NHL.com: Brian Compton does a feature on former Islander scout Jimmy Devellano and his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 8th.
"The Islander days were very important to me," said Devellano, who admitted he reflects often on his time in Long Island. "First of all, I don't get to Detroit as a general manager if I don't do a job for the Islanders. I know that. Bill Torrey was a great boss; he was a great mentor for me. He really gave me a lot of authority. Basically, he entrusted the draft to me.
"We had a lot of success. It led to four consecutive Stanley Cups. You really put that into perspective … that no other U.S.-based team has ever won more than two (consecutively). Here are the Islanders -- in their eighth, ninth, 10th and 11th years of existence -- (winning) four in a row. It was a team that almost was 90-percent built through the amateur draft. I'm very proud of that. That was my role there.
"I would still tell you the highlight of my life was the first Stanley Cup with the Islanders. You get into this business, you don't know if you're ever going to win one. If you do win one, you're not that cocky to think you're going to win two or three … or six or seven. It happened, but I didn't know that at the time. Those were very, very happy times."
NYIFC Comments:
Thrilled for Mr Devellano, I'm long familiar with his role here when New York won the Stanley Cup, I remember his return for the 25th Anniversary and his comments back then as well, first class gentleman.
I would be lying to my readers if I said I wrote a separate update for this because it was announced long ago.
This was posted this because the Florida Panther raised a banner to Bill Torrey Saturday, the Panther website had several updates, but none of them appeared on the Islander website, nor was anything special written by the Islanders staff.
The ceremony was posted on ITV quietly with nothing added where our fans coulod view it. Doug Weight came out during the tribute, but all our fans saw locally were highlights from his night back in 2001 beyond a very quick look in.
So why is the Islander website using NHL.com updates for Mr Devellano but not for Mr Torrey?
The teams website is quick to give us features on Gillies-Konopka or about video replays (all worthy features) are made (Msg employee Butch Goring's quote was even allowed to be used by Cablevision) but they ignore Mr Torrey's ceremony plus Jiggs McDonald as emcee?
No excuse for this from the Islander website or the New York Islanders so-called
television partner who did not cover his live ceremony last Saturday, on the latest hidden Msg+2 telecast, but did interview him between periods.
Our fans should have seen the full ceremony and the New York Islanders writing staff/management should have honored Mr Torrey with written tributes.
No excuse for anything else.
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For some reason Rob Schremp twittered he is going to play for Bridgeport Friday in Manchester, then it was quickly erased. I guess we will know tomorrow if he is traveling to the Sound Tigers road game.
NYIFC Comments:
Either way it's not a state secret that will have Manchester management scrambling to late night emergency meetings to adjust strategy. If he does play it's almost the equivalent of Scott Gordon's game day goaltending announcements. Fair to say most teams know and are well prepared/scouted for Dwayne Roloson or Rick DiPietro.
I have never had any problem with the Islanders being secretive with injury announcements per NHL policy. With the brutal media treatment they receive, I would not tell outlets anything and simply have them copy all breaking news from the website, and let them work off that.
This is Scott Gordon's practice and he does it in a way like it's going to give him some kind of advantage by waiting until game day.
Fair to say no one on the Islanders is scrambling tonight since the announcement of Alex Auld as the Canadians starter Friday to watch video.
If Scott Gordon does not know who his starter is Friday at this point, fair enough.
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Thoughts:
James Wisniewski near the top of NHL defenders scoring which is fantastic on countless levels for the New York Islanders, having written this I did not like how he played that Montreal short-handed goal, watch how he did not cut out the passing lane, despite him having position.
A disaster? No. Wisniewski has been very good and it's first month with a new team, but it's worth noting it's not the first time Wisniewski has not had his stick in right area to cut down passing lane, but skated to the correct area or had position.
Sure Weight/anyone could have lost the puck pinching and got beat, that's going to happen, it almost happened before he set up a goal by Bailey against Colorado, and he lost one against the Rangers which could have turned that game.
Not related to any of above but this defense seemed to have lost it's lynch-pin with the loss of Andrew MacDonald, that's with Radek Martinek playing his usual steady game.
Mark Eaton reminds me a little of Andy Sutton's very early days here when he was a victim of bounces, deflections or blocked shots that went to players who scored.
I'm not sure yet about Jurcina or Mottau as New York Islanders, better than track records, but expect mistakes. Maybe they can be better here than they were in New Jersey or Washington/Columbus.
Too much rust on Jack Hillen, far too much rust on Gervais, this classy kid needs to play somewhere and soon, even if it means a conditioning game.
EXTRA:
The teams website had a good thing going with Islanders Authorized last year, they went out of their way to promote it, then stopped using it around June or July and now release things on Facebook/Twitter but it's jumbled among the comments/announcements and harder to follow.
The advertisements on the Islanders twitter feed for so many things and not hockey updates only made it impossible to use here on sidebar which extended to team website updates last year.
NYIFC is trying to keep up. The Islanders Authorized feature was removed and something was created for Islander-Bridgeport Facebook/Twitter.
Bottom line it would be appreciated if they use one outlet and stick with it.
Looks like Fox Rupert Murdoch has no problem doubling Cablevsion Ranger coverage in Post, having Jay Greenberg cover games while the Islanders have received nothing written in quite a while.
A few more days of this and Mr Murdoch may tell his sports editor to send Larry Brooks and Greenberg on the road with the Islanders.
Does the Daily News take Peter Botte out of hiding for a night? His twitter feed does not reflect someone watching games with any enthusiasm for the club whatsoever, who does not even follow.
The NY Times has the budget to pay a writer to do crossword puzzles with the Islander players, but does not have the money in that nice, modern building to cover any of the teams hockey games?
I'm sure there is a word that can fit on a crossword puzzle.
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