Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Striet, Boyes Not To Return; Nabokov May Still Sign

From Arthur Staple of Newsday





Well if you read my article from May 28th, then you wouldn't have been surprised by this announcement. If you read the Newsday article it states that Striet is looking beyond 5.5 million dollars, which he may get from another team, but it's not within the Islanders budget. So now that offseason free agent is taken care of, who replaces him?




Again, not surprised by Matt Donovan's name being mentioned here. Last year, it was stated that one of three: Calvin de Haan, Aaron Ness or Matt Donovan may make the big club if the season were to start in September. After one year, only Donovan has shown that he is ready for full time duties on Long Island. Again it's a luxury of drafting well and not having to go out and spend six million dollars on one player when you may have some else who could do a better all-round job for a lot less.

Just to add a small piece, if Staple thinks Nabokov comes back, I would count on that to likely happen. look for a one year deal with a nice raise. 

Staple also is suggesting Brad Boyes will probably not return, but I would not count on Nino Niederreitter automatically penciled in as the first line winger. There is plenty of competition come camp time, but he is probably the most NHL-ready player the Islanders have at right wing. I still say that draft day should be an interesting one anyways. Twenty-five more days to go.




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