Monthly Archives: February 2010
Welcome to The Big Review, an occasional segment during the Olympic break. Here’s how it works. I write about a subject, provide some background, give my opinion. Then you do the same. One comment – 150 words or less – per reader. Stay on the subject. Bring the detested “You guys don’t know anything about hockey” or any variation, and…well, see you around.
Matt Martin wears a visor because they are mandatory in the American Hockey League. When he was called up by the Islanders last week, he thought seriously about not wearing one. Then he received some advice.
“I figured taking off the visor was the right thing to do, especially since I knew I’d probably get in some fights,” Martin told Point Blank. “But it was suggested to me that I should start with keeping the visor on. The plan was for me to be on the power play and stand in front of the net. The concern was that so many guys have gotten hurt recently on slap shots and I should protect my eyes. I understood the reasoning.”
Martin agreed with his (unidentified) advisor.
“It’s not an issue,” he said. “If I get in a fight, the right thing to do is step back and take your helmet off. I never planned on being in a fight with the visor on.”
Sure enough, in the Islanders’ first display of fisticuffs since Dec. 26, Martin was engaged in a fight last Tuesday by Pittsburgh’s Tyler Kennedy. There was no time to take off the visor.
When Martin and Nate Thompson fought on Saturday, they gave each other plenty of time to shed their gear. “That’s the way it’s supposed to be. That’s a fair fight,” said Martin, who will keep the visor on until his bosses tell him otherwise.
A curious call from the refs came after the fight with Thompson. Martin was given five minutes for fighting, plus an additional ten-minute misconduct penalty. No one could understand why.
Said Martin, “They told me it was for ‘inciting’ the fight. I went after (Mattias) Ohlund. Nate stepped in and we fought. But I got the extra ten for ‘inciting.’ I wasn’t familiar with that one.”
Only in the NHL. Those kind of fights happen every night in the NHL. A player gets hit, a tough guy steps up for him. Until rookie Matt Martin was called for it, I hadn’t seen a game all year where an NHLer was given an extra ten minutes for inciting an altercation.
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The Big Review: Matt Martin brought some excitement to the Islanders over the last week. He played with passion, delivered some big hits, went to the net, had two assists in a game and had a pair of fights. The bar for physical play by the Islanders had been set so low over the last year that Martin’s performance was cause for dancing in the aisles.
He was returned to Bridgeport for the Olympic break, but more than likely will be back with the Islanders. Now the question is, what does Martin project as?
To a man, scouts I polled at two of the last three Islanders’ home games said they’d love to have Martin as part of their organization. More than anything else, they love his desire.
They believe over the next year that Martin will develop into an effective forward for the Islanders – a bottom-six forward.
Martin’s skating needs to continue to improve. The scouts’ believe his skating holds him back from being a true top-six power forward that can create space for top-line scorers. Martin can be a pest on the power play, but 5-on-5 in the NHL he is more likely a third or fourth-line player.
Matt told reporters last week that criticism fires him up. I’m sure he learned over these four games what he needs to improve. When you consider he’s been an underdog throughout his young career – walk-on at Sarnia, late-round draft pick by the Islanders – there’s no reason to count him out.
The Islanders did well to get Matt Martin in the fifth round of the 2008 draft. He is potentially an important player in their rebuild. A top-six forward? Unlikely, but – as advertised in this space over the last year – an effective intangibles performer for the franchise.
Your thoughts on Matt Martin? One comment per reader.
When the latest in an endless series of topsy-turvy Islanders performances forced me to stop writing a timely postgame entry, I shut off my laptop, departed my press box perch and watched the final minutes in the stands.
As the home team’s final gasp at a tying goal came up short and I made my way through the Coliseum stands, the pain among the beautiful faithful was palpable. Tonight was a reminder of how being a New York Islanders fan can often result in having your heart ripped out and stomped on.
Scott Gordon said the momentum swung when the Islanders failed to cash in on a 5-on-3 at the start of the third period.
Dwayne Roloson: “Unfortunately, we made some mistakes in our own end that wound up in our net.”
Andy Sutton on playoff prospects after this brutal setback: “It’s a huge challenge. It’s going to take us being one of the best teams in the NHL for 20 games. We’ve done it before.”
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You have to admire the camaraderie. You cannot say these young Islanders don’t enjoy being around each other.
Despite the opportunity to spend a week apart after an intense five months together, half the Islanders’ roster is flying to Mexico on Monday for a five-day vacation. Among those scheduled for the trip are Josh Bailey and Frans Nielsen.
A few friends from opposing NHL teams are coming as well, including Luke Schenn of Toronto and Maxime Talbot of Pittsburgh. Recent teammate Nate Thompson might be a late addition.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Nielsen. “Our girlfriends are joining us. It’s just one large group with a lot of close friends. We’ll take it easy and just relax and we’ll be ready to hit the ice as soon as we get back.”
Kyle Okposo will spend the week back home in Minnesota, as will Jack Hillen. John Tavares is going home for some rest in Ontario.
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One more Plus/Minus before the Olympic break as the Islanders cough two points up to Ottawa, 4-3.
Minus: If you had the Islanders losing 9 of their last 11 games before the Olympic break – and Martin Biron getting the two victories – you won the lottery.
Minus: The first ten minutes of the game looked like Canada (Ottawa) versus Norway (the NYI). The Senators looked bigger, stronger and faster. They actually are all of the above.
Plus: And then, looking like a team with a system they can rely on, the Islanders found their legs and it was a different game for the next period and a half.
Plus: Blake Comeau with the first two-goal game of his NHL career.
Plus: Good things happen when Jesse Joensuu goes to the net and Comeau shoots the puck – especially when they happen simultaneously. A first period that looked liked it could have been the Senators’ ended 1-1.
Plus: Oh my, Andrew MacDonald looks like a very good NHL defenseman.
Plus: Jack Hillen will be back after the break.
Even: Will Andy Sutton? A Blackhawks scout took my vacated press box seat for Saturday’s game and was back tonight. So were scouts from a half-dozen other interested teams.
Plus: Dwayne Roloson played in his 500th NHL game. Unless Garth Snow is blown away with a trade offer, expect Roloson to stay an Islander. With so many solid goalies available on the free agent market on July 1, Snow should work a Roloson deal hard. The take-back could be vital to a rebuilding team.
Plus: The final 20 games of John Tavares’ rookie season will be a fascinating watch.
Minus: Another third period where the Islanders looked behind the pace and without confidence, until the lead was blown.
Minus: The concept of team defense often seems lost on these Islanders.
Minus: From a team and business perspective, a dreadful way to head into the two-week break.
Minus: Now that I’ve done this for a season and three quarters, you’d think I’d wouldn’t be so stupid as to start writing a lot in the second period. Wrong.
Minus: A pair of early starts on a holiday weekend. More than 10,000 unused seats.
Plus: A well-officiated game by Eric Furlatt and Rob Martell.
Plus: Building the game? Overrated. Great exposure for two weeks on NBC? Yeah, we’ll see about that. Winning new fans in non-hockey markets? Yeah, right. The NHL should send its best to the Olympics because these are the best players in the world and they want to be there.
Plus: A month ago I wrote that even if the Islanders went on a big losing streak, they would still be in the hunt for the playoffs. Oops, I didn’t see 9 of 11 coming. They enter the Olympic break six points out, with four teams between the Islanders and eighth place Montreal. No matter how you look at it, your team is still in the race with 20 games left in the season. The majority of the Country would have signed up for this in October.
Plus: His team still being alive will not stop Garth Snow from doing a little selling.
We’ll continue to talk Islanders hockey – and only Islanders hockey – all week. These are the Comment Guidelines.
Same 20-man lineup for the Islanders, except with Dwayne Roloson starting in goal. Brian Elliott will start his 14th straight game for Ottawa.
Scott Gordon and Mark Streit will be zipping out of here soon after the game for the airport and their flight to Vancouver. Streit will make the short drive first to his Long Island home, where he will meet up with his parents and an 8:00 pm limousine awaits.
Gordon on the Olympics: “The experience itself is second to none.”
Talk about the game in Comments.
5:35 pm – The Islanders win a wild one on a late goal by Richard Park. You know what to do next.
Plus: Playing two games this weekend to be alive in March, the Islanders found a way to win the first one.
Plus: When Richard Park and Doug Weight score in the same game, you win the game.
Plus: Richard Park scores twice, Weight gets his first and Nate Thompson scores for Tampa Bay. It was one crazy friggin’ afternoon at the old barn in Uniondale.
Plus: Blake Comeau with another one of those hard-charging games he needs to have more of on a regular basis.
Plus: With the Islanders hanging on to a 5-4 lead, Scott Gordon’s chosen defensemen were dandy Andies Sutton and McDonald.
Plus: The Islanders’ shotblocking on the early 3-on-5. Then Comeau and Schremp forecheck hard, Schremp flips a nice pass and Comeau scores a goal scorer’s goal to make it 1-0.
Plus: Kyle Okposo with his best game in three weeks.
Minus: During the Olympic break, Trent Hunter needs to find his game.
Minus: Sean Bergenheim, too.
Plus: There’s a new star in the East and his name is Steven Stamkos.
Plus: Jesse Joensuu understanding his job on the Comeau-Schremp line – or any line – is to get his sizable frame to the front of the opposition’s net.
Plus: A goal, a fight and 7-2 record on faceoffs. Very good for Nate Thompson.
Plus: NHL video replay worked. Park after the game, “You never know in this league.”
Plus: I caught a T-shirt shot by the Ice Girls during the second intermission.
Plus: With the Islanders down 2-1, rabid fan “Uncle Joe” in Section 204 tried his darndest to get the crowd into the game. It was a Tonelli-like effort, Joe. My hat’s off to ya.
Plus: It takes a beautiful sense of humor to continue to play the “Meet Me at the Lighthouse” jingle on the Coliseum scoreboard before all games.
Plus: The Islanders get Ottawa at the Coliseum at 5:00 pm Sunday after the Senators play tonight in Detroit. Daniel Alfredsson is going to be exhausted before he gets to Vancouver.
Plus: As Tweeted by Peter Botte of the Daily News, Doug Weight was unavailable to the press post-game because he was undergoing treatement. Minutes later, he called the press box and filled the reporters’ notebook with what they needed.
Plus: Taking exception to seeing one of his teammates mugged, Matt Martin steps up, then middleweight Nate Thompson accepts the invitation to join Martin in the light heavyweight division. The two drop gloves and Martin takes off his visor. They pound each other in a spirited bout.
Martin and Thompson treat the fans to the first fight on Coliseum ice in two months. The crowd goes nuts. In the GM’s box, a solitary figure stands to take it all in. He is a very proud Eric Cairns, one of Martin’s mentors.
Fighting in the NHL…what a concept.
Your Plus/Minus, thoughts on today’s game and this post.
Chris Botta on Twitter
Saturday, 1:00 pm: Martin Biron gets another start. Rick DiPietro scratched for the weekend with the flu.
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3:30 pm - According to a source, Islanders general manager Garth Snow has yet to initiate preliminary negotiations on a contract extension for defenseman Andy Sutton.
The defenseman, who turns 35 next month, could become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. While there have been no contract talks between Snow and Sutton’s agent, Pat Morris, several contending teams are interested in the 6-6 defenseman as a rental for a Stanley Cup run.
Throughout the season, the best of his 11-year NHL career, Sutton has made it clear to Point Blank that he is appreciative of Islanders ownership and management and hopes to continue his career in New York.
If the Islanders and Morris do not make any progress on a contract for Sutton during the Olympic break, it would make little sense for the team to not trade him to the highest bidder before the March 3rd trade deadline.
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The Islanders did not make a move before today’s 3:00 pm EST pre-Olympics roster freeze. According to NHL sources, Snow worked the phones in his GM’s office at Nassau Coliseum all day, but did not find a deal to his liking.
By “sending” Matt Martin and Jesse Joensuu “to Bridgeport” yesterday, the youngsters can actually be sent to the AHL after the Islanders play Ottawa on Sunday.
Since the wafer-thin Islanders blueline cannot afford any more injuries, Dustin Kohn may have the Olympic break off and just join the rest of the Islanders when they re-report for duty on Feb. 24. If Dustin was to suffer an injury in Bridgeport, the Islanders’ defense would officially be screwed.
Josh Bailey is expected to be 100% when play resumes for the Islanders on March 2 at the Coliseum against the Chicago Blackhawks. Jack Hillen could also be close to a return to action.
Cam Barker, forever tossed into trade rumors and requests by the Country, has been dealt to Minnesota. In Kim Johnsson, looks like the Blackhawks may have found the fourth defenseman they were looking for. Chicago also gets the Wild’s first round pick in 2009, Nick Leddy. They must love Barker.
Like Sutton, Johnsson is an potential unrestricted free agent. A puck-moving defenseman with just 14 points, he was not having a good season. Nevertheless, this is a brilliant trade for both sides executed by Chuck Fletcher and Stan Bowman.
And another thing about that fascinating letter from the Panthers owners to the fans: beware Florida tanking their way into the Hall-Fowler-Seguin sweepstakes.
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Scott Gordon on facing Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier and the Lightningeses on Saturday afternoon: “They have three dynamic players that are always a threat. Both goalies have been playing well. You saw the talent they had last night. They got behind (5-0 to Boston) and fought back to make a game of it (5-4). We have to be aware of them at all times and limit their chances.”
For the fourth and maybe final time this season – it depends on how good the Islanders and my children are – I’ll be in the stands on Saturday with Aidan, Luke and Cole. As usual, I’ll zip home and post my Plus/Minus and hope you will join in after. On Sunday, I’ll put my PRESS fedora back on and report on the Islanders’ 62nd game of the season.
Then, amazingly, there will be just 20 regular season games left. Thanks, everyone, for all the fevered participation on Point Blank.
12:45 pm – Scott Gordon on placing Matt Martin on a line with John Tavares and Kyle Okposo: “Matt played with Kyle some the other night. When you don’t score, you try and find something. Whether it’s just for a couple of shifts, we’ll see.”
Noon – Islanders spokesman Seth Sylvan reports that Rick DiPietro missed practiced today with a minor illness.
11:10 am - Only right I share with blog readers all the wacky things going on at the Coliseum so far. No sense waiting til 1:00 pm to post! The tweets:
After not playing the Islanders’ last two games, Rick DiPietro is not practicing today. Uh-oh (?)
The latest “first” line for your New York Islanders: Matt Martin – John Tavares – Kyle Okposo
Watch out for skate lacerations. The Islanders are playing soccer in full gear on the ice at the Coliseum. After the soccer game, the Islanders did a few offensive drills without pucks. The players had to pretend there was a puck as they stickhandled, passed and shot.
Matt Cullen and the Ottawa Senators are at the Coliseum at 5pm Sunday to face the Islanders.
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Montreal last night traded a second round pick in 2011 to Florida for Dominic Moore, a bottom-six forward, prospective UFA. This is on the heels of San Jose trading a second round pick to Carolina for Niclas Wallin, a depth defenseman. Today, Carolina got a second round pick and a prospect from Ottawa for Matt Cullen.
Trades are there to be made, if the Islanders want to move Andy Sutton and Dwayne Roloson.
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The lines at practice today for the Islanders, winners of 12 games in regulation this season out of 60:
Martin – Tavares – Okposo
Moulson – Nielsen – Hunter
Joensuu – Schremp – Comeau
Bergenheim – Weight – Park
Tambellini – Sim – Jackman
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As Islanders practice continued, this time with actual pucks, the owners of the Florida Panthers pre-announced a fire sale in a letter on the team’s official site. They even criticized unnamed players on their team, which is some fascinating crap, if you ask me.
After he recieved a contract extension – must have been for the Chris Campoli trade! – Ottawa GM Bryan Murray announced that the team has made an offer to potential UFA dman Anton Volchenkov and wants to keep him. I kid about Bryan, one of the nicest men in the business. As you can tell by the Senators’ record, the Campoli deal might be the only mistake he has made in the last year. By the way, Chris is out for a month with an upper body injury. He has had shoulder problems before.
The Senators are one of many teams interested in acquiring Andy Sutton.
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Ottawa has placed Jonathan Cheechoo on waivers. A one-time 52-goal scorer in a fantasy season in San Jose with Joe Thornton, the 29-year-old Cheechoo’s career has been in freefall. He scored 12 goals last season and has five in 61 games this season with the Senators.
He makes $3.5 million this season. If the Islanders pick up Cheechoo’s contract without giving a big contract up, it would be a mistake. If you think the Islanders are claiming Cheechoo and his $3.5 million on waivers, you haven’t been following the team for the last two years.
More to come this afternoon.
At FanHouse. Thank you…CB
