Bruno Gervais Traded to Lightning

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

Islanders Claim Thomas Pock and Other News

This afternoon the Islanders announced that they have claimed defenseman Thomas Pock off waivers from the New York Rangers.

The move comes as a bit of a surprise because as Chris Botta reported this is a one-way contract which ensures Pock will be with the team for the year. One has to wonder about who other than Chris Campoli has sustained some kind of injury. Pock, 26, has been know as an offensive defenseman for much of his career. The 6'1", 210 lb. blueliner has amassed seven goals and seven assists in 59 career NHL games with the Rangers, while going 23-89-112 in 195 games with the Rangers AHL affiliate the Hartford Wolf Pack.

The biggest looser of this could possibly be Bruno Gervais. While many have assumed he would have a spot on the depth chart on this team, Scott Gordon has had him as the 7th defenseman all camp. Freddy Meyer has been playing in the 6th spot, one that many thought Gervais would have for sure. The fact that Campoli is hurt and the Islanders had been rumored to be in on the Schneider sweepstakes before he was sent to Atlanta and have now actually claimed an offensive defenseman really makes you question exactly what the team feels Gervais's role on the team is.

Isles-Devils at Coliseum: The Islanders will play their 4th preseason game on Wednesday Oct. 1 at the Coliseum. The Isles are 2-1 so far after splitting their last two games, loosing 4-0 to the Flyers and then beating the Panthers 4-2. The teams scoring problems proved to still be a problem for the game against the Flyers, and rookie Josh Bailey only had two shots in his first game. Going back to the OHL might be the best thing for him at this juncture, but it was only one game and there is still time for the team to work out some of these kinks. Two Islanders the team is putting a lot of faith in, Trent Hunter and Frans Nielsen scored 2 goals apiece to beat the Flyers. With Mike Sillinger out, many feel that Frans Nielsen will be the guy who will see a bulk of the playing time as the 3rd line center between Jeff Tambellini and Hunter. Many people are hoping that Hunter can regain his scoring touch from his earlier years, and this was a good start for him.

Botta Returns: Chris Botta has returned to blogging for the team. After going on hiatus July 7, Botta has a new site and a new format. His site is frequently updated every day. As usual, he has provided some great insight and has let readers know some information that wasn't out in the open before. He's even broke the story about Pock's one-way status. The link has been updated under our links section on the side of the page, and you should definitely check it out.

NYI FYI Radio Show Returns 10/5: Sean and I will be back for our second season of NYI FYI this Sunday at 10 PM at MYWCWP. We're very excited to get our new season underway and return to talking Islanders hockey!

nyifyichris@yahoo.com

Isles beat Lightning 4-0; Al Arbour Night Tonight!

On Thursday, the Islanders defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-0. Bill Guerin, Josef Vasicek, Ruslan Fedotenko and Trent Hunter all scored for the Isles. Rick DiPietro came up huge and bailed the team out on a couple of occasions to get the shut out.

The team played a much better game then they did the previous Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes. They came out a bit slow in the first period, but by the end of the period they began to play like we all know they can. That carried over into the 2nd and 3rd periods.

Team defense overall was very good. Chris Campoli had 4 blocked shots. he has really come around this year and looks like he has improved on his rookie form of 2 years ago. Very excited to see him develop even more over the next few years.

All 4 Islander goals were scored at even strength, which is good to see being that the team had struggled with 5 on 5 play so far this year. The absence of Bryan Berard has been noticeable, especially on the power play. But he has been skating in practice and could return on another week or two.

Tonight is a very special night in Islanders country as Al Arbour returns to coach the team for 1 game. Radar will be coaching in his 1500th game for the team when the puck drops at 7 PM against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. I am going to the game and cannot wait! Hopefully the team helps Arbour get his 740th win as a coach. With big events like this, the team has played well over the last few seasons. Being that this is a big event, I would expect your typical blue collar Islander effort. The Penguins are a very tough team to beat, but the team could very well pull it off. We shall see.

Absent tonight from the lineup is Sean Bergenheim. Ted Nolan said Bergie is sore, and now reports say it's his shoulder that is giving him some problems. Right now it looks like it's a day-to-day thing, but at least for tonight, Bergie is out and Ben Walter is in. The team called him up from Bridgeport this morning and it looks like he will make his Islander debut tonight. Good luck to him on that, I'll try and take notice of him while at the game.

Sean will also be at the game. We could be more excited for this one. Should be a packed house and a playoff atmosphere!

Chris

Guerin gets Winner to Beat Devils 4-3 in OT

Bill Guerin scored with 3.7 seconds left in overtime to give the Islanders and 4-3 win over the New Jersey Devils. It was a game that probably should have never gone to overtime though, as the Isles blew their second consecutive 2 goal lead. However, the Isles still found a way to win it and finished the week winning both their games.

Early in the game, turnovers looked like they were going to kill the Isles. Their second turnover in the first minute of the game led to a Zach Parise goal. As much as the Devils have struggled this year, you can not turn over the puck continuously to guys like Pairse, Patrik Elias, Brian Gionta and Dainius Zubrus.

The Isles came out much stronger in the 2nd period, scoring 3 goals. The first was scored right after a power play ended. Josef Vasicek took a blocked shot attempt by Miroslav Satan and moved to the front of the net and beat Kevin Weekes to tie the game. Shortly after that, Satan got one himself has he moved around Paul Martin and then a sprawling Weekes and slipped the puck passed him for the 2-1 lead. With about 8 minutes to go on the period, The Isles were on the power play. A nice pass from Ruslan Fedotenko to Bruno Gervais produced a one-timer shot from Gervais, that hit the crossbar and landed somewhere in the crease. The puck bounced out to Mike Comrie who quickly shot it passed Weekes for the 3-1 advantage. The team went into the 2nd intermission with a 2 goal lead, the worst in hockey.

The Islanders came out a bit sloppy again in the 3rd, and the Devils seemed to control more of the play. A fluke goal was scored by Jay Pandolfo when he shot the puck and it deflected off of Andy Sutton's leg and sailed over DiPietro. The Isles then failed to convert on a 4 minute power play and once it concluded, Brian Gionta tipped a Paul Martin shot in to tie the game at 3.

In Overtime, after some great end to end action that saw a flurry of saves and even Chris Campoli spoil a breakaway by Sergei Brylin, it was the heroics of the captain, Bill Guerin, who had a loose puck bounce his way and he hammered it home for the win on the power play.

Obviously, even though they scored 2 power play goals the team seemed to have trouble with some of the set ups and what not. That is most likely due to the loss of Bryan Berard, who left the game early on with what is being described now as a groin injury. With a week off, I really hope Berard can take the time to get healthy enough and get some practices in. It also appears Shawn Bates could be back for the game next Saturday as well, so it should be interesting to see who will sit in favor of him.

So a successful week in islanders hockey, and now we must wait until next Saturday until we see the Isles again.

WE'RE ON THE AIR TONIGHT: Sean and I will be on the air again tonight, at 10 PM on http://myweb.cwpost.liu.edu/dcox/website/listen.html. We're on webradio, not on the FM station. Just as last week, we will have a phone line and an AIM screen name running so you can send us your thoughts and questions. We'd love to hear from any fan as we love discussing hockey in general, but especially the Islanders. Hope to hear from some of you tonight. For those who can;t listen, we will put the podcast form up. We'll let you know when it is there.

Guerin's Hat Trick helps Isles beat Capitals 5-2

Through 6 games, all Bill Guerin had to show offensively was 6 assists. Even though he played well in those 6 games, a sniper like him always like to put pucks in the net. He would have been happy with one.

Guerin not only scored his first goal as an Islander in the game, but he also had his second and third. The monkey on his back had been lifted. Two of his goals came on the powerplay, something the Isles had trouble with over the last 2 games.

However, it was Bryan Berard's power play goal for the team that would end up being the game winner. Berard one-timed a pass from Chris Campoli at the point with 10 minutes left in the 3rd period to put the Islanders up for good. Berard now has 2 goals and 2 assists in 4 games with the team. Campoli had 4 assists and was noticeable all game. He was strong at both ends of the ice and has impressed many through each game this season.

Sean Bergenheim also scored for the Isles, his first goal since March of 2006. It was nice to see Bergie get the first one after coming back from Europe this year. He has really done wonders on the 2nd line playing with Josef Vasicek and Miroslav Satan.

Alex Ovechkin and Tomas Fleischmann scored for the Capitals. Their goals came about 5 minutes apart after a goal by Ruslan Fedotenko was disallowed. It appears that the goal should have been allowed, but the NHL said they didn't have enough evidence and the call on the ice stands. After that, Washington seemed to get momentum and quickly got on the board with Ovechkins goal.

Even after all that, the Isles were able to get it together and get a powerplay, the one that Berard converted on for his game winner. Despite all the scoring, Rick DiPietro was once again spectacular, making 27 saves on 29 shots. The Isles were out shot, and many times it looked as though Rick didn't have time to relax as he always had to be on his toes.

A game like this could be just what the doctor ordered for the team. Bill Guerin finally scoring should make things easier for him. It would be nice to see Satan and Mike Sillinger step up their game a little bit, and hopefully they can start that next game. Sillinger has been a 60 point scorer the last few years and the Isles would really like to see him do it again this year. Both he and Satan have yet to score a goal this year.

The next game is Saturday night against the Devils at the Coliseum. The Devils have had some early season problems and Marty Brodeur has looked shaky at best. Hopefully the Isles can pull one out and have a very successful week.

Islanders Lose to Rangers 5-2

After all of the anticipation for the 2nd and final meeting of the preseason between the Islanders and Rangers, things didn't go quite as expected.

No, there were still fights. But some key players were missing from both sides. The Rangers had their entire lineup in with the exception of Jaromir Jagr and super pest Sean Avery. Earlier in the week, Avery had hinted at the idea of taking a run at some of the Islanders after what happened at the Coliseum last Monday. Even Andy Sutton spoke out on Avery, saying he should just focus on playing hockey. But it seemed everyone who was involved in the scrums last week from the Islander's side did not dress for the game. No Simon. No Sutton. No DiPietro.

Many of the players for the Islanders in the game will be starting the year in Bridgeport. With 3 games in 3 days, it seems the Isles didn't want to take a chance on having players get injured in a meaningless preseason game, especially with guys threatening to run others.

Brendan Shanahan scored twice, once on starter Joey MacDonald, the other on Mike Morrison. Also scoring for the Rangers were Scott Gomez and Martin Straka. Petr Prucha iced the game with an empty netter. The Isles tallies came from Sean Bergenheim and Trent Hunter.

In all honesty, there wasn't any Islander who really stood out in the game. Bergenheim showed some good speed and scored a nice 5-hole goal on Lundqvist. Darryl Bootland had a pair of fights, and will become a fan favorite down in Bridgeport, maybe even on the Island for a few stints. As for the defense, the only regulars who played were Bruno Gervais, Chris Campoli and Marc-Andre Bergeron. All 3 were OK, but they are definitely still learning. It is going to be interesting to see who gets that last spot on defense.

The Islanders play the Devils tonight at 7 PM at the home of the Sound Tigers, the Arena at Harbor Yards. The game will be shown on Islanders TV through NHL center ice. I would imagine most of the regulars will be playing tonight as the game is the 2nd to last preseason game. The Isles will play their final game tomorrow against the Bruins.

On a sad note, coach Ted Nolan lost his brother recently and did not make the trip to the Garden for last nights game. He will also miss tonight's game. His status has not been revealed for tomorrow yet. Our prayers go out to you, Ted.

It's Been a While

Sorry for not updating the site in a while, but things have been going crazy lately. Until Sean finds some time, most of the posts you are going to see will be from me. Anyways, let's just touch on a few things:

ISLES TRAINING CAMP: Now, I'm sure most of you followed the Isles through training camp. Camp was again held up in Moncton, and the citizens up there were very thankful to see the Isles again. They had a welcoming parade for the team and the mayor even treated them to dinner. Going up to camp is a perfect way for the team to bond with each other, and what better place than Ted Nolans old stomping grounds to do so. It's nice to see the Isles have picked up some fans there along the way too.

Mike Comrie has been very impressive so far in camp. In every scrimmage and preseason game he has played in, Comrie has wowed everyone. In 2 separate scrimmages he scored hat tricks, and this past Monday against the Rangers at Coliseum, Comrie had 2 goals and 2 assists, one of the goals coming in OT to win the game. The combination of Guerin-Comrie-Fedotenko seems to be shaping up very nicely. I had my doubts and while those aren't the biggest of names, it is certainly a first line and I have a feeling will be very good come October 5.

Another player who has impressed me is Josef Vasicek. I voiced my opinion against signing him and thus far have been proved wrong. He uses his size well, keeps his legs moving and has the ability to be a god playmaker. He is also very capable of scoring a goal here and there. he keeps up what he has shown in camp, and many fans will be saying "Viktor who?" by seasons end.

As for the defense, it does appear that Bryan Berard will be making the squad, which leaves 4 others for the last spot. Things are still up for grabs and it appears Bruno Gervais is slightly in the lead. Campoli has a one way, 3 year deal and will be tough for the Isles to pass through waivers. The other fighting for spots are Freddy Meyer and Aaron Johnson.

The Isles have played 6 preseason games so far, and have a record of 2-2-2. They take on the Rangers again tomorrow night at the Garden. Based on the last game, tempers will most likely flare and Sean Avery has hinted that he might make a run at some of the Isles, including goalie Rick DiPietro. If Avery expects to do anything, he better expect to drop the gloves as well because he won't get away easily with it. How he will do in any fight is still a mystery, as he usually just likes to talk tough. We shall see though.

DUNHAM OFFICIAL: On the first day of camp, Mike Dunham was officially introduced as the new goaltending coach. Good move because both DiPietro and Dubie talked to him many times last year in pressure situations such as the shootouts, so they really respect Dunham's word. If he is that much of a calming influence, then there should be no issues.

NEW RADIO SHOW COMING: As I said back when we started this site, Sean and I will both be doing an Isles radio show. It is scheduled to start on October 7th at 10 PM. I will have more info about it after I finish going through the training for it, but we're really excited to get it going.

That's all we have to say for now. Be sure to check out tomorrow's game on MSG at 7 PM. It should be an interesting one. Tonight at 7, FSN will have the Islanders Preview show that they have each year, which usually gives a good recap of the new additions and how things look so far in the preseason.

We'll post a recap of tomorrow nights game right here, so be sure to start checking back again now that we have come out of hiding!

Chris

EDIT: I noticed I left out the Bruins-Isles trade that went down just before training camp. The Isles Shipped Petteri Nokelainen to the Bruins for prospect Ben Walter and a 5th round draft pick in 2009. While many feel that Petteri would have been the perfect mold of a Ted Nolan type player, the committee felt otherwise. Walter had 67 points in 73 games for the Providence Bruins last season, and is just 2 years older than Petteri. It will take another year or two before we can really tell if this an upgrade, downgrade or a lateral move. Either way, the Isles acquired someone with a good skill set that we hope can translate into a good NHL career here on Long Island.