Newsday: Greg Logan's interview with Charles Wang had the owners praise of the teams prospects with his comments that the last few months have proven Ted Nolan wrong and pointed out how many times the coach has been impressed with the prospects recently.
Mr Wang also said philosophically the team will be build through the draft, but he has never said no if they feel there's some unrestricted free agent who could make the big difference. In addition Mr Wang said there is no rift between the gm and coach over how to build the team and that there is not one player here both agreed should be on the team and that the gm and coach are in sync. He also added they certainly weren't always in agreement but their differences make for healthy debate.
As to a contract extension now for Ted Nolan the owner said there's always the last year of any contract otherwise why have a contract? That we will deal with it at the end of the contract like anything else we deal with and spoke as if he expects Snow and Nolan to continue in their roles under contract and did not seem to indicate anyone would be fired.
Mr Wang also talked of the Ryan Smyth trade and said we took a chance, he didn't want to stay, we tried everything we could. We didn't have the right environment or surroundings or whatever it is to keep him and had a few words on the Light House.
NYI Fan Central Comments:
First off Mr Logan did a good job here but of course part of this is to stir things up a little bit too. When you read this you have to separate the beat writer's speculation/opinion from the actual quotes.
Not to read too much into it but maybe the coach is not/was not impressed with too many of these prospects. Last season he felt Comeau was the club's best prospect with the most complete game and so far that judgement seems correct. We all know he's been impressed with Sean Bergenheim.
Jeff Tambellini at this level has not given anyone a reason to be impressed and it is a fair debate at this point how come he has not had more of an impact.
Ted Nolan did not have an agent when approached about his contract, there is nothing from him demanding a contract extension. He has a year left on his term, were not sure how long the gm has, again you cannot give the coach more tenure than the gm.
Of course the gm and coach are not going to agree on everyone but there has to be some trust on the coach to who the gm feels will help and the coach at what NHL players who he feels can help. Ted Nolan is not scouting college players or prospects, that's the gm and the hockey staff while the coach can barely get away from the club for a day and has gone to Bridgeport several times the last two years.
Mostly stock answers on going with prospects and adding a UFA if he will help, most clubs say that for the most part. He gave his honest opinion on the Smyth trade.
Hopefully Islander fans can separate the quotes from the speculation. I think if Ted Nolan or Garth Snow were about to be fired the owner would not give an interview and say these things.
Of course how do both Snow and Nolan feel about not having contract extensions? For
those who recall Mr Wang's history he gave Peter Laviolette a contract extension and it did not matter because he was fired anyway by the general manager.
The silence from the owner about the veterans overall performance spoke volumes.
Peterborough Examiner: Don Barrie profiles local product Zach Bogosian who is eligible for the NHL draft and has a very interesting story on former Islander draft pick Zdeno Chara and what happened to him during the the draft process.
For those curious Peter Laviolette's Carolina Hurricanes were eliminated from playoff contention Saturday with Washington's win. Boston also qualified for the NHL playoffs with the eight seeds set.
The Montreal Gazette feature on Bill Smith Sunday is a reprint from a feature over a month ago here.
Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio recaps Bridgeport's huge loss with Jack Capuano and Joey MacDonald's
comments.
Lebanon Daily News: Dan Sernoffsky recaps Hershey's big win against the Sound Tigers Saturday.
Daily Gazette: Phil Janack has a full interview with Bridgeport winger Peter MacArthur, how he was scouted by the Islanders and other clubs, his experience in college and Bridgeport so far with Jack Capuano's comments.