PB Q & A Round 3: Franchise’s future, the D, Martin, Joensuu, Gillies, Higgins, trading the No. 5
The Questions portion of the Q & A ended Friday night. The first ran Saturday. Part 2 ran Sunday. You’re welcome to respond to my answers - one per reader, please - in Comments.
Chris: So many questions but the most important one to me is one you may not be able to answer. Is it your gut feeling that the team remains in NY whether that be in Uniondale or elsewhere?
Paul - Isles fan since the dark days of the ‘97-’98 season
My feelings on this subject have never changed, Paul. Whether it’s in Uniondale or somewhere else in the vicinity, the team will remain the New York Islanders. This will be the logo.
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Thanks for all the hard work, this site is a godsend. Given that Witt, Gervais and Martinek are all signed for next year, and add to them J-Mac, Hillen and Streit, with Meyer being a UFA, how do you think the Isles are going to reshape the blueline for next year? Thanks
Don, crossed over from the darkside when Zach’s dad lit the lamp in o/t in ‘75
Seems a longshot that Brendan Witt will be on the Islanders next season, Don. Radek’s spot in the lineup has to be written in soft pencil. Any games he plays should be considered a bonus, a la Richie Pilon 15 years ago. Bruno Gervais played poorly for long stretches in 2009-10. With or without Meyer, the Islanders need to add at least a No. 2 and a No. 5 defenseman. Both need to have some experience - age 26-30 sounds about right - size and willingness to play physically.
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Hey CB: What do you think the fan favorite Matt Martin’s chances are of making the big club come the start of next season?
Tyler Young, Sayville - Islander fan from birth
40/60. Matt’s going to have to earn it. He does not enter training camp in China as a lock, or even someone they’re counting on to make it. It’s also worth noting that he didn’t get a ton of icetime in Bridgeport’s first round playoff loss to Hershey. That said, Scott Gordon seems to like him and Matt has the offseason to get in even better shape, improve his skating and impress at the prospect camp.
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Before I ask my question, I just want to thank AOL and Fanhouse for their very important part in producing Islanders Point Blank. My question is simple. Do you know if Gillies’ 1-year deal is a one way or two way deal? Thanks.
My name is Jeff Kuntz, live in Ohio, Isles fan since I was 5.
Thank you, Jeff. The Islanders didn’t announce whether Trevor’s deal was a one-way or not. In fact, they barely announced his contract at all. My strong hunch is that it’s a two-way deal. Keep in mind that Gillies didn’t have a two-way last season. He was originally signed by Bridgeport to an AHL contract only. Trevor was probably very happy to have an NHL-AHL offer…and in April. (UPDATE: as you’ll see in Comments, it’s a two-way deal).
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CB. In talking to your Islander contacts, do you get any feeling as to where SnoJanks are leaning in this years draft, D-man or sniper?
Frank - Parsippany, NJ Islander fan for 30 years.
Thank you for the Q, Frank. Right now, two months away, they are not leaning in any direction. The Draft Combine late next month is going to be huge in their fact-finding. With their first pick - whenever they make it - they will take the defenseman or forward who is highest on their list. Best player available.
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Chris: What’s the word on Anders Lee?
Thanks. Tony in CT, fan since ‘78
Hi Tony. Lee was named rookie of the year in the United States Hockey League. He will play for former Islanders assistant coach Jeff Jackson next season at Notre Dame. He is a solid prospect and a terrific young man who can also be a ringer in your flag football games. The Islanders will not have to make a determination on him for at least 2-3 years. Anders has a lot to improve, but he couldn’t have a better teacher than Jackson.
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Being that the Nordiques left for Colorado due to a building that was crumbling and a government that was not approving a new building, How much time do the Islanders realisticly have on Long Island? The Lighthouse is like a dirty secret that no one talks about anymore.
James Webler - Mamaroneck, NY. I still hate Dale Hunter and the London Knights. Long live Pierre Turgeon.
Well, what we know for sure is they are bound to a lease to play at the Coliseum until 2015. In case you missed it, the Lighthouse official website shut down last week. That wasn’t really news, because the LDC hadn’t done much with the site and its Twitter feed since October. Whenever the entire charade ends, it will do so with the team playing in the New York metropoiltan area. The team is not moving to Kansas City, Quebec City, Hamilton or anywhere else far away.
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Any rumblings from the team about the new away jersey coming out next year? I imagine it would be pretty similar to the one Bridgeport wears now. Great work CB, thanks for keeping this thing going!
Ari M. from Long Island (unbelievably there is another Ari from Long Island on here). Fan since my dad took me to games at 5 yrs old in the late 80s.
Thanks, Ari, and to everyone else who inquired about the uniform. The royal blue, vintage jerseys the team wore the last few years will be the permanent home jersey in 2010-11. There will be a matching white one that they will wear on the road. It will be unveiled by John Tavares at the Draft Party. And that’s that!
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Has Jesse Joensuu developed over the past season and will he see significant time in the NHL this season?
Lee Forman. Raised in Melville, reside in Astoria. Too young to remember cups but old enough to remember Ken Baumgartner mugging some Rangers in the 90′ playoffs.
Hi Lee. Although Jesse is a more high-end skill player than Matt Martin and is one year ahead of him in development, my answer is similar to what I wrote about Martin above. Joensuu has not shown so much improvement that he is a favorite to make the team out of training camp. He has 34 goals in 142 minor league games over two seasons. To make the Islanders, Joensuu has to show he’s capable of playing on one of the top three lines. As the good-natured Jesse has joked himself, he is a three-year project entering his third year.
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Obviously the team needs to be upgraded at nearly every position, but do you think the team would be wise to focus on one area (maybe defense) and make it a goal to improve in that area. Obviously you can’t turn away a good player at any postion, is it better to be very good in one area than OK everywhere?
Mike Priest - Ontario. Born a Leafs fan, I saw the light when my favorite player (KJ) was traded to the Isles when I was 10. I’ve been a diehard Isles fan ever since.
You know I like you, Mike, but you’re really over-thinking this. Garth Snow and his staff are perfectly capable of improving the roster at both forward and defense. They have the resources.
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Chris, do you think the Isles may take a run at Chris Higgins in free agency?
Tim F., Brewster, NY (via Northport, LI). Isles fan since the mid-70’s.
I do think Garth Snow will make a call and see if he is available inexpensively (he will be), but the drop-off in Higgins’ game the last two years has been alarming. The Smithtown kid looked like he was on his way to becoming a second-line forward as he scored 23, 22 and 27 his first three years.
From Montreal to New York to Calgary, Chris has lost his game. I don’t see why the Islanders would make him a priority unless they are certain he can rebound as a 25-goal scorer. He’s not gritty enough to be a bottom-six forward for them. There are many other, better options for the third line. It’s too bad because he is a terrific young man who would represent the Islanders and our region very well.
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CB: What are the odds that Snow packages the 5th pick and then some for an established player? The pick and cap space could get them something, no?
Jim from St. James - Lifelong LI’er, Fan since my Dek hockey team got those beautiful White, Blue and Orange jerseys.
Jim: I would be very surprised if Garth makes that kind of deal. It would be uncharacteristic of a general manager who has not made a major deal for an NHL player since the Ryan Smyth trade. It would be inconsistent with his very steady approach to the rebuild. I’m not saying there could not be some merit to such a deal, just that I highly doubt it will happen.
You’re welcome to respond to my answers - one per reader, please - in Comments.
Nice job Chris!
Higgins just had a bad year. Although unlikely, I’d be very happy to see him end up on the Islanders.
CB,
If we need a #2 and a #5, who are our 3-4 defensemen?
I’m sure you’d agree that any combination of Hillen, A-Mac, and R-Mart is way too soft to be a 3-4 defense pair.
Who does that leave?
Thanks,
Cary
If you go to capgeek.com, type in New York Islanders you will see that Gillies has signed a two way NHL contract. It also tells you how many players we have under contact (knowing the limit is 50)
We are coming one step closer to bringing back the HOME WHITES! I love my daily IPB dose! No telling whether JJ or Martin are quality NHL prospects, if they don’t pan out out, we seem alarmingly thin at F.
Hey Chris. Thanks for answering my question about where you feel the Isles will end up. I won’t hold you to your answer but I’m very relieved to hear you say you feel the team will remain where it belongs, on LI.
CB Great questions thoughful answers. I’m very glad that you are positive about the Isles staying on LI which includes bklyn and queens in the geographic sense of the word. Although we have a home until 2015 news of a deal - would be the sweetist news Isles fans could get and would even trump a great draft result. Of course lets have both to celebrate!
Bravo! on restoring the REAL Islanders sweater. It looks like after about 15 years the long uniform nightmare begun with the Gorton’s fisherman will finally be over.
Hi Chris,
You seem quite sure the Islanders will stay in the area. Could you elaborate - is there something we should know? Anything to get this cloud out from over our heads. I would love to see them stay at the NVMC (although Hempstead doesn’t deserve it), but as long as they stay in the area, the universe will stay in sync.
Thanks to CB for answering questions and giving us fans a forum to pepper him for insight.
I have to say that I just can no longer share the optimism that the Isles will stay on LI. We have a few years until things truly hit the fan, but the Lighthouse Project seems dead and the Coliseum development project seems totally stalled–and there seems to be no political will to do anything about it. There doesn’t seem to be any dialogue with the Atlantic Yards folks, which would be the most logical backup as an awesome new, LIRR-accessible arena that can possibly accommodate an NHL rink. Now I read in Newsday that Mangano is entertaining allowing the Shinnecocks to apply to convert the Coliseum plot to a casino with a new arena?! There are so many hurdles to that it makes my head spin (NYS approval, DOI land trust creation, etc.), not to mention that the most-hated parts of the Lighthouse (traffic, congestion) would remain. I wish I knew what Wang’s new strategy was.
Just to add to the CB’s answer on Anders Lee: He is leading the USHL in playoff scoring and +/-: 7 Games, 8 goals, 7 assists, +10 AND his team advanced to the USHL championship finals
Thanks CB, for all the effort!
For my question, I can dream can’t I?
Snow surprized us once, he can do it again.
as long as he doesn’t go a “Mad Mike” on it.
Yes CB thank you for continuing to keep our interest level so high!
I don’t see much in Higgins, but I have a feeling he’d be successful as an Islander, and a fan favorite of course. I’d be excited to get him for cheap, that’s it.
If the home jersey is the former 3rd, the away will be Vintage White…what will be the 3rd? I hope they don’t abandon the 3rd jersey all together! I know I might be in the minority, perhaps even crucified for this…but I wouldn’t mind it being the fisherman!
Does anyone know if Snow, Wang or Jankowski will be in Germany to see the upcoming WC?
Chris, thanks so much for addressing the questions about the new White Uniforms in this post and the last.
I cannot wait to go out and buy one.
My gut feeling is the Isles will Not stay put at #5. I think they will either move up to #3 or fall back to #8 or so… Florida has the #3 pick(might they be interested in Bouwmeester clone C.Fowler?) If the Isles are very high on either Gudbranson or Connolly, I could see them trading up because they probably wouldn’t have to give up too much(2nd rd & 4th rd pick). But if they are high on a Jeff Skinner, Emerson Etem, Mark Pysyk, Derek Forbort, they could drop down..Personally I want Nino Niederreiter at #5…..I think Anders Lee & Matt Donavan s/b considered Top Prospects for us. Get rid of B.Gervais & Sign Andy Sutton!!!!!
Agreed Bruno Gervais is useless. Looking back on it, the 2007 draft (or lack thereof) has set the Islanders back more than a few years. Last years draft appears to have collected more legitimate prospects than the first half of the decade put together (Thanks Milbury). Stay the course. Keep drafting quality prospects and then develop them into NHL worthy assets.
Unless we are moving into the top 2, there is no reason to trade up in this draft. It seems 3-5 are similar in rankings; whichever falls to us should be the one. I would not give up even a 2nd to move up to 3 personally.
Thanks for answering my question Chris.
I hope Joensuu can make some strides in camp. He has the body size that we desperately need with this team and I hope we eventually get, one way or another. I hope he can one day be a solid 3rd liner.
Botta, based on this response:
With their first pick - whenever they make it - they will take the defenseman or forward who is highest on their list. Best player available.
Do you have an inkling that the team might move the #5 pick? I know that it’s very early, but just curious as to whether or not your Bot-sense is tingling…
CB, thank you for answering these questions. Now, I am going to totally disagree with you on one answer. No way you can compare Rich Pilon and Radek Martinek in anyway other then they both were injured a lot (Rich towards the end). Rich Pilon was a very good d-man, who was physical, fought, strong on defense, and gave his all to win at any cost. Radek SUCKS! He puts so many goals in the isles net because of his horrible defensive play and poor fundamentals of how to position his body and stick. You can tell by his and Hunter’s body language that they’ve been infected by losing, they expect to lose and neither play hard anymore. They’ve been around and been part of too much losing and the smartest thing the Isles could do is dump them both before they infect the rest of the team. It’s no bonus when Radek plays unless your trying to improve your draft positioning.
Isles need 4 new d-men not two. Only two d-men on the Isles roster you can count on are Streit and Hillen. Mac D maybe but maybe not. Meyer as a 7. Anyone else sucks or needs more development. Hamonic and De Haan later this year or next year.
Matt Martin and JJ will be fine and I think sooner then later.
I am open to Nystrom but I’ll take a pass on Higgins.
I am really disapointed that JT is going to be at the Draft Party because I was hoping they would take advantage of the fact the draft is in LA (Major Media Market) and take John and Kyle to LA to help them and the Isles gain more exposure. Lots of press would love to talk to them both about their draft experiences, international experience and playing in the NHL. It would be neat if Kyle and John rotated announcing the Isles picks but ya can’t expect a bunch of minor league front office call ups to think of anything like that.
….this blog is like crack for a die hard Islander fan. Mr Botta I thank you for your efforts. I hope you are making a good living for your family. Just one thing…..please do not ever refer to this blog as crappy ever again.
Great job as always CB! I’m glad you addressed a defenseman question. It was one I’ve been thinking about for a while. The Isles are somewhere around $10M under the cap floor ( I think ). Witt will be gone, Marty should be gone (why waste a roster spot for a dozen games?), Gervais really is a 7-8 d-man on most other teams (hell, I can throw a puck harder than he shoots). Either buy out or trade, that should free at least $2M more. I pray the Isles go for Volchenkov,and Hamhuis, and re-sign Sutton. “Crusher” Meyer would be welcome back for less than $1M. Draft the best one at 5, no need to go up or down, they all seem solid. The kids up front can score if we play the opposite end. The only gripe I have up front is the lack of a consistent faceoff winner. Guys like Scott Nichol and Manny Malhotra are cheap and provide some vet presence as well.
One question for the puckheads as well: Can someone find out how often the Isles have faced an opposing teams back up goalie compared to other teams the past few years?
Sorry for the long comment. Been a die hard since birth 30+ years ago….
Anders Lee has been a huge bright spot, he has a long way to go still but he is definitely someone to keep track of.
Hope Joensuu makes it, he needs to keep getting stronger if he wants a chance at the big time. The team needs to think about putting a complete roster together at bport and not a bunch of random talent. Part of the problem that a bunch of the bport guys had is that there was zero consistency and little veteran leadership, basically the opposite of Hershey.
Thread closed.