"I was some happy," Sim said of his surprising contract. "I'll try to earn it. To be signed July 1st was big for me. I wasn't sure when I was going to get signed or by who. When the Islanders called that soon, it was great. So far, the organization has been top-notch."
* Vasicek, who had two assists in Friday's OT loss at Montreal, most often has been paired with wingers Jeff Tambellini and Miroslav Satan in the early going. Although Nolan wants him to be more aggressive, he's pleased by how well Vasicek has played at both ends.
"I was impressed with his defensive responsibility," Nolan said. "We've just got to get him to play a little harder and more aggressive on the puck. If he does that with his skill level, we've got ourselves a player."
NYI Fan Central Comments:
How many times does Greg Logan have to write the Islanders tried to sign Drury and Gomez? This is about the third or fourth time meanwhile Logan never once mentions the front loaded contracts both received which pay them around ten million this season.
Michael Fornabaio already told us who was in Bridgeport last night so it's not too hard to make a guess at who was placed on waivers if anyone was.
Vasicek has to do some scoring if he's going to be on this club's second line, same for Sim if he's going to play in the top six forwards.
Steve Zipay's blog in Newsday here
reports, the radio broadcast is on Bloomberg 1130 and let's us know the Rangers lineup for tonight's game at the Coliseum.
Islanders website reports tonight's game is on Islanders TV and Bloomberg Radio.
Below is the list of the 29 players currently with the Islanders, while the rest are at the training camp of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. However, note that with four exhibition games remaining and decisions still to be made, nothing is set in stone.
Goaltenders (2)
39 Rick DiPietro
34 Wade Dubielewicz
Defensemen (9)
2 Aaron Johnson
4 Bryan Berard
8 Bruno Gervais
14 Chris Campoli
24 Radek Martinek
25 Andy Sutton
32 Brendan Witt
44 Freddy Meyer
47 Marc-Andre Bergeron
Forwards (18)
7 Trent Hunter
10 Richard Park
11 Andy Hilbert
12 Chris Simon
13 Bill Guerin
15 Jeff Tambellini
16 Jon Sim
17 Shawn Bates
18 Mike Sillinger
20 Sean Bergenheim
26 Ruslan Fedotenko
27 Darryl Bootland
37 Kip Brennan
57 Blake Comeau
63 Josef Vasicek
72 Jeremy Colliton
81 Miroslav Satan
89 Mike Comrie
You take Bates (injured) Bootland, Brennan, Colliton off that list and you are down to fourteen for eleven spots. That does not count a suspended Simon for five games who can only play preseason at this time which starts us at thirteen.
Then take Comeau, Tambellini, Bergenheim off the list and we have ten forwards.
Seems like three players for what will be one spot on the roster until Simon returns.
If they dress seven defenders on a regular basis after Simon returns
Updated 3:40pm:
Cory Witt updated his media blog on what new things fans will see when they come to the Coliseum tonight.