Monthly Archives: January 2011
Brian Compton and I will record our latest edition of “Islanders Interactive” at SNY studios on Tuesday, but this time there’s a twist. By popular demand, instead of phone calls, we will take your questions starting TODAY in the Comments thread of this post.
Here is how you can participate:
1. Please submit one question per reader, limiting it to 35 words of less (for the benefit of our production team and the graphics).
2. Including your name and town is required. Age and other details (season ticketholder?) are strictly optional, but appreciated.
Of course, if you see that someone has already asked your question in the Comments thread, please change to a different topic. I can take questions until 10:00 pm Monday.
Thank you so much for your participation. Brian and I really look forward to this segment.
Please post your name, town and one Islanders question of 35 words or less in Comments.
The Islanders led the way with 27% of the votes in the poll, confirmed this morning with a press release distributed by the players’ union. (318 players participated). The Maple Leafs were fourth and Panthers fifth, proving this is a lot more about winning and losing than the quality of your arena. On the bright side, Frans Nielsen came in second in the poll for most underrated player. In other news, congratulations to Michael Grabner for winning the Fastest Skater competition last night at the skills competition. No one in Islanders Country was surprised.
PB, January 4: Extending Matt Moulson
Matt Moulson signs a three-year contract worth $9.4 million. The break brings unsurprising, but very positive news.
Moving mountains to make DiPietro the franchise player…golfing with Spano…taking Nilsson over Parise…Wang’s idea for scouting…acquiring and signing Yashin and Peca…trading Palffy…draft failures…hearing from Islanders fans. No, we didn’t have time to cover everything I would have liked (Oleg!), but if you listen closely, there are some pretty good nuggets here over 24 minutes of re-visiting Mike Milbury’s decade with the Islanders.
9:45 pm: Entering the all-star break after a 4-2 loss to Carolina tonight at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the Islanders have played 49 games. They lost their final ten games under Scott Gordon before the coach was fired. They won only one of their first eleven games under Jack Capuano. After a few uplifting wins over good clubs like Detroit and Pittsburgh over the holidays, the Islanders head for the break with just two wins in their last ten games.
In a league in which 25 of 30 clubs are over “NHL .500,” the Islanders are 15-27-7. With more than two months left in the season, they are 20 points behind eighth place Atlanta, 19 points behind ninth place Carolina.
They have played the season without Mark Streit and have lost several other defensemen. With Kyle Okposo rejoining the lineup five games ago, they have their complete contingent of forwards.
The Islanders lead the league in man-games lost to injury – make no mistake, a few teams have managed to be competitive despite depleted lineups – but the bar has to be raised in Islanders Country.
Michael Grabner, who tonight scored his sixth goal in his last seven games, continues to be a nice story. Few could argue that Blake Comeau and P.A. Parenteau have not produced offensive statistics above expectations, when compared to their NHL bodies of work entering this season. Andrew MacDonald has been exceptional. Kevin Poulin, still raw, has cemented his status as an excellent prospect. John Tavares has no goals in his six games since getting a hat trick against Buffalo, but the 20-year-old has played as advertised. On the other hand…
Josh Bailey has no goals in his last 14 games. Same for Rob Schremp, who is here for his flair for offense.
Okposo has one assist in the five games since his return to the lineup. Understandably, he’s going to need more practices and games to get his timing back.
Playmaker Frans Nielsen has one goal and five assists in his last 16 games, no goals in his last ten.
Matt Martin, a 21-year-old third-line forward prospect, has been given less than ten minutes of icetime in 17 of his 39 games – including just 9:21 tonight. If Jack Capuano does not believe Martin is ready for a regular shift, the young man should be in the minors. Travis Hamonic has been good, but the question remains whether the first-year pro defenseman would be better served by more games in the American Hockey League. For at least two-thirds of the franchises in the league – from Detroit all the way down to New Jersey – this would not even be a question. The rushed development of Josh Bailey should serve as a cautionary tale.
The Islanders have decisions to make. They have ten weeks of hockey left to make positive strides this season. So far, it has been a bad one.
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In an interview with Howie Rose shown on MSG’s pre-game show, Garth Snow added nothing new to the Evgeni Nabokov situation in the opening segment. In what MSG called the ”State of the Franchise” part of the interview, Snow offered little except the following:
1. He expects to not be active in trades prior to the Feb. 28 deadline
2. Snow’s priority is to sign Matt Moulson to a new deal and not trade him. “That will play out here in the next little while,” he said.
3. Of Jack Capuano, 11-17-4 since taking over behind the bench, Snow said, “Jack has done an excellent job. We compete like heck on a night-to-night basis.”
4. Snow has no financial restrictions in improving his hockey team.
Notes: Classy and smart move by MSG Network, bringing Billy Jaffe back into the family. Proving one final time – as if the three sources of Neil Best of Cablevision-owned Newsday weren’t enough – that his departure from Islanders telecasts had nothing to do with the network, The Jaff will be on the panel for “Hockey Night Live” on Saturday.
Once writers noticed Kevin Poulin announcing his starts on Twitter, the Islanders told the young goaltender to stop. You’d like to think the team and the prospect could have come up with a creative, beneficial solution for both the player and franchise and let the personable Poulin be himself and build a following. Instead, the Islanders went with the “Stop it”! method.
The team getting the older and more accomplished player in a trade is almost always going to win the deal short-term. Give credit to Steve Yzerman for addressing a team need and filling it without sacrificing a stud prospect or early-round draft pick. Dwayne Roloson is 7-3 with a 2.25 GAA, .920 save percentage and three shutouts for the Lightning in his first month on the job. Ty Wishart’s play in Bridgeport has verified reports from scouts that said the 22-year-old defenseman had many strides to take before he should be considered as a top-six NHL defenseman.
One more video post tomorrow before the All-Star break, unless there’s a trade. Thanks for your participation at Point Blank. We’re in search of a new server during the break. Our web hosting company called yesterday to say the blog has grown to the point where it’s become too big for them to handle. Only in Islanders Country, only in Islanders Country.
9:40 pm: While Evgeni Nabokov still hasn’t shown up and has been suspended by the Islanders, Doug Weight doesn’t appear to be going anywhere.
A source tells Point Blank that Charles Wang and Garth Snow have had discussions with Weight about staying with the franchise in a hockey operations job after this season, when the 40-year-old center is expected to retire. Injuries have limited Weight’s playing career as an Islander to seasons of just 53, 36 and 18 games (so far in 2011-12). Over his NHL career, he has 1,033 points in 1,238 games.
Weight’s new role would likely be on the coaching staff of the NHL club as an assistant, or working with Garth Snow as an assistant general manager or director of hockey operations.
After two decades in the NHL, and with a young family on Long Island, it’s difficult to envision Weight spending six months a year on the road in Europe and throughout North America as the team’s scouting director. However, he is a very well-respected man and is connected in the industry.
Weight has also dabbled this season during his time on the injured list as an unofficial assistant coach, half-jokingly taking credit on “NHL Live” yesterday for devising a power play scheme that led to a few goals on the Islanders’ Western road trip in early January.
Of course, you don’t need a source to observe his increased role as a voice for the Islanders with each of his three seasons. Weight has arguably been the best spokesman the franchise has had since the days of William A. Torrey. Weight has vigorously expressed optimism over the last two seasons that the Islanders were a playoff team. In a few recent interviews – including this one with Brian Compton of NHL.com – he has voluntarily defended the commitment of Wang to the franchise, its players and its fans. Here’s Weight to Compton on Wang’s critics:
I find it humorous. We all know where these reputations come from. If Charles had a Stanley Cup or had a free agent or two come his way, things would change quickly. I believe that’s going to change. Charles is great. I’ve played for a lot of owners, and he’s first-class. He’s very confident. He just wants to learn the game and the system and he wants to talk about it with everybody. He wants everybody’s families to be comfortable.
He wants to win. Hopefully that can happen for him. I’ll probably be gone when it does, but hopefully it can happen for him. I heard everything before I got here, and it couldn’t be more different. The respect level he has is very high. It’s too bad. We can’t worry about those things, and I know he doesn’t. He goes out and does his thing.
Agree or disagree with the captain’s views, he appears to have one fact wrong. Weight will be here in the coming seasons. It’s just a matter of finding the right role for him.
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My reaction to the news of the suspension of Nabokov: if this works out for the Islanders, they could have a good goaltender under contract for the 2011-12 season for less than $600,000.
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The Islanders, minus Mark Streit and most of their defense, played tonight against the Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin-less Penguins. The game became a battle of French Canadien goaltenders. Kevin Poulin was magnificent in stopping 30 of 31 Pittsburgh shots on goal, but Marc-Andre Fleury had a 29-save shutout for a 1-0 victory. Craig Adams scored his third goal of the season mid-way through the third. The Islanders did not generate enough offense by getting bodies to the front of the net, although Kyle Okposo hit a post and Fleury made some strong saves.
The game was also highlighted by a pair of spirited first period scraps between Travis Hamonic and Tyler Kennedy and Zenon Konopka and Arron Asham. Although the television broadcast did not make much of it, it sure looked like Matt Martin was assessed a two-minute minor for a legal, hard hit with six minutes left in the game.
Most of all, Poulin’s play made it seem like the Islanders have had an embarassment of riches in goal. They have Rick DiPietro. The departed Dwayne Roloson continues his outstanding season in Tampa Bay. And they have the rights to Evgeni Nabokov, even if he is in solitary.
“Curiosity, bordering on concern.” Thank you to Bob, the best in the business, for some strong insights on the Islanders. Don’t miss this segment with TSN’s NHL Insider.
