Comments on: POINT BLANK Q & A: GARTH SNOWOn Tavares, the de Haan move, the goalies and UFA

By: Ottawa Valley Titans7

Ottawa Valley Titans7 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:03:25 +0000

For all you people who want to know about Calvin (de Haan) he is worth the trade and is a exceptional player. I know him and have played with him you Islander fans should stop complaining and let time reveal it’s toll for him you’ll be surprised to see what he can do on the PP.

Good job Snow for getting him

By: Stumpy32

Stumpy32 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:24:32 +0000

What I don’t get is that Snow loves De Haan. Fine. But couldn’t he love him at 16, and use the other assets to trade up for someone else? Seems like we stockpiled picks the last few years, and ended up with essentially this defenseman with potential. He’s a first-round guy, so its not like we took someone totally under the radar, but if you’re going to trade for him, why do it after losing a ton of quality trade-bait picks?

Also, the goalie situation. If Snow thinks for a second that picking goalies in the 2nd and 3rd round isn’t a referendum on the health and status of DP, he must assume we’re all stupid. Of course Ricky is at issue, however, if the expectations of both these guys are 3-4 years down the line, you have to wonder if Craig Anderson will be an Islander in 48 hours.

By: Randy Wood's Porsche

Randy Wood's Porsche — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:54:25 +0000

I’d like to know if the 2010 draft came into play for Snow and Co. when deciding who to take after Tavares last Fri/Sat. You would think the Isles will garner a top 10 pick in 2010. I wonder if Snow and Co. did a preliminary rank of 2010 prospects to see who they might draft in 2010 before deciding who to take in 2009.

By: Willis

Willis — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:40:14 +0000

Well I hope that all of our draft picks pan out and I’m generally optimistic about about our chances of that happening over the course of the next 5 years.

I wanted to address something #92 said about Hilbert. I agree and also think Hilbert might not be back this year. But I think he played an important part in helping the newer guys become more responsible in the defensive end this past season. I don’t know if there’s a stat on blocked shots by team but I’d bet our guys’d be up there in the top. Hilbert really excels in that end and by the spring you could see the other guys following suit. I really think Hilbert’s example played a part in that and I also think Hilbert would do well on a team that is not hard up for scoring but needs PK and d help. I appreciated his hard work, scoring troubles notwithstanding.

By: Irish Isle

Irish Isle — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:55:03 +0000

Does anyone have video link of Buffalo’s reaction when we drafted CDH?

Also as much as I wanted Kassain, there was part of me that was convinced that Snow would use the second pick for a defenseman.

By: The PolishPrince

The PolishPrince — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:36:12 +0000

I’m also not real concerned the Isles passed on Kassian. We have Matt Martin in the system who also put up a point per game last year and fight plenty. Couple that with the fact that all reports I’ve seen say Matt has no attitude problems at all. To the contrary I think he was Sarnia’s captain last season and is a guy who gives it all every shift. Yes, I am fully aware Kassian is 18 and Martin is 20.

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:55:08 +0000

Hey CB,

Can you ask around and maybe find out if in fact de Haan was on any other board in the general vicinity of that 16th pick?

By: kabbage19

kabbage19 — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:31:36 +0000

I do not know anything about the goaltenders other than they are tall, so I cannot compliment on them. John Tavares is an exciting pick.

As far as deHaan, if you can see the looks of the faces of the people at the New Jersey table and the Buffalo table, you will understand why the Isles moved up to 12 to get him. Both of those teams had him rated very high and I believe they were thinking he would slide down to them or they were preparing to move up to get him. Garth and company beat them to the punch!

Next year is going to be exciting! With a healthy D corp, we will definitely make progress.

By: DM

DM — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:29:19 +0000

good interview CB, would love to hear if they plan on bringing Koskinen over to bridgeport this year….perfect world (if not DP) has him there this year, 30-game backup in 2010, blossomed enough to be a starter or 1A in 2011….paired up with Craig Anderson or whoever we sign on July 1 this year…

By: art

art — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:28:00 +0000

The wisdom of the later piks will be decided by time. I’m more concerned with this season. I think we need another Goalie and certainly Garth will have to deal with this before he is sure of DP’s statis. We need to add size upfront and on the D. Komisarek would be great if possible. I agree just getting another Satan or Fedotenko would be a mistake. True they had size and scored but they lacked grit and did not help the youger players. So its a problem Garth wants to go with most of the youth from last year but can they do better even with Tavares to improve in the standings? A playoff type team would certainly improve attendance and get good media attention and most importantly improve the prospects for the LH project and keeping the team on the island. So Garth if you read this post I think it will confirm that your thinking is probably that of a lot of fans like myself. I know I sound immodest but I also know that your paid to make decisions and we are all having fun being unpaid assistants without any responsibiliy good luck to all of us!

By: Dan

Dan — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:18:36 +0000

Just lets make sure JT, Kyle and Bailey keep their heads up so Pronger does not throw another cheap shot elbow to their heads.

By: Rangers SUCK

Rangers SUCK — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:06:25 +0000

Go sign a QUALITY goalie on July 1st, sounds like the guy will play 65-70 games this year.