Monthly Archives: October 2009
2:10 pm - Moulson – Tavares – Okposo
Schremp – Weight – Comeau
Bergenheim – Bailey – Sim
Rechlicz – Park – Jackman
Streit – Martinek
Witt – Gervais
Sutton – Meyer
Biron
12:55 pm - The goalie rotation continues. Martin Biron starts vs. Anze Kopitar, Ryan Smyth, Dustin Brown and the Kings at the Coliseum this afternoon. Scott Gordon said that Doug Weight will take the pre-game skate at 1:30 and then a decision will be made.
FanHouse Podcast with Ciskie and Botta
FanHouse on Coaching conflicts of interest
10:15 pm - Get ready for another round of quotes from the locker room about how the loss is not acceptable and “no one is getting used to losing.”
Wow. This was straight out of November, 2008. Brutal. Ugly. Scary. Only three of four wins this week will take the sting away from this disaster.
Time for some Post-Game Plus/Minus:
Plus: Strong coaching, game plan, goaltending and execution of a system. For 50 minutes.
Minus: Scott Gordon can point to three specific plays - most notably Byron Bitz undressing Andy Sutton – but still, the coaches have to find a way to end the third period meltdowns. The Islanders do not have to make the playoffs this season, but this stuff has to stop.
Plus: Of the 18 skaters the Islanders dressed tonight, not one of them has ever scored 20 goals in an NHL season. But when the Islanders skate like they did tonight for two and a half periods, this is what they can be.
Minus: Oops, they blew it again.
Plus: Kill Dwayne Roloson in the shootout all you want. He showed tonight – and will continue to show – why he was one of the best UFA signings of the summer. After getting the best one last summer (Mark Streit), GM Garth Snow knows his veteran free agents. He should do it more often. Or someone should encourage/allow him to fish a little more.
Minus: If the Islanders want to ever get that second point, Roloson and his goalie coaches will need to correct the shootout/five-hole flaw.
Plus: Mark Streit
Minus: Bruno Gervais
Plus: Radek Martinek
Minus: Brendan Witt
Plus: Freddy Meyer
Minus: Andy Sutton
Even: Time to give Jack Hillen a game.
Plus: No one is saying Matt Moulson is a first-line player, but he is a National Hockey League player.
Minus: Joel Rechlicz taking a slap shot on an opposing goalie long after hearing a whistle is the kind of disrespectful act that would drive the Country crazy. And the kind of thing that opponents remember.
Plus: John Tavares was the right draft pick for this team. Every time he gets the puck, which is a lot, Howie Rose gets so cranked up has to loosen his tie.
Minus: You don’t have to put John Tavares in the shootout. That’s your prerogative and everyone knows the OHL stats. Still – and I’m the Prez of the Richard Park Fan Club – you don’t skip over your franchise forward in favor of a third-line journeyman.
Plus: Kyle Okposo out-muscling Zdeno Chara.
Minus: Josh Bailey…not ready for prime time 5-on-5.
Plus: Even when they’re not scoring, the Islanders are moving it around on the power play with confidence. Streit’s upgraded reputation and the two young scoring threats have a lot to do with that.
Minus: Blaming everything on the coaching staff after 8 and a half periods of no complaints. Did I mention that of the 18 skaters the Islanders dressed tonight, not one of them has ever scored 20 goals in an NHL season?
You’re encouraged to add to the list. What you can’t do is load up on the profanity, like I’ve been taking down for the last 30 minutes. Thanks.
FanHouse Podcast with Ciskie and Botta
FanHouse on Coaching conflicts of interest
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4:45 pm – Doug Weight (groin strain again) out, Nate Thompson in. That’s a loss for the Islanders’ power play.
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1:05 pm – Of the scratches from Thursday, there’s a chance Nate Thompson could return to the lineup tonight against his old organization. If not, you could be looking at…
Moulson – Tavares – Okposo
Bergenheim – Weight – Comeau
Schremp – Bailey – Sim
Jackman – Park – Rechlicz
Same D. Roloson starts. Bruins fired up, angry. Will be physical. Should be fun.
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10:35 am - Turns out Trent Hunter’s strained pec actually had a tear in it, or he aggravated the injury playing with it. Could be worse, could be a Jose Reyes situation. According to Islanders PR maven Seth Sylvan, the medical staff is saying Trent’s out 2-4 weeks.
Up in his place? Nope, not Justin’s boy Trevor Smith (the star in Bridgeport last night). It’s that noted goal scorer, Joel Rechlicz. Notable about the Rechlicz recall is that the Islanders were already healthy-scratching Jeff Tambellini and Nate Thompson. Guess they want more toughness after Ottawa pushed them around the other night.
In Bridgeport’s 4-3 win last night over Worcester, Smith had a goal, an assist and a shootout goal. The Wrecker played 7 minutes on the fourth line with Tomas Marcinko and Micheal (That’s How I Spell My First Name. Deal With It) Haley. Joel is better rested.
Dwayne Roloson gets the start. If he plays well, I wonder if Scott goes back to him for the Monday home matinee against LA.
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To all those inquiring via email, my take on the Lighthouse Project silence of the last week is that Charles Wang ordered a news blackout of his staff. Think about it: after the deadline passed last Saturday and the Islanders owner said everything on his mind, it is good strategy to go away for a week or two and see what transpires.
Sure enough, Jim Baumbach of Newsday wrote of the legitimacy of the Queens option. Brooklyn politicians have come forward to express their interest in the Islanders. The Nassau County IDA came out in support and even bought a full-page newspaper ad to show their love. If you’re the Lighthouse developers, that’s a dream week. You got a lot of press and everyone else did the PR for you.
Also keep in mind Wang’s disgust at Kate Murray for making their phone call public. Maybe they did speak again this week. The Hempstead Town Supervisor isn’t going to talk about it. Believe me, if anything substantial comes out of their discussions – positive or negative – you’ll hear about it soon enough.
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To those inquiring in the wake of the Trevor Smith arguments, I’ll have a frank breakdown of the top prospects in Bridgeport next week. Yes, we will zero in on who’s a legit top-6 forward or top-4 dman.
The results will be consistent with our coverage of the Sound Tigers last season. Short answer: in Bridgeport, the list of first and second-tier prospects is short. In junior, college and Europe, the list is longer. What this means is that, in most cases, the wait will be longer.
More later if any news comes out of Boston.
Please read and comment on my story for FanHouse, which includes an Islanders mention.
Also: Adam Gretz of FanHouse posts the season’s first NHL power rankings.
Editor’s note: We’re fortunate to have another contribution today from Justin Bourne – outstanding hockey writer (USA Today, The Hockey News), son of Bob, future son-in-law of Clark Gillies. In this piece, Justin writes about his former teammate and current Islanders prospect Trevor Smith. Next week, we’ll have our first rankings of Bridgeport prospects. With the Islanders planning a day off in Boston today, no better time for Justin’s fine work.
Trevor Smith is damn near an Islander.
Even though he didn’t crack the lineup at the start of the year, he’ll be one of the first guys called upon to fill in the second someone is hurt. And if we’ve learned one thing about the Islanders, it’s that people tend to get hurt (582 man games lost to injury in 08-09).
Smitty could shoot a puck into your car’s gas tank from across the street.
One of the hardest things in hockey is shooting the puck when it’s not in your “wheelhouse” – a baseball expression that represents the tiny little perfect shooting zone most of us have. Apparently, Trevor was given a wheelhouse the size of the Lighthouse Project.
Anywhere he shoots the damn thing, it’s in – off his back foot to the far post, low. Goal. In front of his body, off the crossbar. Goal. From his backhand while skating. Count it. A one-timer from behind him. Red light. It just seems to come off “right” every time. And that’s no small feat.
He scored 20 times in the American League as a rookie, and that was during a year in which the Isles sent him to the ECHL for two months. How’s that for goal-scoring ability? Combined with his 11 in Utah, that’s a 31 goal rookie campaign.
He’s one of those players that doesn’t need 16 chances a game to score *cough*me*cough*. It only takes one, just like another product of Vancouver’s lower mainland, Burnaby Joe.
I spent the majority of the 07-08 season on Smitty’s team, some with Bridgeport, and some with Utah. We were all mind-boggled when they sent him to us in Utah early in the year, and he immediately proved why it was, in fact, a mind-boggling decision.
His 25 points in 22 games don’t speak enough to how dominant he was. He made every single player who was lucky enough to play on his line better.
Knowing you’re good enough to play at a level is a comforting feeling, but knowing you’re better than the level must be fun. Watching him in the ECHL was like watching a dad play basketball with his eight year old son, holding the ball just out of the kids jumping range, half to tease him, half to entertain himself. One play in particular sticks out in my mind.
I only had one professional hat-trick, and I can thank Trev for the third goal. He was on a one on two, but had a teammate trailing him – the not exactly offensively proficient Kazuma Takahashi – that he could have slowed down and dropped the puck to, which would have made it a two on two.
I was way behind the rush, working to get up the ice after a defensive play, but was beating some lolly-gagging forwards back, trying to make it a three on two if Trev did decide to delay. He did.
Instead of passing it to Kaz, he “passed on” him. Smith physically looked all the way back up the ice and saw me coming, then delayed. He let Kaz go through and take out one of the d-men, sucked the other one over to himself, and sauced the puck so it neatly stopped just inside the blueline.
He saw that I was going to beat the other players up the ice, and made the ridiculous play that left me with a clear shot at the tender.
How’s that for vision?
Last season, Trevor scored another 31 goals, again divided between two leagues. Only last year, it was 30 in the AHL, and one in the NHL.
Some players tend to sit on their talent and just hope it pans out. Instead of falling into that category, Trevor has worked hard, and in turn, has worked himself to a legitimate contender for a spot on the Islanders – a team that could use the type of guy who can score on any given shot.
The three-year entry-level contracts given to kids from junior and college often turn into three-year obligations for organizations, but in this case, they’ve developed someone with the potential to give them some return on their investment.
Not only is it exciting to watch a good dude like Smitty succeed, but it must be exciting for the Islanders to be so right about a guy. Because if Trevor keeps improving at the rate he has, it might not be too long before he’s toying with some of the d-men in the big league, too.
Comments on this post. Islanders talk continues in next thread,
Point Blank will host our first true Live Chat tonight, starting with the puck drop a little after 7 EST. Let me know in Comments if you plan on being part of it.
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12:40 pm - Martin Biron, who hasn’t played in 15 days, gets his first start for the Islanders tonight. Pascal Leclaire starts for Ottawa.
Lineup:
Moulson – Tavares – Okposo
Schremp – Bailey – Hunter
Bergenheim – Weight – Sim
Comeau – Park – Jackman
Streit – Gervais
Witt – Martinek
Sutton – Meyer
Biron
Scratches: Tambellini, Thompson, Hillen
Out for Ottawa tonight: Shannon, Kuba, Winchester
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Rob Schremp makes his Islanders debut tonight. If anyone wonders why the Oilers’ waiver dump is immediately getting quality icetime and power play shifts with good linemates, check out these responses when I spoke to Scott Gordon and Schremp about it.
Gordon: “We have to see if he can make it as a top-six forward. That’s how he’s going to stick on this team.”
Schremp: “It’s a big opportunity for me and I’m appreciative. I understand that if I’m going to make it here, I have to prove I belong on one of the top-2 lines. This is my chance.”
There’s the explanation.
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Something to watch out for tonight. This is Ottawa’s home opener. The Senators have a few guys who like to throw big hits, a few others who play chippy-dirty. The Islanders…let’s just say this isn’t the league’s grittiest lineup they’re dressing tonight. Maybe the Islanders get by with their forecheck, skill and “team toughness.” This is an excellent test for a well-rested team coming off three days of good practices.
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I’ll be on with Jim “Boomer” Gordon on NHL Home Ice on XM Radio a little after 6:00 pm tonight previewing tonight’s game and talking all things Islanders.
Live Chat tonight. RSVP in Comments if you’re a Yes.
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