The Right People Scored

On Chris Botta's Point Blank, he asked what percentage do the Islanders have of playing.500 or better. Here was my comment.

"20% chance."

"Not sure if the kids can produce enough offense, and Kyle Okposo will have to score if the team wants to win. I think depending who gets hot in goal may also depend on the amount of wins."

Last night the Islanders won 5-4, thanks to two goals by Okposo. Danis has won 2 in a row, but he got lucky, not hot, as the Islanders blew a 4-0 lead after the first period.

The other players who were supposed to score, Hunter and Jackman, only reaffirm why they will be wearing the Islanders jersey next year.

Bailey and Comeau are showing they really do belong.

Weight scoring is a great sign, but in all honesty, is just raising his stock before the trade deadline.

From Here On Out

From now until the season ends, my focus will be primarily on the kids and prospects that may be signed by the Islanders.

I will also cover some legitimate rumors going on with our vets, and give my input on each one.

Starting off with our first vet: but this is not rumor. Sillinger is done for the season and possibly, his career. He will undergo another surgery to repair his hip.

I hope he becomes an assistat coach for our young centers if Silli decides to hang up the skates. best wishes to him.

Time For Some Scouting

First off....... My apologies for not blogging as much in the recent days, just took some time off.

Now for some points:

The Islanders are finally getting healthy, so as fans, we need to see who we think can play in this system with a healthy squad. Most of the veterans will be traded, but really take a good look at the kids, and start thinking what can be next year.

Watch Kyle Okposo make a late rally for rookie of the year.

People won't be complaining about Tambellini by the end of this season.

With DP out for the season, the Islanders have all but assured themselves a top 3 pick.

Yann Danis may end up with more wins in the second half than MacDonald.

More news to come......comments?

Islanders News

About Dubie:

Claimed by Columbus, which means Mannino will be the backup for tonight's game against the Devils.

About the Islanders playing in KC for an exhibition game: Big Deal.

It's a good ploy to bring the media together to get the politicians moving on a decision about the Lighthouse Project.....and that's it.

The Islanders lease runs out in 2015, so I don't think they'll be moving out anytime soon. Yes Wang loses about 20 million per year, and deserves to build the landscape around the Coliseum, but if he does not get the deal done tomorrow, he'll have a Plan B. Then Islanders fans will have something to worry about.

More to come with each new story.

The Season Starts Tomorrow

Islanders fans can now begin to watch the actual "development" of the younger players for the remainder of the season.

Gordon has made it it clear that the younger stars of this team will be getting more ice and powerplay time, which is great news in my opinion.

The season of scouting has officially begun for the Islanders, and this will give Snow a real good look at the young players, and the veterans that need to be traded, released, or bought out.

The Islanders play the Rangers tomorrow, with MacDonald in net.

Time to earn your stripes boys. You're true introduction is upon you.

A Few Reasons for Hope

Over the last five games, the Islanders young core of players have been producing on the score sheet more often then at any time during this first half of the season. Their record can attest to that. The stats are not deceiving either:

Okposo: 2 goals, 5 assists for 7 points with a +/- of +4
Comeau: 1 goal, 4 assists for 5 points with an Even rating
Bailey: 1 goal, 2 assists for 3 points with a +/- rating of a +3
Tambs: 1 goal, 2 assists for 3 points with a +/- rating of a +2
Bergie: 3 goals, 0 assists for 3 points with a +/- rating of a +1

The Islanders record: 2-2-1

Now can the Young stars continue this trend, and finally get a few more wins?

There could be a light at the end of this tunnel after all.

Comrie Next To Be Rumored Traid Bait

Staple from Newsday is reporting that Mike Comrie, apparently completely healthy from hip surgery, could bring back the biggest return for the Islanders before the March trade deadline.





I'm not one for seeing next years team like the late 90's to early 2000 when we had not\ vets and a ton of youth with no one to teach them. When or if the time comes to trade a center, then you have to trade either Comrie or Weight, but trading both, in my opinion is a bad idea.

Here is another question for Islanders fans: Do we keep Geurin for next year? If the answer is yes, then keeping Weight on this team for another year will keep the Captain happy, an quite possibly let the youth mature more in front of us, and make a decent push. Assuming of course, no one gets injured.

But If the Islanders are truly moving forward in the youth movement, then trading Weight, and letting Geurin go in the summer and keeping Comrie is the wiser choice since Comrie has developed chemistry early on so far with Okposo and Comeau, and Comrie is younger then Geurin and Weight.

Time will tell, but I stand pat and say, give the Islanders another six weeks to evaluate, then move from there.

Weight To Be Traded?

Newsday has been reporting that Doug Weight is now in the rumor mill to be traded.

My own opinion, is that the Islanders are already out of playoff contention, but still could still end up in 11th place in this Eastern Conference. However, if the injuries continue, then the Islanders will almost assuredly be awarded a top five draft pick, possibly first overall.

Should Weight be traded? My answer......not now. I say wait for Nielson to come back, and let him play healthy, then make a deal for Weight. This trade really has to be a good one, if not, signing him to an extension is not a bad idea either.

It's too soon for trade possibilities when this team has been injured for so long. Let's see how this team plays for the next six weeks and then Snow can start thinking trade.

Now We Have A Youth Movement

This quote is from Bill Geurin in a Newsday article:

"Well, I won't lie to you," captain Bill Guerin said. "It's not great, but we don't have a choice. But this is a great opportunity for some of our young players to step up. They're going to get a lot of ice time, they're going to play on the power play, they're going to kill penalties, they're going to do a lot of things. This is their time. This is the perfect time for them to become players."

Could not have said this better. Now the youth can really show us what we've been waiting for: a chance to see them play full time, and see what they can do.

So Is It The System Again?

So now, we're we are dealing with the defenseman against the system. I think Sutton is a + 3, and he's the only one currently on this team that is a positive.

So for conversation sake only.....Should all the players not performing well in the system now (young or veteran) be traded for picks, or be given more time to understand the system better, or should the coach bend in his ways, and create a tighter defensive system, say for the last period, and not give up so many goals and possibly steal a few games.

Just here for conversation....thoughts?

Laviolette Fired

Sources tell TSN the Carolina Hurricanes have fired head coach Peter Laviolette and in a unique about face, have replaced him with former Hurricanes head coach Paul Maurice.

This move comes amid weeks of speculation of change in Carolina and the teams' battle with consistency with Laviolette at the helm.

Laviolette, last month, surpassed John Tortorella to become the winningest American born coach in NHL history with his 240th victory.

Please get him back, Islanders. Put him as an assistant, to help out Gordon, and help some of the other players. The reality is he's under contract and will get paid none-the-less. Just wishful thinking. More to come later.

Is It Tambs Or The System

I have the need to slightly defend Tambellini a little but due to an important "cause" that has not been factored in.

In case some may not realize, the Islanders are last in 5-on-5 situations. There are two ways to determine this

a. there +/- ratings for everyone is on the minus side, no one but Skinner (now at the Bridge), and Sutton has a + number. Both Defensman.

b. take a look at this link on 5 on 5.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/teamstats.htm?fetchKey=20092ALLAAAAll&sort=goals5On5ForAgainstRatio&viewName=summary

It will show you that the Islanders are last on 5-5 goals and need to rely upon the powerplay to win the games.

Now if Tambellini is projected to be 15-20 goal scorer, then he should have scored 4 goals by now. But there are only three players (Hunter, Geurin, and HiIlbert) who have scored 4 goals or more on even strength.

The average amount of goals scored by anybody else during a 5 on 5 is under 2 (1.72 to be exact). I only bring up the 5 on 5 situations because Tambellini is rarely used on the power play.

My point is this. The powerplay is a key component to the success of this team for this year so far and Tambellini is not apart of it. It could still be the players learning the system, it could be a lack of ice time on the powerplay, it could be other things. But for now we should only expect Tambellini to have 1 or 2 goals, because that is what the remaining 78% of the team is doing.

Lighthouse Approval Is Almost Finished

BD Gallof of Hockeybuzz has a great article on the progression of the Lighthouse Project.

This is great news for Islanders fans. According to the article, if they were tracking the progress in steps, out of 100, they are at 75. So 3/4 of the way completed and ground could break between April and December.

Thank You Ryan O'Byrne

This is all I have to say about this game. Comments?

Islanders & Montreal

The Islanders will finish their 3 game road trip against the Montreal Canadiens tonight at the Bell Centre.

Saturday night, the Islanders evened the season series against the Buffalo Sabres with a 4-2 win at Buffalo. Four different Islanders scored goals, and Joey Mac made 35 saves to improve his record to 8-7-2.

The Islanders got goals from Andy Hilbert, Jon Sim, Bill Guerin and Mark Streit .

The win against the Sabres gained the Isles to 1-1 on the road trip. However on Friday night, the Islanders went through two losses. After they literally bowed to New Jersey, a 5-2 decision in a non-decisive game, and lost Frans Nielsen for 8-12 weeks after a cheap hit by the Devils' Mike Mottau. Nielsen suffered multiple leg injuries and Mottau was suspended two games for the hit.

Next up.....Montreal. A team that has already won this season at the Nassau Coliseum, but Canadiens had to come back from a 4-1 beating in the third period earlier in November, and defeated the Islanders, 5-4.

Since that win however, the Canadiens have gone 3-4-2, and the Boston Bruins have been on fire, dropping them out of first place in the Northeast Division. The Bruins literally took it to the Canadiens 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday to expand their division lead.

The Canadiens are having trouble scoring right now. If the Islanders play their system for 60 minutes, they took take this win tonight. The Younger players need to contribute something in order for them to stay in it against Montreal.

Islanders Flat In Loss To Devils

Pretty much, the Devils took it to the Islanders. At least three of the goals on the 5-2 loss were deflections, and cannot blame MacDonald. Devils hustled, and the Islanders plalyed for maybe 30 minutes of the entire game.

What I had feared, happened. Fritz was brought up and not used, and we lost two forwards in Neilson and Hunter for the rest of the third. If Fritz is not going to be used, then why is he here?

Buffalo tonight, and Colliton gets the recall. Let's see how the Islanders can bounce back.

Islanders @ Devils Tonight

7:00 start. According to the Islanders main page, for now it looks like Sim will take Okposo's spot on the line with Bailey, and Hilbert. The Islanders added more toughness by bringing up Mitch Fritz, so we should be in for a real tight game. I'll be at the game tonight and will return witha full scouting report on the team.

Fritz, & Mannino Get The Calls

Mitch Fritz gets the call for the weekend while Kyle Okposo is out for the week. After reading a few stories it appears that a line with Jackman, Park, and Fritz will be created.





Peter Mannino will be given the duties of backup goaltender so that Yan Danis will get a few starts down in Bridgeport. Danis has not played sice November 1st, and Mannino has earned his way to the NHL by posting an AHL record of 6-1-2 with the Sound Tigers with a 2.46 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage.





So here's my take on Fritz being called up. I heard Iggulden was also a consideration but the Islanders elected to go with more toughness for the weekend. Fine. This is why I disagree. New Jersey doesn't really have a team that could physically compete with us at this time. Most of their heavyweights are injured. This will aslo be Jersey's second game in a row, and the Islanders system will be too much for them to handle.

Now Buffalo, whom we play on Saturady, too it to them 7-1 the last time. Now, Buffalo, losers of 4 out of their last 5 have been issued a warning by Ruff to either get their acts together or they'll be benched. The Islanders are currently on a 3 game winning streak and full of confidence. Buffalo is not going to just take it to us because they don't want to make any mistakes and act like they're walking on egg shells. The Islanders system, which has been greatly imrpoved by the players, will be able to keep Buffalo on their toes, and it won't turn into another beating by the Sabres.

Point: For this weekend, in my opinion, skill should not have been replaced by toughness. If this is just precaution, fair enough. Also it's not like Okposo is out for a month, just a week. But losing a skilled player like Okposo, should've been relaced by someone other that Fritz.

Tack on Meyer To The List

Point Blank has reported that Freddy Meyer has been skating and looks good so far for the game against the Devils.

Witt Comes Back; Okposo Out

Brendan Witt is off the Injured reserve and will play against the Devils. The last person on the defense to come back will be Freddy Meyer. Brett Skinner has been sent back down to Bridgeport.





Kyle Okposo is out for roughly a week with arm injury. So far no call up has been announced.






Mike Sillinger is returning, but will have a three game stint first at Bridgeport.