Newsday: Greg Logan reports Rick DiPietro had successful knee surgery Tuesday with Ted Nolan's comments that he agreed with Garth Snow about Wade Dubielewicz initial lack of conditioning but he never lost confidence in his ability as he praised the goaltender for doing everything humanly possible down the stretch (and last season in the playoff drive) while noting he was not sure if Joey MacDonald's one-way contract had a bearing on the decision.
The Islanders coach also explains Dubielewicz was injured last off-season which hurt his conditioning early, commented on Rick DiPietro's surgery that the club had to take precautions and hopes it's not a serious issue.
NYI Fan Central Comments:
I'm glad Ted Nolan praised Dubielewicz but to be fair back in April so did Garth Snow and at the same time the gm also raised the issue of his conditioning.
Where do Ted Nolan and Garth Snow have commuication problems when the first thing written was the coach agreed with Snow about Dubie's initial lack of conditioning?
What other communication problems were there? A player had surgery and commented on it and it was so minor he was on a radio program the same day? Where in the article does Nolan say he did not know of DiPietro's surgery.
It's hard to take Mr Logan seriously with some of this when he writes the coach and gm clashed over the second Ranger game in March which seems right in line with the sensationalist headline written for his work today in the print edition by someone else.
Both Nolan and Snow went on WFAN the same day, Snow said Dubielewicz starting
" raised an eyebrow " and that was all the so-called clashing that actually took place beyond writer spin/speculation in the media.
If anyone can find a quote from the general manager beyond the now infamous raising an eyebrow comment during a live interview I would be very interested in seeing it.
Is this really Mr Logan's idea of the general manager and coach clashing?
You read some of this and wonder if the beat writer is tying to get the coach fired or create perception of public friction with the general manager as Mr Logan was the one who raised the issue of the coaches contract in the first place or it's just time to stir something up?
A good Kyle Okposo feature would work for me, even better a report on why Bergenheim only played part of the WC.
The beatwriter also made a huge deal out of the coach and goaltender not getting along after the Tampa game. Ted Nolan laughed at some of those reports in the Canadian media a few days later.
Mr Logan back on 3/20 described Rick DiPietro as head strong as I gave my comments back then what I felt of Mr Logan's opinion here that seemed over the top for a beatwriter who only wanted to help his team by playing hurt the same way Guerin and a lot of veterans played hurt and were praised by the same beatwriter for doing so.
Here is what was written on 3/20:
Nolan said he wasn't sure if surgery could have been avoided by resting DiPietro after he hurt himself at the All-Star Game, but the notion of ordering the headstrong goalie to rest historically has met strong resistance. "Yeah, he wanted to play all the time," Nolan said. "That's just Ricky's mentality. He's a very competitive guy. He wants to play a lot. Once in a while, your body tells you that you can't do it."
Ted Nolan-Competitive guy.
Greg Logan-Headstrong goalie.
This is why another newspaper viewpoint would help here. One beat writer can make or break fan perspective. I did not read Greg Logan write Bill Guerin, Miro Satan or Mike Comrie were headstrong for playing hurt to help the club even as the coach blasted the veterans the same day this was written as the coach threatened to skate his players every single day if they do not show up for games.
I did not read Mr Logan write Mike Sillinger was headstrong for playing hurt as long as he could?
By the time this hits Canada it sure will do nothing for free agents considering signing here.
Sean Bergenheim WC injury updates? No.
Player features? No.
Outdoor game for Isles from the beatwriter? No.
Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio in his blog describes the article as more interesting fun 'n' games on the Islanders Committee.
NYI Fan Central Comments:
Let the games begin. Well done Mr Logan, most people cannot get past the headline before making up their minds.
Point Blank: Mr Botta does a great job talking about the annoucement of the Islanders hockey committee two years ago and how it was overblown at the time and not really different from what most teams do.
NYI Fan Central Comments:
Agree with the blog but Mr Wang at the time presented it that way where more was made of a non-traditional structure and a hockey board of sorts. Perhaps it was the questions or how they were answered but it took on a life of it's own that only got worse with what transpired afterward.
Mr Botta nailed it on the part that all owners get the final call because no one wakes up and finds someone spent millions of their money without approval.