"He's highly skilled, but there's a difference between having skill and having the competitiveness to play at this level," Nolan said. "He didn't show too much at training camp. Robert has the skill to play a long time, but with myself, the No. 1 thing is that people have to earn their jobs and not have it handed to them. We had to give up something to get Ryan Smyth."
NYI Fan Central Comments:
I suppose going to Edmonton the story line has to be all the players who used to play in New York and Edmonton, but why not more hype for DiPietro who stole a point for his club and less retrospectives on old trades?
Aren't there better things to use Islanders limited newspaper space for than how the Oiler fans react to Mike Comrie or Marc-Andre Bergeron?
Edmonton Sun: Robert Tychkowski has a full feature on the ups and downs of Marc-Andre Bergeron as well as some comments from Ted Nolan on Robert Nilsson, who was a healthy scratch his last game.
"It's a roller-coaster ride," admitted the 27-year-old. "It's been a tough year. I'm playing good, I'm playing bad, I'm playing good ... lately it's been better."
"I need to be more consistent," he said. "I've played some great games and I've played some games where 'I'm holy cow, why did this happen?' I talked with Teddy a few times and he's 'How can you play so good one game and so bad in another?'
"And it's true. I think I'm at an age where I need to realize that when I don't feel as good, simplify my game and be reliable."
Edmonton Sun:Robert Tychkowski's other article is on former Oiler Mike Comrie who also talks about his time in New York so far.
"I'm having fun (on Long Island). It's a great group of guys who want to compete every night. A great goaltender who gives us a chance to win, a coaching staff that makes it fun to be around the rink. It's been great living in New York - staying out of the spotlight."
Edmonton Journal: Also covers the Oilers.
Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio's game coverage was on the four powerplay goals Bridgeport allowed the Phanton's in Sunday's 6-2 loss and the fantastic scoring run Jeff Tambellini is on while the rest of the club is not producing.
Mr Fornabaio also repeated the Islanders website statement on Kyle Okposo with Jack Capuano's comments he has heard nothing official from the Islanders on Okposo yet.
"I can't even describe the game," Capuano said. "We were ready to play, they came out and got a couple of power-play goals right away."
Philly.com: Combines Phantoms coverage from the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News.