New York Final Mini Camp Rosters

New York Islander Fan Central | 6/28/2016 11:26:00 AM | | |
Islanders website camp roster through 7/1/16.

Four of the six drafted prospects are in mini-camp. Otto Koivula is here from Europe. Golyshev (Russia) & Pastujov (US) are not on today's mini-camp rosters.

 Mix of local players/Sound Tigers & players from Missouri.

New York Notables

New York Islander Fan Central | 6/27/2016 06:57:00 PM | | | |
All NYI RFA (including Kirill Petrov) were qualified per Ct Post on 6/27 with exception of Justin Vaive & James Wright, who become UFA.
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Ilya Sorokin was photographed at the opening day of mini-camp.

Qualifying Offers Due 6/27 5pm/Notables

New York Islander Fan Central | 6/26/2016 11:31:00 AM |
Only real drama I see with the qualifying offers is does Petrov get one to keep his NHL rights as trade bait? Alan Quine I fully expect to be on next years team, same with Shane Prince, who would be wise to simply accept the offer, have a good season, and cash-in next summer.

Maybe slight drama with Berube but he'll be qualified. 
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With only two forward prospects both unsigned entering the draft, Snow had a good weekend stocking the forwards.

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 Should be a fun mini-camp, wanted a game at Barclays/Northwell like last summer because they can never have enough fans interested.
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The prospect blog is updated with all drafted players, and updated contracts/changes in Bridgeport.

New York Selects W Collin Adams (6th Round) & Nick Pastujov/David Quenneville (7th Round)

New York Islander Fan Central | 6/25/2016 12:53:00 PM | |

Collin Adams draft profile: Adams is committed to North Dakota next season. ********************************
Nick Pastujov & USHL Profile.
Committed to Michigan.
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Quenneville draft profile. His second-cousin, Joel Quenneville, has coached the Chicago Blackhawks to three Stanley Cup championships. BSN Denver profile & eliteprospcts.com profile.

And he has an uncle by marriage with the name Boychuk, who plays for a New York NHL team. 

TRADE: New York Selects W Otto Koivula 120th

New York Islander Fan Central | 6/25/2016 12:12:00 PM |
Otto Koivula Central Scouting & Eliteprospects.com
Otto Koivula
Koivula could be a very good player at the pro level. He has soft hands for a 6-4 forward. His vision is really good and he can drive to the net both with and without the puck. His accurate shot can also be seen as an asset. However, his skating and speed will definitely have to get better. He’s lacking agility and acceleration at the moment. He put up 58 points for Ilves U20, plus finished second in scoring in playoff with 5-7-12 line. Koivula could be a great value pick in the fourth or fifth round.

TRADE: New York Selects: W Anatoli Golyshev 95th Overall

New York Islander Fan Central | 6/25/2016 11:38:00 AM |
New York acquires No. 95 pick from CHI for pick No. 110 and a 2017 6th rounder. Anatoli Golyshev Eliteprospects.com Anatoli Golyshev.

His KHL contract runs through 2019/no transfer agreement.

New York Selects: Kieffer Bellows 19th Overall

New York Islander Fan Central | 6/24/2016 09:42:00 PM |
Islanders website video of selection with player/father comments: New York Has Selected Kieffer Bellows. 
Islanders Head Amateur Scout Vellu Kautonen: Kieffer had a great year with the U18 team. This kid likes to shoot the puck and he shoots it well too. 50 goals in 62 games is sure something you don’t see happening too often. He also helps his team without the puck as well. Bellows plays with an edge and can throw some punishing hits. “Kieffer can score from 40-feet, he can score inside the dots,” TSN analyst Bob McKenzie said of Bellows on NBCSN. “He’s got a real understanding of where he needs to go to get the puck and (can) read off of a centerman to be in that spot. And when it’s on his stick, it’s in the net – the goalie doesn’t stand a chance. Then you combine it with a real determination. He wants to score. He’s hungry to score. It’s not easy to score in the National Hockey League. You gotta get inside the dots and you gotta be ready to pay the price – Kieffer does exactly that.”

A Quiet Draft & UFA Patience Right Call For New York

New York Islander Fan Central | 6/24/2016 07:54:00 AM |
I know what's written here is the exception.

Folks always like new toys, and it's likely they will get some fueled by a  part time media who never has this franchises best interest in mind.

They are also good at just making things up.

Dan Boyle was correct. 

How many years does Garth Snow have to make trades at the draft?  Seems he done a ton more than his counterparts almost every year, same in UFA where he's gone for it more than most with many 5-6-7 year contracts.

No problem here with using 19th for BPA, and then using picks Saturday under a new head scout.
Less is more.
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I like our players a lot entering UFA, and in a perfect world would hope they resign but this is the system.

Kyle Okposo would have been my choice to keep of the three, he's the highest scoring winger in another mediocre UFA class. No idea what he wants, we'll know soon.

John Tavares sure wants him back. 

Nielsen brings many good things, not much five on five scoring, but with Strome, Nelson, Cizikas, Tavares, Grabovski (all his concussions at wing)  Quine, Bailey all drafted or career centers you cannot keep playing someone out of position (even if they claim it makes no difference) when it does.

Ryan Strome came here a career center, he is 22 years old. His battle level is not going to win many pucks in corners against a lot of Scott Hartnell's  no matter how you slice it.  Snow moved up to draft Nelson who is a center, Grabovski came here a career center. 

Barzal is a center.
Dal Colle is a left wing.
Ho-Sang is a right wing.
Anthony Beauvillier is another center. 

Matt Martin would be great to keep also, but what can be said? There is a cap, a fan base that does not show up before Dec (if team is winning) to support a max payroll, and there are prospects.
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Not allergic to signing any UFA, but again this is not a good class of players.

Wrote a lot of things disparaging Ladd/Eriksson, nice players but let's stop pretending they are franchise changing players because they have not done that on their current/former teams which begs the questions what would change here?

Lee will be back, Quine (at wing) had a great playoff, Prince had a two goal playoff game, and looked like a good player acquired. Those players are on par/equal to the fringe players who helped Pittsburgh win with less moving around in their careers.

So what's the rush? 

Maybe one of these kids are the best bet. What's wrong with a little patience after 101-100 point seasons, as the young core is a year older? Lee/Strome, Nelson have all broken 20+ goals/50+ points, we are not waiting for Taylor Pyatt at this point.  

They have more signed quality defenders than perhaps since the 80's, with a good mix of youth/depth, although you don't want Pelech or Mayfield in Donovan spot sitting.

It's not like T.J Brennan is in the top four or Milan Jurcina, Steve Staios/Eaton........ect. 

Halak should return, and when he's on his game has dominated. The record in this division the last two seasons is a big part of 101-100 points. No rush with two seasons left on his contract as he heals up into August or later. Greiss has another year to prove himself before UFA or another contract. Berube has shown good signs but after only six starts all season he needs work, and Bridgeport seems stacked if Gibson is qualified, plus Berube would have to clear waivers again.

If Berube were Poulin who only came here because of waivers/injury there would be no discussion.

Yes, I know many of our fans have no patience, want a dramatic housecleaning with another spending statement from Malkin, Ledecky, and new toys, but if that thinking fails, you become Columbus, Florida, Toronto, Edmonton or a lot of teams that rarely make the playoffs.

Fans have to learn from the past. Take a little time see what works. You know how many years they took to find Halak, Boychuk, Leddy, and then sign them?

Those were big, expensive moves, so was Hamonic, and locking up most of the core young players for several years. 
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Got into it for a minute with Brian Compton, tired of the forced branding of our team by NHL, and some media. Our teams name since 1972 is New York Islanders, nothing else.

An MLB writer started spamming Bronx, Queens the teams and editor would pick up the phone also.
Same as Senators and Devils would if they saw a steady diet of Kanata/Newark.

You know how fast Compton's phone from his bosses at NHL.com (many former Daily News Ranger beatwriters) would ring if he started writing Manhattan Rangers? 

Can you imagine how fast an NFL.com writer would get sent packing if starting writing New Jersey Giants/Jets, East Rutherford?

Enough. We need our entire NY fan base engaged to sell the most tickets, not forced branding by some media with their own agenda, some of the same people who forced LI branding in the 1970's on a team that was discovered on free television in NYC with 40 percent of it's season tickets sold from NYC/NJ area in 2011. 

NHL BOG Approve Malkin-Ledecky Majority/Mini Camp Roster

New York Islander Fan Central | 6/22/2016 05:26:00 PM |

And the mini-camp roster, likely not the final version because of draft picks.

Islanders Head Amateur Scout, Vellu Kautonen has done all of the comments on draft pick profiles, expect him to be running the draft, while Trent Klatt is still listed as a scout. 

All prospects in organization on mini-camp list aside from G Sorokin, and Ryan Pilon.
Viktor Rydberg Cyrus signed with another team in Europe.

The time has come to phase out/delete past mini-camp/NHL draft pages from the prospect site here. The Islanders website no longer feature them in a way folks can find them in a digest.


6/21 Full NY Schedule/Notables

New York Islander Fan Central | 6/21/2016 08:02:00 AM |
Schedule released, seems designed to eliminate/exhaust a team down the stretch as usual with 12/34 games at home.

Qualifying offers also due to all RFA on 6/27/16 by 5pm.

It's Show Time For Ledecky/Malkin

New York Islander Fan Central | 6/14/2016 12:38:00 AM | | |
 
NYIFC Comments:
Simply put it's been a long time since October 2014, if Malkin/Ledecky paid the money, they are majority owners, and it's their call, along with Mikhail Prokhorov who is their landlord at Barclay's/Coliseum if a team affiliated with the Islanders play there. 

For today it seems like a good time to go back to what was said as to what kind of owners the fans are getting. If the communication has been as poor as Barclay's-Islanders where obviously for three years the homework was not done, it could be a very big problem. From an outsiders view the three owners have been together often for games/events.

Our fans want passionate owners, crashing into things, not calm consideration, and the greatest payroll, with the lowest ticket prices which is not realistic. Two years should have taught these men that much. Some of these "kids" are now weeks from leaving. 

Jon Ledecky/Scott Malkin are not listed on the Sound Tigers directory, only the Islanders.

Meanwhile the interior roof of the Coliseum is half black now, with the full exterior to be painted black this month.  A decision on the Sound Tigers future will have to happen. Wang has his agreement with Nassau to use Northwell for all team practices beginning on 9/1/16 for his Lighthouse escrow money. Prospect camp will begin place under Charles Wang's tenure in his facility.

The learning process is over with the listening tour, our new majority owners will be making big decisions, the fan support must be there for these owners to spend.

We're about to see what has been learned since that press conference in 2014. 

6/6/16 Halak Update

New York Islander Fan Central | 6/06/2016 02:34:00 PM |

Cizikas Re-Signed Five Year Extension

New York Islander Fan Central | 6/02/2016 03:22:00 PM | |

NYIFC Notable

New York Islander Fan Central | 6/01/2016 12:55:00 PM |
Just to let everyone know the prospect blog for NYIFC is updated with the signing status of all players in the New York Islanders system regularly. (IE: Bracken Kearns)

The only time an update is done here is when the Sound Tigers roster is filled out in early July when a mass amount of players are signed. I'm not sure at this time if entries will be done here for the NHL draft with only a few selections.