Monthly Archives: September 2008
The Islanders have always liked Thomas Pock, like his skating, like his composure on the power play. A guy like Pock could have made a big difference for Bridgeport last year. So it’s not surprising they plucked Pock off waivers from the Rangers today.
But the bigger issue is, why. Or better yet, why? If we are to believe the love this week for Jack Hillen and the stated comfort factor with Brett Skinner and Chris Lee, it seems fair to make the leap that the Islanders may be preparing themselves for some time without Chris Campoli. (This is the sort of guesswork media are forced to make when teams do not disclose injury reports).
I spoke with Campoli today. At face value, he seemed okay, wasn’t sporting any large bandages or slings and he didn’t seem depressed. He confirmed whatever’s ailing him is unrelated to his shoulder injury that led to surgery last season. If I read him correctly, he also seemed to imply this was a long-term injury.
Maybe the Islanders hope to get Pock to Bridgeport to play 25 minutes, run their power play and see if he can make some strides in his development. Pock seemed to fall out of favor with the Rangers since the beginning of last season. Maybe Garth Snow and Scott Gordon just love the player so much, they think he’s automatically better than some of the players in their top 7, healthy or not.
The Islanders released the news of Pock’s acquisition after a half-dozen reporters left Iceworks. We missed the chance to speak to Gordon about it. I have a call in to Snow and will post an update if there are any revelations.
Here’s Sam Weinman’s quick take from the perspective of a Rangers beat reporter. And here’s a piece of the Islanders press release:
The New York Islanders have claimed defenseman Thomas Pock off waivers from the New York Rangers. Pock has played in 59 career NHL games and has scored seven goals with seven assists for 14 points.
Last season, Pock played in one game with the Rangers and went scoreless. He also played in 74 games with the Hartford Wolfpack of the American Hockey League and scored seven goals with 37 assists for 44 points.
It’s the first day of Long Island New York camp and I have to admit it feels a little odd to be around the team again. I don’t think this day is Live Blogging material, but I will pass along some updates.
10:45 am
Practice started about 30 minutes ago, after a small group of 8 took the ice. Now anybody taking the full practice is out there. Scott Gordon told me before practice that besides DiPietro and Campoli, there are some other guys with assorted ailments that will take it easy for a few days. One of those appears to be Andy Sutton, who is not practicing. Park took a shorter practice, as did Guerin. Here’s the color combinations:
Goal: Danis, MacDonald
Blue (defense): Gervais, Hillen, Lee, Martinek, Meyer, Witt, Skinner, Streit
Yellow: Colliton, Fritz, Jackman
Gray: Bergenheim, Comrie, Hilbert
Red: Bailey, Okposo, Sim
Orange: Comeau, Guerin, Hunter, Nielsen, Park, Sugden, Tambellini, Weight
11:30 am
Players, I assume those with the various aches Gordon was referring to, are regularly coming on and off the ice. Bergenheim is one notable. I learn that the players have been told not to discuss their injurues with anyone – especially guys who bring their laptops to practice.
Gordon seems to have zeroed in on four lines for today’s practice, for what it’s worth:
Tambellini – Nielsen – Hunter
Bergenheim – Comrie – Hilbert
Sim – Bailey – Okposo
Fritz – Colliton – Jackman
Lots of drills, lots of instruction. It’s been a while since I saw a practice like this.
1:00 pm
Practice ended around noon. In his scrum with reporters, Gordon tangoed with Logan like Pacino in Scent of A Woman on the subject of injuries to DiPietro, Campoli, Sutton and the parade of players going off the ice mid-practice. In the nicest way possible, the coach said nothing. Then at the very end, he said, “I’m a bit taken aback by all the hip flexor and groin injuries. It seems to be a lot of the guys that were here last year. Not that I’m saying it’s anyone’s fault.” Good stuff.
Also from Gordon: “The practices are geared to be like typical shifts in a game.” To be certain, all this tightness in players’ legs is far from a sign of disaster for the Islanders. If anything, it means they are working hard, especially on stops and starts. Only if players are being nagged by groin issues in the days leading up to the season opener would I consider it a concern.
Tambellini Back: Jeff Tambellini took his first full practice in several days and appears to have made it through without any difficulty. With four games in the next seven days, this is an important time for the young scorer.
Sugden/Fritz: I finally met Brandon Sugden for the first time in-person. I was curious if he’s had much communication with Mitch Fritz, his chief competition if the Islanders keep an enforcer on the roster. Sugden and Fritz have fought in the minors. Turns out the team lined up the two heavyweights as roommates on Long Island. “To be honest, I didn’t know what it would be like,” said Sugden. “But we’ve talked a little, we get along, we’re supportive. No issues at all.”
Since the Islanders are not scrimmaging, it’s not like Sugden and Fritz can drop their gloves in the middle of a breakout drill. Looks like it will come down to how they perform in the exhibition games this week.
Notes: I asked an older Islander if it’s possible Scott Gordon’s teaching could eventually get old for the veterans. He was very supportive of what Gordon is doing, adding “even veterans need to be re-trained. The key is Scott’s making it fun. He’s teaching a lot, but he’s not like a lot of other coaches who drain all the creativity and entertainment out of the game.”
Newsday, or The Hockey Newsday as I call it, was represented by three writers today: Logan, Arthur Staple and Mark Herrmann. Dan Martin was here from the Post, as were Chris King and Billy Jaffe.
A look at the week beginning, uh, today…
Monday, Sept. 29: Islanders return to Iceworks for their first day of big-boy camp on Long Island. Count on at least one fan with a laptop being on the scene, scooping the writers and bloggers with blow-by-blow accounts of practice.
After practice, players will disperse across the Island to deliver tickets to the corporate offices of Islanders suite owners. Business will be put on hold for an hour as the players sign autographs for literally everyone in the office, and their mothers.
Tuesday, Sept. 30: Islanders practice by day, Ben Folds plays piano at night at Terminal 5 in Manhattan. “Brick” one of the best songs of the last 15 years, and he’s got a bunch more.
Wednesday, October 1: Devils at the Coliseum, 7:05. One home pre-season game is more than enough, thank you – although we’ll miss DiPietro-Montoya.
Mets vs. Nobody, National League Playoffs. Some perspective for Mets fans: Today was about the agony of defeat on the playing surface, nothing else. You have Johan Santana. You have a payroll that’s $50 million more than several teams in your league. You’re moving into a gorgeous stadium next season. You don’t have to rely on Nassau County getting its act together to guarantee your existence for the next generation.
Thursday, October 2: Bruce Springsteen’s “Magic” released one year ago today. One enduring classic song: “Long Walk Home.” Also an all-time stinker: the heavy-handed “Last To Die (First One to the Men’s Room at Giants Stadium).”
Islanders practice. Doubt Scott’s ready to start giving the boys days off, no?
Friday, October 3: Islanders vs. Devils at The Rock, 7:05. Get the BBQ to go along with an order of arena envy. Happy Birthday, Bruno Gervais.
It’s the final week of performances of the musical “The Wedding Singer” at LI’s legendary Bellport Playhouse. If you haven’t been to the barn in Bellport, check it out. Robert Duvall used to act there.
Saturday, October 4: Islanders in Boston, 4:05. The second-to-last pre-season game for the Islanders. If DiPietro plays, maybe the only important pre-season game for the Islanders.
The Sound Tigers host Lowell in an AHL preseason game at The Rinks in Shelton at 7:00 pm. Starting at 4:00 pm, the Islanders I.C.E. Tour will be on hand.
Andrew “Dice” Clay plays the second of two nights at Westbury Music Fair. Ya bleepin’ me: Dice can still book two nights at the Music Fair?
Sunday, October 5: The 21st birthday of an Islanders prospect. Iloinen alku, Jesse Joenssu.
Do not be alarmed. “Stuff.This.Week.” will be the only place on the blog where Chris will fail to resist the urge to get into life outside hockey. He does not plan on using Point Blank as a personal forum to recommend you see “August: Osage County” on Broadway or pontificate on Scorcese’s six masterpieces on the level of Rembrandt – or even get into how “The Office” might be funnier than “Seinfeld.”
BTW, if you are involved in a charity event or something big happening, drop full details in the Comments and I’ll do my best to list it.
Today, Islanders prospects and wanna-bes are traveling all over North America, dispatched to Bridgeport camp or returned to their junior clubs. There are a few in limbo, injured and technically un-demote-able. Then there are the contenders – trying their best not to smile so giddily today while walking around Roosevelt Field - that have been told to be at practice at Iceworks tomorrow.
Bridgeport coach Jack Capuano will likely receive close to 20 players today, including some prospects that especially impressed the coaching staff – including Jesse Joenssu, Trevor Smith and Michael Haley. He’ll eventually get a few more once they clear waivers and/or get healthy. Those matters could be cleared up as early as tomorrow.
For now, Islanders fans will want to know the names of the players sticking around so far for the big camp on Long Island. The Islanders will be quick to point out that players can come up or be sent down over the next two weeks. Besides the players on one-way contracts and perceived incumbents Kyle Okposo and Blake Comeau, here is today’s list for Survivor: Long Island…
Josh Bailey
Jeremy Colliton
Yann Danis
Mitch Fritz
Jack Hillen
Tim Jackman
Chris Lee
Brett Skinner
Brandon Sugden
Here’s my question to Islanders fans tonight. Besides the players on one-way deals plus Okposo and Comeau, who is the one additional player you’d like to see make the opening night roster? Please place your answer in the Comments space…CB
Remember the summer of 2003, when Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne graced the Avalanche with their presence by signing below-market deals? Remember how just about everyone in hockey felt the Cup was Colorado’s and the rest were simply playing for second place?
Marian Hossa signed with the defending Cup champion Detroit Red Wings for one season at $7.45 million because, in his words, he wanted to win the Stanley Cup. If he cares about his legacy as much as it seems, perhaps he should have signed elsewhere. There’s a better chance he’ll be known as the all-star who joined a defending champion and couldn’t even get them back to the Stanley Cup Final.
Logic dictates the Red Wings, who did not lose any major impact players over the summer, will be better with the addition of a 40-goal scorer like Hossa. But hockey does not work this way, which is one of the reasons why we love it so much. There’s chemistry with linemates. There’s the attitude “in the room” (another wondrous hockey staple). There’s the always-fragile coach-star relationship.
Make no mistake: Hossa’s one of the good guys. If the experiment of adding another star to a heaven-sent team doesn’t work, the blame won’t necessarily be his. But you have to wonder what “the room” will be like when Detroit’s record is a few wins behind last season’s blow-torch through the regular season and people start thinking and writing, “Something’s wrong. With Hossa, they should be better.”
More than that, there will be the inevitable talk of how much hockey the Red Wings have played since October, 2007. Hossa may have finished the season with the Penguins, but he played as many games last spring as the Wings.
If Hossa was thinking legacy – no reason to question him – he should have signed with one of the contenders looking for a star to lead them to their first Cup in a while. Shoot, he should have signed with the Penguins.
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Best UFA Acquisitions
Brian Campbell, Chicago, 8 years, $56.8 million. For the Blackhawks to take the next step – 8th place! – it had to be done.
Brian Rolston, New Jersey, 4 years, $20.5 million. Lot of dough, but Rolston doesn’t just drink the Kool-Aid, he’ll help mix it.
(Wild card) Eric Godard, Pittsburgh, 3 years, $2.25 million. A throwback enforcer for a team with two mega-stars in need of protection.
Worst
The Huet-Theodore botch, Washington: A big step down in net for last year’s feel-good team.
Mike Commodore, Columbus, 5 years, $18.5 million: Can never knock Commodore’s spirit, but c’mon.
(Wild card) Rob Blake, San Jose, one year, $5 million: Not sure what the Sharks think they’re getting.
3 Big ???
Wade Redden, Rangers, 6 years, $39 million: Can Wade regain Norris-contending form, or will the blue-seaters make him the next Tom Poti?
Mark Streit, Islanders, 5 years, $20.5 million: A boom-or-bust signing for a franchise that can take high-end risks with multiple picks at the draft table, but needs to be more certain in the UFA market.
Michael Ryder, Boston, 3 years, $12 million: Two 30-goal seasons followed by 14 last year. If this pays off for the Bs, watch out.
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…Of the Week
Move…Atlanta gets Anaheim cap casualty Mathieu Schneider for not much, the second year in a row the Ducks had to shed a good player to get under the ceiling. And if the Thrashers move Matt at the deadline, they’ll get more value than they gave up to get him.
Goof: the NHL general managers thinking they’re smarter than everyone else and coming up with a disastrous injury policy that’s an insult to anyone who follows the game.
Hockey Writer…James Mirtle. One of the game’s preeminent bloggers, Mirtle consistently churns out original views on league issues – like this one on the revised NHL schedule.
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Point Blank favorite Sean Avery recently had one last astounding moment in New York. The Gap model visits Mike Francesa at the WFAN telethon, representing Ice Hockey in Harlem – a charity dear to the NHL. Within seconds, Avery is poking at the NHL, saying the league office focuses on him because “they don’t know how to market the game.”
Later, when the subject of modeling comes up, Francesa name-drops his friend, WFAN caller and fashion designer Joseph Abboud. Mike, just not getting Avery, assumes the former Vogue intern will agree with him about Abboud brilliance. Avery’s reaction: “Yeah, I know him. He’s the guy who puts Derek Jeter in all those suits that are too big for him.”
We miss him almost as much as we believe the Rangers will.
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Dress Rehearsals: At a time when the NFL is studying what to do with their exhibition game schedule, let’s not lose sight of the fact these NHL pre-season games are every bit as meaningless – except as opportunities for players to get run and bust a shoulder or knee.
Yes, individual play is important. So is a coach’s chance to look at a player’s ability and work habits. But of course these games don’t mean anything. Have you looked at some of the lineups put out there this week? The Islanders have an important game for them on Wednesday when, as you’d expect, they put out a B-plus lineup against the Devils in front of their home fans at the Coliseum. But the problem is, New Jersey will likely dress a C-level lineup, so the game will not be a barometer for the Isles. If Rick DiPietro plays either Oct. 4 or 6, that would make one truly important exhibition game. For the most part, around the NHL these games mean as much as the Pro Bowl.
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Dancing on the Ceiling: Remember the lockout, when many owners said they’d never go for a cap of more than $40 million? Well, know this about the salary cap ceiling: even if there were no salary cap, this year’s ceiling of $56.7 million exceeds what more than half of the NHL’s 30 teams would set as their player budgets anyway.
The Islanders’ choke-collar of a lease is of course the obvious example of a team on the low side and cash-cows Leafs and Rangers on the high. But do the math. Tough to understand how at least half of the NHL teams could possibly approach revenues of more than $55 million dollars in this climate. If we’re not there already, you will see a clear division between the haves and have-nots by the end of this decade.
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Personal Stick-taps on the Ice to…Bob Bassen, Mark Everson, Mike Sciortino, Lisa of Islandermania, Joe Benigno, Pierre Turgeon, Sean Leahy, Steve Tambellini, Joe Favorito, Stephen Valiquette, ESPN Mag for the Caps D.C. photo shoot, Brian Leetch, Mike Ross, Nancy Dowd, Brendan Witt. And to all the hockey fans who found this blog in the first four days and are getting involved, thanks for spreading the word.
Emails have poured in since launch about the lack of TV broadcasts of any Islanders preseason games. Let me preface this by saying Don’t Shoot The Messenger. Some of the emailers have pounded me like I’m still in Islanders management and can do something about it. I’m not and I can’t. As a blogger, like the Sugden thing, best I can do is maybe help get the conversation started.
As for why MSG+ isn’t showing any Islanders games while MSG Network seems to show Rangers ex games every other night, that’s an easy one and you know why. The Rangers are owned by Cablevision, the makers of MSG Network. A Rangers broadcast is a three-hour infomercial for the hockey team ownership is not going to pass up.
On the other hand, the Islanders’ television broadcast rights are owned by MSG Network. MSG has the right to decide if they want to spend the money to produce Islanders games in Moncton, Uniondale or anywhere. They choose not to.
Islanders TV’s inability to show these ex games in Canada live and in living colour is a more difficult issue, but the reason is essentially the same. Not only does MSG Network have the broadcast rights for Islanders pre-season games, an impeccable TV industry source tells Point Blank that MSG Network also has the right to give the red light to any other company that wants to show the games.
It’s a fair leap to assume MSG opted to block ITV from broadcasting games live in Moncton, London, PEI or anywhere else. Yes, last year they allowed it. This year, nope.
To be clear, it’s not like the Islanders don’t want to have these games on ITV, MSG+ or anywhere else on the dial. MSG is exercising their contractual rights.
For now, it looks like you’ll have to wait to see the Islanders’ own Emmy Award-winning commentator Billy Jaffe on MSG+ when the regular season begins. While you vent, let me look into rumors I heard in Manhattan the other day about the plan to eliminate Islanders pre-game shows (and perhaps a studio analyst) from MSG+ broadcasts.
BEST MUSH is an occasional column on hockey broadcasting and is named in honor of two columnists - Neil Best of Newsday and Phil Mushnick of the NY Post – who were always professional with me in my old gig.
The Islanders defeated the Florida Panthers 4-2 tonight on Prince Edward Island behind two goals each by Trent Hunter and Frans Nielsen (a 4-point game) and solid netminding from Joey McDonald. Nielsen centered the Islanders’ best line tonight with Hunter on his right and the emerging Trevor Smith to the left. Get the recap on the team site.
Islanders pro scout Eric Cairns, who used to throw a good right in his playing days, called in to Point Blank before boarding the flight home to Long Island.
On the Nielsen line: “Frans made his line go from the very first shift. He was amazing tonight. He had so much jump and was probably the best player on the ice. Trent worked the boards and looked good on the power play and Trevor Smith continues to come along as an all-around player.”
On Joey MacDonald (18 saves on 20 shots): “He made the saves he had to make, and a few where he really had to scramble side-to-side. We also liked his comunication with the defense.”
On the D duo of Chris Lee and Jack Hillen: “Jack had another impressive game. Both Chris and Jack are extremely mobile defensemen who seem to be taking advantage of what they do best in the new NHL where there’s a premium on skating. Lee and Hillen were solid.”
On his unsung player of the game: “Tim Jackman‘s had a good camp but it’s always good to get a look at him in a game. He was very good tonight and won his fight (against Florida’s Tanner Glass), it’s fair to say.”
On Travis Hamonic, a second round pick in June, returned to Moose Jaw (WHL) today: “We’re real pleased with what Travis showed in camp over the last week. Our opinion of him is even stronger than it was on draft day. This is going to be a huge year for his development, with even more icetime in Moose Jaw and hopefully a spot on the World Junior team. He opened some eyes in his first camp.”
Notes: Besides Hamonic, Jared Spurgeon (Spokane), Jyri Niemi (Saskatoon) were returned to the Western League and Max Gratchev was sent Rimouski of the QMJHL….Ah, the scouting life: after being in Moncton for the last 8 days, Cairns was getting home tonight and then leaving Sunday on a scouting mission far, far away…Greg Logan went blog-bonkers today, providing game updates, a portrait of P.E.I. and a wrapup of camp in Moncton – including some information on an Andy Sutton injury. I look forward to blogging battling working with my friend Greg when the team opens the Long Island portion of camp on Monday.
Next up: some answers on the TV situation that may or may not be surprising.
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