Islander News Articles 11/20

Newsday: John Jeansonne has comments from Doug Weight on working with the teams youth and how things have changed from when he broke into the league. Head coach Scott Gordon had more details of Kyle Okposo's " not so serious " hand injury and working Brendan Witt back in with less minutes.

Mr Jeansonne also wrote about Weight's impressive offensive production to this point.

Chicago Sun-Times:Len Ziehm reports former Islander Aaron Johnson who did not make the Hawks opening night roster is tied for second in the NHL with a plus eleven rating and a few goals/assists as part of a third pairing unit in Chicago with his comments.

NHL Notes:
Steve Regier was again recalled by the Blues to the NHL club.

I wonder if Rick DiPietro pulled himself out of a game after allowing five goals if Newsday/local media would ignore it or would the critical of showing up his coach and team especially if the same goaltender a year ago complained about who was on the ice at the end of a game here?

More Thursday:

Islander News Articles 8/12

Midland-Reporter Telegram: Len Heyward has more on the Islanders new affililation with Odessa as General Manager Joe Clark comments on the agreement which is for one year.

Ottawa Sun/several outlets: Report former Islander Jamie Rivers will return from Moscow Spartak in 08-09 and play for the Chicago Wolves.

St Pete Times: Lightning beatwriter Damian Cristodero blogs on Mike Sullivan and John Tortorella not making the final three with speculation on the future for both.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
As of the time I posted this update Boston Globe/Providence Journal, Toronto Star/Sun, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Craig Custance Sporting News & New York papers have nothing in their Tuesday early editions or blogs with anything new on Isles selecting a coach.

Sure would be nice if one time the New York Islanders website broke their own news at the same time for everyone.

Barrie Examiner: Glenn Wilkins has comments from former Islander Aaron Johnson on the circumstances that did not make it into Newsday.

While trying to remain diplomatic, Johnson admits the situation in the Islander boardroom leaves him scratching his head.

“(Ted is) a player’s coach, a guy like me, who goes out and competes every night, who shows respect for guys who are gritty and work hard. He was awesome to play for, and unfortunately, was caught in another tough situation this year, and now, he’s out of a job looking for another one. But I’m sure he’ll be back.”

“It seemed like (the Islanders) were in the right direction for a bit. I mean, from a player’s standpoint, everything was great, the chemistry was great with the guys, but there was so much pressure to win, and there was a difference of opinion between (General Manager) Garth (Snow) and Teddy, because there were no issues between Ted and the players; he was a great coach.

“The guys enjoyed playing for him and put out a good effort for him, but as a player, you don’t always see what’s going on behind the scenes, but, obviously, there was something there.”

Islander News Articles 7/19

Newsday: Greg Logan has comments from assistant general manager Ryan Jankowski on prospect Jesse Joensuu who had a hat-trick Friday to conclude prospects camp, Blake Comeau who had three assist working with Joensuu on a line also talks about how impressed he was with the young propsect's ability as a power forward with handling the puck.

Mr Logan also reports Garth Snow indicated he expects to begin interviewing candidates for the next head coach sometime next week.

Cape Brenton Post: T.J. Colello has a few words from Aaron Johnson who signed with Chicago last week that he considered last season with the club a wash in the short time he played here.

Islander Notables

Islanders website: Has an update on ticket sales with comments from said Executive Director of the Islanders Business Club Mike Bossy.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
They need that number to get to 10,000 somehow which seems impossible for all the hits they take in the media pushing them back two steps for every one step they try and take forward.

Islanders website: John Hill has the first update on the clubs prospect camp which will run from July 14th to July 18th with a partial list of the players attending. Bryan Trottier will be at the rink all week helping out the young Islanders, while Ken Morrow will be on-site from Wednesday to Friday with a number of media outlets on hand.

St Pete Times: Damian Cristodero blogs on the resignation of general manager Jay Feaster with his comments how he was left on the sidelines for all the recent moves by the Bolts after Tsn reports on the settlement of his contract terms here.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Can you imagine the shockjocks in the local media and in Canada that would have killed Charles Wang in print if he pulled what Tampa Bay's new ownership just did? I did not see the writers down there trashing the club like we see here and that franchise is coming off a season they finished 30th that let the staff run everything at two of the most critical times of the year while it's gm was on the outside.

THN.com: Ryan Dixon does an article critical of the club in what he feels is an astonishingly sad series of moves with the latest signing 37-year-old Doug Weight over Kristian Huselius that signals an official organizational commitment to acquiring B-level talent, as he goes on to review the late nineties moves and takes numerous shots at the clubs impact in the region.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Fine line for me including a writer and copy editor for THN magazine in with the main news media content but I'm not going to keep something off the blog just because it's negative about the club.

Having written that if Doug Weight was signed last summer statistically it would have been a good signing much less comparing it with Columbus signing Huselius and I did not read these shock jock tactics with regard to the Devils signing Holik. All this other stuff from almost a decade ago is completely worthless today with almost all of those players having moved on to multiple clubs since leaving New York and none of them with a cup ring to date.

Seemed to me like the writer needed the " what if " game just to make up for his current knowledge of the club and half of Yankee Stadium would have been filled with Yankee fans if the Islanders played an out of market team in an outdoor game.

Of course when Adam Proteau of the THN
here produced his worst signings in UFA Doug Weight did not make the list.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
If I recall correctly Fedotenko made this list a year ago from some writer, I do not remember if it was Adam Proteau. Likely Scott Burnside but what else would be new if it were him?

Fedotenko I believe got 2.5m from Pittsburgh.

Orange County Register: Dan Wood reports Brian Burke one day after suggesting that the NHL look into a potential Edmonton Oilers tampering violation regarding right wing Corey Perry, said Friday that the Ducks will file a formal charge with the league.

A day after all sides said they would respect the other leagues contracts Alexander Radulov under contract to the Nashville Predators signed with Ufa of the Russian Superleague here.

Predators Website/other outlets: Have a statement from Nashville gm David Poile and NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly that Radulov is expected to be in Nashville next season and that the RHL is expected to abide by it's agreement made yesterday.

NHL.com: Now lists Islanders defenseman Aaron Johnson with the Chicago BlackHawks.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Aaron Johnson did a good job for the Isles when he was finally healthy, by all reports he was a classy individual and I hope he finds a team that will give him more minutes. Best of luck to Aaron Johnson.

NYI Fan Central Final Review Aaron Johnson

Todays season ending review is on defenseman Aaron Johnson.

Entering 2007-08:
Aaron Johnson played over sixty games for Columbus in 2006-07 so any misconceptions this was an AHL defender trying to earn a job in the NHL are not correct. Former Jackets gm Doug McLean wanted to keep him, new gm Scott Howson could not find a spot for him but both liked his game and praised him.

2007-08:
Unfortunately with so many of the same kind of defenders on the Isles roster and the group healthy early Johnson had problems getting into the lineup, when he finally did it was as a forward or rare instances when the club would dress seven defenders.

A knee injury at practice set him back months and he never got his chance at full strength until late January where he played most of the games in February and March and did a very good job at even strength and was a big factor in the clubs six game winning streak. For the most part he was playing fifteen minutes a game or more and on a team that could not score played to a plus rating which was impressive with steady play. Nothing flashy but he showed a lot of good signs and was rewarded with minutes.

Johnson was constantly praised by the staff for his attitude and hard work.

Moving forward:
Johnson enters June as a restricted free agent but like Columbus will he be qualified? The numbers game on this roster and signed defenders make this a tough call for Garth Snow and Ted Nolan to bring him back because there does not seem to be a spot for him again with everyone healthy. Of course it also could mean Garth Snow can trade a defender to give him a spot in the top six which makes me look at Bruno Gervais who is a restricted free agent.

Final Grade:
It took until January before he finally played on a regular basis, he did a solid/steady job on the backline and logged significant minutes and it was impressive.

Aaron Johnson receives a B. I would like to see more but I'm doubtful that will happen here.

Islander News Articles 6/1

Newsday: Greg Logan writes a state of the Islanders article with comments from general manager Garth Snow on the status of his free agents, Wade Dubielewicz rejecting the teams contract offer, the upcoming draft and who he is close to resigning or will qualify among his restricted free agents.

Summary:
* In short, no offers to Satan, Vasicek, Fedotenko, Berard because the team does not want to load up on players who could take spots from the younger players.

* Tim Jackman is close on a two-way contract extension.

* Jeff Tambellini, Frans Nielsen and Ben Walter will receive qualifying offers along with forwards Sean Bergenheim, Jeremy Colliton and defenseman Bruno Gervais.

* According to the GM Dubie turned down the club's contract offer (which could have
been a two way offer according to Mr Logan) and now is being blamed for DiPietro's workload early because he was in poor shape and could not be trusted by the coaching staff to play.

* The Isles interviewed about 100 prospects in preparation for the draft June 20-21 in Ottawa but the draft board is still not set with another two rounds of amateur meetings.

* Mr Logan speculates Aaron Johnson is not likely to receive a qualifying offer because he can go to arbitration and possibly win a one-way contract to secure one of 23 NHL roster spots.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
No one is sure of the kind of exact contract Garth Snow offered but it sure seems Garth Snow just threw Wade Dubielewicz under the bus and the backup job could now go to Joey MacDonald because that sure seemed like a see ya later if ever I read one.

If he was out of shape there was plenty of opportunity for him to go to Bridgeport and it seems a bit of a reach with a team playing three games in twenty games early in season that Dubie was going to see any work. After his two spot starts early he proved to be a solid goaltender.

Bottom line if Garth Snow or the coaching staff was not happy with his conditioning he easily could have sent him down or outright placed him on waivers. You do not offer a multi-year contract to any player if you feel his reporting out of shape hurt your team. This seems like sour grapes on Snow's part and not classy to release this to the media after a contract negotiation. You thank him for his efforts and move on.

To be fair to the general manager for those who recall in several articles Wade Dubielewicz promised he would report to camp in the best shape of his life here. On April 10th Garth Snow in Newsday's Islander blog talked about Dubie not entering camp in shape and that he selfadmittedly struggled early so this is not just about a player turning down a contract recently as the gm also praised his work later in the season as he talked about a goaltending rotation here.

What does it say about what the gm thinks of Joey MacDonald if a multi-year offer was made to Wade Dubielewicz?

I will be very interested in what Ted Nolan has to say on this given Nolan stuck with Dubielewicz after DiPietro returned to the club after his grandmothers funeral for a critical Ranger game.

It's a fair guess Joey MacDonald becomes the backup goalie with a one-way contract but in today's NHL backup goaltender are not a huge priority.

No surprise the Isles are qualifying almost all the restricted free agents & not making any offers to the unrestricted free agents. Snow's trend seems to be to make an offer and it's not good enough move on.

Not like I want to go off on Greg Logan again folks but being it's June 1st and the deadline is here to sign these players, you think he would have gotten at least a no comment from the general manager on Ridderwall or Johansson?

For what it's worth I asked Mr Fornabaio who of course had a link to the Newsday article in his blog already what the rules are in terms of games/years on how Dubie even if signing a two way contract would not be exposed to waivers? I'm just not sure on these rules.

Long Island Business News: David Reich-Hale back on 5/29 had a brief interview with Islanders
senior vice president of sales, marketing and operations Chris Dey about next season and beyond.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I checked the LI Business News for the meeting summary the last few days, not sure how Mr Dey's comments slipped by or if this publication does update daily? First time I have read the Isles could be interesting in hosting an NHL draft but this overall project will require construction that could run for a full decade.

Bettman, Aaron Johnson, Espn and Hejda

Cape Brenton Post: TJ Colello has Aaron Johnson's comments after being honored before tonight's World Championship exhibition game in Port Hawkesbury here where Slovenia defeated Norway 6-4.

Colmubus Dispatch: Aaron Portzline reports the Blue Jackets have re-signed defenseman Jan Hejda to a three-year contract worth $6 million.

Hejda, 29, could have become an unrestricted free agent on June 1. He’ll make $2 million per season through 2010-11. Hejda had no goals, 13 assists and a plus-20 rating that was tied for 10th-best in the NHL.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Just seeing how the market is being set for defenseman, that's why I posted this here.

Scripps Howard News Service: Ray McNulty, blames Gary Bettman for the decline of hockey because they left ESPN.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Mr McNulty is one of those former writers from the NY Post (among other publications) here who obviously had blinders on when Espn/Espn2 decided to drop most of it's hockey coverage when they still had the NHL rights to a point Gary Bettman was better off finding someone who would give the league more attention. The ratings game has been spun a lot of directions, the one the folks who are in ESPN's corner never bring up is how low ratings and coverage were on Espn/Espn2 before the lockout.

For all the abuse Mr Bettman takes he is one person. He does not own Comcast or have the right to tell the Wirtz family how to show the Blackhawks in Chicago or what Ed Snider should do with Comcast Flyers or Mike Ilitch what to do with Wings games in Detroit. You think the Six Canadian clubs care one bit about Espn?

If anyone thinks Gary Bettman does not have resistance one team sued the league for control of it's own website this year and lost.

That owner controls the rights to four NHL teams game telecasts.

There are things to blame Gary Bettman about and some of them are fair but many go beyond the commissioner who is not at fault for equipment and body training methods improving which hurt the product by making the space on the ice smaller. You have to put some things on all the owners, the NHLPA, the folks who own the rights to the games and the competition committee.

Nothing is as easy as Gary Bettman deciding this is what's he is going to do and that's final. How many times has Bettman said x owner owns the club, he gives advice when asked but he does not own x team.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has a blog on the AHL playoffs and a few words on the Islanders/Sound Tigers heading into the World Championships.

Nielsen, DiPietro, Snow, Johnson & Nystrom

IIHF.com: Lucas Aykroyd reports Frans Nielen's shoulder injury will keep him out of the World Championships for Denmark.

The World Championships begin on May 2nd. It looks like Sean Bergenheim for Finland will be the only New York Islander participating.

Ottawa Citizen: Announced Tuesday the formation of the goalie equipment working group which will meet June 11th in Toronto. Rick DiPietro will be a player representative with Martin Brodeur and Ryan Miller. Garth Snow will be representing the NHL with Jim Rutherford (Carolina) Doug Risebrough (Minnesota) and Brett Hull (Dallas), Dany Heatley and Mike Cammalleri (Kings) represent the skaters.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Isles website also updated this with a quick word from Garth Snow.

Cape Brenton Post: Greg Macvicar reports on Team Norway playing Team Slovenia in International Ice Hockey Federation exhibition game tonight will honour retired Montreal Canadians forward Mike McPhee of River Bourgeois and New York Islanders defenceman Aaron Johnson of Port Hawkesbury during the ceremonial faceoff.

Calgary Sun: Randy Sportek has agent Wade Arnott's comments on his client, Eric Nystrom who is an unrestricted free agent this July with the writer speculating about the Islanders.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Sorry folks, too much Robert Nilsson/Frans Nielsen coverage has had me writing Robert in a few posts lately. Obviously it's Eric Nystrom. Hopefully he signs with the Isles so I can get his name correct if for no other reason.

Of course Robert Nystrom is Bobby Nystrom's correct name. For twenty points anyone want to take a shot at his correct middle name ?