Capuano Status & Weight Behind Bench:
Only the Islanders/Capuano/Weight know what is going on with this but it was odd seeing the captain in street clothes as an assistant. I don't know beyond what he said recently about possible retirement or joining organization in some capacity.
My speculation is management is going to wait until the end before making a decision on Jack Capuano or Scott Gordon's assistants. There is also a decision to be made on Pat Bingham (Capuano's assistant) in Bridgeport.
The question we have to ask ourselves as fans is was the individual progression of some players based on Jack Capuano or the talent level of young players improving as it should. Being fourth in East since December with all injuries of course says something positive for Capuano and staff.
I will throw this out as pure guesswork on my part but I believe the Islanders are going to keep Capuano waiting and see who becomes available and as I wrote the day he was let go I'm not sure Scott Gordon is out of that discussion.
Ironic how so many now want Capuano back but when he came here it was seen as a poor choice regardless of the interim tag and familiarity with the players.
Capuano has to keep it out of the press regardless.
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No Suspension/Discipline for Gaborik:
Not a popular thing to write, but I did not see a suspension for Gaborik based on what happened. It was a shoulder hit/between numbers where Nielsen was close to boards and hit his head, the referee gave him two minutes for that and two for roughing.
I'm sorry but it was the correct call. He did not make any kind of contact with head or use his stick/elbow on head. These hits do happen in NHL, Peca had one against a Canadian player long ago as an Islander where he was down/out for minutes with no penalty. You do not give penalties based on laundry or you are guilty of the same double standards/bias Colin Campbell has repeatedly been accused of where similar hits happen.
I feel horrible for Nielsen, he was out as soon as his head hit the board and it could have ended his career if not more and I remember Kevin Colley. It's not the first time Nielsen has taken some huge hits either. This will not go over well but he has to learn to protect himself better, we have seen this with Martinek over the years also where he is not ready to take a hit.
For those claiming if this were Gillies it would have been a huge suspension, I agree but we cannot practice the same hypocrisy Campbell and the NHL are accused of or we are as guilty as them of wasting everyone's time asking for suspensions based on laundry.
Did not like it or enjoy writing this and can only hope Nielsen is ok. I would have him in my top three for Nystrom award but the competition is great this year with MacDonald, Hamonic, Grabner, Tavares, Moulson and Martinek.
I would vote for Martinek this year given veteran status if he does not return.
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Sure the Islanders can put Grabner back in Saturday if available, and move a forward to center but they really need a natural center. Would like to see David Ullstrom get rewarded.
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Nothing new on Blake Kessel front about him leaving school to go professional with the Islanders beyond articles twittered last night. Based on what I read Kessel was very upset about his team losing but only both parties know when the Islanders or his agent was trying to get a deal done.
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Devils winning Friday mean New York is one point from being relegated to lottery status.
Updated-Not correct. Number around four and must still include Atlanta.
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The Wishart/Hillen injuries leave New York with one Islander contracted defender in Mark Wotton given endless injuries/ATO contract in Bridgeport. Someone can return but it's possible a Donovan/Ness could see an NHL game, I'm not sure what this would mean for eligibility status unless nine game rule (see deHaan/Niederreiter) applies.
Hillen came out of nowhere to sign and make a two game debut a few years ago as an NHL signed player.
Bottom line is find six defenders for Saturday and hope someone day to day is ready on Wednesday. I don't see Okposo doing double-duty and could use some games as a right wing with Bailey and Comeau.
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I'm going to repeat this again from Thursday, Mark Katic does nothing but impress me with his skating and puck-handling ability. How many shots/plays did not block or break up on Thursday?
Ok, we'll see what happens Saturday.
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Last & Least Department:
Islanders website: Issued an official statement late Friday night on NYC professional writers boycotting NHL voting because a former team employee/blogger had his credentials revoked claiming Islander and Ranger players are being punished for withholding nomination votes required to be finalists.
Sporting News: This was based upon Craig Custance earlier story on Friday with comments from President of the Association, Kevin Allen of Usatoday.
Pittsburgh Tribune Review: Rob Rossi breaks down voting and includes the Islanders part of this was a 5-0 vote (7-3 NYC) despite one beatwriter and a lot of Dolan employees at Cablevision/Msg/Newsday.
NYIFC Comments:
Kind of amusing reading Kevin Allen, almost came off like he gave a child taking a tantrum a treat to keep them quiet by even commenting to pacify him. Kind of how NYIFC feels on this subject wasting space until the Islanders website did.
Most of those fifteen votes are from people who are not active NHL writers because the NY area does not have that many active professional hockey writers.
Here goes Chris Botta again, anything to put the fans and now the players themselves in the middle of his private issues for some attention. The Islanders beating the Rangers meant virtually no Islander-centric newspaper coverage from NYC, now this as a bad April fools joke?
Too bad the Ranger (depending on who you believe NY) chapter did not refuse league votes since the lockout unless their editors provided full-time New York Islander coverage/daily New York Islander blogs at the Times, News and Post being that they have such strong feelings today about coverage standards?
Of course this would cost them their jobs.
Once again Chris Botta (Ranger NY Times part-time blogger) again is forcing his issues to center stage through his media friends who ignored Islanders request for coverage when he was media relations coordinator.
Mr Custance failed to report Friday in January AOL Fanhouse outsourced it's product via Sporting News that currently employs him or reported Botta was not carried over to Sporting News
here and was not sent on assignment by AOL for an NHL contest after the outdoor game.
Botta of course had no public statement on AOL/Sports Illustrated not retaining his services despite making any story about an Islander employee/Msg employee not returning as quickly as possible for his page views.
The former Messier book-writer at the Times, Jeff Z Klein, who's paper allows Botta some occasional Ranger centric blog space seems to think the New York Islanders did not make the playoffs in 82-83 when they were champions, and a day later still has not corrected his Ranger-centric article
here.
If the Rangers are overtaken by the Hurricanes and fail to clinch a berth, the three metropolitan-area teams will miss the playoffs. That has not happened since 1982-83, when the Devils arrived in New Jersey.
No folks, you cannot make up such poor coverage or invent such double-standards and look in a mirror.
Good to see the Islanders respond to this vindictive non-sense with a website statement which I completely agree with, the players should not be put in the middle.
Of course to release a statement means getting it correct and the Islanders did make an obvious mistake. The thirty general managers vote for the Vezina, not the writers association
here.
Updated:
Islanders website deleted mention of Lundqvist or Vezina award.
You think some of these Ranger life time fans writing are giving up votes when a Ranger could be nominated for Chris Botta? Only possible local relevant NHL awards this year for these writers locally would be Islander-centric in Grabner and Nielsen for Calder and Selke.
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