New York Trades For Shane Prince/7th For 2016 3rd.....Beck to Colorado

New York Islander Fan Central | 2/29/2016 04:50:00 PM | | |
Due to a backup at NHL/central registry many trade calls were slow to become official. Shane Prince RFA stats.

New York At Trade Deadline

New York Islander Fan Central | 2/28/2016 04:04:00 AM |
Garth Snow will do what he does.

An indication about his job status is possible if he trades prospects or first rounders to rent/improve now for marginal/recycled/pending UFA talent, but beyond that we all know his trends at the deadline based on the standings.

Given the coach/players not being thrilled by their quoted comments after too many games/wins we will see if that changes Snow's thinking.

A lot of teams barely outside the top eight (4-6 points) are likely not selling this early but the games in hand could change that.
 
A lot of hockey still to be played.

At least one team outside the mix is going to win 8/10. Unlikely we see another Ottawa streak.

My speculation beyond that is a waste of everyone's time.

The second round pick in 2016 was traded for Boychuk. I'm not sure of the status of the 3rd rounder in Andrey Pedan trade with Vancouver. The 5th rounder pick in 2016 went to Florida  for Ryan Pilon.

Grabovski is injured and hopefully that is not concussion #3 with the Islanders since the career center was again shifted to left wing. After Monday it's Bernier (in lineup) Boulton & Bridgeport, unless a college surprise signing/Petrov returns from KHL. 

7-1-1. Not happy with what I have seen all season but again what I think does not matter, there are positives in the numbers as recently written about here.

NY Islanders Attendance Success At Barclay's Threat To NHL Media Balance in NYC

New York Islander Fan Central | 2/25/2016 04:17:00 AM |
The New York Islanders at Barclay's Center has worked out fantastic.
One or two articles articles have used the word "surprisingly" on increased attendance, more like amazing considering the media push since 2012 against it like no team has ever seen by a local media. 

Calling this anything but a success is biased journalism at any level.
The unobstructed seats are all sold.

Does that matter to a lot of media with their own agenda/narrative? Of course not, we have seen this act since 1970's which many of the old NYC/NJ/Westchester Ranger writers & today's generation love to push.

The Boston Bruins played with an off-center scoreboard/obstructed seats and 190x83 dimensions for generations, our team had to go win two Stanley Cups by winning at Boston Garden. How many times was it brought up by NYC or Boston media in those days? Never.

The New York Islander fan base expanded into NYC on free television in 1970', and then they won Championships in New York like no team ever seen.

Most of those writers never got over it with a lot of Filip Bondy's, Stu Hackel's, Steve Somers or Larry Brooks, bad actors still around with their own agenda.  Many of them stumble around cyberspace these days, desperate to find short-term work or stay employed anywhere.

The recent shots at Denis Potvin's comments about the Vancouver Canucks from many of them tell you nothing has changed. 

John Dellapina, Frank Brown were hired by the NHL. Neither were hired for fair coverage of New York hockey from the Daily News. 

Ed Koch/Msg-owner Sonny Werblin kept the Islanders out of lower Manhattan for parades after honoring the Rangers for beating the Islanders in 1979. The Cup winning New York Islanders went to the Reagan White-House twice, Bill Torrey took a dig at Reagan's friend, Sonny Werblin.

And as I wrote a few times the New York Islanders playing in NYC for some Ranger media is like Bryan Trottier coaching their team, they will never accept it, and do everything to defeat it. 

A day hardly goes by without pictures of Barclay's obstructed seats since 2012.  These are the same kind of media who go to New Jersey and call football teams NY since 1976/84 or cheer-lead for the forever pathetic Chase Knicks or Queens/Bronx losing baseball  because their job is to sell some teams/not others. 

Facts? They are usually lost somewhere in the Chase/taxpayer Garden's obstructed seats in same sections as Barclay's or on the trip from Greenberg NY when Knick/Ranger players go to their hotel for home games in Manhattan.

It's a narrative a lot of local media (who are forever Ranger fans or need Msg/business)  want no part of so they create their own despite the Islanders outdrawing the Devils most Oct/Nov games with the usual announced sellouts and empty seats in Manhattan.

That was why Islander fans took over the Knicks arena twice last season (as usual) despite their hockey team going to the finals.

What's funny is these same people sure claim to need the New York Islanders to sell hockey in NYC come playoff time which really tells you everything because Islander playoff games are better events with much louder fans while the same media is furious the Chase sponsored Garden is too quiet or a library long before Bruce Boudreau started mocking them.

Nothing I have not written before with media articles/tweets from writers to directly support it.

As for Barclay's they are getting these great numbers, no one reports the Islanders have not had the usual slate of Saturday games (they don't know or care) so people could drive or have had more Monday/Wednesday games in franchise history while the arena sits empty most Saturday's?

No one writes about the Sunday sellouts against the west or teams with no opposing fan support. I checked this last year, the Islanders had one Sunday afternoon/night game in about seven years when Wings visited in March 2015.

I was shocked seeing Barclays sold out against Toronto/Vancouver on a Sunday.

But that's not the narrative the NYC media wanted to tell the public or our fans about.  

28th/30th despite arena capacity is all they want to push with obstructed seats, they will not present this team as NYC despite the majority of season tickets coming from NYC. (40 percent in 2011)

Who cares if it's right or wrong? That was never the idea, it was to create a narrative.
And in this generation of amateur bloggers keeping dying media alive it filters everywhere and to Canada so someone can write anything to build their resume. 

For some Long Island only fans, of course it's something they love to read, it's back to usual plan of boycotting that contributed to everything that transpired since 1989 as they comically prepare their UFA spending list for ownership.

NY Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch. (Fox Sports Net old merger with Dolan) the television merger failed badly, but he still has a twenty percent stake in Chase Garden/both teams.

Murdoch also owns the Wall Street Journal, who are never shy about knocking the New York Islanders.

It's current business writer's comedy of blatant errors has been dismissed here since 2012 while their editorial board tells us (without disclaimer) the only private company in NYS not to pay property taxes since 1982 ("a deal is a deal") should continue receiving taxpayer money, while using the same political editorial board/sports department told the public vote NO in 2011 for the Nassau Coliseum referendum. (again without disclaimer or conflicting business interest)

I posted screen caps here in the past of the articles. 

As I have wrote recently nothing written has been a surprise in the least, expect more of the same, it's an act knowledgeable fans have seen since 1970's.

The only true surprise for me is the dead broke pay-wall NY Times sending Allan Kreda to most home games posting the crowd on his Instagram account, then not write any article afterward (besides negative features on Barclay's as a lead-up to October) or about opposing players since. (games receive AP coverage per the old Tom Jolly format)

Jack Capuano/Brock Nelson (this week) received the only Islander features from Kreda. 

Just like 1970's when the New York Islanders started winning + were on free television for road games, and getting headlines in regular season, this fan base grew all over Metro area,  when they started winning Stanley Cups (on channel 2 in 1980) & became very popular the long-suffering Ranger/NYC media guys would have none of it. 

What has not changed since 1970's is players play hockey, they don't know or care, they are polite and answer what's asked, they have no time for such distractions. Some Islander players recently said it's the same answers to the same questions.

Bill Torrey's job was to be President/GM, he was not a marketing expert, but to find talented hockey players for the New York Islanders/win games.

Barclay's since the ground breaking has been treated as hostile outsiders, Penn Station was not knocked down to construct an arena this time. Mr Yormark sadly has contributed to this issue not calling the Nets, New York, but the outsider narrative was coming from the sports media long before any shovel at Atlantic Yards.

I think Billy Smith said it best last year when he showed up for his day at Coliseum on Nov, 22, 2014 14:00.

On New York Islanders Long Island branding. "We kind of got that forced on us." Smitty was wrong on not getting the front page when they won cup in NYC, as Mike Bossy would later say they got their share, but not what they deserve.

It's 2016, the New York Islanders (like every season since 1972) are in New York, the fans are showing up, it's been a tremendous success, despite the same media again forcing something else on the New York Islanders.

The New York Islanders are home, now it's time our fans to force the New York City narrative on them. 

NY Positive Stats: Fact, Fiction, Not Relevant?

New York Islander Fan Central | 2/21/2016 06:21:00 PM |
Granted in the limited entries here this season, I have made clear I am not satisfied with the 2015-16 New York Islanders season, expressing my concerns since camp opened which have played out as expected while they struggle through so many games which the players/coaches discuss far too often win or lose.

New Jersey dominated them virtually the entire game on Friday, almost no sustained pressure, with a powerplay that was only good at shooting from the outside. (missing the net)

They lose that game nine/ten times vs another NHL team or if Mike Cammalleri was healthy for the NHL's lowest scoring team. I did not see that as a good win, despite the Devils system. The Flyers/Caps got their goals against them.

Having written this, it's shoddy on my part to ignore the things that have been positive. I sure did harp on special teams last season, when the 29th pk changed in  March 2015, now this team is second overall for this long, and I do not even write it?

This team is 14th in powerplay percentage.
8th in even strength goals.
The two goals leads are no longer blown every other game, in fact they seem to hold leads now.

It's been very ugly, but all bad? 

For all my complaints about home record in past vs road record, on the surface it seems to be what you expect, a good home record, five hundred road record.

The Islanders have been such a dominating road team over several years, the notion of them only around five hundred seems like a big negative.

My issue with what I'm seeing still goes back to preseason. So many of the games this year go beyond stats, so I ignore the peripheral, and wonder why this team almost never plays a sixty minute game, or have gone from one of the hardest working to one very easy to play against?

I see so many of their wins where the opposing goalie has a poor game, and know for this team to have any real chance of making the playoffs, they have to be able to defeat teams playing well by raising their game/making their own push where the other team/goalie cannot match them.

We saw this when Chicago came to Coliseum last year, same with Tampa, the Islanders simply kept working/wore them down, and setup goals even a top goalie playing well could not stop them.

Bottom line here is I have been treating the positive numbers as not relevant because the team is too easy to play against now. My ignoring those numbers has not been intentional but a small part of a big picture that has told me from day one this team is not good enough.

For the moment we know the standings have them in contention, but folks who have read this website understand I do not see a playoff team ultimately or one that's a very easy out if they qualify.

Meanwhile here they are at 5-1-1 in the last seven games, the most important number of all. (point total)

Finish 19 games over or no playoffs/Notables

New York Islander Fan Central | 2/14/2016 09:10:00 AM |
It seems even tougher than last season, all the bubble teams rarely seem to lose in regulation.

I have been writing about Carolina for a long time being in the mix who rarely have a bad game.

Tampa is not going away, Montreal is showing signs, Boston get's their points, and Devils are using Rangers five man goalie unit in front of Schneider for the 2-1 game, they are only getting better as are their prospects.

The Wings always seem to get their points.
28 games to play nine over five hundred with no rest, living on the road for a month. An Islander team that has not won against top teams most games this season.

This is also without any set first line wingers for Tavares as Grabovski has played well but is not a winger or a reliable scorer who does not belong on a first line. Josh Bailey has not proven reliable as a scorer.

What's been better is with Boychuk's return, Leddy is again paired with him for really the first time since very early in the season.
************************************************************************
Mr Yormark wrote on twitter "it was not true the (organ) song was banned, and that fans will hear it Monday."

I have no idea what music Mr Cartier was responding about, nor would I waste his or my time on this any longer. Our fans have been beyond fortunate to have Mr Cartier as our organist come with this franchise to Barclay's Center.

Once again Mr Yormark, acted quickly to correct an issue which is what you want.
(deleted what I wrote his about past comments which are on him entirely) Why bother?

Organ Song Elimination at Barclay's: Yormark, Dolan or NHL?

New York Islander Fan Central | 2/13/2016 09:06:00 AM |
Is it possible Mr Yormark or someone working for him decided to take playing this out of the game program, asking Mr Paul Cartier (Islanders organist) to stop playing it? Sure. It would absolutely not be the first time he's done something tone deaf for a man who insists the colors of a borough are black and white.

The timing is odd for anyone to care by February about something trivial like this, but then again our fans did not get their own post-game show on Thursday because Msg changed their hockey show from Saturday to Thursday.

Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions here. 

Please don't tell me after all these years of 3rd jersey games scheduled never changing, someone did not stand up, and demanded the Islanders wear their home jersey's for that second Ranger game out of nowhere with those big Islander logo's making their debut that night. 

The Islanders & Devils eliminated the Gary Glitter goal song after fans went too far with the chants after it, the song came/went over the years at the Coliseum after singer's personal issues.

The infrequent chicken dance music at the Coliseum which was faded out around 2007, was gone for good after 2011.

And it's possible the NHL PC police asked it be stopped. After the all-star game fiasco with an enforcer, this league is more sterilized than ever, forbidding anyone to even speak under threats of fines/suspensions, and now trades?

What's also very possible is Yormark/his people were told by Msg/Dolan they do not want this played any longer at Barclay's. It was not like this music did not come to Barclay Center from the Nassau Coliseum or was played at games all season until a few games ago.

It would not shock me if Ratner/Yormark/Prokhorov made an agreement at some point before 2013-14 with Dolan as part of the Brooklyn spam campaign (to stay out of NYC) because in 2013 the Islanders preseason game at Barclay's was entirely ignored by Msg Network, even on social media.

After that our fans even got two preseason games televised at Barclay's in 2014/2015.  

Before that we know how Dolan's reacted to that billboard in 2010, it was a flat-out war.

Historically the days of preseason games vs Rangers are long gone, despite the one Knick-Net preseason game at Coliseum.

Folks still do not get how much daily control Dolan/Msg/Newsday have over this franchise, and it's businesses.

If Dolan veto's the four regular season games at Coliseum, Mr Prokhorov/Ratner owe an extra million dollars per year for those lost games per their lease with Nassau County over ten years.

That's ten million dollars. 

And Mr Yormark's testimony in 2013 (page 157-159) about "good citizen" Dolan's approval for Islanders four regular season games at a renovated Coliseum.

Good luck finding anything positive about the Coliseum renovation in a newspaper still owned (for now) by the losing bidder, who's editorial board/political reporters did a lot of creative editing omitting Dolan wanted more than Ratner in his bid from Nassau's own documentation as to why Dolan lost.  

Am I going to tell you Bruce Ratner selling most of his Coliseum stake to Prokhorov is what Nassau signed up for in 2013? No, but it was never reported Dolan met with Nassau in 2013 anywhere.

Bottom Line:

And sorry to write as usual making an enemy of the Dolan family in New York is not a good idea if you want a career in entertainment, marketing, booking events, sports business.

Christopher (Chris) Botta praised the Rangers/Msg non-stop (after ripping them for years with Islanders) and all that positive spin (while becoming an Islander watchdog about every facet of their business/never Rangers beyond reprinting their press releases) finally landed him his job with them in 2014. Jim Cerney before that.

If Mr Prokhorov is in short-term with Barclay's/Nets, there is a good chance the next owner will want his own CEO, which means Mr Yormark, Barry Baum, and most of people running this facility with AEG (and for now the renovated Nassau Coliseum) will be looking for work elsewhere so making an enemy of Msg, and their media reach is not good for the resume.

And there is the Sound Tigers issue.

Many Ct writers love writing Fairfield is Ranger country so a natural fit for the Wolfpack relocation to Wang's operated arena in 2017-18 which is comical with no evidence of this because the Bruins packed Webster Bank Arena for preseason vs Islanders, while Rangers AHL team drew 1,100 there as home team  for 2012 playoff game because their rink was not available. 

Once Altice takes most of Dolan's media wing (Newsday, News12LI/AMNY) there is always Rupert Murdoch's NY Post, which has a stake in Msg/teams, and the NHL employees who used to work at Daily News or for the Rangers outright, and plenty of NBC employees with NY ties to Msg or past Dick Ebersol people.

Brett Yormark is not going to blame the Dolan's if they demanded the music be eliminated, he cannot if they did nor do I believe he's going to blame the NHL.

If it's put back in we know this was another mistake by him/his staff which they have done often or he asked whoever wanted it changed for a favor to get the fans off his back again.

All I'm writing is he may have been asked to have this dropped from the game program, sure maybe someone from Prokhorov's people getting more involved in arena operations requested the change? 

Capuano Comments After Kings Win Spot On

New York Islander Fan Central | 2/12/2016 07:06:00 AM |
As I have written many times it's about building a team that can beat the best teams when the opposition plays well or get's great goaltending.

Our fans saw that last season many times against top teams. Other coaches did not throw out token praise about how fast that team skated or how hard it was to play against.

We all know this season reflects the opposite.

Between Washington, Florida, Boston, Detroit, Pittsburgh (one game) & Montreal (earlier), the Islanders most of those games looked over-matched.

Even when winning many games the goaltending on the other side was terrible. IE: (Dallas/Columbus at Barclay's/Edmonton) or Halak/Greiss (Nashville) stole the game.

The Kings are a very good team coming off 9-2 win. Jonas Enroth did not play well, the Islanders did do a good job defensively/with their special teams. At least it was not one of those 40 shot against games.

I can see why Capuano was not happy, no smart coach would be. He wanted a sixty minute game from his tired team, the kind they must play to have any chance at a playoff spot.

Do not want to go back to Al Arbour days but the best coaches always are hardest in their criticism after wins to the (insert joke) media the New York Islanders have in 2016 because they know what it will take to beat top teams playing well.

Capuano angers fans by praising/protecting his team after losses where they do not play well.

It's a balancing act, there are times to be critical vs a pat on the back. 

What's said behind closed doors reflects the real truth.

Jack Capuano was spot on in his criticism after the Kings game. To overcome this impossible schedule with no rest & qualify for a playoff spot, this team must raise it's game to a level not seen this season, since day one this team has not done that.

You know where I stand on this based on my entries all season about the overall play.

Other teams did not draw this schedule, and the Islanders have struggle when rested.

This 2015-16 Islanders also have not been the excellent road team of many past (even losing) seasons, very soon they will be on the road beyond two cameo's for over a month. 


 I hope I'm wrong. 

Islanders Equipment Manager Jim Pickard RIP

New York Islander Fan Central | 2/09/2016 06:45:00 PM |
Former Islanders equipment, Jim Pickard, has passed away.

He was a member of all four Stanley Cup teams, and won the Cup again with Tampa in 2004.

Mr Pickard was an original New York Islander in 1972-73 who first worked with the Oakland Seals where Bill Torrey came from. He was hired here as an assistant to trainer, Nick Caren.

There were many interesting stories of that inaugural season.

Denis Potvin in 2010 tells how Jim Pickard in September 1973 & the Islanders 1st round pick selected the number 5.

Pickard was with the 1980 team when it was honored in 2006, and later with the core of four weekend. 

He was honored by the Professional Hockey Athletic Trainers Society of Professional Hockey Equipment Managers in 2006, and is a member of the Hall of Fame, with Islanders HOF trainer Ron Waske.

Mr Pickard's day with the Stanley Cup as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning had stories of winning the Stanley Cup with the Islanders  & Pat Lafontaine tells story of Pickard telling him he was going to score the winning goal in the 1987 Easter Epic

He also had kind words for the Islanders when they faced Tampa in the 2004 playoffs.

To the best of my research his final year as an assistant trainer was with Tampa in 2006-07.