BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT LOST
How one bad day could turn into a far bigger mess
(Stay right where you are, Joey. It's a policy!)
The Islanders’ absurd injury policy and their mishandling of Rick DiPietro’s return has resulted in first-year NHL head coach Scott Gordon painting himself in a corner.
He defended his decision to stick with Joey MacDonald the entire game today by saying he doesn’t like to pull goalies as a motivational tool. He went so far as to reveal that he told MacDonald this policy. “I’ve been through that,” said Gordon, a former goaltender.
So for another few days, Gordon bought his team some time while DiPietro - who dressed as the backup Friday, Saturday and today because “he could play” - possibly starts Thursday in Tampa Bay. Saturday it was “I don’t want to talk about Ricky and take away from Joey’s performance.” At today’s post-game press conference the coach did the trick of not really answering follow-up questions about DiPietro, changing the subject to how poorly his team played. That’s an uplifting deflection!
But now Gordon has set the bar for goalie decisions to come. DiPietro now knows that if he’s losing 5-0 midway through the second period at any game this season, he’s only half-way home. Either that, or today’s gesture by Gordon was just a con. Not exactly the kind of credibility test this skilled, hard-working and classy man needed in his first year as an NHL coach.
Besides losing Radek Martinek to an injury the team won’t discuss, in the four days since the start of the season they also have lost the benefit of the doubt with the media and some of their fans.
Mark Herrmann of Newsday is a gentleman sports columnist who always gives his subject the forum to tell their side of the story. (You can look it up, as recently as Herrmann’s positive column off the loss Friday in the first game of the MacDonald Era).
But in a column for Tuesday’s paper, on newsday.com now, Herrmann details what it’s come to:
“…The organization really failed to stand up for (MacDonald) when it had the chance, when it decided basically not to dress a backup goalie. Yes, Rick DiPietro was in uniform, but if he were the least bit ready to play, he would have started. He is still out with one of those “undisclosed” injuries that teams can non-report under NHL rules. What that meant was the Islanders were just asking for what happened yesterday.”
Herrmann mentions Gordon’s “policy” of not pulling goalies and then goes on to write:
“Believe that if you’d like, but had there been one other able-bodied goaltender on the premises, Gordon could have pulled MacDonald on sheer humanitarian grounds.”
The Islanders scored four first-period goals on Saturday and the DiPietro story took a backseat for one night (except for Arthur Staple’s critical Newsday column of the home-opener win, another by-product of the team’s communication breakdown). When you lose 7-1 at home, the magnifying glass returns. It’s an ugly sight.
I mean, refusing to name your starting goalie right before the game, even to your broadcast rightsholders? Man, that really threw the Sabres for a loop!
Besides correcting their forecheck, the Islanders might want to use these next few days to analyze how they’re conducting themselves as a major league team. Like Bill Guerin reminded us all today, there are still 79 games left.
30 Responses to “BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT LOST
How one bad day could turn into a far bigger mess”
Please Wait
What a bunch of crap the Isles are giving us here. I’m glad Chris has put this out there for the future what Gordon said about not pulling goalies as a motivational tool. I want to see what happens when the Prima Donna is in net and gives up a nickle and is looking to get some relief. I’m sure he’ll be yapping to Snow just like he whined when Nolan sat him towards the end of the year.
Then they start playing cute about not disclosing injuries. Martinek was hurt 2 days ago they know what is wrong with him why not tell fans that are paying there salaries what is wrong. We have a right to know. This is the stupid petty crap that drives you away from the team.
Great piece, CB.
Today’s game was an atrocity all in it self but the real crime here is the DiPietro back-up situation. HE’S STILL INJURED! WHY IN THE HELL IS HE ON THE BENCH??? What if today Joey Mac got seriously hurt, then what? DP would probably have to put on his mask and risk yet another season-ending injury. This whole situation is giving me a headache. If Joey starts in net again on Thursday and Ricky is still sitting on the bench with a baseball cap, then we have a real problem on our hands. This is embarrassing. Our franchise goalie playing back-up instead of taking proper care away from the ice- are you serious?
The fans don’t deserve this. Is there anything SENSIBLE this organization can do?
CB….yesterday, you were praising Coach Gordon on his media handling skills (at least as far as the Jedi Mind Trick goes). I’m loving your commetary, but you can not flip-flop that bad all the time.
are you surprised? we are a minor league organization, garth snow is a total embaressment to all other nhl gm’s, neil smith did more in 30 days (witt, sillinger) than snow has done in 2 years since, when mangini and girardi pull this secrecy bs its annoying enough, but who does gordon think he is, at least mangini came from belicheck, and girardi was manager of the year in the NL, gordon is a punk who thinks he can reinvent the wheel in the NHL between his “overskate” system and now this w/holding injury info, once again embaressed to be an islanders fan, last thing isles need is bad pub, although i don’t think long island even cares anymore about this franchise
Whether Gordon believes in changing goalies midgame or not- whatever, fine. But I dont understand putting Joey Mac in for the third game in three and a half days in the first place if Rick IS fine to play. Why DO that to him unless Ricky is physically UNABLE to play? and if he is unable to play, WTH is he doing here???
I simply do not believe the Islanders that Rick has been ready to play. He might be close, close enough to perhaps play later this week, but he simply hasnt been there YET… and putting him on the bench when the Isles arent willing to put him in net is IMO inexcusable.
I said weeks ago that the Islanders would have Ricky there at the start of the season if he could play, no matter what. I mentioned that they would have him there because of their fear of peoples reactions if they didnt. And apparently, unfortunately, I was right. I said because of the way they handled Ricky last season when he was hurt that I do not believe them anymore… if they had done the responsible thing THEN and taken him out of play putting him on IR when they should have, he would already be in game shape by now.
All that last minute gametime decision stuff, putting up this facade of him being perfectly fine, it all proved to be untrue as far as Im concerned once they put JoeyMac in his 3G in 3.5 days as if he IS our starter… and then left him hung out there to dry when he was totally outmatched and getting shelled!!! You just dont do that kind of thing to your backup unless you absolutely HAVE to.
I guess they had to.
And THAT leads to this:
You dont sit someone on the bench who cant step in and play.
I love DiPi, but he should not be dressing until he already IS ready to play- NOT while he is still working on getting to that point! I dont CARE if he is close, close isnt good enough. Danis should have been sitting on the bench through these last three games. I am very, VERY disappointed in this teams decision to keep Ricky on that bench when they obviously cant put him in yet. This organization needs to wake up and look at the big picture here. What if Joey wasnt just getting shelled- what if he got seriously hurt? Accidents and even tragedies happen- look at that poor Rangers prospect in Russia. A team needs to have someone playing backup who is ready to go, not someone just sitting there to look good and comfort everyone into thinking everythings rosy. If Rick is still getting into shape to finally be able to play once again, that kind of thing should be done on IR- not while you are dressed and playing a game as the backup.
Im so disappointed in the Islanders, Chris.
Brian: please give my Gordon note from Saturday another read. I was trying to be sarcastic…CB
the only possible explanation is that the islanders are so cheap they don’t want to pay danis to be here (I am assuming he is on a 2-way contracT).
The only excuse for not reporting injuries is if the guy is going to play and you don’t want to give opponents a weakness to pick on. In this case, these guys are clearly out for extended periods. You can tell it is Martinek’s shoulder, so there is absolutely no reason not to tell us how long they are out…
Well, just reason….
Let’s see…
First you have the decision to save some money and put the games on a radio station that can’t be heard even from the NVMC parking lot.
Then there was the decision to go 10 million under the cap.
Then there was the decision to bypass several excellent and experienced coaches in favor of an inexperienced yes-man who came much cheaper.
Now there is the decision to arrogantly not let the paying fans know what is going on with their team.
Listening to Garth Snow trying intimidate reporters with,”It is none of your damn business” answers is disgraceful….
All the talk from Wang was BS. This team is right back to Mickey Mouse garbage and Garth Snow is the ring leader.
I am sorry that you have to be on the outside to see the frustration that we have felt from this org for so long.
Hey Chris, this team is quickly losing it’s fan base. Somehow this front office has turned this team into some sort of a joke. Whether it’s the draft, coach selections or the goal song, Garth Snow and Charles Wang are running this team into the ground very quickly.
To watch the game today and see Push Play playing for maybe 50 people is a disgrace, not to the band, but to this team. No one seems to be interested, and i couldn’t agree more. If your going to have a losing season then you have to expect people to not show up for games. Even with the 100 different ticket packages the Islanders are offering, it’s gonna take alot more to put people in the building this year. Add to that that we don’t have a Pre-Game show, sometimes no Post-Game show, a radio station that no one knows about and pictures of a new arena that probably will never get built and there are some serious problems.
I might be just a little ticked off now because the Giants are losing to a terrible football team, but thats no excuse for me to be mad with this Islanders organization. How many games are left? 79? With each game I looked foward to next years draft, unless Garth Snow somehow manages to screw that up again too.
PS - I do want to compliment you Chris on going after the team. When I saw the isles advertising your site on the official site, I was worried that they might be “influencing” what you write. I think you are proving yourself and I know that the Isles will listen to you. Unfortunately, they couldn’t care less what we the fans think, but it is nice to have you on our side
Shoe is right that it sure is nice to have you. Its just sad that talking truthfully seems to be “going after” the team. Why they want to distance themselves from concise, practical honesty and making rational choices regarding their players I have no flippin idea.
Chris - Very nice artice, the Islanders need to be called out. Due to the lack of sports media coverage the team is never held accountable for anything. There will very few articles about it in the morning, WFAN hasent mentioned the Islanders in about 10 years. The way this team handls itseld on the ice and off the ice is an embarassment to its fans and to its former players who played their guts out for this franchise.
gotta agree, this is pretty objective blog, great job CB, agree that nobody cares about this organization so not held accountable, driving out of lot on saturday night and can’t even get the post game show from the parking lot and meadowbrook parkway, embaressment, can’t even use “rebuilding” excuse when talking with rangers fans, they’re younger than us, i love wang for losing 10-15 mill a year to keep us on the island, but the only way to get people in the seats is to win, and that is never going to happen when all he has are yes men around wang, including #1 and 1a, snow and gordon, i have loved going to games since i was 7 years old in 1987, average about 20 games a year, but its almost like they’re spitting in the face of the fans who really care
The secrecy with the injuries is a joke…..let us know. DP is our franchise player (for better or worse…depending on your stance)and, as paying customers who support this team, we deserve to know what the deal is. Like Chris said, it’s pretty sad that the media partners aren’t even made aware.
I love this team so much; it’s the only team and sport I care about. Hell, I’m in the process of deciding what games I’m picking up for a partial season ticket plan. That being said, they really need to think about the way they’re conducting themselves to the media.
Will we know anymore about Radek tomorrow?
If Coach Gordon truly doesn’t believe in changing goalies, it may be a new belief.
Tuukka Rask was his #1 goalie last season in Providence, and he was pulled three times in a four week period:
# 01/11/08: L (23m55s, 8/11) 0-3 defeat vs. Worcester (Patzold) [Replaced by Sigalet].
# 01/25/08: - (28m23s, 7/10) 4-3 SO victory vs. Springfield (Deslauriers) [Replaced by Sigalet].
# 02/08/08: - (24m01s, 10/15) 5-7 defeat vs. Hartford (Montoya) [Replaced by Sigalet].
(The data comes from hockeygoalies.org)
While the Isles are hoping that he Gordon his next Al Arbour, he’s on a path to be the next Brad Shaw.
Shaw also won his first home game as an Islander coach, and then was blown out in the second game.
12-Jan-06 Vs Calgary 3 2 W
14-Jan-06 Vs Vancouver 1 8 L
The Isles did not lose a home game by 6 goals under Ted Nolan, and lost only once by 5 goals (10-27-07 to Carolina).
great info on pulling Tuukka…thanks, Eric. I already know what Scott’s answer will be tomorrow! CB
Great points to all poster’s tonight!!
Showed unity in our beliefs!!
EXCELLENT JOB BOYS!!
1000% with you guys….
Cheers To the “Die - Hards”….
we the core fans of this team,
who appear to be left languishing in regards to the obvious ineptitude displayed both philosophically & Findamentally by our yet again faltering club!
If they only took a small cue from the proliterians in life once in a while ?
I dare say we might actually be better for it!
Sill I say, “however painful it is at times to utter this phrase”…….
LET’S GO ISLES…..LET’S GO ISLANDERS!!
*fundamentally*.. by now its my calling card I guess…
your always going to get one typo at least.. sorry fellas! Go Isles!
Yes. Denis should be the back up.
No. If DP is still injured or not game ready, he should not be dressed.
But now that I went to the gym, and burned off some steam from our loss today.. Let’s realize one thing.. We’re 3 games into the season. And it seems we’re all ready to rip Gordon and drive him out of town. We’re 1-2-0. We had a close game VS The NJD, a clean win over the Blues. And well, an embarrassing loss to the Sabres. And yes, we all have every right the criticize everything, being that we pay for seats, let’s just take it easy. This is going to be an up and down season, and that should be expecting. A lot of kids, and we already have 3 injuries on defense. I love this team, I have since I was old enough to know what hockey was. But, if we’re going to stick to the plan, and give these kids ice time, we’re probably going to have a losing season. This is a rebuild. Rarely do teams with a bunch of kids dominate every game. We have to realize, we’re going to have to restock through the next couple of drafts, make some sensible FA signings, and just tough it out as a fan. At least we have direction now. Again, it’s 3 games into the season.. Anything can happen.
Oh and just in case your Ranger fan friends give you crud.. The last time they started off 5-0, then finished 4th in the division and were out in the 1st round.
You just have to wonder what Snow and Gordon, each former goalies, have going through their minds sitting there watching this mess transpire. These guys know the position, they know how to do right by the guys that play it.
If this decision is coming from the top, could Wang really be THAT reluctant to pay the prorated portion of $597k that it would take to have Danis up? If so, that’s despicable.
MacDonald can’t be an NHL goalie unless he learns to deal with this type of adversity. They STILL would have lost if DP was in net midgame. If you remember…. None of the Islanders were doing any scoring on the other side of the ice. And lastly, about the radio, if you’re a hockey fan… Do yourself a favor and get XM radio. You’ll never miss anything from anywhere. Let’s do what I heard Gordon say in the press room. Let’s just throw this one away. The season just started.
Who think these guys were still a little hungover from saturday night? And I’m actually talking hungover not just hungover with glee from a dominant win…once again, it was one game folks, lets not go sinking the ship each time a wave splashes over the side.
First I want to say what a sad loss, my thoughts an prayers with his family an friends during this time.
Ok, No doubt it was hard to watch that mess, our defense was so poor, it was not just Joey Mac’s fault, you can’t blame one person, how many times did we see buffalo at the net and where were our Dmen? We need everyone!
However it did reach a point I didn’t understand why they weren’t taking Joey Mac out? but on the other hand, I do think it was good for the youngen to get that kind of play (don’t shoot me guys..)
We need a good back-up, look at what’s goin on with DP as we speak? meanwhile he’s been signed for 15 years to the Isles and don’t get me wrong I love DP but I think us having a good solid back-up is also important and I know it stinks to watch but there’s no other way for this kid to get the feel of a game and develope unless he’s in it.
We learn from mistakes. Maybe he was a little over confident goin in and when the scoring started his nerves got the best of him, he’ll learn as he developes.
It’s early and we have a long way to go and I know it’s not looking to promising at the moment but even the guys on Hockey Night Live had said this is a team they think will eventually surprise people.
I read all the negative media stuff about the Isles too but don’t jump ship so fast.
CB? as always you an the guys - awesome stuff with the blog.
Every Islander fan has a serious problem with the Islander injury policy. But wacko BillyIsles from Islander Fan Central is having a fit because Newsday dare bring this up. Hey Billy, we know you love Botta, he’s criticizing the Islanders. What do you think of that?
Bill’s blog is called NYI FAN Central. I totally understand if he wants to defend the team and thinks anyone criticizing how they’re handling DP and the injuries is wrong, maybe evil. And I don’t think Bill loves me. He doesn’t discuss my stuff daily lke he does the MSM. But we share a respect. There’s room for all opinions…CB
My feeling is Gordon is following Snow’s party line about injury reports. I think he has no choice but to tow the line.
This is a “rebuilding” year. I will not be surprised by mounting losses. I WILL be pleasantly surprised with wins.
CB, great job on the Gordon comments and also using Herman for his logic!
Happy “B” Day Jane Norton Botta!! you must be proud and we are thankful for CB!!
To anyone who thinks Gordon is spouting the injury BS because he wants to, I would suggest backing off a bit. This is coming from above his head, and he’s just following orders. Too bad, however, that when the policy is this idiotic, stuff can slip out if everyone isn’t on the same page. Case in point, from Logan’s game recap article today:
But the suspicion is that MacDonald knew no reinforcements were coming if he got in trouble. Asked if he knew DiPietro wasn’t available, MacDonald said, “Yeah,” then caught himself. Backtracking, he added: “Well, I don’t know about that. Like I said, I just kept on concentrating and tried to keep battling.”
Uh, oops. Someone get Joey a copy of the script, quick.
Bottom line is that the organization is playing all of us for fools with all of this nonsense, and only three games into the season it’s already bitten them in the behind. Seems like this is just gonna get worse before it gets better.
Would some of you QUIT referring to Joey MacDonald as a “kid” or “youngen”. HE’S OLDER THAN RICK BY A YEAR AND A HALF!!! Do some of you even KNOW anything about the Players on this Team who were NOT drafted by the Islanders?
I said water my trees, not my knees! Rick wanted to be there, Wang wanted him there and fans wanted him there. The team does a TON of PR and gimmickry, so why does it seem like this is a facade to trick fans? They spend millions each year on bad ideas and bad moves and buyouts (Yash’s scoring missed? Anyone?) yet they won’t promote Danis so fans can anjoy the game and the team win?
Joey Mac is what he is, a Red Wing castaway and good guy but short on talent. Dubie was FAR better and Danis is touted by Canadien fans as solid enough.
The organization puts marketing first, sales second and victory somewhere after pilates or toenail manicures. I dunno.
The team just is embarassing fans the way it’s misrun. Sit DP, bring up Danis and Comeau and get a team President to keep Wang out and find us a GM worthy and let this team gain some semblance of respect again. Bettman should order such a scenario. No more Wang involvement. Write the checks, moneyboy.