Not every local paper did twenty four interviews like Atlanta, however the Isles season wrap has been written for over a week beyond the games being played.
Updated:
Islanders Authorized reported Islander prospects Rhett Rakhshani and Blake Kessel have been named All-Americans for the 2009-10 college hockey season.
Ft Worth Star Telegram: Mac Engel has former Islander captain Bill Guerin's comments in how it relates to Mike Modano in Dallas when he was not playing for a winning team here and contemplating retirement.
NYIFC Comments:
Bill Guerin knows more than the fans but to be fair the Islanders did make him their captain and no one could expect all the injuries when he was here nor was he traded here but he signed on of his own choice. His former teammates Ruslan Fedotenko, Miro Satan also went to Pittsburgh with him. Not every player can be traded to a team with Crosby and Malkin.
Mike Modano of course has been with one team his entire career while Guerin has moved on countless times.
Atlanta Thrashers: Co-Owner Bruce Levenson announced Don Waddell has been promoted to team President and Rick Dudley to General Manager and that head Coach John Anderson and Assistant Coaches Randy Cunneyworth, Todd Nelson and Steve Weeks will not be retained. Waddell will focus primarily on all business aspects of the organization, and as General Manager, Dudley will be responsible for hockey operations.
NYIFC Comments:
Mike Milbury was never promoted to team president when he resigned as general manager so Thrasher fans are not going to be happy with that one. John Anderson like Scott Gordon was a very successful minor league coach with the Wolves but unlike Gordon had far more to work with in terms of NHL ready talent and a franchise talent like Kovalchuk. Maxim Afinogenov came off the scrap heap as a camp invitee with eight goals and had a nice comeback under Anderson.
Not sure Rick Dudley will be a vast improvement going from associate gm to the top spot but he was only there for a year and may have been groomed for the spot since day one.
Obviously Kozlov-Anderson comments in the paper sure did not help the coach who where I sit was not the problem in Atlanta nor can Waddell be blamed for Kovalchuk not being signed.
Don Waddell has a decade of poor decisions as reasons to have been outright fired, not promoted. Kovalchuk not signing would not be one of them.
Scott Gordon should be asking Garth Snow for permission to contact Anderson if he wants another assistant because he's a quality coach. Not sure where former Islander Steve Weeks fits in this but he is out as well.
Star Phoenix: Prospect Jyri Niemi is expected to sign a pro contract but he also comments he could return to Saskatoon, the writer points out he was drafted by the KHL last summer.
NYIFC Comments:
Niemi has to be signed by June 1st by the Islanders or he can re-enter the draft.
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Most funny/sad thing I have read in months is Neil Best quickly throwing out supposed positive Ranger ratings Sunday (he quickly claimed highest since 1995) with four teams playing or getting ready to play on the Dolan's network Sunday looking to find their game, then writing how quickly Msg kicked the Rangers post-game off tv for Garden's franchise team (Knicks) and even had some mild criticism of new 2010 Msg employee Bill Pidto of Espn fame because he did not tell fans where they could watch the post-game interviews on-line?
What's sad is Mr Best who is a veteran media person did not care to note the New York Islander overflow game on Msg+2 (earlier that week Islander game was bumped off Msg+ for Rangers) was abruptly cut off on Time Warner NYC at 8pm with no post-game, no Scott Gordon interview and no shirt off the backs ceremony or season final wrap to be met with nothing but the test pattern followed by a blank screen.
This is the same admitted Ranger fan Neil Best " Who leaves no stone unturned " who sold Msg's 3D game like the super bowl, gave it huge blog space/along with Msg renovation updates while only Charles Wang was quoted about the 3D experience for all the negative coverage he receives in Newsday in helping another owner out on a night he did not have to even appear at Msg.
Best of all (pun intended) this media writer completely ignored the Rangers all-time NHL/NBC low 0.5 rating three days earlier (0.8 in New York on 3/21) for their must win against Boston in that same space?
NYIFC Comments:
Don't want to rip the man nor does it matter who his favorite hockey team is, but this is exactly what happened Sunday, on 3/21 and 3/24 and his job is to report all problems with telecast and all ratings for games. Not possible to ignore such slanted coverage standards nor is it fair to New York Islander fans which is why I bothered writing this.
Now that we got that out of the way.
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Setting the coverage for the upcoming Bridgeport-Hershey playoff series, which is all hooked into sidebars with respective blogs/twitter feeds.
Ct Post has Mr Fornabaio's Sound Tigers coverage and the Greenwich Times also seems to carry these updates.
Norwalk News has infrequent Sound Tigers coverage that sometimes is subscription and sometimes is available, I will not be linking to those updates here but will provide the link in this one entry.
Mr Fornabaio tonight broke down the teams and has Hershey in five games here with Andrew MacDonald, Dustin Kohn and Dylan Reese comments on their time with the Islanders and the upcoming series.
NYIFC Comments:
It appears from the article Dustin Kohn was practicing which hopefully means he is ready to play. Dylan Reese ironically played only one game with Bridgeport after Garth Snow traded for him and he scored in 3/2 Bridgeport's loss to the Hershey Bears.
Both writers had the Bears in five and they follow both teams daily. Defensive chemistry does not happen in a vacuum and a lot of players from New York are heading into Bridgeport's defense.
In terms of the Hershey Bears coverage it's the Patroit News & Lebanon Daily News.
ECHL.com: Reports Islander prospect Mikko Koskinen is playing the deciding game five for Isles co ECHL affiliate Utah Grizzlies tonight which concluded with a 5-1 Utah victory so Koskinen has more hockey to play.
NYIFC Comments:
Reason for this singular Utah update is Las Vegas paper speculated former Islander Mike Morrison would get the start and if Utah losses some players from the Grizzlies could see action in Bridgeport depending on injuries/clear day list.
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