Monthly Archives: January 2010
A quickie write-up. Appreciate the support at AOL. Thanks.
FanHouse: DiPietro Makes First Start in a Year
FanHouse: DiPietro Makes First Start in a Year
UPDATED at 12:50 pm - The Islanders try to stay undefeated in 2010 when they play in Dallas tonight. As first reported by Katie Strang, Rick DiPietro makes his NHL comeback after more than a year. Stay tuned to Katie Strang on Twitter for reaction from Dallas.
Live Chat Tonight: In honor of DiPietro’s return, Point Blank will host a rare Friday night live chat beginning with the opening faceoff at 8:35 pm EST. Learning from Wednesday night’s traffic jam, let’s mark the second period as the only time for some Q & A. In the first, third and anything that happens after 60 minutes, our main focus will be on the game and DiPietro.
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On a smaller but also intriguing note, the Islanders should be on the verge of a roster move. Sean Bergenheim is healthy enough to play, but not yet been taken off Injured Reserve. This has provided Sean additional time to heal from the 1-2 week rib injury that has sidelined him a month while the Islanders play 5-1-1 hockey in their last seven games. This has also bought the Islanders some time as they ponder how to break the logjam.
Bergenheim’s addition to the roster – and boy, wouldn’t his relentless puck pursuit help John Tavares – will put the Islanders at 24, one over the maximum. They would be carrying 14 forwards (plus Tim Jackman on IR), seven defensemen (plus Radek Martinek on IR) and the always-popular three goaltenders.
If Bergenheim plays tonight or Saturday, someone has to go somewhere before puck-drop. If he is held out the rest of the trip, and no one gets hurt, someone’s got to go by Tuesday. Let’s look at the options.
A. Waive Freddy Meyer: The Fantastic IVth has been the VIIth defenseman. On the last year of a one-way contract, Meyer would likely clear waivers and could be a solid first call-up from Bridgeport. On the other hand, he is a capable NHL defenseman and quality person, so you hope he gets an opportunity elsewhere if it’s not going to be on the Island.
B. Demote Andrew MacDonald: This would not make any sense since MacDonald has been playing a regular shift on defense while Meyer has been a healthy scratch, but AMac is on a two-way contract. MacDonald’s demotion to Bridgeport would be criminal, but it’s the cleanest, easiest move. Scott Gordon has played him more than 20 minutes in three of the last five games. Nah, the Islanders wouldn’t dare do it.
C. Waive Jeff Tambellini: The Islanders have been reluctant to waive him in the past, for fear that he’ll become a 30-goal scorer elsewhere in the league. Yet – deservedly sometimes, and sometimes not – his sentences in the doghouse come quickly and his stays are longer. If someone hasn’t started a “Set Tamby Free” Facebook page yet, they should. (UPDATED at 11:00 am - now some has; see Comments). If Jeff cleared waivers, Bridgeport could use his offense.
D. Trade Martin Biron: Could happen. The rest of the league knows what Biron is as a locker room presence and as a goaltender. His nightmarish 2-11-2 record doesn’t diminish his value. That value is a third-round pick. Oh, the wonders his positive outlook and goaltending could do for a team down in the dumps like Edmonton.
E. IR Somebody: Maybe Doug Weight’s shoulder could use another week’s rest. Maybe Marty Biron comes up with a mystery ailment and gives Snow a little more time to make a move. If Bergenheim doesn’t play this weekend, maybe someone else actually gets injured.
F. Pull a Surprise: Trade Bergenheim to Chicago for Patrick Sharp or Kris Versteeg (we all know the Blackhawks’ GM’s dad has always liked Sean). Oh wait, that would still have the Islanders at 24. That’s okay, I just had to get Sharp and Versteeg’s name in a post this season. Their names have been brought up everywhere else.
G. None of the Above: That’s usually how these things work. By the way, that last one is not happening.
I’m sure you have some other ideas. Make your pick and talk about tonight’s game. Comment Guidelines.
It’s January 7 and the Islanders are 18-18-8. They are 5-1-1 in their last seven games (the last six decided by one goal). They are one point out of eighth place in the Eastern Conference, three out of seventh place and four out of sixth.
No, Virginia, there isn’t going to be a Taylor Hall/Cam Fowler Watch before the Olympics. There may not even be one in April.
Stand up and take a bow, Garth Snow. When the general manager decided to not sign an established veteran forward and defenseman in the offseason, he ran the risk of watching his rebuilding team being out of the playoff race before Christmas. Now the Islanders will be playing important games for most, if not the rest of the season. Who wouldn’t have signed up for 18-18-8 in September? That a healthy majority of Snow’s draft prospects are developing steadily only adds to the final result of a very, very good year for the GM.
Sorry you probably won’t win the Jack Adams Award, Scott Gordon, but that has never been a good career move anyway. Let Joe Sacco or Dave Tippett or any of the other half-dozen worthy candidates like the Islanders coach take the hardware. Would the Islanders be at NHL .500 today if John Tortorella, Paul Maurice, Marc Crawford or Bob Hartley were coaching this team? The answer is no.
And, of course, ultimately the credit goes to the players who have hung in night after night during a season that just about everyone except their relatives said they’d be out of by Valentine’s Day.
An esteemed NHL voice recently wrote that the Islanders would be better off losing and getting a Hall or Fowler or Tyler Seguin. That’s all fine in theory, you know, when you don’t actually live in the Country, but what’s the point? This is the Islanders’ lineup. Between now and the hours after the trade deadline, the lineup is not going to change drastically. There will not be any deals to significantly impact the current roster positively or negatively. Between now and the deadline, the Islanders are still going to be very much alive in the playoff race. Let’s take a look.
Of the eight playoff spots in the East, five appear to be locked down with wins and expectations:
New Jersey
Buffalo
Washington
Pittsburgh
Boston
There are nine points separating the nine teams between the No. 6 and No. 14 holes in the East.
Ottawa
Rangers
Montreal
Islanders
Philadelphia
Atlanta
Tampa Bay
Florida
Toronto
The Hurricanes are still ten points back of 14th and there is a lot of talk of them being big sellers before the trade deadline, so they remain out of this discussion.
Now, what do the nine teams battling for the available three spots have in common? None of them are very good. Fact is, Rick DiPietro can struggle in his comeback, Jon Sim and Josh Bailey could cool off (did I just write that?) and the Islanders can lose five in a row this month and still be in playoff contention.
Maybe one of the nine teams runs away with a spot before the Olympic break in mid-February, but three will not.
You can make the case that the worst thing that could happen to the Islanders would be falling short of the playoffs – yes, that’s still where my bet is – and picking from this year’s Nazem Kadri bunch around 7-12 in the first round of the draft. You might be right. There would also be nothing you or anyone else can do about it. Kyle Okposo and company will not stop playing to win the games.
Then again, look at it this way. If the foundation of the Islanders’ rebuilding plan was simply to finish last and collect first overall picks, you and I could have been the general manager.
Heaven forbid the Islanders play meaningful games for the rest of the regular season – and perhaps beyond – Garth Snow will not have the windfall of franchise players Ray Shero inherited when he replaced Craig Patrick in Pittsburgh. That was a once-in-a-generation stroke of fortune anyway. Snow will have to build a consistent contender the way most of his successful counterparts have.
No matter how the Islanders finish this season, we’ve now seen enough of Snow’s work the last two years to understand he’s very capable of finishing the job.
Comment Guidelines. More to come later in the day…maybe.
FanHouse: Time for the Blues to Mature
5:05 pm: From his Blackberry in Toronto, TSN’s Darren Dreger breaks the news that Rick DiPietro is backing up Dwayne Roloson tonight in Colorado.
1:30 pm: As expected, it’s Craig Anderson vs………Dwayne Roloson tonight in Colorado. Nate Thompson returns. Sean Bergenheim not yet.
Live Chat Tonight: Don’t forget to join us for the Point Blank live in-game chat tonight beginning at 9:00 EST. I might be a little rusty at the CoveritLive thing, but promise to be a good cruise director.
Dwayne is The Man: As I wrote in my Rick DiPietro piece on FanHouse yesterday, Dwayne Roloson is blocker-down the first half Most Valuable Player for your Islanders.
I asked Scott Gordon, “With respect to everyone else on your team, is there any question Roloson was your MVP in the first half”?
The coach said, “Yes, that’s probably right,” and then submitted two names he felt merited inclusion in the discussion: Kyle Okposo and Andy Sutton.
Your thoughts?
Jr. Development: Congratulatons to Islanders prospect Matt Donovan and Team USA for winning the gold at the World Junior Championships. Although Calvin de Haan had a rough night, the bright side for Islanders Country was seeing how much Team Canada missed workhorse Travis Hamonic.
Congrats also go out to Rangers draft guru Gordie Clark, who used to run the draft for the Islanders. Gord appears to have two more very good prospects in Team USA captain Derek Stepan and leading goal scorer Chris Kreider in his stable.
Wisconsin’s Stepan, drafted by the Rangers 15 selections after the Islanders selected Boston University center Corey Trivino, looks like a terrific heart-and-soul two-way center. Both sophomores, Stepan is 19 and Trivino turns 20 next week, but this could be an illustration of how scouting and psychological testing are inexact sciences:
36 – Corey Trivino
40 – Aaron Ness
51 – Derek Stepan
53 – Travis Hamonic
Stepan is developing far better than Trivino and Ness. Hamonic may turn out better than all of them. This is the scouting life.
Comments on this post and tonight’s game. Comment Guidelines.
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