Depth Gone, Even Strengh Scoring Not Happening, Slumps Expected

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Of course, they could have bounced a few past Alex Auld Friday.

Matt Moulson could have scored on his breakaway, Tavares was robbed, Weight took the puck at the net like he was ten years younger than his birth certificate, however that's not the point, it's about building something for the long-term here.

Enough opposing coaches/players credited the Islanders hard work last year or being a tough team to play.

When you think of how this club was on special teams a year ago, the pp has been a fantastic trend so far.

The starts to games, the even strength scoring are all alarmingly poor trends for more than a few weeks now.

Rick DiPietro starts Saturday.

Scott Gordon was surprisingly upbeat in his post-game press conference after a third straight loss Friday here which Cablevision promised to show but eventually decided not to wait for and after a while cut the telecast off so Msg+2 could show it's test pattern.

New York again did not start a game well at all, not only on the scoreboard, but in terms of creating chances, it's a trend that has lasted quite a while and very noticeable.

It's been a different than a year ago (not counting injuries) however the trends/NHL averages/player careers suggest the pp was not going to carry them for eighty two games. Tavares is not going to be a goal a game player, Doug Weight, James Wisniewski are not going to make a run at a hundred points.

This means others have to step up, and fast. Travis Moen looked like a superstar driving the net for two huge goals in back to back games.

Paging Jon Sim/Trent Hunter/Zeon Konopka.

I maintain Blake Comeau has not been the same player since he was banged up repeatedly in games, or does not have the extra step. Josh Bailey has looked pedestrian (granted only two games) where before he looked like a first line center in how he was playing in all three zones.

With Bridgeport getting a rare weekend off, Rob Schremp either waits in Ct for Wednesday or returns to New York. If Gordon maintains his stance from a year ago that Schremp must play center, Bailey is moving back to wing.

What if Bailey needs to play center to be as dominating as he was?

So much for depth.
Milan Jurcina was injured Friday against Montreal and is out for Saturday. This means Bruno Gervais has his full time spot back on defense, Trevor Gillies likely goes back into the lineup vs Philadelphia.

Time to start reversing the trends, the 6-1 losses/poor games all teams have over eighty two contests are also one of the trends due to happen soon.

The even strength scoring is overdue, so is a sixty minute effort.

Things have to start balancing out, regulation losing streaks cannot happen in this league if you expect to be a playoff team.

Bottom line in an eighty two game season there are x nights you are going to be the better team and win or play just well enough to steal points, or the team is going to have a clunker and lose big.

It's what teams do in those other games up for grabs that separate the contenders and pretenders.

Six points/three games were just lost that were clearly on the table for this team to win, they got none of them.

Successful teams find a way to win those points, this team must do the same thing.

Don't count on another year of three clubs under ninety points making the playoffs from this conference, last year was the exception, not the rule.

There are trends to be broken all over Philadelphia on Saturday for Scott Gordon's players.

-NY Times: Dave Caldwell was allowed to do a feature on Zeon Konopka, but not cover the game.

The Times did not cover the game at Cablevision Garden vs Carolina Friday.

-Oregon Live: Nino Niederreiter had an assist in Portland's 4-2 win over Kelowna Friday.

NYIFC Comments:
The local paper that covers the Winterhawks is on NYIFC prospect blog for those who would like to follow Nino Niederreiter's game by game progress.



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Kirill Kabanov Traded To Lewiston Maineiacs QMJHL

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Good night to do some blog entries apparently.

Lewiston Maineiacs website & Sun-Journal: Justin Pelletier reports the Moncton Wildcats traded Islander prospect Kirill Kabanov to Lewiston for a package of draft selections in next summer's QMJHL entry draft, along with 17-year-old net-minder Jordan Kennedy.

Lewiston GM Roger Shannon, Coach J.F. Houle and Managing Consultant, Bill Schurman comment on trade that includes following on paperwork and Immigration status:

"We know they don't work on weekends, so unless he goes down and everything is absolutely taken care of tomorrow, this weekend is out," Shannon said. "But having him in town next week for the game against Quebec is still a possibility."

"We're working hard on that right now," Schurman said. "We're hoping we can get the t's crossed and the i's dotted and have him the lineup, maybe by Wednesday."

Moncton Wildcats: GM/Head coach/Former Islander assistant coach Danny Flynn had the following statement on the trade:

“Kirill is a talent. I want to wish him the best of luck in Lewiston. In return we receive a young player and 4 draft picks that will help us maintain a solid future for the Wildcats.”

NYIFC Comments:
In short Lewiston (Lewiston, Maine) are the only QMJHL team located in the United States, hence the possible paperwork and immigration issues/delays.

Times/Transcipt: Neil Hodge had more from Danny Flynn on why Kabanov was traded.

"There were no issues here at all this season that prompted this move. This was purely a hockey trade. It was something that we've talked about for quite some time.

"It was a difficult decision to trade him, but we just thought this made sense from the standpoint of the future of this franchise. Acquiring a good young goaltender and four significant draft picks gives us options."

NYIFC Comments:
As for the hockey situation it was obvious Kabanov had worn out his welcome in Moncton, regardless of his recent departure for personal reasons or Danny Flynn's classy statement. If a professional like Flynn/Wildcat management decided to make such a trade this reflects very poorly on Kabanov, who's interviews contradict his actions.

Obviously Lewiston management thinks very highly of Kabanov, it's now all up to him to develop on and off the ice. It said a lot the Islanders demoted him before a single exhibition game, when they needed prospects for split-squad contests.

The rest is all words and speculation. Mr Pelletier the other day had some speculation on Kabanov being traded, it was not packed with source game, so I added it in twitter updates here.

For reference former draft pick Max Gratchev from 2007/4th round also played in Lewiston.

NYIFC Prospect blog is updated with change for Kabanov.




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Jimmy Devellano Article on Islanders Website/Not Torrey FLA Tributes

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NHL.com: Brian Compton does a feature on former Islander scout Jimmy Devellano and his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 8th.

"The Islander days were very important to me," said Devellano, who admitted he reflects often on his time in Long Island. "First of all, I don't get to Detroit as a general manager if I don't do a job for the Islanders. I know that. Bill Torrey was a great boss; he was a great mentor for me. He really gave me a lot of authority. Basically, he entrusted the draft to me.

"We had a lot of success. It led to four consecutive Stanley Cups. You really put that into perspective … that no other U.S.-based team has ever won more than two (consecutively). Here are the Islanders -- in their eighth, ninth, 10th and 11th years of existence -- (winning) four in a row. It was a team that almost was 90-percent built through the amateur draft. I'm very proud of that. That was my role there.

"I would still tell you the highlight of my life was the first Stanley Cup with the Islanders. You get into this business, you don't know if you're ever going to win one. If you do win one, you're not that cocky to think you're going to win two or three … or six or seven. It happened, but I didn't know that at the time. Those were very, very happy times."

NYIFC Comments:
Thrilled for Mr Devellano, I'm long familiar with his role here when New York won the Stanley Cup, I remember his return for the 25th Anniversary and his comments back then as well, first class gentleman.

I would be lying to my readers if I said I wrote a separate update for this because it was announced long ago.

This was posted this because the Florida Panther raised a banner to Bill Torrey Saturday, the Panther website had several updates, but none of them appeared on the Islander website, nor was anything special written by the Islanders staff.

The ceremony was posted on ITV quietly with nothing added where our fans coulod view it. Doug Weight came out during the tribute, but all our fans saw locally were highlights from his night back in 2001 beyond a very quick look in.

So why is the Islander website using NHL.com updates for Mr Devellano but not for Mr Torrey?

The teams website is quick to give us features on Gillies-Konopka or about video replays (all worthy features) are made (Msg employee Butch Goring's quote was even allowed to be used by Cablevision) but they ignore Mr Torrey's ceremony plus Jiggs McDonald as emcee?

No excuse for this from the Islander website or the New York Islanders so-called
television partner who did not cover his live ceremony last Saturday, on the latest hidden Msg+2 telecast, but did interview him between periods.

Our fans should have seen the full ceremony and the New York Islanders writing staff/management should have honored Mr Torrey with written tributes.

No excuse for anything else.
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For some reason Rob Schremp twittered he is going to play for Bridgeport Friday in Manchester, then it was quickly erased. I guess we will know tomorrow if he is traveling to the Sound Tigers road game.

NYIFC Comments:
Either way it's not a state secret that will have Manchester management scrambling to late night emergency meetings to adjust strategy. If he does play it's almost the equivalent of Scott Gordon's game day goaltending announcements. Fair to say most teams know and are well prepared/scouted for Dwayne Roloson or Rick DiPietro.

I have never had any problem with the Islanders being secretive with injury announcements per NHL policy. With the brutal media treatment they receive, I would not tell outlets anything and simply have them copy all breaking news from the website, and let them work off that.

This is Scott Gordon's practice and he does it in a way like it's going to give him some kind of advantage by waiting until game day.

Fair to say no one on the Islanders is scrambling tonight since the announcement of Alex Auld as the Canadians starter Friday to watch video.

If Scott Gordon does not know who his starter is Friday at this point, fair enough.
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Thoughts:
James Wisniewski near the top of NHL defenders scoring which is fantastic on countless levels for the New York Islanders, having written this I did not like how he played that Montreal short-handed goal, watch how he did not cut out the passing lane, despite him having position.

A disaster? No. Wisniewski has been very good and it's first month with a new team, but it's worth noting it's not the first time Wisniewski has not had his stick in right area to cut down passing lane, but skated to the correct area or had position.

Sure Weight/anyone could have lost the puck pinching and got beat, that's going to happen, it almost happened before he set up a goal by Bailey against Colorado, and he lost one against the Rangers which could have turned that game.

Not related to any of above but this defense seemed to have lost it's lynch-pin with the loss of Andrew MacDonald, that's with Radek Martinek playing his usual steady game.

Mark Eaton reminds me a little of Andy Sutton's very early days here when he was a victim of bounces, deflections or blocked shots that went to players who scored.

I'm not sure yet about Jurcina or Mottau as New York Islanders, better than track records, but expect mistakes. Maybe they can be better here than they were in New Jersey or Washington/Columbus.

Too much rust on Jack Hillen, far too much rust on Gervais, this classy kid needs to play somewhere and soon, even if it means a conditioning game.

EXTRA:
The teams website had a good thing going with Islanders Authorized last year, they went out of their way to promote it, then stopped using it around June or July and now release things on Facebook/Twitter but it's jumbled among the comments/announcements and harder to follow.

The advertisements on the Islanders twitter feed for so many things and not hockey updates only made it impossible to use here on sidebar which extended to team website updates last year.

NYIFC is trying to keep up. The Islanders Authorized feature was removed and something was created for Islander-Bridgeport Facebook/Twitter.

Bottom line it would be appreciated if they use one outlet and stick with it.

Looks like Fox Rupert Murdoch has no problem doubling Cablevsion Ranger coverage in Post, having Jay Greenberg cover games while the Islanders have received nothing written in quite a while.

A few more days of this and Mr Murdoch may tell his sports editor to send Larry Brooks and Greenberg on the road with the Islanders.

Does the Daily News take Peter Botte out of hiding for a night? His twitter feed does not reflect someone watching games with any enthusiasm for the club whatsoever, who does not even follow.

The NY Times has the budget to pay a writer to do crossword puzzles with the Islander players, but does not have the money in that nice, modern building to cover any of the teams hockey games?

I'm sure there is a word that can fit on a crossword puzzle.

The twitter box will be re-posted at 5pm Friday.



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Niederreiter Returned to WHL

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Islanders website: Report Nino Niederreiter was returned to the Portland WinterHawks by the club today, the teams website had an update with his comments here.

NYIFC Comments:
At such a young age or almost a year younger than Tavares/Bailey when they were rookies it's easy to see why this is the right move for Niederreiter, but he obviously made it tough on management with his seasoned play. Matt Martin was expected to be here going into camp, plus they have Joensuu/several wingers in Bridgeport with more seasoning who need an opportunity, plus at some point Kyle Okposo will return along with Rob Schremp moving another center to wing.

You can only play three right wingers on top three lines.
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Tsn.ca: Report Alex Auld will make his debut for Montreal Friday in New York.

NYIFC Comments:
Given the road trip coming up along with the Islanders constant struggles in Philadelphia, this club needs a win Friday regardless who Scott Gordon puts in goal. Four games now in a row they have outplayed for long stretches of games.

Scott Gordon before the game in Montreal had this quote, and I could not write it any better to sum up what I have been seeing, granted Comeau and some players have obviously not been same or playing hurt or getting banged up in games:

“Usually when a team struggles, they were struggling before they started to struggle, It might not have showed up in the win-loss column, but to me (our play) started to deteriorate after the Washington game. We didn’t come close to playing the last four games with the same kind of oomph that we had in the first three.”

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New York Does Not Need A Short-Sighted Contract/Notables

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Someone has to remind folks you only have six spots for your top two lines.

John Tavares, Josh Bailey, Kyle Okposo and if he stays Nino Niederreiter make as much money as the CBA allows them to be paid with bonus money. Trent Hunter is on a five year contract.

Rob Schremp on paper is the second line center, and his production supports that kind of spot. After the season do you dump him or Blake Comeau because you need a higher paid veteran winger because your payroll is too low?

Charles Wang did spend plenty of money and his team qualified for four playoffs in six years before becoming the NHL's poster-team for man games lost to injury, acceptable results? No, but hardly a management that should ever be portrayed as poor or not trying to win.

It's kind of on the same level reading from some of these experts how Garth Snow is building like Chicago and Pittsburgh now.

Really?

So Garth Snow bought half the league like Craig Patrick a few years ago to finish in the basement after Crosby lottery before he was fired, or Snow should have paid Campbell, Huet/Hossa huge money and fired his coach after four games and the gm should have forgotten to submit his qualifying offers in time?

These are also the Hawks that lost 30m per their ownership after winning the Stanley Cup here.

Should this have been Garth Snow's blueprint because I must have missed it, either that or when you win the Stanley Cup, no one remembers what actually happened?

Folks want to write Garth Snow never should have given Moulson a shot at an NHL spot, fair enough. I was one to write they should move on from Doug Weight and added/traded for a scoring winger.

Guess what? Snow/staff made right call on Moulson regardless what the payroll turns out to be, and it's looking good on Weight/Parenteau early.

Not like Simon Gagne with no points/minus eight is off to the same start as PA Parenteau statistically with a far better offensive supporting cast on paper.

Hard to argue with adding someone with Michael Grabner's talents which are painfully lacking on this roster in speed/hands department. It's easy to argue with Trevor Gillies getting a very expensive seat to barely play or mix and match three lines.

Bottom line it's a long-season, but how much money you spend is not the answer sometimes. Management has proven so far the players it has targeted can help this organization, they are playing acceptable enough to accumulate points.

Long term Wang/Snow's payroll test will be re-signing Moulson, Wisniewski, Parenteau, Comeau and Schremp, their biggest problem will be in finding a way to fit Bailey, Okposo, Tavares into their budget.

If they reached out to Kovalchuk over the summer and made an inquiry, fair enough, obviously they were patient enough to identify players who apparently fit what management is trying to do. I felt they should have kept reaching out, so far the results suggest management knew better.

PA Parenteau is not the NHL's best kept secret, he's not a franchise superstar, but if this waiver-wire player becomes a fifty point winger here, he was the right decision regardless of the teams current payroll. Jussi Jokinen was passed on waivers by Snow/NHL, he went to Carolina and became a thirty goal player.

I watched the NHL market this summer as did everyone, what franchise offensive talent was available beyond Kovalchuk? You wanted a Simon Gagne trade fair enough, but asking the Flyers to trade in division is not their first choice of a salary dump.

You wanted Frolov, Torres, Nystrom over some of the players here now? Fair points.
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NHL/Islander Notables:
The loss of Andrew MacDonald is huge to this team's defense, the closest player they had to Mark Streit in terms of a two-way game. Obviously the club was not happy in practices/scrimmages with play of Jack Hillen which substituted for teams preseason schedule or Mike Mottau would not be here with a two year contract.
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My guess is I don't have a clue if Nino Niederreiter is going back to Portland. If I had to speculate I would say no based on Bailey-Tavares, but Matt Martin was not on rookie/Bridgeport camp list before his injury, neither was Jesse Joensuu.

I would send him back, put Matt Martin in Gillies spot, and callup Joensuu. Bottom line is at some point Kyle Okposo will return. You don't put Niederreiter on your fourth line and demote Sim.

Bailey, Tavares, Nielsen, Comeau and top forwards must stay healthy.

Sure Niederreiter has looked good enough to stay also with his overall play.

The bonus points and play of Doug Weight cannot be counted on long-term, the stats and age do not lie as fantastic as he has played.
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Tavares was never this dominating in front of goal as he was against Florida a year ago, the first/third goals were excellent signs, but he is still a very young player who should have no expectations of thirty goals placed on him, even if he reaches that number or greater.
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If they play in spurts like they did against Toronto, Tampa, Florida, they will be in a regulation losing streak soon. Games cannot come down to Roloson or DiPietro stealing points. Florida never played the Islanders in Sunrise, as poorly as they did on Saturday and still had four goals. DiPietro was not great, but the mistakes in front of him were not good either.
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Beating Habs is no major accomplishment, not late last year or now, but I would like a sixty minute game and a win Wednesday after Mike Cammalleri, cheap shots from Canadian media over split-squad roster.
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Always nice to see the Devils receive some coverage. Kovalchuk could score 100 goals and would not receive the coverage he got for one benching. I seem to write this every year around now, when the Devils are in first place will anyone remember? When they finally lose for a full year, things have changed, not before.
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If I'm going to be critical of Msg for not showing Torrey ceremony, the Islanders website did a pathetic job not recognizing Bill Torrey with a tribute. We don't need Gillies-Konopka features, as much as we do need people like Mr Torrey to be honored long and loud.

This was a website staff that was giving us non-stop updates on Sopel-Asham last June as they played in finals.

The twitter box will be up Wednesday afternoon.



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Bill Torrey Ceremony & Interview

For some reason Cablevision did not show Bill Torrey's ceremony live for New York Islander fans, they showed the teams 2001 highlights of his New York ceremony as this took place, while Rob Carlin conducted a worthless trivia segment with the pregame time which would have been appropriate for 2001 ceremony replay.

Mr Torrey was interviewed on the Cablevision-owned broadcast after the first period, as always Jiggs McDonald, who was a former Panthers broadcaster hosted the event.