PRACTICE: Thursday, Iceworks
1:40 pm – Bailey deal, Bergenheim in, Gordon loud
Trevor Smith
The Josh Bailey deal was just announced in front of a cozy media gathering. As I’ve written before, Bailey is a class kid and – while not a franchise player – could be a heart-and-soul No. 2 center on the Island.
Despite the dancing around the subject, Bailey was drafted to eventually center a line with Kyle Okposo. You don’t move heaven and earth and go from the 5th to the 9th overall pick in the draft and then say you drafted the best player available. The Islanders wanted a center, a center for Okposo. They now feel they have one in the pipeline.
Bailey did not skate today and is out for Friday night’s game at The Rock. Trevor Smith will likely play. Sean Bergenheim is in. Scott Gordon respectfully refused to set a timetable for Bailey’s return. Give Greg Logan credit for at least trying.
As for today’s practice, Gordon was noticeably louder, and at times annoyed, during some early drills. The coach said his demeanor was not a result of last night’s 3-0 showing at the NVMC, but more that there needs to be a sense of urgency with the regular season beginning in eight days.
Gordon also confirmed that the players up with the big club now are almost all likely to be around on Monday. That’s in part because of the injuries and also because Gordon wants those on-the-bubble to have every chance to make their case for a lineup spot.
Rick DiPietro is slated to practice Friday, although we didn’t get the vibe this was completely set in stone.
SKETCH PAD
With the news last night on DiPietro and informed speculation on the injury front, we shelved our notes from last night’s 3-0 loss to New Jersey. Here’s a few…
Witt Perspective: We checked with veteran dman Brendan Witt for some soothing words for fans in the wake of a poor performance in the lone home pre-season game. He’s been in plenty of these over the years.
“We’re working on so many things in a new system,” said Witt. “We have a lot of new faces, young players. You want guys to battle, be competitive, make plays. We still have a lot to learn, no question. If this was 15 games into the regular season, it would be a concern. We still have time to work things out.”
For his part, Gordon said after practice today that last night the Islanders allowed the fewest quality scoring chances of any of their exhibition games. He said his focus was “how we came out of our zone, and how we forechecked.”
Read-and-React: The new coach fairly summed up his team’s performance on Wednesday in his post-game briefing: “There were times when we had players right where they were supposed to be,” said Gordon, “but they didn’t react the way they were supposed to.”
The Fight Card: If you had Bryce Salvador as Brandon Sugden‘s opponent on Wednesday, you win the office pool. No one was more surprised than Sugden. “He hit me on the leg with his stick, I tapped him back and figured that was it,” said Sugden. “But then he whacked me again. I know Salvador. I was in camp with him in St. Louis.” Sugden must like him; he could have taken Salvador’s helmet off and continued the pounding, but let up with the Devils’ back turned to him. As for Pierre-Luc Letourneau Leblond, there could always be a tilt on Friday at The Rock.
13 Responses to PRACTICE: Thursday, Iceworks
1:40 pm – Bailey deal, Bergenheim in, Gordon loud
-
Chris,
This quote here: “Despite the dancing around the subject, Bailey was drafted to eventually center a line with Kyle Okposo. You don’t move heaven and earth and go from the 5th to the 9th overall pick the draft and then say you drafted the best player available. The Islanders wanted a center, a center for Okposo. They now feel they have one in the pipeline.”
Is exactly what I was saying on draft day and for the first week. Everyone said I was nuts for thinking Snow was looking at the draft for a player to play with a prospect who had only played nine games.
Everything that occurred after that kept confirming my thoughts until Gordon changed the lines early in training camp. However, I never shifted from my belief that they would be paired up sooner rather than later.
-
kevin says:
i was at the game and sugden challenged lepuny and he backed down. great figth by sugden and fritz. jackman was a draw
-
Chris excellent job. Thanks for keeping the blog going. Some great insight. Let’s hope they have somewhat of a successful season.
-
Jim says:
So we let go of a Top 6 pick in an epic draft for a player Botta does not think can be a first liner?
-
yeah but we got petrov which is a first liner if he wants to come
-
jbranny says:
Chris,
Do you know the line-ups for tomorrow night?
If you had to guess the defenseman on the opening night roster, who would they be?
-
Jax says:
I can’t wait until petrov comes over. That russian league will fold in a couple of years and that stud will be here!!!!
-
KillerC says:
We pass on filitov enough said !!!!!
Watch in three years Filitov=Pavel Bure
Bailey=Tom Fitzgerald
Well at least he will blend in with the Hilberts and Hunters and tambelini’s
-
hunters? leading checker and led team in assists with no one to pass it to. tambs played under ted with no ice time. lets keep it real here. though i want hilbert out.
-
Ryan Tendrup says:
I like Tim Jackman. He’s all heart… Although to be honest, he’s not going to scare anyone. He’s just plain and simple, not a true heavyweight fighter. I think Sugden or Fritz would be much more useful, not so much for ice time, but to protect the kids.
-
Tony D says:
Jim, “2nd line center” would fall under “top 6 player”.
-
Chris TMC says:
Since when is “heart-and-soul No. 2 center” any kind of an insult? Butch Goring was a “heart-and-soul No. 2 center” as well.
If Josh is centering a second line with Kyle in a couple of years that would mean that this team would be in GREAT frickin shape!
I hope Smith performs well. He has been a great story, and if he can do enough to stick around in the big league, that would be great.