Islander News Articles 9/12

Toronto Sun: Joe Warmington has an update on Brandon Sudgen with comments from players union spokesman Jonathan Weatherdon and agent Scott Nornton.

Daily Gleaner: Bill Hunt has an interview with Rob Hennigar on how hard he trained this summer for his first NHL camp and what's ahead at prospects camp as he wants to get into an NHL preseason game.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Frans Nielsen has the four year contract but make no mistake this twenty five year old will be one player he has to compete against along with Ben Walter and Jeremy Colliton.

The Star: Cliff Fletcher had some strong statements about how much he thinks his club could struggle this season declaring they do not have one top six forward aside from Nik Antropov but some players were on the fringe of that.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Is that Jason Blake's agent I hear on the telephone for Mr Fletcher? Could be a record for someone hired on an interim basis but I suppose if the expectations are played down there is less long-term blame.

How does a club install an interim gm this long then hire a new coach, what's going to happen when a new gm is finally named and he is stuck with a coach he did not hire?

CamWest News/Several outlets: Has the latest on Alexandre Radlov who now wants to return to play hockey in North America according to NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly but did not elaborate when he would return as he defended the players breach of contract because he did not do it in any kind of dismissive way.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I did not see read about anything dismissive from Alexei Yashin or Keith Tkaczuk when they held out under contract either but they still breached their contract and the court of public opinion did the rest. A player signs an agreement they have to live up to that or do not sign it in the first place.

This is kind of reading like a Marx brothers comedy between Bill Daly, Alexander Medvedev and Rene Fasel.

I can almost see why Garth Snow and a lot of general managers simply do not want the problems that come with this process. Draft results do not lie with the recent trends in terms of where players are selected.

It's ok Mr Medvedev decided to finally decided to hold the line on his agreement not to sign players with NHL contracts but Radulov is still playing in his league, Rene Fasel has not done anything to prevent it and now it seems his claims of the NHL signing Russian players under contract was a lot of non-sense or he's simply letting it pass which is not the right thing or fair to those Russian clubs.

If Radulov has a valid NHL contract he should play for only Nashville, if those players with Russian contracts are the property of those clubs they should not be playing for NHL clubs or their affiliates and Mr Medvedev should stand by his claims.

It's not that tough but of course this is all about money and making up the rules along the way.

Finally I absolutely should have included Tom Gulitti who covers the Devils for the Record and does an outstanding job with the Devil coverage in his Fire and Ice blog here when I blogged on Atlantic division writers the other day.

Saturday notables/quick hits

Point Blank: Mr Botta had a very interesting blog about how clubs sometimes make sure to point out in team press releases that a coach/player could have signed anywhere but decided to pick x team and felt it speaks poorly of your franchise that you even had to bring it up as he singled out Jacques Martin's hiring of a new head coach in Florida and did not like when he had to do it with the Islanders but maintained that it was the truth.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I agree with Mr Botta here to a point but a lot of times the media will bring this out themselves pointing out how many teams were interested in a player. We saw this with Jack Hillen and Rob Hennigar recently. By contrast we also see a lot of media write about how players will not play in a certain market so when a team does break through with a signing they do try and make it clear they wanted to be here over other teams so it sends a message to the fans as well as other players and their agents that this is a misconception.

If the media will not sell a team to the public and free agents that organization has to take every edge they can get.

Toronto Sun: Mike Zeisberger has the usual rumblings Bryan McCabe would waive his no trade clause to play for the Islanders as gm Cliff Fletcher comments on the trade market and the state of his team but not McCabe to the Isles.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
If I had a dollar for every time the Toronto media tried to get Bryan McCabe out of Toronto and back to the Isles to get his big contract and poor defensive play off the roster....

Bottom line he has a no-trade clause, if he's bought out he can sign anywhere.

I'm a little concerned Garth Snow after misreading the market on Bergeron and leaving his backline short a big shot after winning six games in a row traded someone early when he could have moved him after the season and gotten the same return and kept his depth.

That's a sign of inexperience or someone who at the very least misread the market for one of his own assets begging the question if he misread the market on his own player how will he do with players from other organizations?

The Sault Star: Peter Rucci reports the Soo Greyhounds acquired left-winger Jordan Nolan from the Windsor Spitfires Friday.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Good for Jordan Nolan. I saw some speeches Ted Nolan gave this week, if it's not Islander/hockey related, I'm not going to do a blog on most of them.

Ottawa Sun: Chris Stevenson has new Senators coach Craig Hartsburg's comments that playing in the 81 finals against the Islanders with the Minnesota North Stars was his career highlight.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Another coach who has not been on a bench in a long time being hired by a team, it almost seems like Bryan Murray wanted another coach he could work with and not someone who could get the most out of his players. John Paddock was considered a good players coach for a long time.

Of course I remember the 81 finals and Hartsburg. Game one and those two shorthanded goals by the Isles on one powerplay were incredible.

Quick Hits:
Every year we see articles about big trades before or at the draft, since the Mike Milbury show in 2000-2001 that has not been the practice so I'm skeptical.

Personally I think we will see what we saw at the trade deadline, first rounders are off limits in a draft with this quality unless a franchise player comes in return.

Someone wants to say a first rounder can be moved for Olli Jokinen that makes sense but of course it does not make any sense for the Islanders to do this because he demanded a trade from them in 2000 and spoke about it last season and we all know the Isles need to add franchise prospects.

A Sillinger or Guerin could go for a second rounder but if you do that you have better have a player of equal ability ready to sign on July 1st to take their spot this time.

Lets hope Greg Logan graces us with some Islander updates before the draft. Steve Zipay had three in three days begging the question how some can defend the lack of updates because he does longer updates?

Less to me is less.

Jason Blake Update

Toronto Star: Kevin McGran reports today that Jason Blake will not be bought out by the Leafs but would not put up a fuss if he were traded if that was the decision made by the organization with his comments and that of interim general manager Cliff Fletcher as well as updates of his health being good.

Tsn.ca: Also picked up on Toronto Star report regarding the Masterson finalist here.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
The great news is Jason Blake is doing well health wise.

The sad part is someone writes a headline titled Blake would welcome trade out of Toronto but if you read the article there is no comment from Blake where he said he would welcome a trade. Seems like the star headline writer had to stir the pot.

As for interim gm Cliff Fletcher saying he will not be bought out that may not be the next gm's take if/when a full time gm is hired and it could be posturing by the Leafs who may just buy him out if they cannot create a trade market for him before late June.

I do not see a trade for Jason Blake anywhere given his huge contract and poor season combined with his future health. Also after one season you would think they would not buy him out and see what he does in year two but stranger things have happened.

Should the Isles be interested?
No.

Not with that cap hit for his contract for that many years. A year ago they were not interested before his health problems coming off a forty goal season. There is no trade that makes sense for the Isles in that regard unless Toronto wants to start including top draft picks and their own top prospects with Blake and takes Bates/Hilbert contracts off Garth Snow's hands.

Even that is not enough to give back in contracts for this to make sense for the Isles and Toronto is not giving up their first round pick when they can do a buyout.

If Blake were bought out by Toronto then it could make some sense for the Isles in the short term to sign him. Both sides obviously missed the other last season as Blake can carry the puck which was/is lacking among the current Islander forward group where on other teams they have several players who can do that. What is disturbing is Blake's shot total did not decline and still he did not produce.