It's July 1st! Details About Free Agency Show and who Isles Should Call

Happy free agency day hockey fans! Ah yes, it’s Christmas in July. Many fans will be tuned to their TV’s, cell phones or computers to see where the players from this year’s free agent crop will land.

First off, let me remind you that we have our special episode of NYI FYI today, from 12-4PM! You can find us at http://wcwpsports.com/ as we will be going out of the sports studio over at C.W. Post.

We’re very excited about our special guests, which includes:

Chris Botta of Islanders Point Blank and AOL FanHouse

Kevin Allen of USA Today

Dennis Vaske, Islanders defenseman 1990-1998

Ted Nolan, VP of Hockey Operations for the Rochester Americans and former Islanders Head Coach

Curtis Zupke of the Orange County Register

Michael Boone of the Montreal Gazette

Andy Strickland of HockeyBuzz and 1380 ESPN Radio in St Louis

Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

We’re really excited to have them on the show and do hope that they all have the time to come on with us (barring something crazy happens where they have other obligations, of course). For those of you who have specific questions you want us to ask them, please do not hesitate to e-mail us at nyifyi@gmail.com.  Sean will also have a Cover it Live chat room posted here on the blog for you guys to check out too. If that isn't for you, then we'll be giving you the AIM screen name and phone number to reach us at. We want you guys to take part in the show, so please do not be shy!

Now that the reminders are out of the way, let’s take a look at some players. Obviously, the biggest name on the market is by far Ilya Kovalchuk. It’s going to be interesting to see if a team out there meets his demands, if he takes a lesser deal for some championships, or just decides to go for the KHL. Aside from him, there are no real special players this year. There are however plenty of solid, serviceable veterans that many teams will covet as they try and fill various holes.

From an Islander standpoint, the opinions are all over as to what we should expect. What we do know is that the salary cap has gone up, and the Islanders are more than $10 million below the cap floor. They have let loose all of their UFA’s except for Doug Weight, and let Jeff Tambellini and Sean Bergenheim walk as well.

On Wednesday night, when speaking with Katie Strang of Newsday, Garth Snow re-iterated his stance on what he would like to do, explaining he would like to bring in “some size and a defenseman to move the puck.” So looking at that description, as well as thinking a little outside the box, there are a few free agents out there that I think can be realistic for us and within our price range.

-Pavel Kubina is a guy who is on the market and one I would like to see the Islanders add. He is big and puts up points, and is good at blocking shots too. He had a $5 million price tag in Toronto and Atlanta, but now understands that he won’t get the same amount on this contract. Atlanta is letting him walk away after exchanging offers, and Kubina explains that it has nothing to do with Atlanta but more that he is looking for a fair deal. If he considers fair 4-4.5 million, I would be all over this if I were Snow.

-Paul Martin is a guy I know many fans have their eye on. Despite his injuries last season, many teams know what they are getting in a guy like Martin. He likes being in the tri-state area, and both New York teams are said to have some interest. It is also believed that the devils are trying to keep Martin in the fold. I feel that his demands will ultimately be outside of what Snow considers sensible when all is said and done.

-Carlo Colaiacovo’s name has been thrown around a ton for many different teams. He has a decent size for a defenseman and plays with a little bit of an edge. Along with that comes a decent offensive game, but nothing to set the world on fire. He is more than capable at moving the puck though. This issue here is injuries. They have plagued him for a decent part of his career, much like Radek Martinek. As much as I like Colaiacovo’s game, I’m weary of adding him to the roster when Martinek is on it at this time. That is just too many possible unreliable defensemen. But he will be very affordable because of that.

-Zbynek Michalek could be one of the best defensemen you’ve never heard of. He has been very good for Phoenix the last couple of years, and was their top defensive defenseman. At 27, he would be a great guy to invest in long term and lock in at a decent price, while being a very good fit with Mark Streit on the top pairing. Unfortunately, most of the league has heard of him and took notice of him during the Coyotes rebirth this past season. There will be some fierce competition for him as he is no longer under the radar. One of the favorites is believed to be the Ottawa Senators, where Michalek’s brother Milan plays.

Those are the defensemen I would target right off the bat. Granted they may not be the best available, however they are very solid, top-4 defensemen who could skate on the Islanders top-pairing. Should they prove to be out of our price range or have other ideas in their mind, then there are some decent fall back options.

-Jordan Leopold is a very slick offensive defenseman. He doesn’t bring a ton to the table offensively and has had a bit of an up and down career. He can put up a decent amount of points though, and would fit the Islanders high octane system very well.

-Shaone Morissonn has not been talked about at all during the last couple of weeks, but he is out there. I noticed him only a couple of weeks ago and after running his name by a couple of fans on Islander Mania, the feeling was only luke-warm and generally indifferent. I suppose that fits in with Morissonn’s career. A few years back he was Washington’s answer to Mike Green’s defensive deficiencies on the fist pairing. Over the past few season’s however, he has seen his ice time drop by almost 5 minutes per game, and this past season he averaged about 15 minutes a game. He has his flaws, but would not be the worst option in the world for a physical defenseman.

-Andy Sutton hit his way into the hearts of many Islanders fans, and he could have that chance again. Ottawa is desperately trying to re-sign him with the certain departure of Anton Volchenkov, but he has stated a desire to come back to the Islanders.

So what about the forwards? At one point Snow did say he wanted to add someone with the potential to net about 20 goals. After Kovalchuk, there is a significant drop off in terms of scoring but there are some serviceable players that if put in the right positions could succeed here. He’s also stated a desire to add a little toughness, so I’ll include some players for that as well.

-Alex Frolov, for whatever reason, is a guy I’ve had a gut feeling about since the Islanders played the Kings a few months back. He had a lackluster contract year, and isn’t quite ready to flee to Russia just yet. He has proved that he can put up points in this league, and had done so fairly consistently. He could be ideal for the Islanders if they are looking for some cheap, short term alternative scoring.

-Matthew Lombardi is the apple of many fans’ eyes, and for good reason. He is very versatile as he can play all 3 forward positions and can even net 50-60 points. His defensive game isn’t the worst thing in the world, and he’s decent at face-offs if he has to take them. I personally don’t see the Islanders signing him given their confidence in Rob Schremp, Josh Bailey and Blake Comeau, but he is an option that is out there.

-Lee Stempniak is a solid 2-way player whose offensive game seems to be all or nothing. A deadline day trade that sent him to the Coyotes from the Toronto maple leafs seemed to rejuvenate him as he went on to score 14 goals in the last 18 regular season games, matching the total he had in 62 games with Toronto. He would be a solid addition and leader for this Islanders squad and can slot in on a few different lines when needed.

-Chris Higgins’ name has been tossed around, and it has been in connection with the Islanders. I’m not sure if that is because there is genuine interest there, or if it is just because he is from Smithtown. I’ll go with the later though, as I don’t think he is the type of player the Islanders will look to sign to a contract seeing as he has had a multitude of problems and doesn’t provide much if he doesn’t score anymore. If he is still out there in August, a training camp invite might be more reasonable.

-Eric Nystrom is another name that has been tossed around, this one for obvious reasons. However, he actually would be a useful player as he brings some size and aggressiveness to the lineup. There would obviously be a pride factor here as well. That’s not to say he doesn’t bust his butt no matter where he’s playing, but playing in his home town for the team he grew up watching and loving might have that effect on him. Regardless, he would be a good player to replace the Jon Sim/Tim Jackman void.

-Vinny Prospal rejuvenated his career with the Rangers this past season after being bought out by the Tampa Bay Lightning. He and Snow are friends from their Flyers days, and Prospal proved that he can still be useful with skilled players around him. Tavares, Okposo and Moulson will benefit from his playmaking skills. The Islanders have had interest in Prospal in years past, too.

-Paul Kariya is a mystery thus far. Injuries seem to have finally caught up to him, but still had a respectable season for the St. Louis Blues last year with 18 goals and 25 assists. He could come over on a low risk, high reward deal and play the left side on one of the top two lines. It wouldn’t be the first time the Islanders tried something like that. However, something tells me Kariya stays in the Western Conference.

-Arron Asham’s name popped up in Strang’s Wednesday afternoon chat and Chris Botta followed that with quotes from Asham, saying he would love to return of the Islanders gave him a call. He said he’d love to stick up for the young players on the team and be a veteran leader since he himself is now older. He’s 32, and can still contribute in an agitator role. He did well with that the last few years for the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Flyers. I wouldn’t mind seeing him back, but I think that Flyers coach Peter Laviolette will try and petition the front office to keep him.

Goaltending will be interesting to see, because I think the Islanders plan on going with Nathan Lawson at this point in time. I personally would rather them base it on which kind of defensemen they sign as you have to be careful with a guy like Dwayne Roloson at his current age. I wouldn’t mind if the Islanders went after guys who were sitting out for a while, similar to what they did with Marty Biron last season. There are only so many goalie spots in the NHL, so one or a couple of Chris Mason, Jose Theodore, Marty Turco, Dan Ellis and Antero Nittymaki could be sitting around for some time. If they are still out there in a week or two or 5, it doesn’t hurt to call them up. But goaltending is not a priority at this time.

This list isn’t necessarily the players that I would target, but more so the players that I think the Islanders could go after based upon hearsay and what they are looking for. Snow maintains that he has no restrictions on spending money, but prefers to spend it wisely on player they identify as good deals as they did with Streit 2 years ago and Roloson and Moulson last season. In general, Snow has done a good job in free agency. With the team trying to make it back to the playoffs as the next step in the rebuild, they have to go after some of the player on this list at the very least, as well as cast some lines in the trade waters as there are going to be plenty of solid players on the block with not much required in return due to contract issues.

It should be a fun next few days/months, not only from an Islanders standpoint but for hockey fans in general!

-Chris

Scott Gordon Introduced as Coach

On Tuesday, the Islanders made the hiring of Scott Gordon as their head coach official. For many, the decision to hire Gordon came as no surprise because of his reputation of developing younger players.

Gordon was a finalist along with Paul Maurice and Bob Hartley, both of whom have a ton of experience of coaching in the NHL. Gordon has had plenty of experience and success in the AHL, and is poised to bring the same things to the table in the NHL.

But experience aside, in my opinion Gordon was the perfect choice for this team right now. The Islanders needed someone who was going to work with younger players. They needed someone with a solid system. That's exactly what they got in Gordon.

I don't have anything personal against Maurice or Hartley. I think both were unfairly canned from their previous jobs, considering their respective GM's track records. But when you really look at it, there were some questions surrounding both. I do think any one of the final three would have worked out, however I was really high on Gordon for this job.

Known to be a defense first guy, Gordon explained that the best defense is a great offense, and explained that he likes to use a constant forecheck. he also acknowledged that he likes to utilize his teams speed and preaches "overspeed." That should be a welcome sight for fans who have watched the Isles under Nolan the last few seasons. It was going to undoubtedly be a much faster team with all the youth coming in, but the departure of Nolan and the entrance of Gordon ensured that the younger players might be used more than they were under Nolan.

The Islanders couldn't have gone wrong in my opinion with either of the 3 finalists. While many would say it is a gamble because of the inexperience, Gordon is part of a new idea that many NHL teams are using. Ottawa, Atlanta and San Jose all hired unproven coaches this offseason.

Time will tell how this works. I think Gordon will be just fine and I'm very excited to see what he does with this team. The important thing is that the Islanders must give him plenty of time.

Islanders, Nolan Go Separate Ways

The Islanders have announced that the team and head coach Ted Nolan will be going their separate ways. The Islanders will begin their search for a new head coach immediately.

Anyone who was surprised by this hasn't been paying attention very much. Many people could see this coming beginning with some comments near the end of the season. It was clear that the GM and coach weren't on the same page, and although they tried to say everything was going to be worked out when they really sat down to think about it they could see it wasn't going to happen.

Now sure, everyone is sad to see Ted go. He led the team to a improbable playoff berth in 2006-2007, along with some help from the now departed Dubie. However, one can't overlook some of the flaws that were in Ted's coaching, flaws that could hinder the development of some of the younger talent that the team is trying to infuse. Ted preferred to go with veterans over the youth, which is fine for a coach who wants to win now. I would expect every coach to want to win now. You don't go into a season expecting to lose. However, you also don't continuously go with what is failing. And if a team is going through a youth movement, then you stick it out and just be patient. The rewards will be excellent in the future.

The Islander teams were slow under Nolan, that is no secret. Ted did want to play a more up tempo style at the beginning of his tenure. But he had to adjust. So when he had the opportunity to get faster with some young blood last season, why didn't he do it? The Islanders' playoff hopes were barely alive for much of the last couple of months, so why not? That's something that Ted only knows himself.

Now, Garth Snow has a chance to hire a coach of his own choosing as the Isles committee is now dead. As always it seems Wang will have some input on the new coach, but one would hope as little involvement as possible. Let Snow choose his own candidate on his own, someone who he can work with.

The Islanders say that they will be interviewing some high profile guys such as John Tortorella, Bob Hartley and Joel Quenneville. Good for them. Later today I will update this with some more in depth details of the candidates. It has been a while since I wrote and just wanted to get my thoughts out there.

Chris
nyifyichris@yahoo.com

Just One Big Happy Family

As many of you heard, last week there were some waves in Islander Land when Garth Snow announced the team would not be bringing back Dubie due to the fact that the coaching staff lost some confidence in him when he showed up to training camp in poor shape. Last week, Nolan responded by saying that Snow's comments came as a surprise to him as he thanked Dubie for all he did in his time here.

Isles fans grew uneasy reading the contrasting opinions as they feared that the coach and the GM might not be on the same page. This dates back to a disagreement that happened back in March. With the team in a playoff race, and back to back games against the rival Rangers, Rick DiPietro was returning from the funeral of his grandmother. After Dubie started the first game, everyone felt that Rick would get the nod for the second game. That wasn't the case as Nolan went with Dubie, who had the hot hand at the time. When asked if he raised an eyebrow at the decision on the Mike and the Mad Dog Show, Snow responded "one eyebrow, or two?" Needless to say, people had been worrying for some time now.

The two insist that everything is fine, and talked about being a family that has disagreements from time to time. They said at a recent business club meeting at the Coliseum that they would rather have miscommunications like this stay inside the "household." Disagreements could turn out to be the death for coaches, but this seems like it was far from that. I think there wasn't much communication on this topic from the start of the season. Nolan said Dubie was out of shape due to an injury, and it's possible that is something Snow might not have heard. We also know Rick would play all 82 games if possible, so it would not surprise me to hear that Rick and only Rick was the reason he played 33 of the first 35.

I really thing this whole thing was insignificant. Sure, it made me think a little bit, and i started to go through the whole thing of Nolan not having a contract and things like that in my head. But these are things we can't control. Just because Nolan isn't signed beyond this year doesn't mean he's not coming back. Just because most teams follow the idea of not letting a coach go into a final year of a contract doesn't mean the team won't let it happen. To be quite honest with you, I never understood the concept myself. Brian Burke, the GM of Anaheim isn't signed beyond this upcoming season, and rumors swirled that he would take the leafs job. His response was that his planned on fulfilling his contractual obligations in Anaheim, and then thinking what to do next. But he has repeatedly made it clear that he loves Anaheim and how he has brought that team along. So, I really feel that Nolan going into a final year of a contract means nothing. It's a bridge that the team will cross when they get there.

Right now, the team should be thinking more about who to draft, trade and sign during the summer. There is no doubt that there are many issues that need to be looked at during the offseason. The team also needs to decide if they are going for a complete rebuild, or just have a decent amount of youth sprinkled in the lineup. There are so many scenarios to go through, that it would take too much time for me to dissect them now.

The lack of rumors since the end of the finals is killing me. Sure, there aren't any free agents to sign yet but trades cam happen and with the draft quickly approaching one would think we would hear more. We'll have to see how things go over the next few days. I hope so; it'll give me more exciting things to write about!

Isles Come From Behind to win for Arbour

Down 2-0 going into the 3rd, it seemed unthinkable to me that the team would lose on Al Arbour night. However, it did seem possible against one of the most talented teams in the Eastern Conference. But just like the slogan said in the old days when Arbour used to coach, the outcome was never in doubt.

The Islanders fought back hard, and ultimately Miro Satan scored the winner with two and a half minutes to go in the 3rd. The Islanders had scored 3 unanswered goals against the Penguins in the 3rd to win the game. It was a vintage Al Arbour game as well- a strong come from behind effort, and handing a loss to the Penguins as they were very familiar with back in Al's prime days.

The ceremony after was outstanding. being in the stands, I can easily say it was the greatest thing I have ever witnessed in the NVMC yet. As a 20 year old fan, I haven't been able to witness very much yet. But this was one of the best times I ever had at a sporting event. It is something I will remember for the rest of my life.

I know many fans were hoping for a 740 banner to be raised, but the isles raised a 1500 one instead. Rumor has it there are plans to raise a 740 banner later in the year, maybe on an upcoming alumni night.

Other than all the festivities for Arbour is the fact that the team went down 2-0 to one of the powerhouses in the east and still managed to fight back to win. The team did an excellent job containing Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Satan played the hero part, getting the tying and winning goals. The GTG was on a vintage Miro wrister off of a very nice pass from Josef Vasicek, something that he hadn't found in the first month of the season. The second and GWG was a second effort off of a rebound by Marc-Andre Fleury and Miro was there to bang it home.

The crowd was very loud, the atmosphere intense. It felt like a playoff game in there. The players wanted it for Al, as did the fans. A great job all around for the Isles.

Enough can't be said about Ted Nolan in all of this. It was ultimately his decision, and he ran it by Garth Snow and Charles Wang. After approval, they invited Arbour to come back and coach for one game. It really shows how much Nolan respects the Isles for giving him his second chance in the NHL, and also speaks volumes to how much he respects the Islanders roots. Nolan had a very tough job ahead of him at the beginning of last season, and that was to begin a culture change on Long Island. After seeing Ted as coach for 1 season and 1 month, I can honestly say I have seen more amazing things that I have seen in any of the previous seasons as an Islander fan. Things like this get recognition around the league, as can be seen from the many positive articles being published about the team today. Great job all around, especially by Ted Nolan. He is a keeper.

Here is a video of some of the main points of last nights game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55H9idRz4vk

Oh, and by the way, the Islanders are second in the division with a record of 7-4-0. Not to shabby for a team the was predicted by "experts" to be at the bottom of the league, don't ya think?

On a more serious note, Rick DiPietro took a Crosby stick to the eye in the 2nd period and did not return. His eye is OK though, and he will get looked at again on Monday. Right now his status for Tuesdays game against the Rangers is unknown. We'll keep you updated as always.

NYI FYI ON THE AIR TONIGHT: Sean and I will be on the air tonight at 10 PM on http://www.mywcwp.com/. We'll be taking calls and IM's and are asking fans who listen to call in or IM to share their favorite Arbour Memories from over the years. We have a nice show planned tonight, and the 2-0 week makes it much easier. After the show we will be putting up the podcast which will be available at the link on the side of this page titled "NYI FYI Podcasts." Enjoy!

Chris

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

Isles Lose to 'Canes 8-3

Many people wondered how the Islanders would respond to a 6 day layoff. The only activity the team had over the past week was practice. The lack of game activity definitely showed last night with the loss to the hurricanes.

Ruslan Fedotenko, Marc-Andre Bergeron and Mike Sillinger scored the goals for the Isles, however Sillinger's goal came with 5 seconds left. The team definitely showed the signs of rust, and that's really what it comes down to.

Most of the goals given up were very soft, however not one person is to blame for this. While Rick DiPietro didn't have his head in the game, he didn't have much help from the defense. The forwards had trouble holding the puck and did not play with as much fire as they have shown in the past.

With their next game on Thursday, it doesn't appear the team will get days off this time around. As a matter of fact, I expect Nolan to work the team very hard and I expect them to be prepared for Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The team is better than what the game last night showed. We know it, the fans know it, and the team knows it.

ON THE AIR TONIGHT: Sean and I will be on the air once again tonight at 10 PM on http://myweb.cwpost.liu.edu/dcox/website/listen.html. As always, we will be taking calls and instant messages via AIM. For those unable to listen, we will be putting up the podcast version and we hope to have that up quicker than we have in the past.

New Podcast Posted and Some More Line Shuffling

Looking to spark some more offense out of the team, head coach Ted Nolan decided to switch up some of the lines at Wednesdays practice. Bill Guerin was moved to the line with Andy Hilbert and Mike Sillinger, while Trent Hunter was moved to the line with Mike Comrie and Ruslan Fedotenko on it. The Islanders first line did a great job the first couple of games, however they have cooled off since then. Time will tell if the new lines will work, but it does come as a bit of a surprise this early in the season, especially since the Fedotenko-Comrie-Guerin line looked great in preseason and the beginning of the regular season together. Hunter and Sillinger have been relatively quiet in terms of offence, so Nolan hopes the changes benefit both of them as well as the others.

Also spotted at practice was Shawn Bates. He is very close to returning, but has been cleared to play. On the teams website, Nolan said he will put Bates through rigorous practices over the next week and if he hold up well there he will return. Hopefully Bates can come in and chip in the way he once was able to before his groin issues.

Marc-Andre Bergeron appears to be the odd man out once again going into Thursday's game with Washington. Nolan said that he has to work his way back into the lineup, and Bergeron understands that. I know he is a small guy and I don't expect him to constantly hit people off the puck, but as a defenseman he should be able to poke check the puck off an opposing players stick or at the very least be able to control the puck very well on offence. Both of those aspects have been tough for Bergeron, but I do feel that he could turn it around. We'll see though.

As Sean and I said, it is interesting to think what could happen if Bergeron is unable to make the lineup again. With the recent appearance of Jeff Tambellini, one that didn't last very long, you have to wonder if there is something going on with Jeff. I know the Isles respect him and feel he is one of their top prospects, but he has been unable to stick even after Jon Sim went down with injury. If a deal came up where both Tambellini and Bergeron could be packaged, I would imagine Snow would look into it. It's no secret the team needs help offensively, not to mention a really good top pairing defenseman, but I think they can get by on what they have right now as far as defense goes. If Bergeron has a hard time making the lineup, I think this might be something worth watching more closely as time goes on because if the team continues to score goals, something could go down. Snow has already proven that he's not afraid to pull the trigger to fix his team, and that wouldn't be any different this early in the season.

Our podcast from this past Sunday is up at http://www.nyifyi.mypodcast.com/. It was our first live show and it went very well. We tried to do as much analyzing of the games that were in the past week and picked apart some specific things we noticed. Unfortunately, no one called in but hopefully as time goes by people will. For now, enjoy it and don't forget that we will have recaps of the games this week right here.

Chris

Islanders Sign Defenseman Bryan Berard

The Islanders announced today the signing of defenseman Bryan Berard to a 1 year contract worth $725K. The signing comes as no surprise as Berard impressed coach Ted Nolan after he was invitee to training camp. Berard came into camp with the goal of earning a spot on the Isles roster, and it was successful. he was a notable force on the power play in the action he saw in the preseason.

Over the weekend, the Isles had put defenseman Freddy Meyer on waivers. He was claimed by the Coyotes yesterday afternoon. The purpose of that move appeared to make room for the signing of Berard, which seemed imminent even though he wasn't one of the 8 defensemen to make the team out of camp. Meyer and Aaron Johnson grabbed the 2 extra spots. With Meyer out now, Berard has the spot.

Berard practiced today along side Johnson, who can't be sent down without clearing waivers. The Islanders seem to be holding on to him for now, as they just signed him this past summer. It seems as though Nolan plans on using both Berard and Johnson soon, and Bruno Gervais might be a casualty of that. It seems likely that Berard will be in the lineup Wednesday night when the Islanders take on the Rangers at the Coliseum.

INFO ABOUT THE PODCAST: There appears to be some spotty problems occurring with the podcast. For some people recently, the entire podcast is not downloading. Sean and I are working on fixing the problem, but it appears to be a problem with the host. It seems that if you subscribe to the podcast through iTunes, the entire thing downloads. Or, try to download the podcast again tonight or tomorrow sometime. Again, we are trying to figure out whats going on, and if we have to switch hosts we will update you and update the link as well.