Freddy Meyer Out

Freddy Meyer is out of the lineup, and Skinner is in to make his NHL debut.

Witt appears to be on the Injured Reserve according to the Islanders main web site.

That now leaves us with only two main starters in Streit, and Campoli, a 7th d-man in Gervais, two AHL stoppers in Hillen and Skinner, and a somewhere in the middle Pock. To add to this cart, backup goalie, Joey MacDonald will get the start tonight.

The Islanders must play a tight, no penalty game against the Rangers tonight if they have any chance of winning.

Rangers Tonight

Islanders play the Rangers tonight at the coliseum. As of right now, no word yet on DiPietro's injury, and nothing yet on Meyer. For emergency purposes, Danis, and Skinner have been called up from Bridgeport.

According to Chris Botta Brendan Witt will not have an MRI done on his knee until further swelling has been reduced. What does that mean? For now...nothing. Could just be swelling, could be worse. That remain to be seen.

Facing the Rangers without DiPietro will be a tough challenge for the Islanders, who have lost three consecutive and folded nine goals in the last two games.

The Rangers, on the other hand, won two straight and have 17 points.

Where's the D?

The only thing that I have seen that is consistent from the Islanders are the frequent injuries to this defense. Now it looks like DiPietro may be out against the Rangers, although it is not official yet. The Islanders record is 2-5. Hardly a time to panic. But too many penalties, and a lack of top minute defenseman, hinders any kind of stability on this team. Most teams don't use injuries as excuses, which is crap. That's why we have a top pairing, 4th, 5th, and 6th defenseman.

Some can make the argument that we're not scoring as much. Guess what: we're on pace for better than last year!!!! But time is still out on the offense, especially the younger players. The veterans are doing their part, soon the kids will have to step up.

This team needs to get, and stay healthy if the Islanders even want to compete the rest of this year. Time is not running out, but the amount of defenseman that is team has is.........

Why Evaluate Now?

So after five games, people were expecting the Islanders to go 2-3? Not this fan. Sorry, I don't buy that one bit. If Richard Park nets 1 of his two clankers against New jersey that first game, that maybe a different result. If Tambellini scores his first goal of the season against Florida, who knows. If there is anything that bothers me for the first five games are the amount of stupid penalties that this team takes. Reduce the penalties and you reduce the five goals already allowed on the penalty killing unit.

DP and Campoli are getting better and they need to be. This team needs to stay healthy and when everything clicks, then we won't have so many pessimists.

This team should be 3-1-1, not 2-3. Time to get smarter on the ice, and score on that powerplay.

Islanders Streak Past Lightning

From New York Islanders.com Islander 4 Lightning 3

Nice rebound after losing 7-1 against Buffalo.

The kids are starting to come around: Okposo, and Neilson, have 2 points in 4 games and Tambellini has shown more confidence, and was involved with Hunter on his goals.

Fritz and DP should play against Florida tomorrow, so look for another solid outing from everybody on that team.

Will The Real DP Please Stand Up?

I watched the Islanders lose 7-1 to Buffalo the other day, ad they looked nothing like the team that competed against New Jersey or beat St. Louis. Gordon will not move to replace a backup goaltender, regardless of how the backup is feeling. But is DiPietro ready to play? Obviously not. Too much hype has been made about him not playing, and for good reason. If DiPietro were healthy, he'd be playing....period.

What we should be concerned with is how the younger players are performing so far this year. I know it's only three games, and judgment should not be placed for a while, but only Bergenheim has a goal. But time and patience is needed for this new system to begin to work.

Injury update: From various sources, Martinek is out 4-6 weeks with an upper body injury. Campoli is skating again but is not yet cleared to play. That leaves 3 regular defenseman out of the lineup. Don't blame the backup goalie completely just yet.

This Day In Team History

In 1972 the Islanders lost their home opener and first game in franchise history, 3-2, to the Atlanta Flames. Captain Ed Westfall scores the Islanders' first goal at 17:29 of the second period.

Trevor Smith Recalled

Due to Bailey's injury, Trevor Smith has been recalled from Bridgeport. This is a good move, because ever since he's bounced back from ECHL, he has been nothing but promising. If he continues to improve on this team, he may be a call up later on this year in case another center goes down with another injury. Smith had a great game against Boston, and had the game winner. He should be on a line with Okposo, and Comeau, against New Jersey at the Rock.

Bailey To Be Signed Today

This is a good move by the Islanders. If he can get off the nine game minimum, that would be even better to allow some hore healing time for Sillinger and Geurin.

He has been able o hold his own, but from what I'm reading he may need another season in juniors, which is fine. No need to rush him. Happy Birthday Josh.

More to come later.

A Few Quick Notes

Islanders lost last night, and already there are people complaining about the lack of offense. Most people just don't get it. This is a rebuilding stage. Everyone on that team is still trying to learn their new coaches system. Many veterans are still recovering from last years injuries. The Devils won 3-0, and they were playing with mostly veterans except for the John Madden checking line. There is still more preseason games coming, so be patient and watch. We're not expected to win now. The goal of the preseason is to get the roster down to the team max, and to see how the younger players are developing.

INJURY REPORT:

According to Chris Botta's Point Blank, Andy Sutton had suffered what appeared to be a hand injury, and from his experience, should be out give or take 6 weeks.

Chris Campoli is expected to return from his "lower body injury" some where in the beginning of November or sooner.

Josh Bailey, 2008 1st round pick, also has an injury, undisclosed or course, and will probably be sent down to juniors. Which is sad cause I really wanted to play the first nine games to see what he can do.

Rick DiPietro, will be cleared to practice some time this week, and will get at least one start before the regular season begins.

Campoli & Sutton Out

For now, Campoli and Sutton will miss some significant time, and they are the reasons that the Islanders picked up Pock off waivers from the Rangers.

A few players have been injured, but Campoli is a concern, especially that bone crushing hit he took from Michael Ryder could sideline him indefinite.

Greg Logan stated in Newsday that the players from last year are getting accustomed to the new style of Scott Gordon's where there is a greater need for skating and stopping in stead of looping around.

The Islanders need time. Time to heal. Time to develop. Time to win.

Islanders Claim Pock

Straight from NewYorkIslanders.com

The New York Islanders have claimed defenseman Thomas Pock off waivers from the New York Rangers. Pock has played in 59 career NHL games and has scored seven goals with seven assists for 14 points.

Last season, Pock played in one game with the Rangers and went scoreless. He also played in 74 games with the Hartford Wolfpack of the American Hockey League and scored seven goals with 37 assists for 44 points. Pock finished tied for 11th among AHL defensemen in assists last season.

With the amount of good defenseman we already have, the Islanders certainly improved in the minors, but is there more to this? Stay tuned.

What Injury?

According to Chris Botta's web page on Point Blank, it would appear that the General Managers have taken it upon themselves to not disclose any injury about any of there players. You'll be lucky enough if someone says it's an "Lower-body" injury.

As a fan, i'm not too happy with this move, as I would like to know what is going on with my team. For a die hard fan, the Islanders are like your extended family, and you are worried about the players, and who else is coming in, and how long these players will be out for, especially after what happened last year. We'll see how this is handled, but I don't think he media will stand for this for long.

Islanders Lose 4-0 Last Night

You can get more details from everyone else about the game. But a quick summary of it goes like this: The Islanders stopped playing in the second period, and got burned by the more veteran influenced, Flyers. Gordon's system does work, if it's run for a full game, not two periods worth. There were more fights then there were goals for the Islanders. At one point the Islanders were out-shooting the Flyers, but in the end, the Flyers out shot the Isles 24-22.

Snow Loves Schneider

After reading a live chat with Newsdays Greg Logan, it appears that Snow would love to get his hands on Schneider. Logan has suggested that Gervais, or Meyer would be the possible trade baits. In my poinion, because of their low salaries, they would make the most sense for Burke so then he can sign Selanne to a deal.

Now I've stated before, I don't like bringing in someone older. However I do see this scenario happening. My reason is simple. Jack Hillen, a free agent signing last year, maybe ready for the NHL sooner rather than later. Trade Meyer or Gervais, for Schneider. Defense is improved for the next 60 or so games. If the Islanders are no longer in contention, then trade Schneider at the deadline for another pick, and bring up Hillen to finish off the season and gain more experience then he did with his two-game stint last year against the Rangers.

This trade will only go down if the Islanders feel that Hillen is ready by the end of the year, and they are willing to part with either Gervais or Meyer.

Why Schneider?

Mathieu Schneider maybe placed on waivers and according to Hockeybuzz, the Islanders have interest in picking him up and his salary.

Assuming this is somewhat true, I beg to ask this question: WHY? We would be getting older, soaking up more money than we want to, and it would take more ice time away from the development of other young defenceman.

This is reliving the past when Schneider was our only All-Star in 1996.

Time to move on, and stick to the youth.

Sillinger Not Starting Season

It's now public knowledge that Mike Sillinger is still recovering from major hip surgery. Who then will replace him? Coach Gordon has already stated that Weight will be the number one center, and that would leave Comrie, for now, as the number two center. Here are your options:

Richard Park, Andy Hilbert, Frans Neilson, or Ben Walter.

Unless Walter has a stellar camp, I believe he'll be sent down, for now.

Neilson is a good penalty killer but I feel lacks the scoring touch for the immediate future.

That leaves us with Hilbert or Park.

My prediction: Park. Unless Hilbert can find the back of INSIDE the net like he used to when
he played for Gordon down in Providence during the preseason, look for Park to take the third line job.

Gordon In as Coach

Multiple sources:

Islanders have hired Scott Gordon to replace Ted Nolan as coach.

Good move by Snow, and really a good summer in my opinion. Gordon is a defense first coach, which is a good thing because we're not sure where the scoring will come from, and our defense, when healthy, can compete with anybody. We also have DP.

Success Stories?

I would like to explain why i would say that those coaches were successes.

For Laviolette, and Sterling: Both picked by Milbury, however, at the wrong time. We had just received an infusion of veterans from that draft with Aucoin, Peca, and Yashin, amongst others. If I really wanted to win for the now, i would've gone with a more experienced coach that would have handled Laviolettes' and Sterlings' second seasons differently. The fact that two "AHL" coaches were able to take that team to the playoffs, with that veteran core, in my opinion, is a success. Their lack of NHL coaching experience in terms of holding the team together, led to their firings their next years, again in my opinion.

Nolan: was hired at the right time, and took them into the playoffs the first year. But as the Islanders realized last summer, they weren't going to get better experienced players, they needed to get younger and build a team from scratch. Nolan didn't want that, which brings us today.

I believe that the next coach will be starting to develop and mentoring more this year than actually coaching. As the team grows, so will the coach. Good time for Gordon. Read a lot about him, and I'll comment on him later.

Coaching Search Continues

I think all Snow is really looking for is stability, and a clear view and destination for this organization that the new coach will buy into, and follow. Let's review for a moment:

Laviolette, and Sterling: Both AHL coaches before coming to the Islanders, and both took their teams to at least one playoff birth. I call that success.

Nolan: former NHL coach of the year, and a 10 year absence: Playoffs once.

Now, the remaining three candidates:

Hartley, Maurice: have the capacity to coach a team to compete/win a Stanley Cup.

Scott Gordon, could be the next Laviolette.

When we get the talent for any of these coaches, I'll bet they'll do their job.

What Garth needs to figure out is which one will be more loyal to his vision, and philosophy.