7/1/13: New York Notables Moving Forward

New York Islander Fan Central | 7/01/2013 07:27:00 AM |
All drafted prospects have their complete profiles now available on the prospects page of this website, complete with player comments, 2013-14 status, and career profiles.

The best that can be done on the day of a draft is link to basics.

The draft section was moved back to it's usual section on the sidebar, the free agent section elevated.
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Niederreiter-Clutterbuck:
Star-Tribune has comments from Garth Snow, and Cliff Fletcher on the trade along with Clutterbuck/Niederreiter

NYIFC Comments:
For whatever folks feel of Clutterbuck's value (says a lot he would not be traded in same conference) and no small footnote his past with John Tavares, absolutely no one should be happy with giving up on a fifth overall pick in less than three years only at age 20, who's potential ceiling is much higher, at a point where Niederreiter had an all-star season on a very injured/weak Bridgeport team in the second half.

Folks can point to him not being invited to camp in a lockout year, that's fine, however Bridgeport lost Cizikas, Ullstrom, Persson, Nelson, Sundstrom during that stretch on a club going so poorly, a player called out Scott Pellerin later on.

Clutterbuck did not have a good season with Minnesota, that style of play does fade quicker. Fans of his former teammate, Zenon Konopka can understand this, however it is a skill in high demand.

No doubt his agent is very happy because if he does not sign here, management/Tavares will likely not be pleased on the heels of  losing Mark Streit, who he went all the way to Bern to play with during the lockout. 

New York has now lost potential top six forwards Ullstrom, Niederreiter, (likely Joensuu) they have some prospect depth to replace that, but the list has become smaller with nothing close to a sure answer selected Sunday. 

From New York's side, Snow kept his word in year one with Niederreiter, he seemed to keep it in year two that Niederreiter was going to develop full time in one place. There was an upcoming risk next summer with Niederreiter a RFA, that he could have decided to go play in Europe for zero return.

Bottom line New York did not gain a player close to equal potential to replace Niederreiter in this trade, and moved someone they specifically targeted with a fifth overall selection in 2010.

Moving Forward: 
Snow made clear to expect a quiet 7/5/13, unless he has someone to place next to Tavares on right wing, that answer does not seem to be in the organization. The fan base 30th in attendance is not giving management a lot of revenue to use on players, despite a 48 game playoff, and Tavares an MVP candidate.

There is also a prospect camp, invites will be interesting. 

Obviously the team bulked up on long-term goaltending, short-term will be the story, management has gotten a lot of mileage out of Nabokov, Montoya, Joey MacDonald, and Dwayne Roloson.