Monthly Archives: September 2011
The Islanders have formally announced the six-year contract extension of center John Tavares.
TSN reported yesterday that the deal was for a total of $33 million and comes with an annual salary cap hit of $5.5 million.
Katie Strang of ESPN New York spoke with Alexei Yashin earlier today and he said that he isn’t sure of his plans for this season and that he was unlikely to attend the Islanders training camp.
She also reports that restricted free agent Josh Bailey has until 7AM tomorrow morning to sign a new contract or he will forfeit the entire season while the Islanders will continue to hold his rights.
The SNY Season Preview concludes with 30 minutes of Islanders talk.
We begin with Billy Jaffe of the NHL Network on Rolston, Reasoner, Okposo, Grabner and what the Islanders need to focus on when training camp opens this weekend.
Justin Bourne, formerly of USA Today and Puck Daddy and now with SCORE Media, talks about his excitement for this season, the rebuild’s next steps and danger of talking “prospects, prospects, prospects.”
Jim “Boomer” Gordon, the life-long Islanders fan and show host on NHL Home Ice, revisits the Strome-Hamilton debate and says what he expects of his Islanders this season.
Mike Brophy of Sportsnet ends the series with his views on Rick DiPietro and the Islanders’ goalie-go-round.
Islanders 7 Boston 2
The Islanders rookie squad came out fighting, received strong goaltending and blew out the Bruins’ kids, 7-2, tonight at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Ryan Strome and Nino Niederreiter put on the kind of performances that have the Islanders very bullish about their future. Tyler McNeely also impressed on their line. Kirill Kabanov and Casey Cizikas had eye-opening shifts as well. Anders Nilsson was excellent in net in his North American debut as an Islander.
The bad news: Mark Katic, a diligent young pro on the cusp of becoming a solid NHL depth defenseman and quite possibly more, suffered a dislocated shoulder.
Otherwise, it was a grand night for the faithful at the old barn on Hempstead Turnpike.
And Finally, On a Personal Note…
After three seasons of Islanders coverage, my participation as a full-time writer at Point Blank ends today.
Recognizing the devoted readership of this blog and the demand for more Islanders coverage, my partners at SNY will take a little time to pursue the idea of continuing Point Blank with new writers. I’m supportive of their efforts and hope you will please stay tuned to this space for further details. In the interim, SNY plans to update Point Blank with news during training camp.
I want to thank Islanders fans near and far for giving me three of the most fun and rewarding years of my adult life. I loved every day that I had the opportunity to write about your hockey team and will really miss doing this. It’s just time for me to turn the page and focus on other things.
As I tell everyone in the business, the success of Point Blank has little to do with the writer and just about everything to do with one of the most passionate and underrated fan bases in pro sports. That’s why I hope SNY, incredible partners and friends of mine at every level, continues its Islanders coverage.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I hope we provided some insight into the Islanders’ rebuilding program and that you’ll be able to see the team take those exciting next steps very soon. If there is any small way I can contribute to helping the Islanders stay in Nassau or in a nearby New York community in which they can thrive, count me in.
On behalf of my family, our thanks and best wishes are extended to the New York Islanders organization and to all of the residents of Islanders Country. It was an honor to talk about your team with you.
Chris
cb@islanderspointblank.com
9:30 pm: If Nino Niederreiter develops into the first line wing the Islanders project him to become, the player and the team will owe thanks to Rita Sutter.
Sutter is the 19-year-old’s “mental coach” (Niederreiter’s term of choice). Based in the player’s native Switzerland, Sutter helps Niederreiter in sessions over the phone, via email and in person with his focus, relaxation, confidence and competitive spirit. She is not a doctor, but a professional more commonly referred to in America as a life coach. The fine-tuning of mental skills famously worked for Oprah Winfrey; certainly it could increase the production of a talented teenage hockey player.
“Rita has been fantastic for me,” Niederreriter told Point Blank last season. “In the beginning, I really had no idea what a mental coach did or if there was any way she could help me. But Rita has been a big part of my success. I’m glad I took the recommendation to see her.”
Who did the recommendation come from?
“My mother,” said Niederreiter, who scored two goals tonight off assists by Ryan Strome in the Islanders’ 8-5 rookie game loss to the Bruins on Monday at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. “I didn’t think it was a good idea. I resisted. But Mom had heard about mental coaches and thought someone like Rita could be a big help to me as I tried to improve my hockey. I also had a lot ahead of me, like moving to the U.S. from Switzerland. Mom was right.”
Sutter provided guidance when the 6-2 wing relocated to Portland as a 17-year-old to start his education as a North American hockey player in the Western Hockey League. Niederreiter’s personal coach is there for him when he needs to break a scoring slump. She is someone to lend an ear, but Sutter also does a lot of talking when necessary.
Travis Green, the former Islanders center, played one season in Switzerland after 14 in the NHL and before taking the job as the assistant coach/assistant general manager of Niederreiter’s junior team in Portland. Green, who called his time in Switzerland “an incredible learning experience,” said the Swiss place a strong emphasis not just on skating and conditioning, but on the mental aspects of the game.
“Several of the Swiss and other European players had personal coaches,” said Green, entering his third season in Portland. “I think it’s a great idea. It’s important for players to have someone to talk to, maybe someone who’s not a teammate or a coach. Nino’s obviously come a long way in his teenage years, so it’s apparent the extra preparation has been important.”
Niederreiter believes in Sutter so much, he asked her to come to New York last summer for two weeks of sessions before the start of his first Islanders training camp. “It was a big help,” said Niederreiter. “I shouldn’t get into too many details. She got me prepared, focused, ready.” It worked. Niederreiter made a strong enough impression on the Islanders to entice management to put him on the NHL roster for the first nine games of 2010-11.
Many professional sports teams have psychologists on staff. The doctors are usually made available to players upon their request, or at the urging of the general manager or head coach when they believe intervention is required. Few NHLers have employed someone for the kind of one-on-one guidance like Sutter has provided to the fifth overall pick in the 2010 draft.
The polite but aggressive, respectful but extroverted Niederreiter has developed as a man and athlete at a rate beyond his years. (He just turned 19 on Thursday). Naturally, the guidance of his parents has been paramount. But the results are also a testament to his mother’s advice to hire a personal coach. As Mike Johnston and Green did in Portland and Jack Capuano will soon with the Islanders, Rita Sutter has been instrumental in the maturation of a young man with a lot of potential.
Bruins 8 Islanders 5
It was a rookie game with players of hugely varying degrees of potential and experience, so – win or lose – it’s always a mistake to make too much of the contest. Besides Niederreiter’s two, the Islanders got goals by Calvin de Haan, Kirill Kabanov and John Persson. Mikko Koskinen had a rough night in goal, but this too shall pass.
Rhett Rakhshani left the game with a concussion after absorbing a big check and will be re-evaluated Tuesday.
Monday’s rookie game, as with all training camp workouts, was closed to the general public. However, the game on Tuesday at the Coliseum is open to fans for the cost of a $10 ticket. Proceeds go to the Islanders Children’s Foundation.
Which team will finish higher: your Islanders or Greg’s New Jersey Devils? Is this the season John Tavares makes his NHL All-Star Game debut? Do NYI fans stand up for their team on his blog? These questions and more are addressed by the editor and writer of Puck Daddy.
The TSN, NHL Network and ESPN.com analyst was the first member of the media to state back in April that Ryan Strome deserved to go at No. 5 and should be the Islanders’ pick. I asked Craig about Strome’s chances in training camp (rookies start this weekend), about the Islanders’ D – which some observers believe needs an upgrade – and whether the NYI will make the playoffs this season.
The sun came out today, and with it came a host of good-news items in Islanders Country.
The team announced that it will add four honorees to the Islanders Hall of Fame to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the franchise. The deserving new members are Ed Westfall, Ken Morrow, Patrick Flatley and Kenny Jonsson. They will be honored on Decade Nights in which the Islanders will focus on the 70s, 80s, 90, and 00s. Each will receive a plaque and have his name stitched to the Hall of Fame banner that has gone untouched since Bob Bourne became the first non-number-retirement inductee in 2007.
As with any Hall of Fame, you can debate who merits election and who should go first. (John Tonelli, Butch Goring and Pat LaFontaine jump out as other clear contenders for early induction, for example). But the Islanders have brilliantly executed this decision to honor Westfall, Morrow, Flatley and Jonsson not only during the club’s anniversary celebration, but also at a time when the franchise needs to re-affirm its commitment to the community, its fanbase and the concept of We’re All Islanders.
Westfall was the first captain and a vital leader of men who would bring four Stanley Cups to Uniondale. Ken Morrow was one of the most underrated stay-at-home defensemen of his generation, a stalwart when the team won 19 consecutive playoff series. Patrick Flatley captained the beloved 1992-93 squad and helped keep the team together during some rocky years with his leadership, play and sense of humor. Kenny Jonsson, goshdarnit, was a superlative defenseman and the epitome of class.
These are the kinds of people a team hall of fame is created for. Well done, Islanders of New York.
Tavares Talks Commitment: It’s not the freshest of news when John Tavares says that he doesn’t plan on going anywhere and is “committed to Long Island.” After all, Tavares and his agent, Pat Brisson, have already made equally strong comments in this space and elsewhere.
Still, it doesn’t hurt that the third-year pro re-established his Islanders priority with a band of national reporters as part of the NHL’s media tour in Manhattan this morning. Good by John, good for the Islanders.
Nabokov Arrives: The fun begins, as Evgeni Nabokov has started to work out with his new Islanders teammates at Iceworks in Syosset. Nabakov is an engaging person, always popular and respected by his teammates in San Jose, and deserves a clean slate and a chance from Charles Wang, Garth Snow and Jack Capuano to win his fair share of the starts.
You can talk about the Sharks’ defense – as if it were Potvin-Morrow-Langevin-Persson – all you want, but Nabokov’s career numbers blow away the rest of his Islanders’ competitors. And second place is not even close. No matter how the rotation works out, it’s going to be a blast following the friendly battle between Nabokov, Rick DiPietro, Al Montoya and – the youngest and arguably the most talented of them all – Kevin Poulin.
Partial Plans Pushed: Seizing the momentum from last year’s solid second half and looking to engage fans from the home opener, the Islanders are offering a Long Island diner-sized menu of partial plans. Ticket prices have been lowered in all sections except at center ice, and the Islanders soon plan to promote an array of plans – including small commitments of 4, 6 or 15 games. Smart move.
Call 1.800.882.ISLES for more details.
Comments on all of the above are welcomed.
