THE FRITZ & WRECKER REPORT
by CT Post reporter Mike Fornabaio
I promised some Point Blank readers an explanation from GM Garth Snow of why the Islanders don’t employ a heavyweight on the fourth line. Snow has put me and my subject on hold for a day, prompting pure, unadulterated speculation that perhaps Mitch Fritz could get the call for the game in fight-lovin’ Philadelphia tomorrow.
While I wait for the GM, I asked Point Blank pal Mike Fornabaio of the Connecticut Post – easily one of the ten-best beat writers in all of pro hockey, NHL or AHL – for a first-hand update on Fritz and enforcer prospect Joel Rechlicz. All Islanders followers should bookmark Mike’s Sound Tigers blog because he often scoops everyone. Here’s Mike’s email:
“If you’re wondering how Fritz is throwin’ ‘em… He’s not. Or, rather, he hasn’t.
“In five games, Fritz has played a solid little fourth-line game. He has moved the puck in and out. He has been physical when appropriate. He’s a minus-1, and that minus came after they got stuck on a long shift on an icing and Portland scored on a broken play.
“He hasn’t fought. Can he do it? Sure, but he hasn’t had to, either, though he hasn’t played a ton in this special-teams world.
“As for Rechlicz, he’s down with Utah of the East Coast Hockey League. Preseason showed him as a good-enough fighter who, especially based on the strength of the rest of the roster (I mean, there were 17 forwards on the ice here yesterday), needed work on his game.
“I wouldn’t write him off; his skating did look improved from what I remembered from last season (very small sample that it was), and, well, Eric Godard didn’t look like he could skate in 2001, either. But Rechlicz needs the work the Grizzlies can give him.
“Bridgeport has seven fighting majors in eight games. Five of those came, ironically, during the weekend Fritz spent with the Islanders on the two-game Florida trip. Tim Jackman has four of fighting majors, Jason Pitton has two, and Blake Comeau has the other, in his first game back.”
36 Responses to THE FRITZ & WRECKER REPORT
by CT Post reporter Mike Fornabaio
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Jax says:
CB. Thanks brother. Pat I agree 100% It’s mind boggling wjy there isn’t a heavyweight on the this team. 7th bootland was nothing more then a middleweight. He and Thompson are the same player.
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Mikko Makela says:
I agree Jax. What you lost with Bootland, you gained with Thompson, and Thompie knows “The System”.
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stumpy32 says:
Thompson is also a much better player than Bootland.Though he has not coontributed that much offensively, he has the ability to do so. On a team that is so short on offense, you have to hope the fourth line can contribute.
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Joey303 says:
Why not Jackman? He wasnt exactly dreadful up here
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snow should bring jackman up ..that guy will drop the gloves and hes a decent skater..what the f .. he was fun to watch last year hes better than some of the guys we have up here now.
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UIF says:
I never understood why people liked Jackman. I don’t think I ever saw him actually win a fight in the NHL, and as a forward, he’s probably a step or two down from Thompson.
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Darren says:
Yeah Blake mixing it up!
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Having a fighter that cannot keep up with the play is useless… I think if the team felt they had someone that could fill the enforcer role and not look out of place on the ice…he would be there…
Sadly pugilists that can fight and skate do not grow on trees…. The team is rolling 4 lines continuously, because there is no true number 1 or number 2 line on this year’s club.
We all need to take a deep breath here people… As CB has stated on numerous occasions, the team, is what it is… regardless of the win/loss columns I will continue to support the team, Okposo’s play on Monday is a prime reason as to why.
This team is 3 years away, we need to stop the constant lamenting about what we have seen in the first 8 games… and the lack of an enforcer,…let’s move on already.
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James says:
Jackman looks like a guy who could one day become a decent 3rd or 4th line player, but he is not a legit heavyweight. Those clamoring for an enforcer shouldn’t have to “settle” on a borderline middleweight. How do you like Jackman’s chances against Colton Orr, Riley Cote, Eric Godard, or even David Clarkson, Arron Asham, or Aaron Voros? A look at Jackman’s career stats would suggest he’s a big guy but not a fighter… but who found a niche on the Island by dropping the gloves.
Isles absolutely should have a legit enforcer. Orr, while in my eyes is a pretty clean but tough player, did have free reign on the ice on Monday, as did Andrew Peters in the Buffalo debacle.
I keep harping on this, but when Snow is trying to sell the young guys as the future of the Islanders, but then fails to provide them any real protection… well, he’s contradicting himself. Or he has no interest in protecting his “investment in the future.” Or he doesn’t regard these young guys highly enough to feel they are worth protecting.
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Lars says:
Whether he won or not aside, Jackman would go with anyone and I personally thought he had good speed, would go full blast into the corners after a puck, would actually lay a body into someone, and had more of a shot than one might think. If Fritz can’t skate what good is he? Granted I haven’t seen him play…
Like many have posted before it has become increasingly frustrating to watch our games and at this point I just look for a few nice plays a game to hold me over. I think Bergy is the most fun to watch and Okposo is showing he can dance a little with the puck too. And how good does Streit look? Who knew he could be so chippy in his own end? -
I don’t think Webby ever won a fight and we all love him!
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how bout this if dp isnt hurt too bad the isles go 500 and have a shot at the 8 spot ..they played 2 pretty decent games , this is better than last year with all that fake foreign talent..
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Webb was a middleweight who left the fighting with the big boys to Cairns. There were a bunch of legit enforcers available in July yet Snow feed us the same old B.S. that Fritz was the guy they targeted from the beginning, yet he can’t keep up with the NHL speed? Another snow contradiction. Anybody else seeing a pattern with this guy when he speaks? We all know Fritz brings one thing to the table and that’s toughness. People act on here like every heavyweight in the league skates like the wind. Fritz is no different then Godard, Orr, Boogaard or most other heavyweights yet if he can’t skate he can’t play on this team? Do you guys even watch this team? Do you think by sitting one of the useless 12 skaters we have and letting Fritz do his job is really going to hurt us? HELLO!!!! This team will finish dead last regardless so why not protect the the players? Some of you on here just make me shake my head..
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Joe will you stop it. This team needs to finish dead last. Aren’t you sick of finishing 8th and getting bounced in 5? Plus even with a helathy DP this team is going nowhere fast….
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Jon says:
Don’t compare Fritz to Orr. Orr is 10 times better than Fitz will ever be. Orr worked his ass off this off season and has improved a lot.
The Islanders should wait and bring up Michael Haley when he’s 100%. He can give you 5-8 minutes on the 4th line. He’s improved a lot this season with his skating and discipline. He had a solid game when they played the Bruin prospects. He also had a good game when they played the Flyers in the preseason.
The Islanders should of resigned Kip Brennan and pass on Fritz.
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Darryl seems to be doing fine in Manatoba http://www.winnipegsun.com/Sports/Hockey/2008/10/29/7234761-sun.html
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Joe says:
Jon, Haleys great but again, a MW.
Jax, I agree with you but Orr/Godard are better skaters. Much lke Boogaard, when a guy is 6’7/6’8 its hard to look graceful out there. I think Fritz looked decent in pre-season and unlike what Jon said, hes as good of a fighter as Orr if you ask me. I could see him being a top 10 guy in the NHL is he were to stick with the team for a little bit.
Thanks for the update, Chris. I hope Fritz is up to deal with Cote thursday.
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Just as a note, there were some instances where maybe the Isles could have stood up to the Rangers more, but I did not see that game as the Isles getting pushed around all night at all. And I thought that’s what would have happened with a lot of the sizeable players out. They pushed back, mostly, and Thompson dropped the mits when it was appropriate. So, Okposo got pushed down to the ice once. He was crashing the net, and that’s what usually happens…it wasn’t a hard knock or anything by any stretch of the imagination. Could someone have sent a message after that play? Yeah, I guess, but if Fritz was there, all that would have maybe happened is we’d have seen Fritz vs Orr later in the game in addition to Thompson vs. Voros. It’s not like Fritz would have flown off the bench and found a willing combatant in Callahan right then and there just because Okposo got pushed down once.
The game before that…well, it was Weight putting a guy from the other team in the hospital, not the other way around.
I’ve seen some other teams out there, Atlanta in particular, that NEVER stand up for each other. The Isles are nowhere near that bad in that respect.
I abslutely do see the value in having an enforcer from a “protection” standpoint. But pointing out every time an Islander gets checked as an example of why it’s critical…I just think sometimes the point is overstated.
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paul says:
Let’s put it into perspective a heavyweight fights and goals from players who score goals, do we need both YES they both have rolls and serve a purpose(garth snow) for those who think we don’t you r proven wrong, just look at the standings and where we r! We need scorring and we don’t have it. The kids look lost and leaving a enforcer out helps nothing we need to show tuffness and the ability to score, get it! Garth snows theory and Gordons is not working can’t anyone see that? And these enforcer are not even playing in Bridgeport what a WASTE!
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admin says:
Fritz is on Long Island today…CB
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UIF, I do agree but as a better example: the Buffalo game. Andrew Peters punches Bill Guerin and ran Trent Hunter, Kaleta and Mair both ran around, during the brawl Rivet pounded Bergenheim and Mair cheapshotted Thompson. The Dallas game, Avery got everyone off their game, the crowd was deal, Barch ran Witt knee to knee. Not only for protection but when we are down by 2/3 (6 in the Buffalo) goals in the first or second at home, a fight by Fritz could definitely spark the team mor ethan anyone else can. Look at Thompson the other night, right after he fought Gleason, everyone woke up. Fritz could do that 10x better.
Philly loves to throw huge hits and fight, if we dont have Fritz up, were in big trouble.
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YES! THANKS CB
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mike says:
If we’re going with the kids, we are conceding that we will most likely not win most games this year. Given that we’re not going to win, the team must still do something to make the games entertaining, and to convince fans to attend games.
While we can debate what it says about us as people, we cannot debate the irrefutable fact that fans like fighting. If the team wants the fans to show up (and pay), and the team cannot field (ok, ice) a competitive product, the team should at least give the fans a team with toughness, a team that fights.
I’m not suggesting that we start Fritz and sit one of the kids we’re trying to develop. But I see no reason why Fritz should not be starting over an Andy Hilbert or a Richard Park. Hilbert and Park may be solid hockey players (to give them the benefit of the doubt), but they do not bring excitement to the arena. Fritz, while he is not as good a player, does bring excitement. And excitement is something this team desperately needs.
I’d like to close by paraphrasing a famous quote by, I believe, Clarence Campbell: “if we don’t put a stop to these fights, we may need to start printing more tickets.”
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toorude says:
joe – good post regarding other team’s bullying of the islanders and its impact on our play. i agree.
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Joe – Point taken on the Buffalo game. I think that entire contest was a catastrophic meltdown on several fronts, but it’d have helped to have someone who could handle himself in there when it got out of hand. As for Witt, I don’t know if that was an intentional knee hit – do you think it was? I haven’t looked at it closely, but when it happened during the game, my first impression was it was incidental contact. As for Avery, heck, that’s what he does. No way he would have dropped the gloves with Fritz, which brings me to the point that enforcers are unfortunately limited in what they can do for protection by the current rules of the game.
I absolutely agree about sparking the team when they’re down with a fight. And I’m glad Fritz is up for the Philly game, because they most certainly are a team where it helps having a heavyweight in the lineup.
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Orr is no better then any other goon. At the end of the year he will still have 0-1 goals and will be a minus. Stpo acting like those guys do anything more then enforce.
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UIF, Barch definitely meant to run Witt, I dont know if his intention was to knee him but he didnt try to move out of the way you know. For another teams tough guy to do that to an assistant captain, that should be answered. Avery is only effective in certain games though, against the Rangers/Devils he had guys all over him and wasnt nearly as big of an idiot. With the instigator penalty, I agree they are limited but still necessary in our divison. A fight is still a useful tool in sparking the team etc so Im glad to have this guy.
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Jax – re: Colton Orr. 0-1 goals? Have you checked out his wikipedia page?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colton_Orr
Someone massively defaced it as a joke, but the fact checkers still haven’t gotten it completely up to speed yet. I wasn’t aware he went 6-12-18 last season…
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That’s wrong. Last year Colton Orr had 1 goal 1 assist and was a -13.
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Oh wow, yeah you’re right. And here I was thinking he was traded from the Bruins in exchange for three first round picks. I guess everything on wikipedia isn’t accurate after all.
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Chris M says:
Keep up the pressure I feel a tough team might be making a comeback on the Island!!
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If i wanted to just watch guys skate really fast back and fourth i would watch speed skating or figure skating!!
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Rechlicz should definitely be with Bridgeport, hes supposed to be up with us in the future, he needs the AHL experience.
Glad about Fritz, needs a little work on skating but he is an absolute monster.
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John says:
the islanders are too stupid to have rechlicz in bridgeport, its too bad.
Thanks CB – Really appreciate this update. This is why I come here every day for team info. I know people will dismiss my constant whining for more enforcers on the NHL team – but as a season ticket holder – I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that going to the games this year is rapidly becoming a waste of my time. I love the team – but having a collection of third and fourth and in fact FIFTH line players in and out of this lineup is not so entertaining…..
I am sick of seeing us getting taken advantage of physically.
For a year – I am ok seeing us return fire and using enforcers to become “specialists” on our team. These players will “specialize” in hockey played on West 33rd Street, Newark, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Ice. Also, know how to take the ferry to Port Jefferson on occasion to answer the bell on Hempstead Tpke. Give Okposo and other talent on our team some more room to grow without having some other team GOON all over them. Like when Colton Orr was carving up one of our players with time running down – and no one retaliated. Cannot happen anymore.
Also, as a customer, it would be a more entertaining watch for me personally.
Great post – and I read Mike Fornabio all the time on the web. Agreed, he is a talent and am sure others in the business know this too.
Pat