INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY
Garth Snow was just in Europe, but why?
There was a secret gap in Garth Snow’s whereabouts for four days over this past weekend. I tried to call him on Friday and got a bit of a surprise when his cell phone had that distinctive European ring to it.
The mystery grew when the Islanders GM didn’t call back. Even when he’s pissed at me, or has nothing to say, he usually calls back.
Snow was back on the Island yesterday, finally returning my call and text before the game.
Where were you?
“Scouting.”
Yeah, I figured that. Where?
He laughed. “Uh, Moose Jaw.”
He had already heard the stories from his staff about a few people looking for him over the weekend and intrigued by his absence and the Euro-ring.
C’mon, I know you were in Europe.
“I…I’ve gotta take a pass on this one. It was a good trip. I’m glad I did it. But I don’t want to start a story where there isn’t one. There’s nothing imminent, not at all.”
I believe him. But still it’s fun guessing whom Garth visited:
A. Robin Figren: Arguably one of the Islanders’ top half-dozen prospects, Figren and the Islanders mutually agreed he’d play this year back home in Sweden after two seasons in the Western Hockey League.
B. Kirill Petrov: Inarguably the Islanders’ best prospect not in the NHL or AHL, the 2008 third round pick has just returned to game action in the second tier of the Kontinental Hockey League after returning from injury. He is a possibility for Team Russia at the World Junior Championships. Petrov has two years remaining on his current deal and my sources tell me it’s an extreme longshot he’ll join the Islanders before 2011.
C. Victor Hedman: Along with John Tavares, a head-and-shoulders-above top-2 pick in the 2009 draft. The teenage Hedman plays for Modo in the Swedish Elite League and will be watched closely on Team Sweden at the WJC in Ottawa.
D. David Ullstrom: Recently named to Team Sweden for the WJC, the Islanders’ fourth round pick last summer has opened lots of eyes in the scouting community this season and could be the team’s steal of the draft. The 19-year old left wing is 6-3, 200 pounds with skill and good wheels.
E. None of the above. Or all of the above.
Either way, like George McPhee talked about last night, it appears Snow is out on the road in a big way and planning ahead.
Comments.
99 Responses to INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY
Garth Snow was just in Europe, but why?
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This is my Christmas wish, they somehow pull a Malkin situation and Petrov magically appears on Long Island in an Islanders jersey.
A guy can hope right?
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Andreas the Badger says:
Well, what’s the dream job in this world if not general manager of an NHL franchise? Did anyone in here play NHL East Coast Hockey Manager a couple of seasons back? It’s built on the same platform as Football Manager (World Soccer Manager in the US) and was a very realistic simulation game involving all aspects of managing a franchise all the way from scouting to game day coaching. I wish they would continue making this game, but I just don’t think those kind of simulation games are that big in the US and Canada. Too bad really, because in my opinion this was way more interesting than all those online fantasy games.
Back to the real world. I just feel Snow is doing the right things as a GM. For those who blame him for not starting the rebuild earlier, no sane GM would enter a rebuild after a play-off season. A lot of things changed for the Isles when DP ran into his injury problems. He was in fact the biggest reason behind the Isles reaching the play-offs in 2007. I think that with him healthy (crossing fingers here) the Isles have half an Ovechkin, at least. Let’s use these two seasons with him out of the lineup as the building block of the future. -
James says:
Not buying (a) or (d). If he’s scouting Figren or Ullstrom, he could say just that, and there is no story. That he passed on commenting, the guess here is it’s one (or more) of Hedman, Petrov, or perhaps it was lunch with Kenny Jonsson… just to see how he’s doing.
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kevin says:
he didnt have to tell anyone what he was doing and he chose not to
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Peter Puck says:
Any combination of all 5. I have no money left over after buying all the xmas presents but if I did i would lay a quick 5 bucks on one of them being in an Islander jersey by Feb 1st
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Willis says:
Well yay.
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Doug F. says:
It better be that he is working on an agreement to get Petrov…
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BringTheReign says:
Bet he was trying to lure Petrov over here early since an article in Russia said he would consider coming here after this season was over. But, i highly doubt he does which may be why Garth says nothing is even imminent.
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My guess would be just taking a look at type of play of one of them. Maybe to see how all of the pieces of the puzzle will fit and/or where any duplicates might be. You know, for future reference….
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TuxTax says:
Vacationing on the Greek Islands…thats where I’d be…
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Strummer's Army says:
It is probably just doing his job and checking on the current Isles property and doing a bit of scouting for the 2009 draft. However, the secrecy thing makes me raise an eyebrow.
Chris Botta: I read an article that Petrove discussed he had an opportunity to join the Isles last summer but didn’t feel it was the right time, so between that and the way the Russians have blown up the aggreement I don’t think the contract stands in his way. He says he is 100% committed to playing in the NHL. Is your sources saying doubtful until 2011 because he doesn’t feel he is ready, wants to be close to home or waiting for the Isles to get good?
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DC says:
Since he could scout the WJC kids in a couple of weeks in Ottawa I would rule out those options. My guess is Petrov or another teams’ prospect offered in a deal.
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Islanders1984 says:
It would be great if it was to bring back kenny jonsson as someone mentioned above
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Matt says:
Post 13 one of the best posts I’ve read since coming here.
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Kenny Jonsson and his bro saw the writing on the wall a long time ago and took the high road. Can’t say I much blame the guy.
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WJC is soon so makes no sense to go see our guys that will be playing in that. My guess is Petrov or a another teams’ prospect offered in a potential deal.
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could be possible DC
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JLaMonica16, sounds like you have been to Prague before. LMFAO that was good!
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islanderfan72 says:
I hope he was talking to Petrov. I think he is gana be a beast.
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mrlbem says:
Garth was trying to convince Petrov not to play for Russia at the WJC so that he and Bailey will be on equal footing.
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Maybe it is petrov and snow can’t say anything just yet, Maybe Petrov will come to isles after WJC
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isles316 says:
Hey CB, any truth to the rumors that the KHL is doing poorly in Russia? Any chance that league folds and Petrov and all players who want and are capable come back to the NHL?
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JPinVA says:
He’s probably throwing rocks at Carla Bruni’s window. Is there any other reason to be in europe.
Unless you’re trying to get advice from Roman Polanski about living in exile.
Hmmm… there’s an idea…NEW BOSTON, France… it has a nice ring to it.Mayor… Garth Snow (I hear he does an awesome Jerry Lewis impersonation)
Vice Mayor… Dunham (somebody’s gotta drive the limo)
Minister of OVERSPEED… Scott Gordon Maybe he can get the frogs to hop faster before they lose their legs.
Minister of defense… Freddy Meyer… in the land of retreat he’ll fit right in.
Minister of Whine… Rick DiPietro
Minister of Finance… the reason they’re all there… Charles Wang. Last heard asking, “are there lighthouses in France… do they need one?”
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The PolishPrince says:
Regarding the Petrov situation, I remember back in June around the draft when we were paying $4 a gallon for gas and oil was $150 a barrel the Russian League going on and on how they would rival the NHL sooner than later. I recall people saying that the league had big oil money backing it. I wonder if the slide in the price to todays $40 would make it any easier to get Petrov here in that maybe the contract he would receive here would be just as good or better than any offer from Russia. I do realize he’s got two years left on his contract there. Anyway we can buy him out?
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19 ISLE in NJ 22 says:
If he went to meet with Kenny Jonsson .. I think he’d offer a defensive coaching job … KJ was banged up his last few years … and the way the Isles get hurt now … he’d be in the infirmary in no time.
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John says:
You mean Petrol Petrov?
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Chris maybe you can shed more light on this, but GM’s don’t typically go see potential future draft selections – in EUROPE in the middle of a current season. Isn’t that why you have European scouts?
To me this seems deeper than the chance of seeing Hedman.
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Mike says:
He’s trying to get as Far away as possible from this CRAPPY team he put together.
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CB,
I recently read in an interview with Petrov (If I am not mistaken) that he said he would love to come over to North America, and might even consider coming over this Summer if all went well. Think that maybe Garth was over there gauging the odds of him coming over as early as this summer? He would basically be guaranteed a full salary, entry level contract and a spot on the top two lines as well as the power play.
-Justin
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This has been one of the most enlightening comment boards I’ve read here in a while. Some people have really been thinking why Garth have traveled over there. I agree that he wouldn’t go and see Petrov, Hedman, or Ullstrom when they will be here in a few weeks, unless he is trying to get Ullstrom and Petrov to sign to an agreement this summer. I doubt he would sign them and bring them over immediately after the WJC considering it would be terrible for them. They would need a full season of conditioning in order to get used to the smaller rinks. As for Figren, there is the possibility he wants to bring Figren over here to finish out the second half of the season with the Isles. He isn’t doing that well over there, and I attribute it to coming from the big rinks, playing on the small ones here for several years and doing well, and now going back. As for other scouting, there are always those great players buried in the Swedish League who only surface when they finally decide to come to North America, and then the big name teams usually sign them. As for including Petrov in a possible deal, I doubt that. Snow knows he got a huge steal in both Petrov and Ullstrom, and they are integral pieces to the rebuild. It’s a good sign to see him working out there though! Sorry for the long post, CB. It’s my last one!
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i dont think the person meant petrov but another teams prospect in a deal
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I did read an article where Petrov did say he would consider coming over next summer. He was quoted as saying such but I don’t know how much substance there was behind it. It really doesn’t make much sense if he has 2 years left on his contract unless he broke it!
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DP's Hip says:
He’s telling Petrov his coach stinks, he hates Russian hockey and thinks he’d be better off learning how to play hockey in Connecticut for a duration, until he matures or is called up two weeks later, WHICHEVER comes first
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Blockness Monster says:
The only way to know if these guys are really coming besides the Islanders announcing it, would be if Garth suddenly starts moving veterans for picks. Then we will be in a full blown youth movement.
Figren would be fine and would not need fine tuning for the rink size. But I think Garth has found a free agent or two he is kicking the tires on. The sae way he scouts the colleges!
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Jim M says:
Hope we can land Petrov eventually..CB do you have anything further on Tyler Bozak and Matt Gilroy?? It would be great to see atleast one of em in an isles uniform before the conclusion of this season
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Jim – don’t plan on hearing anything about the college players until their teams are eliminated from the NCAA tournament. As a BU alum I would love for them to win the national title before Gilroy (hopefully) signs with the Isles. But yea, don’t expect any news until March at the earliest.
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According to Logan the Isles currently have 29 players on NHL contract on their roster. The max is 23. Obviously as guys come off injuries this has to be handled.
Pock and Sim can be sent down because they cleared waivers.
Interesting that Tambelleni needs to be called back up Saturday. Right? His conditioning stint will be over so they have to bring him back up or he is exposed to the rest of the NHL.
Martinek will be out for a while.
Fritz and Jackman can go down but I don’t want either of them to.
I think we might see the first couple trades of the year soon. -
BillyIsle says:
He went to kidnap Sundin but later found out that Mats was at MSG.
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The Holiday Trade Freeze is in effect starting Friday, so unless a trade is made before then, then the only movement you will see will be on the waiver wire.
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Mike from Philly says:
John Tavares please….
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Strummer who do u think we would trade though. I see weight being held on to till the deadline, he keeps racking up points hopefully he can get a 1st. Guerin won’t be going anywhere till the deadline either. I just hope he is wise about trades, not just sending people to make space, but really getting something in return
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1984, I’m really not sure because I can’t see the big picture right now (when the injured players will be back etc) wasn’t it CB who said that they were working on shipping a vet player a week or so ago?
My best guess is the moves will happen at forward because that is where the log jam exists. Don’t have to worry about Thompson for 4-6 because he is exempt, so right now it is a matter of I think three spots. Walter goes down, Fritz and Jackman could go down too, Sim can go down, Pock down. and that would really solve it but it would hurt the team. So it may not force a trade just yet but the time is near. I thought Sillinger could be traded sooner then later and not lose much in value before his injury. Comrie when he gets a steak of games together is likely. Tambelleni himself could be moved. Sorry I don’t know, I just think some time soon Snow’s hand will be forced because he won’t be able to send guys down and other guys will be healthy.
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Sexier than Usher usher says:
Over at islandermania one of our swiss fans was talking last week about an overage swiss player that more than 20 NHL teams were looking at. It was speculated he could be the next Fabian Brunnstrom i.e undrafted euro free agent that starts a mini bidding war. It’s interesting to note that having Mark Streit on the roster could give garth and co. and edge with said player. Sorry, don’t remember his name at this juncture.
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DavidNYC says:
Found this on Islandermania…
“According to Swiss reports, several NHL teams have been scouting Swiss forward Roman Wick (6 ft 2 in)(196 lb) , and there are rumors that he could be the next “Fabian Brunnstrom.” (ie. the next hyped European free agent prospect.) Wick plays for Kloten Flyers, and was originally drafted by the Ottawa Senators 156th overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, but was never signed to a contract. Wick’s agent Christoph Graph said to slapshot.ch: “It is not a rumor, it’s true: We are bringing Wick next season into the NHL.” Up to 20 NHL teams have been scouting the Swiss forward, including the Vancouver Canucks, Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings. Brochu’s take: He could become this year’s overhyped European prospect. However, Wick does have two years in the WHL under his belt. With the early success of Brunnstrom, more and more NHL teams are scouting the European.”
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I remember the Isles talked about how they were going to have to work on Petrov, and sell him on the idea of coming to the Islanders… perhaps thats what this was? That certainly would be wonderful.
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Well, then I hope Snow didn’t get upset.
Telling Petrov he’s fat and out of shape when he hedges might hurt our chances of bringing him back here.
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Daniel says:
I really hope one day we see Petrov in an Islander jersey one day. Speaking of Russians, anybody read the interview with Malkin? He said the hardest team to play against is the islanders. Thought that was kinda interesting.
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I gotta pull for my man Patrick Thoresen from Norway when this Swiss guy is promoted here. Thoresen is actually second in the Swiss league scoring race 16-29-45 in 31 games for Lugano while Roman Wick is 20-16-36 in 33 games for Kloten Flyers. Patrick has split two NHL seasons between the Flyers and the Oilers putting up the numbers 6-18-24 in 106 games. Not very impressing, but better than Jeff Tambellini and he’s supposed to be the same kind of player. The thing about Thoresen though is that he’s undrafted and was signed as a free agent to a two-way contract by the Oilers and earned a roster spot during their training camp in 2006. He created some fuzz early in his NHL career producing decent numbers mainly on the 3rd line of the Oilers, but like his team he dropped of later that season.
He’s determined to go back to the NHL, but down a two-way offer from a Flyers team very close to the cap last summer. He wants security. I’m pretty sure this guy could be a 50 point guy in the NHL with 2nd line minutes. He didn’t really get a shot at being a scorer during his last stay. Unlike Tambs he will also fight (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXGLtNJLa8E&feature=related, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwX5V9M5CYw and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gdr90PKME0&feature=related)
I’m sorry for yet another long post, just felt like pulling for my man Patrick! -
FIsles says:
The KHL is actually in financial trouble now. The owners have had a meeting this week and there’s talk about slashing players’ salaries by 20% throughout the league, possibly as soon as January. The players’ association is understandably completely against it saying existing contracts can’t be legally altered without permission from the players. Apparently there have been suggestions that if the players don’t comply they’ll end up unemployed. The clubs are looking to minimize costs across the board, so life in the KHL is probably not going to become more alluring in the near future.
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RJ says:
According to HockeysFuture.com the Islanders prospects rate very, very poor. They are 25th out of 30. This is despite all the picks last year. Pretty sad.
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UIF says:
RJ, are you talking about the “organizational rankings”? They’re 17th, not 25th, and that hasn’t been updated since January, so it does not include this draft. The prospect rankings do, so I guess you could criticize that Bailey is nowhere on the top 50 while guys we passed up are…but they do have Okposo ranked 7th.
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You have to remember as well that the Russians have a history of running pro sports leagues on smoke and mirrors and FIsles is rightYou have got to know Snow was on a mission and not just bringing christmas presents to the prospects.
Petrov or that Swiss guy make sense. -
"Dissillusioned Brian" in VA says:
I agree RJ. We have bad bad prospects! We have a quantity of prospects but quality ummm… only Karil P. could be a beast!
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RJ on Dec 18th, 2008 08:35:51 said:
“According to HockeysFuture.com the Islanders prospects rate very, very poor. They are 25th out of 30. This is despite all the picks last year. Pretty sad.”HF? Please. I read that- they didnt even mention many of the Islanders top picks from last season. That is in no way, shape, or form an objective or comprehensive discussion of the Islanders prospects. Chris Botta did a much better job in his writeup right here than they did.
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There was an article recently on the finanacial troubles of the KHL…maybe someone here had mentioned it, actually. I guess some teams cannot meet payroll right now, and they’re only charging something like $5 for games but no one can afford to go. But who knows if that will last – I guess it all depends on what happens to the price of oil. I’d have to guess that if Petrov’s team is one that isn’t meeting payroll, and doesn’t pay him, that has to be a legit reason to not stick around. A contract works both ways.
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And never mind, RJ, I found the rankings you were talking about. 17th to 25th is quite a drop from last year.
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Jim says:
I wouldn’t exactly take Hockey Futures as a great source of prospect evaluations. Pretty much anyone can write for that site, and most of the writers have never even seen most of the prospects they are evaluating play.
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56 UIF on Dec 18th, 2008 09:37:58 said:
“And never mind, RJ, I found the rankings you were talking about. 17th to 25th is quite a drop from last year.”No, they arent ranking the same thing. More importantly, they arent scouts, they arent professionals, and they didnt even consider the Islanders whole prospect pool when writing their evaluations.
Im just saying there is no reason to give them credit and validity they dont deserve.
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I personally find Hockeys Future to be excellent. Face it, the Isles prospects just aren’t that good.
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I wish I’d read last night…
Andreas – #3 – I own Eastside Hockey Manager 2007. Sadly, discontinued now. Great game. You’re right, it is a dream job… but I disagree about rebuilding a playoff team. Sometimes it IS the right thing to do to tear it all down and rebuild immediately. It depends on whether you’re a young team you expect to improve, or a veteran team you expect to decline. The Isles were never going to be better than a seven or eight seed and didn’t have the kinds of propsects that could net them players to move up. Therefore, the proper thing to do was to move players OUT to gain picks and prospects, move down, and set up for a strong run 2-3 years down the road.
Even last year… if RDP isn’t hurt, they would have had more of the same… bottom two seed, six-game exit. It was almost a blessing to be forced to start over thanks to the injuries, because now they’ll build from the foundation up instead of piling on top of the hollow foundation and falling apart in the end.
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59 RJ on Dec 18th, 2008 09:53:16 said:
I personally find Hockeys Future to be excellent. Face it, the Isles prospects just aren’t that good.You can find it as good as you want- but they are not real scouts, they dont actually watch the players, etc. They are no more reliable than the people leaving comments here and on message boards… and IMO there are people here and on msg boards who are far more reliable.
Plus, it is a fact that they ignored the existence of plenty of the Isles prospects when they did their “writeup” and didnt even bother to mention them.
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Hurrapop says:
Wang sucks, Snow Sucks, Hilbert sucks, our prospects suck, our coach sucks, our trainers suck, our medics suck, everybody sucks, don’t they?!?!?!?!? I understand why you get frustrated sometimes CB lol
C’mon people, We’re several months into rebuilding! And prior to that, we were floating in a limbo and/or in positions to make the playoffs so a lot of our prospects were traded (ex Smyth trade). Give it time folks, we just had 1 draft since we started rebuilding. And Bailey, Petrov, Ullstrom etc… is a good start I believe. I’m just saying.
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It’s definitely a good start. Even if you don’t like CB’s take on the Isles prospects we also have that very well-written assessment that came from TSN earlier this week. If your fridge is completely bare and you put 5 pieces of great food in it, the emptiness is still pretty overpowering. Let’s remember that this is Year 1 and we have another chance in June to build up the pool, not to mention what would happen if we could sign Gilroy and/or Bozak. (Let the pre-emptive complaining about the draft and the claiming it doesn’t matter because Gilroy and Bozak suck begin…)
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Dallas MacDonald says:
Hockey futures is an excellent source for prospects. But it hasn’t been updated for this year’s prospects yet. Last year they had us ranked 17th, with the crop of draft picks we just picked up, we probably moved up into the 10-12 range or higher. The prospects we got this past draft are highly rated. Anyone taken in the first three rounds in this 08 year is hight touted. Wait till January to find out where “they” feel we stand. If it’s lower than 17 then complain about our young guys. Where is the 25th rank garbage coming from?
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Joey303 says:
Bozak e2.75 Gilroy e3.14
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Dallas, that’s what I thought, but on the main page they have a “Fall 2008 organizational ranking” now, and we dropped to 25. Take it as you will…they have Florida at 15th and their AHL affiliate is in dead last by a mile, and people I know who live in Rochester and have seen them say the organization is a joke. Maybe they have talent at other levels though.
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bCarey says:
Dallas, it’s a new list that includes our 2008 draft class. We are ranked 25th. It was posted on 12.16.08. Their argument is that we are thin on the blue line and have zero viable goaltending prospects. Snow and Co. need another two good draft classes to get in the top 10, IMO.
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illicit says:
HF is a great source of information for fans, that’s it. It is in no way a true barometer of how prospects are considered in the industry. Their prospect ratings are flawed, at best.
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Hockeys Future has been updated. Petrov, Trivino, Ness et al have all been accounted for. They obviously just don’t think that highly of them. Maybe if Trivino for instance would score a goal every now and then things will change.
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They have Bailey and Sergei Ogorodnikov rated at the same potential level. If that doesn’t give you an idea of how they rate prospects, then I don’t know what will.
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guerin13 says:
the red line report gave our 08 draft an A+. i believe that iss and central scouting also loved our 08 draft. hf has comeau ahead of bailey. need i say more? our prospect pool is good and is going to get a lot better in june.
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Ness, Trevino, Toews haven’t done much, if anything, at the college level. Maybe the Isles drafted some duds? Naaaah.
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Ummm….They’re freshmen in collegiate powerhouse programs. Maybe just give them some time.
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There are other freshman on their teams excelling.
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Yea – I watch BU hockey pretty regularly. Trivino scored a big goal against BC recently, and he hasn’t been bad, but he’s behind many guys on the depth chart (seniors and Colin Wilson). In addition, he hasn’t filled into his frame yet. Once the kid bulks up and gets a better handle on his responsibilities look for him to get more ice time.
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Thing is there are some kids, and Trivino seems to be one of them, who go into college as projects. The BU strength staff and facilities are first-rate, so he is probably hoping to better hone his two-way game and bulk up while he’s there. This is also why you have to distinguish between the “freshmen” like Gilroy who played 2 seasons of junior first or a “true freshman” like Trivino – instead of playing in Juniors with people at his level of development, Trivino is playing against guys that are in some instances 4, 5, 6 years older and more physically mature than he is. A guy like Wilson, Phil Kessel, etc. is an anomaly, and that’s why you see those guys go so high in the draft. He (Trivino) didn’t come out of the NTDP like a Wilson and the kid is barely wider than the handle of my snow shovel. Don’t know much about the other guys since I’m a Hockey East guy, but I’d say give them time and you might have to wait til next year to see their true talent.
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Greg says:
Damn, anyone else get REALLY excited at seeing our young prospects? Oh how I long for some crazy good youngsters playing on the island.
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it’s also hard for freshmen in powerhouse collegiate programs to get minutes. teams like minnesota, north dakota, and bu are stacked and only have so many minutes to hand freshmen like trivino, towes, and ness. all of them will probably be there for 3-4 years so give them time to adjust the collegiate level.
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Wow? Just found the updated prospect review. We are really being punished for lack of goaltending talent. But why would we really need it? We put all our eggs in one basket with DiPi. And they say our defense is weak. Well with that being said, LA must be screwed on this list too. Cause all they have are defensive prospects and lack offensive. Stupid way to judge a teams system. It should be bases on # of great prospects, not on where they play.
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petrov and ullstrom are not even ranked on hockeysfutures. They dont have a number and letter grade and are not in our top 20 prospets. Other then the fear of them not comming here to play, they should be on our top 10. Also, these two players would bump our current ranking. Toews too.
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Brian Collins was an Isles pick a number of years ago and as a freshman at BU was more productive than Trevino. Face it, first, second rounders are usually much more productive than Trevino. Look at jay Pandolfo. Yes, BU is stacked, but most aren’t second round picks. Most aren’t even drafted. Trevino should be doing more, considering where he was picked. He is a disappointment.
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Glenn says:
CB- what’s up with the article in today’s New York Times? They don’t send a regular beat writer and then they want to pile on during the rough times?
…and how can Dave Caldwell say that it “wasn’t supposed to be like this?” Any tried and true Isles fan I know saw a rebuilding year on the horizon from day one.
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Yep, he must be a bust. Lets dump him.
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RJ – do you realize how crazy you sound? You’re writing off a kid 6 months after he was drafted and maybe 10 games into his college career. Eh, I don’t know why this even shocks me anymore…
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FWIW wasn’t Trevino hurt to start the season?
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RE: Post 48
Where is this Malkin interview saying Isles are the toughest to play against??
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79 Dallas MacDonald on Dec 18th, 2008 11:48:08 said:
“Wow? Just found the updated prospect review. We are really being punished for lack of goaltending talent. But why would we really need it? We put all our eggs in one basket with DiPi.”The Islanders DO have goaltending prospects- that article was oblivious to them.
They CALL it an updated prospect review, but its NOT, and I dont know why you believe them over all the people here who are explaining otherwise when the ones writing thins dont know anything more about hockey than we do… and in the case of the Isles prospects, they sseem to know far less.
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Again, I think the frustration with the rebuild is that not one of our kids is excelling anywhere, whether it be due to injuries or other factors. Bailey is doing OK–I wouldn’t call it excelling. Had he been sent back to Windsor or allowed to play in the WJC and was putting up great numbers, we’d all be excited. None of our prospects are tearing up the NCAA, the OHL, the WHL or the QMJHL, let alone the NHL. If we could just claim one success story this year (and that could’ve been Nielsen, which pisses me off to no end), most of the fan base could be a bit more relaxed about the rebuild. But with no one putting up the numbers, it’s “the same old Islanders” mindset that takes over.
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Malkin speaks…
It is your third year in the NHL. What teams are the most difficult to play against?
“You won’t believe it, but Islanders are the most difficult. Although not long ago we routed that team 9-2. But this was an exception from the rules. Usually we play such a difficult and stretchy game with them. And I like Boston, who play an open game.”
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mrlbem, where are you getting your information? That is just simply not true that the Isles do not have anyone excelling anywhere. I do not want to get into a long rant about who is doing what & where, but the Isles do have several guys that are making noise.
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RJ – I suggest you look at BU’s roster again, they have 12 players that are NHL draft picks.
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One Isles pick doing well: Justin DiBenedetto. Sixth in the OHL in scoring, four spots behind John Tavares.
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Illicit,
Who, where? I’m up on the Islanders’ weekly prospect report and I know who is playing where. The best we are doing is Justin Dibenedetto at Sarnia, but he’s an overage player and has cooled off since his red hot start. Which of our prospects is starring for his Junior/College/Minor League team?
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Let’s give up on Trevino! After all he’s had his dozen or so college games to prove he’s a future Hall of Famer. What a bust….nice pic Garth…
When does the patience start?
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Matt says:
Honestly, I know its been said, and there is a perfectly good argument against it and very unlikely, but just like when I heard Parrish was playing for Bridgeport, it would be AWESOME if we could bring back Kenny Jönsson. I know he is probably old but just two years ago he was the top player in the Olympics when he led Sweden to the gold. So really I think he might still have a few years of NHL play left in him.
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Well, first off, there is a lot more to a prospects development then numbers. But if it is numbers you are after…DiBenedetto, Ullstrom, Martin, Katic, Kessel, Gratchev, Rahkshani, Hamonic, Smith, Joensuu, Lacroix, Sturgeon and Petrov (since he’s been back) are all tracking for good statistical seasons, and I know I am forgetting a couple of guys since I’m doing this off the top of my head. Gregoire and Toews are putting up good numbers considering they are on a stacked team, as is Trivino. But again, numbers are not indicative of a prospects development or potential.
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Speaking of Rhett Rakhshani… anyone know if he’s playing in the WJC?
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Andrew says:
I think Garth was checkin out Oliver Ekman-Larsson… Some say he is a top 5 player to come out of this class. Isles can trade up with the surplus of picks to land this sweedish D-man. i’ve seen some film of him and hes a tremendous skater and looks like a great kid. i hope isles can land him and Ferraro with our other picks. How come Radulov has options to come to the nhl but not Petrov i don’t understand why the isles dont toss the russians some money to get this youth movement going this year!
i hope its e. good job garth, your the guy in drafts!!!!