Monthly Archives: September 2009
James Mirtle of SBN reports. The Kings called this summer for feedback. I told them that despite the NYI not maintaining our deal, the NHL needed this and in Rich Hammond they had the ideal candidate. Teams will follow.
Check out the final paragraphs of this story for FanHouse.
Think of the best NHL franchises, your standard-bearers for finding players, developing talent and contending for championships. Would any of them even consider keeping a skinny, untested 18-year old defenseman like Calvin de Haan on their NHL roster? The 2009 12th overall pick may not look out of place, at times may look smooth, but he has just one modestly successful season of major junior under his belt. So think about the top-class organizations and decide whether they would rush de Haan to the NHL. The view here is they wouldn’t, and hopefully the Islanders are thinking the same way. Comments.
9:45 pm - Scott Gordon, when asked if Matt Moulson is making a case for making his team: “He’s doing everything we could have asked of him. I knew him from when he played in Manchester (AHL). He’s a goal scorer. The coach said Moulson worked hard in the scoring areas, something he wants to see from many more of his forwards.”
Gordon on John Tavares tonight: “He made some nice plays. His awareness of where he was on the ice and his decision-making was good.”
The 25-year old Moulson on his chemistry with Tavares: “Always encouraging when you’re playing well with a player like that. Give him room and he’ll find you.” Moulson has known Tavares for seven years, back to when JT played hockey with Moulson’s younger brother.
Martin Biron: “We’ve played a lot of games. For New Jersey, this was their second. Many of our guys are tired. But I’m excited, optimistic. We’re going to have a long stretch with plenty of time to get our systems down and work on special teams.”
Islanders Lineup
Smith – Tavares – Moulson
Tambellini – Moore – Comeau
Reich – Park – Mauldin
Martin – Marcinko – Haley
de Haan – Streit
Witt – Martinek
Kohn – Westgarth
Biron
Munroe
The Devils played a handful of veterans – including Brendan Shanahan and Jamie Langenbrunner – and a lot of kids. Yann Danis was in goal for New Jersey.
12:10 pm, NVMC: If you haven’t heard, the Islanders are playing a hockey game tonight against the New Jersey Devils at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
John Tavares is playing, flanked by Matt Moulson and Trevor Smith. When Tavares is on the power play, Richard Park could be in Smith’s spot.
Martin Biron and Scott Munroe are the goaltenders tonight. Dwayne Roloson will play in the team’s final exhibition game in New Jersey next Tuesday.
Rick DiPietro skated on the Coliseum ice before the team’s morning workout and faced a few shots. He said he felt “good” and he thought his physical rehab was “going in the right direction.” The next steps and his eventual return to practice are, in DiPietro’s words, “up to the doctors.” The goalie said, “I’m going to come back when I’m 100%.”
Calvin de Haan is playing tonight and likely in New Jersey. After the morning skate, coach Scott Gordon didn’t sound like he was ready to rule out anything regarding de Haan.
Sean Bergenheim and Doug Weight skated before the team. Bergenheim reports that he’s “closer” and hopes to return to practicing with the team “in a few days” with the goal of being ready for the season opener Oct. 3.
NYI announce 6 cuts: Jesse Joensuu, Justin DiBenedetto, Sean Bentivoglio, Tyler Haskins, Tony Romano and Nate Lawson are outtahere. I would think Bridgeport-bound.
There goes the Joensuu hype.
Among those here and maybe playing tonight: Tomas Marcinko, Greg Mauldin, Joel Rechlicz, Jeremy Reich, Micheal Haley.
Prediction: the Islanders could be a lot closer to the max 23 in the next two days. By the time of the New Jersey game on Tuesday, they could have their opening night lineup (not counting injury replacements).
Trent Hunter has a strained pectoral and is day-to-day.
No official word yet on Kyle Okposo.
Tonight’s game is on MSG Plus. Jiggs McDonald, Billy Jaffe, Deb Placey and Butch Goring will have the action.
Great news for Chris King. He’ll host the pre-game, post-game and intermission segments on the Islanders radio network. When the Islanders are on Versus, Kinger will call the play-by-play. He will also call high school games for MSG Varsity.
Gordon on Tavares: “There’s things he’ll do with the puck we haven’t seen in the last year.” The coach said Tavares will learn more from games like tonight, such as the limited time and space he’ll have. The coach on the first week of camp: “It’s been a challenge with so many games in such short time.” Later on he said, “I didn’t see a whole lot of Saskatoon.” Gordon said he’s very happy with his goaltending: “They’ve all been really consistent.”
Besides that, not much going on in the Country.
Comments.
Please read my Lighthouse take and Comment on it at Fanhouse. AOL has been very good to this blogger and this blog. Appreciate your support over there.
Wow. A mind-blowing take from Newsday on Monday’s hearing. From writer Sandra Peddie:
Although most of the questioning was polite, the developers – New York Islanders owner Charles Wang and developer Scott Rechler – appeared frustrated and at times ill-prepared for the questions about traffic, height of buildings and whether the developers would sell off parts of the project. Town board members repeatedly asked for specific commitments, but the developers declined to make them.
A few things that are kind of odd about Ms. Peddie’s view. The Lighthouse developers may have shook their heads a few times and articulated some frustration, but “ill-prepared”? I think part of their frustration was because many of the questions they were asked were answered a long time ago. Others are addressed thoroughly in the lengthy Environmental Impact Statement they poured man-hours and countless dollars into.
Town council member Dorothy Goosby is the only leader on the panel who said she read it. On the other hand, board member James Darcy candidly told attendees after the hearing that the EIS was “7,000 pages” and “too long.”
The other surprising part is that Ms. Peddie was one of three Newsday reporters who spoke with Charles Wang during the dinner break of the hearing. I was there the entire time. I heard a lot of leading questions, like, “Wasn’t it frustrating for you when they said…”? I even heard some compliments thrown Wang’s way. I didn’t hear any of the Newsday reporters tell Wang that he seemed ill-prepared. Too bad. He might have been able to address the accusation.
Comments.
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