PRACTICE: NVMC, 10.24.08
Sutton…the meeting…Streiteboom…Lavi’s no-skate
1:15 pm – D Update: Injured dman Andy Sutton took the full practice, engaging in contact and taking a regular turn in all drills. Last night after the game, Scott Gordon said putting Sutton in for Brendan Witt (injured last night) “might be pushing it.” Now we’re not so sure.
The Islanders declined to issue a report on Witt, who was in street clothes today.
Still the Same: For the fifth consecutive day, Islanders forwards skated in the same trios: Bergenheim-Weight-Guerin, Park-Comrie-Okposo, Tambellini-Nielsen-Hunter, Sim-Thompson-Hilbert.
How a Meeting Gets Called: We asked captain Bill Guerin about his thought process when calling the post-game players-only meeting last night. We knew from last season that Guerin is hesitant to call too many, so we were a bit surprised he called one this early.
“Sometimes it just seems like the right thing to do,” said Guerin. “You can’t do it all the time because then the message falls on deaf ears. But it had to be done last night. It’s only been six games, but we’ve seen some ups and downs. We have a lot of guys and a new system. It’s crucial we address the mistakes, that we nip this stuff in the bud right now.”
Guerin confirmed for us that he called the meeting, but was far from the only player doing the talking.
The New Crease-Crasher: Perhaps to jolt his team – or maybe he was just setting an example by giving his all – veteran defenseman Mark Streit got very physical during a drill, crunching teammates along the boards. When the whistle blew, Doug Weight rebranded Streit, “Mark Beukeboom.”
Discipline: In the last four games, the Islanders have had to face 29 power plays.
Hillen Back?: Despite being down to 5 dmen after Witt left the ice, the Islanders only played Thomas Pock 13:13 last night. If Sutton returns, don’t be surprised if Pock sits and Jack Hillen returns to the lineup.
Skipping Skates: Give Peter Laviolette credit for being the first to buck tradition. The Carolina coach has abolished morning skates. He won’t allow his players to get on the ice the morning of games, even if they volunteer. The debate over morning skates brings to mind what Bobby Clarke used to say about them: “In the NFL on game days, do they all throw on the pads and tackle each other”?
76 Responses to PRACTICE: NVMC, 10.24.08
Sutton…the meeting…Streiteboom…Lavi’s no-skate
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Rich says:
Sutton coming back is good news. Witt gone horrible. We need character and grit. This tradeoff is a negative for the Islanders. Play defense ..don’t worry about the new system. When we are on the forecheck or in the neutral zone then maybe think about being more aggressive. Not to the point of giving up odd man rushes or being out of position on the penalty kill. This is basic stuff and it is a proven formula. Why do the Islanders’s always have to break the mold and try and do things differently than other teams? We have an underskilled team. How bout playing a trap. I’ll take boring over being blown out in games. How exciting was it down 3-0 last night after one. Not fun for fans there or at home. Wake up Gordon..Stress defense
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JohnnyC. says:
Hey chris off topic a bit. Just was on Islander web site. Your link is missing.
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tifoso says:
I don’t see how Mitch Fritz is going to replace Witt. Dallas didn’t win because of our softness, they won because our D-men and forwards were out of position and taking bad penalties.
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Gordon needs to be true to himself and his philosophy. This team will finish towards the bottom of the league no matter the system used…as the team is lo on the talent pole and it is going to be a roller coaster ride for the remainder of the season, no matter what…we need to buckle up.
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Vlad from Brooklyn says:
Let’s start from definition of the word HOCKEY – one of the most physical sports out there. If the Team doesn’t play physical – they don’t play HOCKEY.
May be Strait will wake his team mates up by banging them all over the ice in practices. I think that Gordon is trying his best to improove things, but the team is not responding….? Yesterday only 3 players on the ice (Bergy, Strait, and Campy) was trying to make the difference.
Unacceptable for us (fans)!!! -
oh…and Fritz will not make the defense better…He is a goon or enforcer if you will, the only people he will be dropping the gloves against, is other goons and enforcers…They do not go after 1 or 2 line type guys…ever!!
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Darren says:
Player only meeting 6 games in… Oh man!
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good point vlad i think campy played hard as did bergy… LETS GO GUYS SIX PLAYERS ON THE ICE FUNCTIONING AS ONE SINGLE UNIT !!
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Joe says:
I bring up Fritz, not because of the D but because we are soft as can be and got pushed around by Dallas all night. Robidas, a non-physical guy, was hitting everything and kneed hunter, Barch knees Witt and gets away with it, Avery was all over the place. Noone on this team stepped up, Fritz would bring a physical element that we sorely lack. How many guys are going to be on the IR from hits before we actually get someone that can deter other teams from steamrolling us?
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jax says:
How come the isles dropped this link from the home page. I would say it’s because most of us speak the truth. I guess if we continued to guzzle the Kool Aid it would still be there.
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My view on a players-only meeting is this: it is about time a captain stood poised in front of his teammates and poured his heart into things. There weren’t many times last season this happened (like Botta wrote) – but the players obviously care and feel they are better.
Good on them.
As for Mark Streit, love his play as if late.
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Fritz!!!!!!!
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Chris TMC says:
Hey Joe, he would also bring an inexperienced player playing his first NHL game who is slow and not defensively aware. You really think thats gonna HELP?
Im hoping Sutton can play sooner rather than later, I want Marty back, and Im praying that Brendan isnt hurt too bad. Thats what this team needs- some responsible D. -
Chris TMC, can it really get that much worse? I mean, its pretty bad right now. Theres no such thing as “overspeed” anyway, why not bring the guy up and plop him on the ice in a 3-0 game where we are getting beat up and down the ice. At least that give the team and crowd a little spark. Hes not graceful but Ive watched him play in pre-season, he skates about the same speed as Trent Hunter and is aware enough to not be a liability.
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Also- I cant believe how many times I read this… Mitch Fritz is NOT going to replace Witt or any other frickin defenseman- because he plays LEFT WING. Man- you tell people this 400 times and it still doesnt sink in.
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Joe- he will be fine for certain situations, this just isnt one of them. He is NOT the guy to help tighten up your tgame when your team is playing poor defensively and youre best dmen are out.
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Im not saying he should play D, I was just stating why he should be up, a separate sentence was about how soft the D is. We are playing poor defensively because we have no talent, the guys that should be shaping up well (Tamby) have pretty much shown nothing and we have 3 borderline AHL caliber defensemen with Hillen/Pock/Gervais. Having a guy like Fritz to provide a little wake up to a snoozing team/crowd for 2-3 minutes a game wouldnt hurt at all.
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I know Fritz doesn’t play D. I WANT HIM UP TO REPLACE ANY OF THE 12 STIFFS WE ALREADY HAVE. Every team comes in here and pushes us around. We suck no matter what, so why not have a little fun and bring up somebody who will give the fans something to cheer about? You guys act like even if we had everybody healthy we would do anything. Our guys up front can’t even put two passes together and you are worried about Fritz being a liability? That’s priceless…..
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And Im sure you will see him a couple of times this season. Thats that, though… and E-YELLING ABOUT IT to Chris botta and his readers isnt going to make his first NHL game come any sooner.
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I’d rathe watch Fritz then just about any other chump we have on this team. This might be the worst team I’ve seen in a long long time. So why not have an enforcer on this team? Just about every other team finds room on their roster for ne, but we have soooooo many good prospects and vets that there is no room for any?? Puhleeeeeese….
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Ryan says:
Ok I know you need toughness, but at what cost? I don’t want a guy like Fritz running around trying to fight everyone, what is that going to prove? Would Fritz have really made a difference last night? No, what we need is a couple of guys who are going to put the puck in the net and a team that’s going to stay disciplined enough to stay out of the damn penalty box. You can’t win games when you’re on the pk for half the period.
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Ryan- My point is, you are not going to get anybody this year to put the puck in the net. What you see is what you get. I don’t mind the rebuilding, but at least Fritz will handle anybody who takes runs at our players, plus he would give the fans something to cheer about when he fights. This team is boring, small and soft. It will be like this for the rest of the year. It’s not like we would be sitting a stud to get Fritz in the lineup…
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admin says:
Friends: I say this with respect to some of this site’s loyal readers. Fritz is barely playing in Bridgeport. The Islanders do not have a true enforcer in the system who can take a regular shift at the NHL level. ‘Tis what it is, but what it is would not be the solution to what happened the last two home games…CB
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"Dissillusioned Brian" in VA says:
I love how the official Isles web site does not have a recap of the blow out loss last night. Nope, you would think there was just a charity event last night. Experience Islanders hockey Grit and Character. Whippdeefreakindo! We are beyond a JOKE J-O-K-E! Thank goodness for you CB tellin us like it is! Thanks for the blog. I wish I could drive up for the Isles Point Blank bash. The only way to enjoy this team is too get blasted of Heineken’s and shots of Patrone:)
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CB- That’s perfect because most of the Islanders are barely playing here. So he would fit right in.
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Strummer's Army says:
Hey, you guys remember when Logan tried to interview Snow about how all the Islander fans want toughness and a legit enforcer and Snow’s response was something about how Jon Sim will yak at people. Oh, that is great Garth as they pummel your team Jon Sim can go yell at them. Then they can beat the crap out of Sim too.
Fritz should be called up because with the defense being so bad you don’t want Andy Sutton having to sit for long periods when he does come back. However, don’t fool yourself if all the defense was healthy Sutton, Witt, Streit, Campolli, Martinek, Geravis, Hillen, and Pock only the first three have convinced me they are NHL d-men at this point. Really I knew coming into this year like the past few years how horrible this defense was. The fact Ricky is so good makes up for a lot of their weaknesses but this defense sucks. It is the worst part of the team by far.
Oh, remember the huge article on NYI.com and Snow’s video clip announcing the signing of “The Wrecker” well theWrecker has moved to Utah after not getting into an AHL game. He is huge, great balance, very good hitter, good skater, can take a shot but definetly needs a lot of work on his fighting.
Garth Isles fans aren’t as dumb as you think. We don’t buy your sales jobs. We can see and knew all summer that this team was soft, didn’t have enough fighters, and didn’t have a good enough defense. What we didn’t know was this team wouldn’t want to compete.
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UIF says:
“JOKE J-O-K-E!”
Wow, Disillusioned, I think you have the makings of a new goal song there.
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Strummer’s, I disagree on the D. If healthy, I like our top 6. Maybe our top five with a true number one d-man.
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HilbertSnipe says:
Yeah, Strummer I disagree as well… If Martinek hasn’t proved himself with his commitment to this franchise then I don’t know who has. He is an NHL D-Man and has done well. If you say he isn’t because he is always injured, thats dumb.
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DP covers for alot of the D’s flaws. They’re ok nothing more.
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UIF, Campolli has the potential to develop but isn’t there yet. Geravis seemed to have the potential but no longer does (he is playing decent this year), Martinek has always been more an illussion of the Islander PR machine then anything else. He’d be a good 5 or 6 but not playing the minutes he is. Worse yet they are all seriously injury prone. Marty is one of the soft guys discussed here but so is Camps and Geravis, Meyer etc. How many times have we all seen Islander goalies run over (HEADS DOVE ON), knees blown out and career ended (Garth) because the other teams fear no one especially on the soft defense. No one on our defense except Sutton and Witt seems to know you can hit someone. Marty is especially guilty of constantly taking himself out of position, bad penalties, standing there and watching guys taking 3 and 4 rebound shots on net and doing nothing. Wheter these guys have more potential or not the facts are they are too injury prone and not the types of d-men we need. We need Shea Weber and Dion Phaneuf type guys. Big, mean, fight, hit, great on PP and PK. We need a guy like Kevin Bieksa who IS AVAILABLE who is 6’4″ 219 a big hitter and tenacious fighter but not as offensivly gifted as the other two. Either Johnson (though both injured), zach Bognasion or (hold on wait for the grenade to be thrown in the room) Luke Schenn, Mike Komisarik, Brent Seabrook or Jay bouwmeester. The last two are both UFA’s this summer. We can’t go the entire year with no toughness and no defense. It is not fair to the fans or the goalies.
CB was accurate when he said the Isles lack a true enforcer in the system. My question is this, why? Why does Garth Snow hates toughness all of a sudden? He doens’t seem to really understand the new NHL he is always running his trap about. You can have tough guys who can play and if you can’t then you better have a guy who can come off the bench and do it.
THERE HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE LEGIT HEAVY WEIGHTS AVAILABLE THEN THIS PAST SUMMER. He chose to sign Fritz and the Wrecker. He could have corrected his mistake from a few years back when he and Nolan forced fan favorite Godard out because of Nolan’s relationship with Simon. Ya, Simon who took advantage of Scatchard when his shoulder was messed up and couldn’t fight and everyone knew it. Simon who lost interest in fighting soon after he arrived, and all his idiot suspensions and other crap. Snow chose not to go after Goddy or Laraque or anyone else in FA. He chose to not try to acquire one in a trade.
The Rangers and Flyers really added a lot of fighters.
Snow told us he’d call up toughness as needed (again idiot plan). We all know the games always get chippy with Buf but Snow doesn’t (despite all the brawls he had with them as a player). What the hell is calling up one guy like Fritz gonna do against the Rangers or Flyers. OK Fritz can handle himself and take on their heavy weight but then they will keep unleashing their guys so Guerin, Sutton, Witt (if he were around) would need to fight. When those guys are done Bergy and Comrie. THen who? Okposo? Tambelleni? Geravis? Camps? Maybe Okposo can fight. I saw Comeu defend a team mate in Bridge last year and this. Hey, does everyone remeber Hatcher from Philly beating the crap out of Trent Hunter last year? There was never any retribution for that even in the remaing games. How about all the times players went after Comeu without consequences? How many of Rick’s injuries were a result of being run into or dove on? We are all just sick of it and Snow is too busy getting drunk blonde chic’s to kiss to be concerned.
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And the D has covered for DP as well at times. That’s always grated on me, especially last year. There were nights where the D was awful, and DP still came up with 40+ quality saves and looked great. There were other nights where Witt and Marty were shot-blocking machines, DP only faced 20 shots, and still let in 5, but people were still blaming the D for the loss.
A lot has to do with the forwards, too. When you’re spending over two periods of every game stuck in your zone and killing penalties, your D and your goalie get worn down pretty fast, mentally and physically. Even more so when the forwards are missing their own assignments in their own zone. Do they ever actually cover their point men? Give the Isles the forwards of any good team in the league, that can keep pressure going on the other side of the ice for a change, and watch the numbers for the D improve drastically.
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Strummer – some good points. But I’d call Kenny Jonsson a very good defenseman, and he never really hit everything that moved. Much like Marty though, his stick was always in the passing lane, and he could read plays well. If your argument is that, overall, the D is undersized, I can agree to that. And the injuries are absolutely maddening, no doubt.
But a top 6 of Witt, Marty, Sutton, Campy, Meyer, and Streit? I’d take that. Like I said though, we can definitely use a true elite number one d-man. Take out, maybe Meyer, and sub in any of the top ten D-men in the league, and I think we’d have a very good defense.
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Hilbert, if Martinek was as talented as Bobby Orr and Dennis Potvin or even Gord Lane it wouldn’t make a difference if an athletes body can not hold up to the pressures of the game you can’t count on him and therefore don’t plan on him and move on. Marty is overrated. The NJ game was a great example of his game. He ends up on the side of the net as the opposing player he was covering scores and he took a horrible penalty in the game as well. Look at his injuries from the past few years and you’ll see his body is breaking down. At this point, he’ll never play a full NHL season again.
Here is my other question. As long as I have been involved with sports if a team suffered catastrophic injuries like they did last year the medical and training staffs would be seriously reviewed and probably replaced. Didn’t happen with the Isles and we are again seeing guys go down at a none acceptable pace. Last year the Miami Dolphins of the NFL had similar crazy injuries. They ended up having to play safties and linemen who weren’t in the NFL even half way through the year. They replaced training and medical staffs and now lead the NFL in fewest injuries.
This is a plot line we will have to watch. Snow didn’t feel it was necessary and so far he looks wrong. When none contact practice is injuring players then that is a clear indication the training staff didn’t do their job.
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This is the team you get when you hire your backup goalieas GM. End of story….
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KillerC says:
Whoever thinks saturday should be the start of a new chant “GARTH MUST GO”
“GARTH MUST GO” Please reply with that cahnt below- We cant help this AHL team on the ice but maybe we can start having changes made in the front office- Believe me if we chanted this all game we (islander fans will get noticed espn,tsn,nhl network etc) WHOS WITH ME?GARTH MUST GO…GARTH MUST GO
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UIF: What I feel we need is at least 2 new d-men in the mold I mentioned but three would be better. I am talking the difference between being so-so to bad and great. It is not as radical a change as you may think. You listed a top 6 of Witt, Marty, Sutton, Campy, Meyer, and Streit?
I’d go with (as pure example the new guys are in type and probably not actual) Witt, Sutton, Streit, Bieksa, Weber in no particular order as top 5. Then to be really excellent a Seabrook or J. Johnson, Z. Bognasian type. If not then you pick the best of Hillen or Campolli.
Now don’t you think that look a lot better all around with replacing just a few guys?
Also, I am pleased with the draft this year of Harmonic and Neimi. Good size and good skill. Ness looks promising too but is very tiny. More smurf d-men in our system are Katic, Kohn and numerous others. Kinda a good thing I never got my wish in seeing the Isles have powder blue uniforms becasue then they really would be the smurfs.
I do like Camps and Geravis I just think we need upgrades in many ways.
We have often been told by the Islanders that every team in the NHL would really like Martinek. This summer we were told other scouts said it was good the Isles locked up Camps. I say we call their bluff and see what kind of bounty they bring back.
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I don’t neccesarily disagree at all, Strummer. Landing any of the guys you mentioned would be a huge plus. I guess I would just say that the forwards have far more glaring deficiencies than the D, and the lack of ability of our forwards to apply offensive pressure, or pick up assignments in their own zone, magnifies any shortcomings on D or even in net. Those Dallas point men last night were able to move the puck back and forth and shoot at will even when it was 5 on 5. That sets the stage for the whole attack.
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Garth Must GO!!!
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Yes, Jonsson was a much better d-man then anything on our roster now. He had size too, a shot, PP, PK and was more physical then most guys on our roster. However, remember having to hear how good Niinimma, Hamrlik etc were too. Same thing team hyping their own and later admitting they weren’t very good.
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Hey, UIF, I agree with you on the forwards not coming back. It really troubles me as we have seen it for years. I thought we wouldn’t this year because we got rid of the Yashin, Satan, Federtenko, Kozlov, Czerkawski type guys. Still they don’t all come back.
Is is so crazy because Islander hockey based on the blue print of the great and even good teams were tough, very hard working, hard hitting, suffocating defense etc. I only see glimpses of that now. My question is with all the turn over in the roster and coachinf staffs why? If the young guys just need to learn then fine but what are the older guys excuses?
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Chris TMC says:
I like snow so yes stop spamming
he is a good man and he and i have a relationship . Nothing wrong with have a man crush on him -
Come on, guys. Why are you spamming Chris Bottas board like this? Its a really crappy thing to do to him. WTH did he do to you to deserve this?
And StrummersArmy, Kenny is one of my favorite Islanders EVER- but if you are remembering him as “physical” then you are thinking of some other player. Kenny was all about positioning. If he took a hard hit, he would be down like someone tried to frickin kill him. I remember it so well because every time it happened Id wonder if that was “the hit” that was going to give him a concussion and push him out of playing. Kenny was good enough positionally that he didnt get hit very often, but he went down EASY when he did.
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Jonsson did go down pretty easy but he’d at least get into shoving matches in front of the net and not allow himself to be pushed around that way. Remember how red his face would get! LOL
You bring up a good point. I was discussing earlier how Martinek’s body is so broken down. We are told other teams really want him. When a player is on the decline like that or like Jonsson was then it is the time to trade them. Like you said, every time Jonsson got touched we all wondered was that going to be the final concussion. A good GM could have got value for him about 2 years before he walked away from the Isles. That is my point on Martinek. He’ll never finsih off a year again. If a team wants to give us a nice return then please trade him.
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Healy says:
Holy over-reaction. Its amazing how beginning of the season hope erases all the rational thinking that is plotted out in the offseason.
This team took a real step for rebuilding the minute Smyth didn’t stay and Garth is only now just starting to get a chance to put his plans into place. The coach is new, the system is new, there are a good amount of new players. All of which haven’t been given a real chance to gel. Did anyone expect this team to be good this year? How can everyone say they expect Isles to be bottom 5 this year and still agonize after every single loss? Its not gonna be good on your health.
It takes time, its very rare that a turn around of this magnitude happens overnight.
I think getting rid of Garth Snow right now would be one of the worst destabilizing moves for the franchise. Its his show, like it or not, give him the chance and let it play out. The next 6 seasons are decided by the first 6 games of this season.
I am not a Snow fan, in my perfect world we would still have Neil Smith and Lafontaine on board, but I am willing to accept the reality of where we are and give it a chance to show us something in the next couple years. Hopefully he will prove me wrong.
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Why is telling everybody how you feel about our GM spaming? Keep drinking the Kool Aid chris
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We are only 6 games into the season and we’re acting like the world is coming to an end. Can we please gives this team some time to find themselves. Sure we’re 2-4 but in 5 of those 6 games we have shown some glimmer and hope of what can happen when this team plays the system the right way. Even last night they had a handful of shifts were they suffocated Dallas forwards and forced them to cough the puck up. Now they just have to turn those five or six shifts into a full 60 min game. This is a work in progress, let’s not all abandon ship just yet.
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Correction…
“The next 6 seasons AREN’T decided by the first 6 games of this season.”
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I’m all for rebuilding. I just wish our backup goalie wasn’t in charge of it.
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Yea let’s get rid of Charles Wang and Garth Snow…Then you’ll be able to root for the Las Vegas Gamblers or the Portland Islanders!!
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TuxTax says:
ok if the Isles fire Garth then the new gm will hire his own coach which in turn hires new assistants and enforce a new system which in turn will want different players, so lets rebuild again. slow the f down people. we havent even gotten out of October yet. you might as well break out those torches and pitchforks because the team didnt win. dont you want the team and coach a chance to grow together before we go out on a witch hunt? I dont get it…
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“Yea let’s get rid of Charles Wang and Garth Snow…Then you’ll be able to root for the Las Vegas Gamblers or the Portland Islanders”
At least we would stand a chance. I have no problem watching them on the dish. That’s how bad it’s gotten.
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Tux- Our backup goalie is our GM. How do you think we stand a chance in the future? C’mon man wake up. Charles can’t run a pro team and he hired his buddy with absolutley no experience at all. That’s a joke.
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I am losing a lot of faith in Islanders fans, I really am.
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NVMC says:
“Sometimes it just seems like the right thing to do,” said Guerin. “You can’t do it all the time because then the message falls on deaf ears. But it had to be done last night. It’s only been six games, but we’ve seen some ups and downs. We have a lot of guys and a new system. It’s crucial we address the mistakes, that we nip this stuff in the bud right now.” ….Nip it in the bud??? Did the captain really say that? Hey Chris TMC, are you the same person who had a man crush on Gordan before the season started?
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“I am losing a lot of faith in Islanders fans, I really am.”
That’s ok. I lost faith in this team 15 years ago.
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Tom says:
Ted Nolan hockey. 2 people hated it. Garth snow & Jeff Tambellini.
Garth must go. (Why did Garth have to pick up his phone that day? You know if he didn’t pick-up Charlie would’ve just gone to the next name on the list. Maybe he’d hire that chef he interviewed.)
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Readers: It is the same two guys – mostly one guy – logging on using different names. He will be coming off the board. Sorry for the garbage…CB
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Garth has done a good job in the past draft and an excellent job in managing the salary cap. It would be nice if we had a way to attract more free agents with all the cap space but when the new building is up that will help. In the interim they better do a review of how the recruit players. Why is it we here other players constantly say all they know of LI is the Coliseum and the Marriot? Put photos of of LI near the opposing teams locker room. Send out DVD’s to their agents of what it has to offer. I heard other teams are offering players personal assistants seems a bit much but if you have to to make up for the lack of a new building then do it.
What Snow must do is listen to the fans. We should be more competitive then they are showing and hopefully that comes in time. In the interim, replace Andy Hilbert and Thomas Pock with two big guys who can fight. I promise you won’t lose a thing neither guy contributes a darn thing. Give us that much.
Then as the deadline nears get the maximum return for guys like Weight, Guerin, Martinek, Sillinger, Comrie, Park, Meyer etc. If that is handled well then the rebuild will happen much faster.
If Bouwmeester and Komisarik both make it to FA we can afford both easily the question is can The Isles sign them. Think about just adding those two.
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BTW…Do any of you actually play hockey? Do any of you actually realize its a TEAM sport? So if any of you think that getting rid of a GM is going to do anything to this team winning is sorely mistaken…the team is losing because they are not playing like a team because the group is tentative with the puck and indecisive with passing because they just havent jelled yet. I for one think they will jell because of the goals i have seen so far this season have been marvelous hockey goals. Once they figure out how to be a team and play defensively sound hockey with decreased mistakes then we can all start cheering again. In the meantime the pitchfork is stored away and I will watch and follow this team in good times and in bad.
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C’mon Trotts. The give us this site and that’s what you contribute?
To the poster who said Garth has done a good job managing the cap. Are you serious? That’s pretty easy to do when nobody wants to come near this team. Which most likely has to do with a clueless owner and a backup goalie as GM.
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Trotts grow up.
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TuxTax and Strummer’s Army, to smart Islanders fan, all hope is not lost. Although strummer I do disagree with getting rid of Comrie. I would try and keep him around, he makes for a very nice second line center.
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Keep drinking the Kool Aid tux.
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You guys keep calling snow a GM. If a Hospital hires me as a Surgeon and I have no experience. Am I really a Surgeon?
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Now that is funny!
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Oh ye of little faith Jax.
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Id love if they got Komi on this team, hes good friends with DP and all but why would he want to leave a cup contender for this garbage?
I know we don’t have legit NHL toughness in the organization, but we barely have NHL talent on this team, maybe about 10 guys total could say that so how much could it hurt to have Fritz? Look at Leblond who just got the call up by the Devils, the guy was in the AHL for 2 seasons. That makes every team in the league with at least one legit tough guy besides us, what a disgrace. Garth needs to realize that the fans want something entertaining on the ice, theres nothing offensively, might as well grab up a tough guy.
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I wasn’t spamming. I am just a frustrated, tired, fed up with the same song and dance this organization has spun year after year since we got swept by NYR back in ’94. Even in 95/96/97/98/99/00 I kept giving them a chance to make it. Then I was nuts we we made the playoffs in ’02 and played the unbelievable series vs. TOR. Then all of a sudden BOOM! Now I am shot. What professional sports franchise basically gives up signing FA’s or drafting poor, making bad trade after bad trade and then makes fans pay full price plus inflation every year and put a below average product on the ice year after year. C’mon we Isles fans may be passionate but jeez we’ve been beaten senseless that now I just don’t care!
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On top of that, to what CB said, noone on the ice is productive now, what makes them assume he cant take a regular shift? Have they watched Tambys weak play? Hed be as productive as Tamby except more entertaining.
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hey Gang. Only one guy was spamming. Somehow had the time to post more than 30 comments using different names. I’m all for free speech. I’m not for whatever is ailing that guy and I hope he gets help…CB
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Travelchic59 says:
Back to the topic at hand . . .wasn’t Nolan the first coach to NOT run game day skates? I think I remember him saying something to the effect of the NFL not practicing on game day. CB do you remember this?
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Chic: Like a lot of coaches, Ted canceled some skates and he made most of them optional. But he didn’t go to the lengths that Pete has, to forbid players from taking the ice…CB
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30 comments under different names by one person? Wow. Sorry you have to weed though all of that, Chris… but at least the good outweigh the bad!
One thing: Since I see these this being repeated, I would like it on record to the other person using the name “Chris TMC” and also to the person “NVMC” that I do not have mancrushes on anyone because I am in fact not a man. The name “Chris” is not gender specific.
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45 Strummer’s Army on Oct 24th, 2008 16:10:50 said:
When a player is on the decline like that or like Jonsson was then it is the time to trade them. Like you said, every time Jonsson got touched we all wondered was that going to be the final concussion. A good GM could have got value for him about 2 years before he walked away from the Isles. That is my point on Martinek. He’ll never finsih off a year again. If a team wants to give us a nice return then please trade him.
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Dont you see? If the Isles HAD done what you said and traded Kenny when you say they should have, and he DID stay in the NHL, what would have happened? Kenny is still playing, StrummersArmy… and playing well. He would have had many good years ahead of him, only he wouldnt have been here. I say he would have just been another name in the “why oh why did we trade him away” list.
Without Marti, Witt and Sutton, we have the worst/softest defense in the league, without question. I sure hope we have Fritz in the lineup soon, this is a disgrace.