Monthly Archives: September 2010
8:40 pm: If anything major happens during the 11:00 am Islanders intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday, I will post any notes and observations on my Twitter page. For now, the only news is who is not playing.
Kyle Okposo (shoulder) is getting another “day off.” Looks like another day off for Doug Weight, too. (Hard to believe anyone is buying the “day off” stuff, except for where it applies to Rick DiPietro). Kirill Kabanov, most certainly by design, remains on a fourth line consisting of two players. Per the Islanders, here are the lineups…
WHITE
Comeau – Tavares – Parenteau
Bailey – Hisey – Niederreiter
DiBenedetto – Konopka – Hilbert
Gillies – Kabanov
Streit – Wisniewski
Eaton – Hamonic
Kohn – Gervais
Katic
Koskinen
DiPietro
BLUE
Moulson – Schremp – Rakhshani
Martin – Ullstrom – Hunter
Joensuu – Romano – Sim
Yablonski – Marcinko – Haley
de Haan – Jurcina
Hillen – Martinek
MacDonald – Reese
Klementyev
Roloson
Video Interviews: Schremp, Bailey, Martin
A little live blogging at Islanders practice, which started at noon and is comprised of just one large group. Check back during the next few hours for updates.
Noon: Kyle Okposo has a shoulder injury and is out for today’s practice. The Islanders say he will be re-evaluated over the weekend.
12:05: Before practice, former Bridgeport assistant Bernie Cassell – a skating specialist – had a small class with a handful of players, including Matt Martin, Zenon Konopka and Radek Martinek.
12:08: Also out for the Islanders: Doug Weight, Frans Nielsen, Rob Schremp, PA Parenteau and Trent Hunter. The Islanders say they have been given a day off. The team website says they’re all out with “general soreness.” No matter what you want to call it, Weight (coming off shoulder surgery), Nielsen (not revealed) and Parenteau (groin) have already missed days during camp.
12:10: For tomorrow’s public scrimmage at the Coliseum, the two Islanders squads will wear their new blue and white uniforms. Tickets are $10 each (benefiting the team’s Children’s Foundation) and are available through the team site and at the Coliseum box office.
12:12: For those that can’t make it to the arena, newyorkislanders.com will stream the scrimmage. Chris King will call the play-by-play.
12:15: Coaches on the ice at practice: Scott Gordon, Dean Chynoweth, Scott Allen, Sudarshan Maharaj (goalies), Jack Capuano (Bridgeport) and Cassell.
12:20: First 15 minutes of practice featured drills and almost complete silence, except for the occasional thought from Gordon. Now Gordon is at the dry-erase board by the Islanders’ bench.
12:25: At some of the days I’ve been at camp, I’d see this familiar face either sitting in the stands or around the locker room. He was wearing an Islanders coach’s jacket, but I knew that he was new. I’d think, “I know he was a player. I think he was a good player. I just know he never played here.” Then I’d forget about it and not pursue. As Katie Strang blogged yesterday, it is Geoff Sanderson. Perhaps he’ll fill the player development position vacated when Bryan Trottier’s contract was not renewed. The former Whaler last played in Edmonton in 2007-08.
12:30: Mikko Koskinen, on his back, recovers to make wild save on Konopka. Justin DiBenedetto smiles, can’t believe it.
12:37: If only Radek Martinek can stay healthy for most of the season…
12:45: There are five lines of forwards, arranged by colors, plus two players wearing yellow: Trevor Gillies and Kirill Kabanov.
12:54: Scott Gordon yells, “Stretch. That’s it”! Looks like a short one. Team plays a full scrimmage tomorrow morning.
12:58: It’s worth pointing out that the Coliseum scoreboard keeps running time in big, blue letters throughout practice. Have to believe this is a coach’s aid.
1:05: James Wisniewski enlists Kabanov’s help for post-practice work. Kabanov, at at the faceoff circle, backhands a puck to either Wisnewski or D partner Mark Streit. The current first-unit PP defenseman take turns one-timing slappers off their passes.
1:07: Gordon in discussion on the ice with Rick DiPietro, who is scheduled to play in tomorrow’s scrimmage.
1:40: After I interviewed Mark Katic for a future piece, I asked Scott Gordon about the defense prospect who flies below the radar and under Calvin de Haan and Travis Hamonic. Gordon complimented Katic’s work ethic in an offseason that started in February with shoulder surgery. “If he continues to get stronger and strong on his feet,” said the coach, “he has a real opportunity to play in the NHL.”
1:50: Gordon says the Islanders will play three full periods in their public scrimmage on Saturday. DiPietro is confirmed to play. The major change from the team’s prospect scrimmage in July is that the skills competition will be “modified.” For darn good reason, the coach is concerned about injuries. If a player was to get hurt in a skills showcase, there is little time for recovery before the start of the regular season.
Gordon on the extent of Okposo’s injury: “Sore shoulder. Day off.”
Comments.
Comments on Schremp and this video.
Please check out my feature story at FanHouse. Thanks.
Noon: The Minnesota Wild have signed Islanders 2008 sixth-round pick Jared Spurgeon to a three-year Entry Level contract after an impressive training camp audition. Despite a good junior career in Spokane, the smallish defenseman was not signed by the Islanders. This was understandable, as the team’s prospect coffers have become rich over the last three years and the Islanders can only sign so many players.
What’s notable about the Spurgeon signing is its effect on the Islanders’ batting average since the franchise changed its scouting and testing system when Neil Smith and then Garth Snow took over in the summer of 2006. Look at the team’s 2008 draft:
1. Josh Bailey – signed and playing in the NHL
2. Corey Trivino – a maybe, if he can figure it out in his junior year at BU
2. Aaron Ness – probably, although another year at U. Minn wasn’t the best way to go
2. Travis Hamonic – signed and will play in the NHL
3. David Toews – a long shot, but may still get his chance here or elsewhere
3. Jyri Niemi – signed by Rangers to Entry Level contract after traded by NYI
3. Kirill Petrov – will sign with the Islanders in the next two years
4. Matt Donovan – made Team USA at WJC, will sign after more time with Denver
4. David Ullstrom – signed by Islanders, will play someday in the NHL
5. Kevin Poulin – see Ullstrom
5. Matt Martin – see Bailey
6. Jared Spurgeon – signed with Minnesota Wild
6. Justin DiBenedetto – signed by Islanders
That’s a total of eight draft picks signed to NHL contracts, with more to come. Maybe not every kid is a world-beater, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a team that has had a quality-in-volume draft like the Islanders did in 2008. When you’re drafting 18-year-olds, all a team can ask for – especially after the first round – is finding players worth giving a shot to.
In Hamonic, Petrov, Donovan, Ullstrom, Poulin and Martin, the scouting and testing system might have found a heck of a lot more and there is still time for the others. Also nice to see Niemi and Spurgeon earn their opportunities with other clubs.
Each of the Islanders’ last five picks have been signed to NHL deals, with Petrov and Donovan likely to make it seven. That’s unheard of, whatever the end results. As Ziggy Palffy used to say after Mathieu Schneider had a good game, “Holy Schneikies”!
Notes: Not surprisingly, the coaching staff decided to keep the team off the ice today for regular drills after five straight days of skating (and no scrimmages!).
As Scott Gordon mentioned the other day, there will be a special teams scrimmage tonight at the Coliseum. Newsday will have access, so check Katie Strang’s blog for updates, but I have been informed that “bloggers” cannot attend. Freed up, I’m going to close shop the night and head into the city for tonight’s first preview on Broadway of “Lombardi,” about the legendary Packers coach, at the Circle in the Square Theatre.
Reminder: the Islanders will hold an intrasquad scrimmage at the Coliseum on Saturday at 11:00 am. Tickets are $10 and available through the team site and at the box office.
Comments section closed for the night. Matt Martin video below. See you tomorrow.
Comments on Matt Martin are welcomed.
4:00 pm: In a total of ten days of training camps – five with the rookies, five with the main squad – the Islanders have endured two days in which the main storyline was the same 18-year-old arriving late to practice. Otherwise, Kirill Kabanov has arrived exactly as advertised.
Kabanov’s second lateness came the morning after the Islanders hosted a well-executed Media Day and celebrated the signing of character-rich 2010 first pick Nino Niederreiter. What a shame. Now it’s time for the Islanders to send the 2010 third round pick back to his junior club in Moncton.
They don’t need Kabanov, and – until he matures – they don’t need the kid anywhere near the Coliseum’s front lawn. The team still has more than the 40 players needed to play its split-squad games. Casey Cizikas, who has worked so hard to get his life in order after an event none of us can comprehend, was shipped to the Ontario Hockey League before the Islanders’ main training camp ever started. After being late for the second time in ten days, what’s Kabanov still doing on Long Island?
If you really want to treat this as a cold, hard business where talent trumps character, look at it this way: it’s not like the gifted Kabanov has wowed anyone. On the ice, he’s been merely fine.
Off the ice, right now he’s a con man. Make that a con boy. The media can be amused by him; anyone around the Islanders should not be. On the slow second day of the NHL Draft in June, Kabanov charmed us all with his enthusiasm, smile and promises that he “wasn’t a devil, but an angel” and would show his gratitude to the Islanders by staying on the straight and narrow. Just because everyone enjoyed the interview doesn’t mean everyone bought in. Just because he’s not the devil doesn’t mean he is without demons.
It’s a lot easier to be cute more than two months before you have to skate for two hours a day under the groin-busting, if not ball-busting, Scott Gordon.
Whatever you do, don’t blame Eric Cairns. As a scout and player development staffer, Cairns does his best to stay on top of prospects, help them develop as players and men, maybe even scare a few of them straight. But at the end of the day, Cairns cannot be a full-time babysitter. At the end of the night, it’s up to Kabanov to decide how he wants to spend it.
Make no mistake, Kabanov deserves a year or two of chances to overcome his. But he has not earned the privilege of playing a hockey game over the next week alongside Streit, Tavares, Okposo, Bailey and DiPietro in a New York Islanders uniform before New York Islanders fans.
Late twice in the first ten days of his pro career? The Islanders have had a few troubled souls and wacky characters on their roster the last two decades; I don’t recall anything like this. Today’s 30-minute bag skate (with pushups!) a punishment? You’ve got to be kidding. Kabanov is a hockey player. Deny him the ice. Deny him entry into the locker room.
Garth Snow and Charles Wang knew exactly what they were getting when they made the decision to draft Kabanov. By one agent’s count, he has been through eight representatives in three years. (In almost every case, the agent walked away from Kabanov).
You do not have to be close to the Country to make the educated leap that the drafting of Kabanov is one of the reasons why the Islanders no longer employ a Director of Amateur Scouting. Until Kabanov goofs his way out of hockey, I’ll side with Snow and Wang on this draft pick. However, it’s not hard to envision a new wave scout, but old school-raised hockey person like Ryan Jankowski being uncomfortable with the idea of bringing a flake like Kabanov around the slow and steady rebuild.
Even after today’s second strike, the Kabanov pick was the right decision. For the Islanders to ever contend again, they need to get lucky on low-risk, high-reward dice rolls like the drafting of a wild child. But if Snow, Wang and Scott Gordon really believe it’s not potentially damaging to have Kabanov around the rest of their franchise’s young players…
Never mind. I have no doubt they do. Like the Prodigal Son, Kabanov deserves the half-dozen chances he’ll get. He should always be welcomed back with open arms until the Islanders decide whether he has earned an Entry Level Contract. But for now, unless the Islanders have serious personal reasons to want to keep an eye on their investment, it’s time to send an immediate message and dispatch Kirill the Pill to the Quebec League.
Despite the news of the last ten days, you hope coach Danny Flynn and the Moncton Wildcats are still willing to take him back.
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