Snow Speaks To Media On Vanek Trade

 

Updated 12:50: Video of Snow's press conference now working 8:49.
ITV usually posts full video hours later which likely include Vanek/players/Capuano


Islanders twitter account had nothing new from comments on Sunday by Garth Snow.

Bridgeport's Last Stand? Wiles, Keenan, Diamond, Clark

Winger Sean Wiles is reporting to Bridgeport on a ATO here, who's leading his team with  14 goals and also posted 10 assists to go with long resume of penalties.
Forward Joey Diamond has signed with Bridgeport out of UMaine.
D Mike Keenan out of Dartmouth signed an ATO on 3/20.

And of course C Jason Clark was recalled after not playing/injured for about a month in the ECHL.

Sound Tigers website did a feature calling the weekend: " Pivotal "

Sure Bridgeport can get 3/6 points (even less) and we can keep doing these big weekend/game entries. Reality is they step up now or it's going through motions, too many teams in front of them.

Defensively the team has been better, and they are getting the goaltending from DiPietro/Reiter.

Some quick hits

Amazing how many articles referencing the New York Islanders this time of year.

From the dynasty or the comebacks down 3-0 or just the incredible memorable wins and even the playoff beards this time of year. The history and the legacy are just fun to see everywhere even without the team in the playoffs. Other teams just do not have this kind of incredible tradition.

Islanders website: Reports Bill Guerin was nominated for the King Clancy award with his comments and Garth Snow's.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Glad he got nominated, we'll see if he gets picked in June. He could be fantastic off the ice but on the ice he played large stretches of the season where he did not work as hard as he is capable. In terms of on ice I think the gm went overboard with his praise. A player who had one assist after the opening weekend going into December who's veterans were called out by the coach on several occasions is not above and beyond.

Ted Nolan admitted last week he went easy on his veterans and it was a mistake, one the captain has be directly accountable for also.

Everything and more, Mr Snow? Scoring thirty with a bunch of big goals and a playoff spot is everything and more. Worst offensive club in the league where the captain called the powerplay awful is not everything and more.

If his name was Yashin people would be looking for a buyout and Yashin had no one nearly as talented as Comrie all those years.

Updated:
To be fair the King Clancy award is given to a player who exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in the community. If Mr Snow feels his contribution was above and beyond off the ice I cannot say and do not know. It was reported he did a lot of great things, I do not want to give my readers any impression my comments are about anything but what I saw watching him play hockey games which is where my disagreement with the gm is here.

I felt that had to be added in here to be fair across the board. I have no idea what Bill Guerin does off the ice or in the community.

Vancouver Sun: Elliott Pap reports player agent Mike Gillis has been named the new general manager of the Vancouver Cauncks with speculation assistant gm Steve Tambellini could be replaced.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Another player agent makes the jump to general manager. Interesting the great class of potential general mangers for the Isles job two years ago are not exactly looking like incredible talents right now, although Chiarelli did a fantastic job getting Boston to the playoffs this year. I wonder how folks would feel with Dean Lombardi's record or Brent Sutter's fighting with his veterans, despite a solid year.

Some playoff notables:
All those former Islander defenders play game seven's.

Hamrlik Montreal-Won
Chara Boston-Loss
Aucoin Calgary-Loss
Poti/Erskine-Loss

Mike Keenan is still the most destructive coach in hockey and once again his giant ego just had to tinker until he kills him team. Pulling Kiprusoff for Curtis Joseph and within a minute he let up a softie that basically put the game away. I know Calgary was outshot and outplayed badly before he did this but it's like he cannot help himself and has to try something/anything instead of trusting his world-class talent.

Without that absurd move it's a one goal goal down the stretch instead of a Calgary club that seemed resigned to it's fate after falling behind three.

Kiprusoff and his agent should be demanding a trade unless Keenan is fired, it was that dumb a move by a coach who's team was outplayed and outshot badly and did not need a gimmick but a leader.

Speaking of ego too bad Washington did not win for another reason.

Dick Ebersol and Sam Flood would have looked like Msg employees on Dolan's payroll if Montreal and the Garden's team got the NBC games vs Washington-Pittsburgh which is the best matchup of all for ratings.

It would have been very entertaining watching them put a spin on showing a
Montreal-Ranger matchup over the leagues best draws by a mile. I think they would have gotten some heavy abuse from the hockey media also if they tried to pull it off.

Funny how last Sunday NBC's partner Versus did not get the hockey games when NBC showed the pope but Msg plus did? That's how friendly Msg and Mr Ebersol are.

It will be fun watching Ed Snider Comcast/Versus in Philadelphia vs the
Dolan-Ebersol connection fight for NBC games with Crosby in the middle. Personally the league needs to go where Crosby goes unless they wish to dig up the Detroit-Colorado rivalry now that Ovechkin is out.

In my opinion Ovechkin-Crosby was the only real ratings draw they have. None of these matchups will pull in big numbers.

For some reason I found myself pulling for Washington and was happy to see big crowds and a great building from a fanbase that even after going to a final looked lost after leaving Landover. What is Ted Leonsis waiting for to add Alexei Yashin to that speed and skill with his world-class shot?

If he stays healthy he will put up eight points in his sleep with everyone targeting Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin.

USHL.com: Announced former Islander J.P Parise was named the general manager and head coach of the Des Moines Buccaneers.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Congratutions and best of luck to JP Parise.

Article also credits Parise for his prior work as director of prospect evaluation at Shattuck St. Mary's Prep School in Faribault, Minn as one of the premiere prep school hockey programs in the world that has produced the likes of Sidney Crosby and Kyle Okposo.

Newsday: Katie Strang had another blog on the Islanders Newsday page with Pat Lafontaine's comments on his latest charity endeavor where he praised Ted Nolan for his coaching and gave his thoughts on the young players and the Isles future.

Islander News Articles 1/12:

Newsday: Greg Logan's game article at this time has no quotes but recaps the game with several Islanders breaking out of scoring slumps.

Newsday: Greg Logan has reaction from Rick DiPietro on his first all-star selection who praised Martin Brodeur.

"Being a fan of hockey growing up, you watch the skills competition and the All-Star Game," DiPietro said. "It's kind of cliché to say the dream came true, but it really did."

"When you get a chance to play against Marty on a consistent basis, you're learning from the best," DiPietro said. "I've had the last six years to study him and watch how he carries himself. You learn a lot, and it definitely makes you pick up your play when you look down at the other end and you've got arguably the best goalie to ever lace up the pads. It definitely increases your intensity level."

Newsday: Greg Logan's other article despite the win had criticism from Ted Nolan on how some of his players have been struggling, especially Josef Vasicek who has taken one shot or less in fourteen of his last sixteen games and Ruslan Fedotenko, who are both quoted.

"Joe Vasicek is a good player. For whatever reason, the last five or six games, he hasn't been skating and he's been losing some battles. I had a good discussion with him. I talked to Tank, too, and showed him a couple things we felt he wasn't doing the best. We've got to get him into position where he's going to get the puck and do some creative things with it."

"I didn't shoot much, did I?" Vasicek said. "I don't know why. That's the thing, I guess early in the season, I didn't think about it as much. Lately, we've been getting some chances, but it seems like we always hit the post. You start to think about it a little more, and that never helps."

"It's really up to Teddy how he's going to split up the ice time," Vasicek said. "I'm just trying to do my job and play as hard as I can. I've got a lot of respect for him. I know he knows what he's doing."

New York Times: Jeff Z. Klein makes a statistical argument why Rick DiPietro and Tomas Vokoun should not have been selected as reserve goaltenders for the All-Star game based on shots against and save percentage.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Perhaps the Times should send Mr Klein out to cover Islander games on a daily basis so he could get his answer beyond numbers? If there is a goalie playing with less margin for error facing the quality chances DiPietro faces nightly I do not know of one. Islanders goals against down significantly from last year and an improved record
is why DiPietro deserved to be named.

Oh yes, in the first four games of the Islanders' five-game road trip, DiPietro has faced an average of 39.5 shots and has gotten three of four games to overtime.

Calgary Sun:Steve MacFarlane has comments from Jerome Iginla, Ted Nolan, Mike Keenan on how well Rick DiPietro played.

"He played well. I thought we had a lot of chances, especially in the first period," said Iginla, who somehow found his side down 3-1 heading into the the second period. "He kept them in there."

"I looked at it. We had three good chances to score," said Flames head coach Mike Keenan of the powerplay opportunity. "He's a very athletic goaltender. He picks up a lot of points for them."

Calgary Sun: Eric Francis has reaction from Rick DiPietro on Ovechkin's contract and Charles Wang's decisions.

"If anyone's a trend-setter, it would be our owner," said the 26-year-old Islanders netminder of the oft-ridiculed Charles Wang.

"People are always first to point out how crazy he is and the crazy things he does. Then at the end of the day people start following suit. We do my deal, and everyone is all over him. He hires Snowy (GM Garth Snow), and people criticize him for that, and next thing you know, Dallas hires Brett Hull. He's ahead of his time.

"If you're a business person in general, and you have a chance to lock up one of your young franchise guys for a long time in this salary cap age and it's tough to hold onto top players, it seems like the smartest thing to do."

NYI Fan Central Comments:
It should be noted Eric Francis has always gone all out to rip the Islanders out of Calgary over the years. It was likely the first time he has seen DiPietro since the draft in Calgary in 2000.

Calgary Sun: Steve MacFarlane had an interview with Ruslan Fedotenko on his great final with Tampa Bay against Calgary in 2004 and the celebration in the Ukraine.

Calgary Herald: Scott Cruickshank's game coverage and some comments on Rick DiPietro on spending two days in Calgary:

"The thing about having two off days in Canada is that you get to see a lot of hockey highlights," New York Islanders netminder Rick DiPietro was saying before Friday's game at the Pengrowth Saddledome.

"I feel like I've already scouted the Flames by watching TSN."