th rounder in 2012. The player who failed to sign was selected 20th overall, so the 2nd rounder will be the 50th overall selection.

The fan base seems to be very split on what has happened here. Not because of the return, because it is a very good one for a guy who has proved he is at best a #3 defenseman. Rather, they are upset because of the message that it is sending out about how salvageable they feel this season is.

If anyone out there truly thought that this team still had a legitimate shot at the playoffs, then I'm sorry. Quite simply it was not happening this season. That much was clear after the month long losing streak. I do not advocating throwing the towels in prior to the trade deadline, but the Islanders do not get this return if they wait. They maximized an asset that was gone in July, because I truly did not believe he was going to re-sign here.

I posted on our twitter account that this could have been part of a precursor to another move, but doubted that idea. Since then, many other media personalities have come out saying they feel the move is connected with the Devils placing forward Brian Rolston on re-entry waivers. The move would make sense as the Isles would be able to stay around the cap floor and also pick up a veteran forward for next season with Doug Weight out and his status for next season up in the air at this time. On re-entry waivers, Rolston would cost $2.5 million and can play all three forward positions.

I stick by my belief that this isn't any precursor but rather just status quo for what has been going on around here for the past few seasons. While this was not supposed to be a rebuilding year, it will continue at least through this season. As much as it pains people to say it, I think this was the first indication that the Isles are throwing in the towel for this season and will start giving time to younger players.

Wisniewski was never shy to say what was on his mind, and I appreciate the time he always took to speak with me when I would interview him after games or practices. Speaking to him at training camp, the guy was legitimately excited to be here. I had asked him about being paired with Mark Streit and he knew how awesome that would have been for the both of them.

When Streit went down for what will essentially amount to the entire season, I had an idea Wisniewski was doomed. I always liked his game, and was really excited when he was brought in for just a 3rd round pick. I knew what his weaknesses were though, and how they would be exposed when playing the most minutes on a defense. He was steadily improving lately, but the Islanders still haven't won enough games to justify holding onto a player for too long and getting a pretty crummy return in the process.

The Canadiens filled a much needed hole on their blueline. Defenseman Andrei Markov is out for a while, possibly the entire season. Marc-Andre Bergeron is still out there, but Montreal has been there and done that last season. The emergence of youngsters in P.K. Subban and Josh Gorges means that Wisniewski won't need to play 25 minutes a night as often as he was here.

Best of luck to James in another excellent situation for him in Montreal.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

New Podcast Posted; Sunday Evening Notes

As promised, Sean and I got together today and recorded our first podcast of the new season. The show can be found here.

We encourage you all to not only download this weeks episode, but subscribe so that you can get the subsequent installments as well. There are links on the side of the podcast site that tell you how to do so. As two loyal listeners pointed out to me tonight (thank you John in DC and jkeitz from Twitter), you can also subscribe through Google Listen or Dr. Podder for those of you who might not have iTunes. I am not familiar with either, or how they work, but for those of you who are tech savvy, by all means do so. Also, for anyone who knows other ways to download the shows, please do not hesitate to e-mail us about them so we can inform our other listeners, or leave a comment for all to see.

Today was a really good time to record a show seeing as the team just finished their preseason schedule, and also cut 17 players this morning. We were able to discuss items like that, which was a good change of pace. Don't get us wrong - we love doing the offseason shows like the free agency special or the training camp primer - but they are nothing compared to actually talking about the team and the performance on the ice. We were excited, and you can feel that it is the eve of hockey here in New York with the cold air finally arriving.

Now that the season has officially arrived, we encourage you guys to click around and visit some of the links that are here. Be sure to check out our NYI FYI home page and sign up for the newsletter, which should begin rolling in the next week or two.

SUNDAY EVENING NOTES: With teams having only until Wednesday to finalize their rosters, expect some movement. While there have been no rumors of the Islanders possibly making any moves, keep one eye open. There are supposed to be some decent forwards hitting the waiver wire. One forward, Michael Grabner, Sean and I spoke about in the podcast. He was unable to crack Florida's lineup to start the year, and in order to go down to the minors needed to be placed on waivers. I am a little surprised that Grabner is being placed on waivers, despite not having the strongest camp, and would be equally as surprised if no one claims him. Top-15 picks being placed on waivers does not happen very often. Still, he can be considered a bit of a project, but he did score 11 points in 20 games last season in Vancouver.

A couple of teams still have salary cap issues that need to be resolved by Wednesday. The most notable ones are the Boston Bruins and the New Jersey Devils. The Devils are believed to be shopping Colin White, Brian Rolston and possibly Jamie Langenbrunner. Bryce Salvador was once considered as the most likely player to be banished, but he is battling through some concussion problems. It remains to be seen what happens there. The word surrounding the Bruins is that they could possibly end up demoting Michael Ryder depending on if some of their younger prospects impressed them enough. The first week or so of camp there was a lot of talk about this, but not as much in the past week. Has Ryder done enough to redeem himself, or is he on his way out?

As far as defensemen go, there is the Sheldon Souray watch (we needed someone to painfully keep track of once Kovalchuk signed, right?) as people look for Edmonton to possibly put him on re-entry. Word out of Edmonton is that they still have hopes to trade away the disgruntled blue liner, but everyone knows their situation and is not offering them anything of value. We'll see what happens there. Shane O'Brien was put on waivers by Vancouver, and there is some belief that he will be claimed by someone, perhaps even the New York Rangers.

Some Isles fans are wondering what we are in store for when it coms to claiming players, but will we be putting any players on waivers? We already waived one player, defenseman Dustin Kohn. He seems to have gone unclaimed (so far) and will most likely report to Bridgeport. The Islanders still have eight defensemen on one-way contracts, leaving people to wonder about the status of Bruno Gervais. The fact that he was sent to Quebec City to play with the "B" team (and didn't have a great game, either, by many accounts) might tell us something. The real questions here are 1) do the Islanders feel comfortable having two defensemen as healthy scratches and 2) how confident are the Islanders in Radek Martinek's ability to stay healthy? If they are pretty confident, then they may have no reservations about waiving someone, or even trading them for someone elses spare part (like Ryder).

The only thing we know for sure is not to expect the Islanders to claim any of the defensemen. The search for blue liners ended with the signing of Mike Mottau.

Many of the players already on waivers have to either pass through or be claimed by 12 noon Monday, so we won't be waiting long to find out the landing place for those who have already hit the wire.

CAMMALLERI HEARING: Mike Cammalleri has a conference called with the league scheduled for Monday morning to discuss his incident with Nino Niederreiter during the Isles-Canadiens game on Saturday night. We'll keep track of any news of possible suspensions (there should be one).

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com

Okposo out 3 Months; Mottau signed to 2-year Deal

As the old saying goes, "when it rains, it pours." No, I'm not referring to the weather on the Island lately, but the news surrounding it's only professional sports franchise.

The Islanders got even more bad news on Tuesday, as a second opinion on Kyle Okposo's shoulder revealed that he has a torn labrum, which Katie Strang reports will keep the star winger sidelined until December. His injury, like Streit's, will require surgery. Fortunately, the timetable isn't as bad since Streit's was so awkward and had three different injures.

What is unclear at this time, however, is what Okposo did to hurt the shoulder. The injury apparently occured during the powerplay scrimmage they had last week Thursday, which was only open to the mainstream media.

Whatever the case may be, now the Islanders prepare for three months without their defensive anchor and their best all-around forward. Now, everyone will be holding their collective breaths as the team - finally - begins to play some preseason games.

We'll see who steps up now. Obviously, we were already looking for a breakout season from Josh Bailey. Now, we'll sort of need it to happen. A full season of Rob Schremp will be good for us, and given the recent history of talented 1st overall picks, John Tavares can realistically eclipse the 30 goal mark. There are some young players around who might surprise in the exhibition games who could possibly make the squad such as Nino Niederreiter, David Ullstrom and Jesse Joensuu.

The Islanders can also look and see who goes on the waiver wire, or who is made avaliable by a team that has no cap space (Michael Ryder of the Bruins, Brian Rolston of the Devils).

Garth Snow talked about how this provides an opportunity for the younger players to step up and earn that spot. Ironically, he said the same thing after Mark Streit's injury. Just two days after that announcement, however, he announced the signing of defenseman Mike Mottau to a two-year contract, worth $800K per season. Mottau spent the last three seasons with the Devils.

Islanders fans might remember Mottau best for his hit on Frans Nielsen a couple of seasons ago. I sure do, and even voiced my displeasure with it. However, now that that's in the past, I am not too concerned with that.

Obviously, he is not Streit. Snow talks about Mottau's puck moving ability, but he is more of a defensive defenseman. The Islanders were not going to come anywhere close to Streit, even if they ended up getting Sheldon Souray instead. I still personally would have liked Souray, but given that the Islanders have no interest, perhaps there is something there, and perhaps his trade demands have truly turned more teams off to him than I originally thought. So be it.

Mottau gives the Islanders even more good depth. The offense from the blue line doesn't appear to be there, but it's going to make James Wisniewski, Andrew MacDonald and Jack Hillen step their games up. When you add Mark Eaton, a healthy Radek Martinek and mix and match Bruno Gervais and Milan Jurcina if needed, it's not the worst thing in the world. This defense is collectively better than the defense last year, disregarding Streit.

Some people are wondering why they gave him a two year deal. To be honest, in the scheme of things I'm not sure if it really matters. Perhaps it was the only way to get him here. If so, well, this team has Wisniewski, Gervais, Jurcina and Martinek all in their contract years. I think this tells us a little of what they think of Gervais so far, and his order on the depth chart. Jurcina was brought on as a Scott Gordon project, and if he doesn't do well, won't be back. Martinek has had a hard time staying on the ice in recent years, and is a candidate to be let go after the season if he gets hurt again.

As far as what else Mottau brings to the team, for those of you who may not know (I honestly didn't) NYI FYI friend Andy Strickland had an excellent entry on his new site about Mottau and things you may not know about him. Some really good stuff there, and shows you how much of a character guy he is to boot. Right now, it appears he's a good option for a lower pairing, but can play more minutes if need be.

Before I leave you guys alone for now, I want to give credit where credit is due. When Streit went down with his injury, I mentioned how that the Islanders could send the wrong message if they simply went with a young defenseman and didn't even try to bring in a solid vet to fill the role. I honestly didn't think they would, as they had seven defensemen on one-way deals. But here we are, with Mottau signed and at eight defensemen again. Regardless of the player, or the terms, the Islanders are trying to keep their word. I respect them for that, and am very curious to see if the offense is handled the same way.

-Chris

nyifyi@gmail.com