GORDON BULLISH ON GOALIE PROSPECTS
Coach says he’s never had a group as capable
10:45 pm - “Mikko’s going to go to Binghamton for a game with the Sound Tigers and wonder what happened to the rest of the rink.”
That was Scott Gordon tonight, talking about freshly-signed Mikko Koskinen. I wanted to speak to Scott about his goalie prospects because the signing of the 2009 second round pick made it timely. But also because of this eyebrow-raiser comment of his after the scrimmage on Sunday:
I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a camp anywhere like this where you’d see the quality of goaltending we have here now.
In his rookie season as head coach, Gordon threw around compliments about his goalies like manhole covers.
“The entire time I was in the Boston Bruins organization, we had some quality players like Tuukka Rask, but we never had the quality of goaltending prospects we have here,” the Islanders head coach said tonight.
In Prospect minicamp this week are Koskinen, 2009 third round pick Anders Nilsson, 2008 fifth round pick Kevin Poulin and Nathan Lawson, a pleasant surprise last season with the Sound Tigers. The Islanders also recently signed free agent netminder Scott Munroe from the Flyers organization.
“The biggest thing for me is, they haven’t shown that they’re not capable,” said Gordon, a former goaltender. “They’re not doing the sort of things you see when goalies aren’t ready or capable…flopping around, rolling around, diving around. They’re under control and playing smart. Collectively, they look terrific.”
Gordon’s snapshot of each…
Koskinen: “This is not a guy who is green. He’s played against top-calibre competition in the Finnish League. He’s almost 21. I’m excited that he’s signed and want to see how he comes around this season. The ability is certainly there.”
Nilsson: “No matter how good you are, size is a big weapon. Nilsson and Koskinen, they use it to their advantage. They’re technically sound. They’re in the right spots and letting the puck hit them. Nilsson’s only 18 so he’ll have time to develop back home, but these are two good young goalies.”
Lawson: “He made an immediate impact in Bridgeport. That was impressive. He’s continued it with a good week with us.”
Poulin: “Thought he had an excellent first camp with us last September. He might have been able to get some games after his Quebec League season ended, but we decided to hold off. Talented, more than capable.”
Munroe: “I know him from Philadelphia. He’s been a real solid AHL goalie for a few years. This is a good opportunity for him.”
I asked Gordon about Koskinen’s determination to play in the Islanders’ system right away.
“That was great to see, how much he wanted to be in Bridgeport” said the coach. “He’s right. There are a lot of differences between the big sheets in Europe and the small rinks here. The plays develop quickly. He’s going to see more shots. He’s going to see that arena in Binghamton and think he’s on the small rink at Iceworks.”
*
ETC: Turns out Koskinen was signed today because he had to be signed by Wednesday. A league source told Point Blank tonight that there was a July 15 deadline in Koskinen’s contract with Espoo in the Finnish League. If the Islanders failed to sign him by Wednesday, he would have been contractually obligated to play one more year back home.
Comments on Islanders goaltending prospects here.
60 Responses to “GORDON BULLISH ON GOALIE PROSPECTS
Coach says he’s never had a group as capable”
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wow a lot of goalies. seems like they’re doing well but whats up with DP? why so many goalies? and of DP’s remaining years on his contract, how many years will he be healthy? getting kinda worried about him
CB, great entry as usual. It is nice to see that we are stocked for the position but what does all this mean towards DP? I know you have written that drafting two goalies as high as they did probably reflects how they feel the situation is going to play out but I hope you’re wrong.
It is great to be in the position we’re in but also discouraging being in the dark Rick. Hopefully he comes out strong and gets back to where he left off before he got hurt and then we have this abundance down the lines that you just wrote about.
CB,
Where’s there room for all these guys? IN your opinion, assuming DP is healthy and he and Roloson are on the NHL roster, who are your two goalies in B-port? Where does everyone else go?
We need a chant/nickname for Mikko
Sunday at practice I was calling him Mikko Sauve
Wow he looks tremendous in the net. If DP is a ready, he and Roly, all the depth seems like a good thing to me.
Anyone seen DP lately? Is he limping around?
To me, goaltending is like pitching. You can never have enough of it.
If we have an overabundance of quality goaltending, then we’ll figure it out then. For now, let’s hope Mikko continues to develop, DiPietro comes back at some point and Rollie gives us steady, veteran netminding on a nightly basis.
That’s GREAT to see … I’m glad that Gordon is Bullish about our goaltending prospects all of a sudden … lets just hope it’s not Bullish…. ehhh forget it …
Seriously … depth at goaltending is vital .. b/c even if DP comes in healthy … somewhere along the line you need depth … I look forward to hearing more about them this coming season.
Hopefully these guys are good in stopping breakaways because with Gordon’s offensive schemes, they’ll see plenty of them.
Im like everyone else, what is up with w/ DP? We draft two Goalies, one of which sounds like he’d be a starting goaltender next season if he’s as good as he is In Bridgeport. Im starting to think Dp, might be asked to retire early if he cant play healthy past this season. I hope om not jumping the gun, put it just doent make sense to have so many G’tenders in camp/the organization. Anybody wanna add to this or agree?
Tireless work CB. Love hitting the Blog at 1130p and seeing something new. Its starting to look like the Islanders have some key peaces in the system. Goal tending looks strong……..kinda makes you wonder why Gordon and The Islanders are dishing out the hoopla on their goalie prospects when we have a franchise goalie with how many years left on his contract at 27 yrs old?
futures looking up in islander land. great read as always thank you cb
two things..
1) its prospect camp.i am glad these guys are playing well, i hope they all pan out. thats probably not gonna happen, but the more the better.
2) i hope DP is healthy. but fellas, whats next..too much talent, to many assets moving foward. too many really good parts. count your blessings a whole 4 days into camp, breathe deep and relax.
if half the guys written about over the last 4 days pan out to NHL players, its a draft bonanza. i have faith in the this team, and the guys running it. lets not complain about too much of anything GOOD. lets remember the odds of all this resulting in NHL players.
thanks for the blog C.B. last year JB did a puck and picture with my spudkins. this year, to crazy at iceworks.
This is nothing but a good thing!
I doubt DP is ever going to be the same. Good picks by Snow and Gordon seems to be the man to coach these kids.
for the first time in forever we have some very good depth in the goaltending pipeline. nyi had to correct this in this draft and they did after ignoring the position forever. you’ve got to think that at least one of koskinen, nillson, poulin, and lawson will develop into a legitimate nhl starter. i am very excited to see koskinen play in this year in the ahl.
great grand wonderfull…..now lets get someone to put the puck in the net
well i hope hes as good as the hype. i wonder whats going through DiPietro’s mind right about now…
Okay, it’s a good problem to have… but you have to ask why use the 62nd pick on ANOTHER GOALTENDER.
Okay, it’s the 62nd pick, but WHY???
1. Chris’ kids will be journalism majors in Ivy League Schools when the previous face of the franchise’s contract runs out.
2. You know there is going to be at least 10 starting goaltenders on the market this UFA period, and three that you can afford.
3. You’re pretty thin organizationally at the position, but you should be able to sign one of the two goalies that carried you through the season as a backup should said face of the franchise not be able to make the gate.
4. I don’t have to know thing one about hockey to know that using draft picks to select goalies is like using them to select punters in the NFL. A good one can be tremendously valuable, but they are all crap shoots. Taking one in a draft year is a LARGE gamble. Taking two is INSANE.
5. I know this is a dead horse, but we already drafted a kid with the first pick in a solid draft year that has won absolutely nothing and may be nothing but an asterisk at the bottom of the payroll listings pretty soon.
Calvin needs to turn into Paul Coffey for this to be a good draft year for the Islanders.
another season in the finn league wouldnt have been such a bad thing either for Koskinen to be honest
welcome aboard just the same , big guy
Just makes me want to go to bridgeport a few more times this coming season.
The Finn league is a bad idea for another season because he has the skills and is technically sound. He needs to get used to the North American rinks or you lose ayear of development. He is already 21….not 18.
well we signed this kid so he could play down there im guessing. so does this mean lawson or munroe will be moving on? 3 goalies at the bridge is too many…. i guess one will back up rolo when DP goes down, but im guessing that monroe didnt sign with bridgeport thinking theyd have a high pick they were looking to develop.
#4 yes that very important..what is going on here
Prospect pool at goalie looks great now and gives us insurance for Ricky. But not sure we needed to take Nilsson with that pick this year since we already had taken Mikko.
Like many, It’s hard not to have doubts about DP’s future. Not surprised with the aquisitions considering the Isles heirarchy is made-up of former goalies and the DP question mark .I can’t fault management for the DP contract though. Brazen, yes. But oddly enough, *The Contract* has started a trend within the league. Who knows how all of these lengthy contracts will affect the league? As of now DP’s and Briere’s contracts look horrible…but time will tell. Perhaps we will have some nice assets to flip if these guys continue to develop!
Go Isles!
Schultz we needed goalie prospects. In the third rd you take teh BPA. Also I have not given up on Dp yet.
Please dnt consider goalies like punters when it comes to drafting the position. How many punters are drafted compare to goalies?
The Isles had a major weakness between the pipes when DP couldnt play. This isnt happening this year….
@Chris TMC You missed Nilsson on your list, but he fits into the bottom group who are years away from AHL/NHL looks. And I agree that the more quality GTs in the system the better. They’ve turned an organizational weakness into a strength, and the worst-case scenario is that enough of these guys impress to the point where you can’t find playing time for them and then you have assets you can move.
What a mistake is was to give Dipietro that contract because if he is healthy he is still untradeable. So what are the Islanders going to do with all these young goalies when Dipietro still has over 10 years to go on his contract?
Nothing wrong with seeking to develop the goaltending position via our own system - rather than seeking them off the UFA and reject pile. Surprised that only 4 goalies dressed for us last year (not including Dubie - who upon signing - got claimes by CBJ on mandatory waivers) Saw that Peter Mannino signed with the Atlanta Thrashers organization. Not sure where Joey Mac is at - - - - - -
but getting back to my point - no harm in cultivating a quality goaltender or two or three within the ISLES system. We can train them OUR way and keep them under constant surveillance (those that play in N America for sure and keep our Euro Scouts on them too)
I bet we have 4 or 5 goalies this year dress in games for NYI (assuming injuries will happen at that position).
Great article. Keep them coming. Any update on the Lighthouse?
1) Agreed that its a ‘good problem’ to have. ‘ Can’t have enough qaulity goalies’, etc. but it COULD be an issue fairly soon IF:
a) Ricky is healthy
b) Koskinen is ahead of schedule and adjusts/plays well enough to earn a few NHL starts this season and could be looked upon as ready to start in the NHL in the next season.
2) Suddenly the crease is very crowded! A good problem to have in some ways, but with such a LONG contract for Ricky, unless he ends up with an injury exemption the team is on the hook for his contract for a LONG time to come
Well the upside to the surplus of goalies is that if we get lucky and end up having 2 top tier goalies out of all of this, you can trade one away to get more scoring or blue chip defense. (eventually that is)
We are going to need all the good goalies we can get with our oft injured Red Cross All-star between the pipes.
Its nice to see Garth’s draft picks panning out. He took a lot of unfair criticism for his picks.
Tom B - Bingo!
Whenever I see a tall goalie, I think goals going through the five hole in bunches. It is the Ron Hextall syndrome that I fear. Koskinen is a butterfly style goalie so his up and down movement needs to be stellar in order for him to succeed which such size.
For what it’s worth, before this draft Hockey’s Future rated the Isle’s organization #29 in the league. They said: “while the Isles have depth at forward and defense,they lack any impact prospect.The organization is very thin in net”. Well not any more. With the drafting of JT and the two goalies Garth took care of that problem. One more year of drafting in the top 5 and getting the Lighthouse approved and I think that the Isles will have built a foundation for a cup contending team for a long time. Good job Garth! GO ISLES!!
Munro likely signed here assuming he would get NHL money for a good part of the season backing up Roloson…..How does the Insurance on DP’s contract work…Yes the Isles will be taking a 20 year cap hit for about $1.5 million per year…but Wang was not ever planning on spending to the cap anyway…as long as insurance pays for it…He was a good goalie…but a bad pick and a silly contract
Let’s see… Snow a goalie….Gordon a goalie… lets get 6 goalies…All this goalie chat from fans and no one mentions roloson’s 2 yr deal. All this talk from them about them being sound in the crease, I guess snow didn’t notice that DP not really sound in the crease when he got 15 yrs. I bet DP is done. Is the contract insured? if it is we all move on.
ROFL I’m laughing at Gordon’s comment about showing un-readiness by flopping, rolling and diving. Where have we heard that before…LOL,LOL,LOL.
(Fan button ON now)
Its great to think we can actually have some solid depth and even some extra assets in the not so distant future.
I will give Ricky a pass on this whole season as long as I feel he is acting responsibly. Probably tough to get back to form after what he’s been thru so I will be patient.
Forget about DP I guess. He is probably not part of the future and can you really be surprised?? It was Milbury who took him instead of Heatley/Gaborik and traded away a franchise goalie in luongo. Can we really be surprised by all the dp injuries? Lets just say goodbye to the last piece of the Travesty that is the Mike Milbury Era.
We can hopefully become the goalie powerhouse/factory of the NHL. We have awesome prospects, a former goalie as head coach, former goalie as GM, two very good goalie coaches in Sudsie and Dunham, and either an all star goalie in net (DP if he can get healthy), or Roloson (old enough to be a coach). Best case senario is we have too many awesome goalies to fit on the roster, then we have great trade bait.
I am pumped about our goalie factory! Lets please let DP retire… He is done! That is why we don’t hear from him! His dad painted a “pipedream” missive last week. Introducing Vice Assistant GM Rick DiPietro; he will be volunteering because he is still on the player payroll. Wang likes paying ex-goalies in Management positions from the player payroll… Thanks Milbury for all you did to ruin this Organization…
Wow…! the hatred for DiPietro on here is really amazing.
The guy has had injuries. Not much you can do about that.
From all we have heard, seen, read etc… DiPietro is a solid citizen, an extremely hard worker, dedicated and responsible to his team and the community.
Letting injuries skew (your) perception of him as a person is confusing at it’s best and slanderous at it’s worst.
You might not like his style of play and you might even blame it for his injuries… you might not like his contract and you might not like the trade that brought him here… but none of that is HIS fault.
But none of these things are done on HIS part to purposefully be injured. HE plays the way he does because that is how HE plays. It’s HIS style. Get over it. When it was working and he was keeping a minor league quality team in the playoff hunt we were praising his ability and spouting off that he was better than Lundqvist.
Just my $.02.
DOC
seems to me that Post DP era is getting planned out.
Lets just see if DP is truely a loyal islander or not. I wish he is healthy and he could win. if he not, i hope he does retire alieviating us of his 10 yrs remaining. I’m sure given Wangs long for him there will be a job for him within the organization.
I agree with the comments above. Having too much goaltending is not a bad situation to be in.
i wouldnt be so quick to write off DP. This guy was an all star caliber goalie…all these kids are is potential. Hopefully DP makes a full recovery…
My friends, the end of Rick Dipietro’s time is probably coming to an end it looks like. I would have to doubt he will be ready when the season starts and i wonder if we will see him at all. You don’t sign 3 goalies to play for bridgeport, and they arent going to put any of those 3 in the ECHL. Expect to see Rollie and either Munroe or Lawson on the roster come october and beyond
People seem to forget we effectively had 1 goalie under contract in the system at the end of the season and assets are assets. If they all develop well, considering the experience of the management team, then we will be sitting even prettier but that is a few years down the road.
Ron (29): I definitely agree. I was considering Nilsson as part of that bottom list just like you said. I guess thats why the post is gone. I will be more careful next time, shouldnt talk about goalies and miss one, I guess lol?
Like you say, the “worst-case” scenario is still a benefit so I dont see any problems in that. Depth at EVERY position is what all good organizations should strive for.
a healthy DP would be ideal, and if he recovers like his dad said, we are in good shape, so having strong goalie prospects is great!!! If these guys pan out and DP is healthy, they can be used to aquire a big piece of the puzzle down the road in a trade deadline deal for someone looking to unload these insane contracts being signed today.
Amen Doc. The lack of winning really has turned us all into a negative bunch. Cut DP a little slack. He didn’t offer himself all those years on his contract, but he was willing to chain himself to the Islanders for life even taking into account the sorry history of this franchise post-dynasty. He’s even gone so far as make Long Island his home, making him one of the few Islanders to actually be a Long Islander. I know most could give a _ _ _ _ where the players live, but keep in mind this guy also kept this team float with a large number of 1 goal victories and kept us in playoff hunts when we should have been no where near it. He also is one of those “characters” the NHL pines for who have a bit of attitude and swagger. He’s hurt, he’s down, but he’s not out yet, give the guy a chance! Lovefest over.
@Doc….DP is not even close to being as good as Lundqvist.
Personally I do not care what he does off the ice. I care about how the play, not their personalities.
I don’t have one bad word to say about Rick DiPietro. He didn’t give himself a 15 year deal. He didn’t trade a franchise goalie so he could use a desperate franchise’s #1 overall pick to select himself. He’s a pretty solid kid, who has done nothing but try to help the franchise.
It’s the people running the show that confuse me [us] me time after time.
As for stockpiling good young goalies who you can trade for skaters later if you so desire… ask Montreal how that’s working out for them.
You need goaltending depth, you draft a goaltender. You need some size, you draft size. You need skaters, you draft skaters. I didn’t know that their plan was to be THE GOALIE FACTORY.
1-800-GOALIES… keep the last “S” on for SAVES!!!!
In my opinion the anger and disdainful comments towards dipietro are from a group of fans who are stuck in 2001, like ostriches with their head in the sands. They have their talking points, like luongo, and gaborik/heatley (i am still waiting for all these fabulous players’ cup resumes), and when they look at DP they automatically think back to an era where they could “comfortably” portray the “woe is me attitude.” I wouldn’t be shocked if sed woe-me attitude fandom were the ones who instigated the whole garbage throwing incident during the buffalo series (we got screwed!, we always get screwed!) and subsequent banter on the “boards” as to how this franchise was “Doomed”, with a curse of some sorts.
Still, a large part of me cant get over the feeling that these folks like to rip Dipietro because they perceive him to have some sort of narcissistic complex. Somehow, his desire to play every day, even after a bad game, is seen as “hogging the spotlight” instead of motivation and desire to rebound. His willingness to sign a large contract, and his subsequent hip injuries classify him as some sort of “glory hound who doesn’t know when to step aside for the best of the team” according to sed fans - never mind him basically stealing game 2 of the buffalo series after returning from concussions, and giving the isles not only their best chance to win through stellar goaltending (as gordon would tell you), but also the best chance to set up the play as one of the top 2 stickhandling goalies in the league.
But nooo, hes young, good looking, and sometimes can be crabby in practice in reports. That is all is required for these folks to “hate the player” and not the game (milbury 01). These fans are lucky that Dipietro doesnt just give them the cold shoulder in autographs and interviews a la Billy Smith, the ultimate winner and a**clown; But then again,they would probably some how excuse the charade of the latter because he won ( with bossy/trottier/gillies/potvin/nystrom/goring..damn that dipietro for not meeting those expectations!)
While i think the majority of isles fans are apart from this malevolent few, i shudder to think what impact these debbie downers will have when, inevitably, some of these young kids dont meet their “cro-vec-kin”. expectations; and if they happen to be well endowed with looks, oh dont look then -the vile comments will be unleashed from all directions by the troupe. Double the amount for those hockey players who have the high character and class to be nice to them and their family and sign autographs.
Just another isles fan’s opinion on the “state of the franchise” (which includes..the fans :D)
Tavares#1:
Please re-read my post. I did not say he WAS as good a Lundqvist.
what I said was, when DiPietro was keeping a minor leaque quality team in the playoff hunt… we as fans were boasting that DiPietro was better than Lundqvist (right or wrong). It was standard fan-dom and bravado to make the comparison that “OUR” goalie is “better” than “YOUR” goalie.
It’s obviously not something that can be compared now being that DiPietro hasn’t stayed healthy and Lundvist has continued to be very good for the Rangers.
DOC
JPinVA (54): While I had to laugh at your 800 number, I just dont see the whole stockpiling thing. They let 3 goalies leave the organization, they signed two (one being 40) and they drafted two. So, they only have one more goalie in the organization now than they did last year. How were the Isles depleted last year and now they are overstocked? Its only ONE more goalie lol!
Here here, west coast islanders fan
Doc (56),
Actually, in an SI article a few years ago, none other than Martin Brodeur said that DP was better than Lundqvist. That sounds like a good enough source to me…
I love how these DP defenders, like 14 year old girls, can never take off their “man crush” shades and get over the fact that there are a lot of Islanders fans who dislike DP the goalie, not the person, primarily becuase he’s been average at best, even when healthy. I wan’t even start on the 2001 draft and the debacle it has become.