New York Notables

Monday's entry has a few words on the NHL draft, a preseason split-squad against Edmonton, the latest taxpayer handout (including selective editorial coverage) to subsidize a local sports team, with a few other items.

When bad media attacks

It's kind of funny to me the same Daily News that went above and beyond to report Newsday pulled a report on an Islander-Ranger game at Yankee Stadium here after Al Trautwig stuck a shoe store in his mouth and said a game involving the Islanders was confirmed was even quicker to pull a report claiming a player had a life-threatening problem.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Why didn't the Daily News just admit they made an incorrect report instead of pulling it? If the Daily News is going to call out Newsday for pulling a far less significant issue than a supposed life-threatening situtation doesn't it demand Leon Carver and his people awake from their slumber and just admit an error was made?

Just remember folks, these are some of the same people who attempt to tell us what's happening in the Islander lockeroom covering the team in a few short paragraphs for occasional home games and all of us take every word as gospel, even the speculation.

As for what happened to Avery, no one wants anyone to have an serious health issue and you hope long-term the player is ok which is all that matters. Having written that this player went straight at Rick DiPietro's head last season after his first concussion and gave him another one with no regard whatsoever for his long-term health so apparently he does not feel the same way.

I guess for some it depends on what uniform you wear each season or whether you want to rock the ambulance or shed a tear.

Folks who remember Pat Lafontaine will understand this.

Bottom line another poor day from the brutal New York Hockey media.

Newsday: Barbara Baker in Newsday asks Clark Gilles about coming back down 3-0 in a playoff series and his experience from the 1975 Islanders who were the last NHL team to accomplish this.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
The headline written vs Gillies comments are two different worlds. The Islanders not only did it against Pittsburgh but rallied a second time down 3-0 against Philadelphia to tie that series 3-3 before losing game seven. For all the lack of Islander coverage you would think Newsday would not have the budget to be bothered hunting down Clark Gillies for something this trivial considering how many teams go down 3-0 in a series. It's one thing if a team rallied to force a game seven but
at 3-0 why bother aside from it being a small footnote?

More on Neil Smith's Islander contract

Daily News: Peter Botte's game article on Thursday was mostly about new details on Neil Smith's contract that were first reported in the Globe and Mail here in an earlier blog posting.

Mr Botte reports:
Smith appeared reticent about working without autonomy within Wang's hierarchy and, inexplicably, never signed his agreed-upon three-year contract worth roughly $2.1 million.

Smith and Wang agreed to allow NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to serve as the mediator/arbitrator in the compensation case that has stretched over 16 months.

"I can't talk about this because it hasn't been resolved yet," Smith said last night.

One NHL official said Smith's lawyers argued that Smith "didn't know what he was getting into" in taking the "committee" job, although the Isles countered that Wang's outline of the job was well documented from the outset.

According to one source, Bettman recently informed Smith that his contract is not "enforceable," and that he likely will be entitled to a settlement estimated to be worth "between zero and 40 days' pay."

NYI Fan Central Comments:
The other day I wrote if Mr Wang introduced him as the gm he should be entitled to some compensation.

That written how come Neil Smith did not sign his contract or understand things would be done by committee. Anyone who watched that press conference saw Mr Wang say several times it would be a hockey committee and took many questions on the subject.

Neil Smith deserves compensation but only for the time he did work which clearly is not going to amount to much. I wonder if Mr Wang will simply give him more money so there are no hard feelings but this is one of those times there could be hard feelings on both sides, only the folks involved know.

To his credit Mr Smith on SNY doing hockey analysis has not used his spotlight to make his contract a public issue and has done a fair job when the Islanders come up under tough circumstances and been a class act as always.

This is another mark against Neil Smith that has kept him out of jobs in this league
in a fraternity of owners who do stick together on some things whether they are right or wrong. Not sure how much consulting Mr Smith does for Dallas but he has not been on Versus or any broadcast I know of outside of SNY.

It's too bad because as part of Wang's committee Mike Sillinger and Brendan Witt did sign here. Sillinger did make it clear Smith was a reason he agreed to a contract.

Finally, all due respect Mr Botte, you need a blog at the Daily News for the Islanders and should be asking Leon Carter to set one up for additional coverage like this.

Two paragrahps as game coverage in the newspaper is not acceptable and tells us nothing. Anyone following this story knew about it three days ago when the Globe and Mail broke it, post game article should not take a step back for it.

Prospects at the crossroads?

It's still a little early but there are signs from many of the Islanders prospects that they are simply not improving to a point where they are forcing management to give them a look and recall them and that's not good considering all the time and resouces that have been invested in them over several seasons. Steve Regier is making the best statistical impression outside of Tambellini who's play making skills seem to be improved but who will likely make the NHL for good based on his defense.

Fair or not I'm going by the numbers more than anything. If those who recall Trent Hunter finally was just called up and kept up, he seemed to do worse in the NHL when he was scoring in Bridgeport and better in the NHL when he was called up after struggling in Bridgeport.

In other words sometimes there is no logic.

Last year Ted Nolan did callup Jeremy Colliton, Blake Comeau, Frans Nielsen and Jeff Tambellini on several occasions. A year ago Ted Nolan felt Comeau would absoutely be an NHL player, now he's a negative rating player and he's not producing.

This year with the injury to Jon Sim, Bill Guerin, Bergenheim and Shawn Bates situtation we have seen one callup with any offensive ability and that's Ben Walter who briefly played on the fourth line outside of one quick cameo from Jeff Tambellini. Tim Jackman and Darryl Bootland have been given the opportunities over the prsopects the club has invested years in.

Meanwhile in terms of the numbers, Colliton, Comeau, Nielsen are not producing much in terms of goals. Tambellini has been in somewhat of a slump recently and the Islanders second round pick on defense in Dustin Kohn has been scratched on a few occasions.

When you include the slump Kyle Okposo has been in since he lost a winger on his line (he scored in a loss over the weekend) it's fair to ask the question is the club's youth movement at the crossroads?

Next season with so many pending free agents again for the Islanders these players have to step up and give management reason to think they are part of the long-term answer.

Garth Snow is going to need his first round pick next summer too.

Islander News Articles 10/28:

Newsday: John Jeansonne had reaction from Ted Nolan, DiPietro, Sillinger and Bill Guerin.

"We were rusty at the start, but I don't think that's an excuse to lose 8-2," forward Mike Sillinger said.

"I don't want to sit and make excuses," DiPietro said. "We did have an extensive layoff, but whatever it was, hopefully it's out of our system."

Newsday: Mark Herrmann wrote an article on the Devils Prudential Center and asked why the Islanders cannot get the arena renovation they need with an updated timetable of what's going to happen next in the approval process.

Note-Steve Zipay's Ranger centric article mentions the Islander signings are outscoring the Ranger signings and gives the numbers vs salary, but little else.

Daily News: Brian Bohl does a game update.

Newsobserver: Lorenzo Perez Herald Sun: Provide the Carolina centric coverage.

NY Post: Mike Puma is the latest now to cover an Islander game for the Post in his limited space.

NY Post: Jay Greenberg & NY Post: Former Devils employee Larry Brooks of course do all they can to rain on the Devils parade for opening a new building by basically insulting the Devil fans, the City of Newark and the overall team for reasons that only show why hockey in New York is desperate for quality writers who want to make our sport more popular, not ruin it with articles that reek of envy in a sad display.

NY Post: Rumble section on sports celebrities led with Al Arbour coming back to coach next Saturday and a funny story on how he benched actor and Ranger fan Tim Robbins in a charity game a few years ago.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has reaction from the players and coach on Saturday's loss at Norfolk. Jeremy Colliton's shorthanded goal accounted for all of Bridgeport's scoring. Darryl Bootland cleared waivers and skated on the right side with Frans Nielsen and Tambellini.

"I question our team's conditioning, first off," forward Jeff Tambellini said. "Three in a row, that's a joke. It's unacceptable to be blowing games when you have leads. Winning teams don't throw away third-period leads."

"We were doing everything we were supposed to do," coach Jack Capuano said. "We came out in the third period, and some guys thought it was going to be easy."

Norfolk Virginian Pilot: Has the Admirals coverage.

Islander News Articles 10/9:

Newsday: Greg Logan has the game recap where Poti and Kozlov praised the Islansders, Nolan and DiPietro were quoted about the loss with more speculation that Berard will be signed shortly.

Newsday: Logan also has an article with player reaction to Jason Blake having Lukemia.

NY Post: Dan Martin's game article centered around Mike Comrie's turnover that led to the game winning goal. Guerin and Comrie are quoted on the game as Berard's likely signing.

"When you expect a lot out of yourself and you're an important part of the team, there are going to be high highs and low lows," Comrie said.

"It can be heartbreaking when you lose and make a play like that, but you learn from it."

"You can shoot a lot and just fluff the goalie's pads all day," said Bill Guerin, who acknowledged that the Caps had more scoring chances.

Daily News: Brian Bohl showed up again, his article centered around Comrie's turnover, shot selection and thoughts from Nolan, DiPietro.

"Offensive guys like to make great offensive plays," coach Ted Nolan said. "Mike knows maybe he should have went up the boards with it. If he has one turnover a game and creates six on the other end, we'll take that any day."

"It's not always the shots, sometimes it's the chances that they get," said DiPietro, whose team held a 31-12 edge in shots.

"We just have to take better shots," captain Bill Guerin said. "I think we're shooting to shoot. Especially with bad ice, you have to keep things simple: get to the net."

Washington Post: Required registration for access to their game coverage.

Washington Times: Corey Masisak has the Caps Centric coverage of the game.

NHLPA Had a feature on Islanders goaltending coach Mike Dunham.

Toronto Sun: Mike Zeisberger, did an article on former coach Peter Laviolette's support for Jason Blake.

Edmonton Journal: Cam Tait, had another updated on prospect Robin Figren who again had a good game according to Oil King's management.

Islander News Articles 10/7:

Newsday: Greg Logan kicks off the coverage of the home opening win vs Buffalo.

Newsday: Mark Herrman showed up to do one of his three or four Islander articles a season to remind us how bad a franchise we are while crediting the early results and specifically Mike Comrie.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Funny how Herrmann did an entire article the other day on the 94 Rangers and sold how things can be that way again for a few days but wrote the Islanders dynasty in 1980s might as well be ancient Rome to the current players?

Of course what's a Herrman feel-bad article without some reference to Alexei Yashin somewhere because he likely never watches the Islanders play and does not know the current roster. We may see Herrman Wednesday but my guess is we don't see him again until Al Arbour coaches against Pittsburgh.

Newsday: Greg Logan did an updated on Meyer being placed on waivers and what this could mean for a possible Berard signing.

Daily News : Someone named Brian Bohl
who likely is an A.P writer or associated with the Buffalo media covered the home opener.

"We know we're a skilled line," Comrie said. "We're not satisfied after two games. There's a lot more we can all do out there."

"Both teams tightened up," DiPietro said. "It's tough starting a season back-to-back, but I thought we did a good job coming off with a lot of energy."

"It feels great, but it can turn around just as easily," Campoli said. "I'm just staying even-keeled and hopefully we can keep winning."

New York Post: Dan Martin showed up for his first game to remind us it was announced sellout in an article that read like someone who has not covered a game since last season and did not know the players.

"Comrie told us over the summer that he wanted to be the go-to guy," coach Ted Nolan said. "He's been our go-to guy."

"Our role is to score goals," Comrie said. "We've done that for two games."

"Mike Comrie is a dynamic player with the puck," Rick DiPietro said.

"The last 15 minutes, we kind of sat back," Comrie said. "We have to keep playing."

Buffalo News: John Vogal leads the Sabres coverage of the game.

“It was substantially better,” said goaltender Ryan Miller, who made 21 saves. “We didn’t have quite the offense we had on the first night, but again, the Islanders adjusted to us, too.

Sound Tigers website: Had game summary. Joey MacDonald played well. Tim Jackman, Ben Walter and Frans Nielsen (from Tambellini) had the third goal. Dustin Kohn had a good game in his AHL debut.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio updated his blog on the line combos on the Sound Tigers won won their season opener in Hartford Saturday 3-2.

Ct Post: had article on the season opening win.

"The last two weeks, everything we've been emphasizing to our guys to do, they did," said Jack Capuano, who won his official debut as Bridgeport's head coach. "That's why we were successful."

"Give our young defensemen credit. This is a tough place to come into," Capuano said. "I'm proud of those guys. They sustained a lot of pressure from the forecheck. They made a lot of good decisions with the puck."

"The last two weeks, everything we've been emphasizing to our guys to do, they did," said Jack Capuano, who won his official debut as Bridgeport's head coach. "That's why we were successful."

Hartford Courant: Bruce Berlet leads the Wolfpack perspective on the game.

Sound Tigers next game is the home opener Friday against Steve Stirling's Norfolk Admirals.

Edmonton Sun: Jason Vogel reported prospect Robin Figren played well in his return from injury that kept him shut down in Moncton.

Islander News Articles 10/4:

Newsday's Greg Logan gives us an update on Berard and some interesting comments from Brendan Witt here.

* It's possible a move will be made before the Islanders board the team plane this afternoon and head to Buffalo for Friday night's opener. Berard is paying his own expenses, which allows him to practice with the Islanders as Tommy Albelin did with the Devils last season. But judging by the fact he was running the top power play Wednesday, it's likely Berard will be signed sooner rather than later.

"We're trying to get ready for the season and trying not to let it be a distraction for the guys that are still uncertain," Witt said. "It's a lot of pressure for those guys. It's sort of like a mini-training camp for them still to win that job. It becomes very competitive."

In the knock me over with a feather department the Daily News Sports Editor Leon Carver actually had a writer named Jesse Spector do an article today where someone went to practice and got actual comments from the players and in an even bigger shock it's a good article where the writer knew the subject and brought out things Newsday has not reported. Berard was not mentioned.

"I don't think you really know what to expect," said Mike Comrie, who will center the all-free agent top line that also includes Ruslan Fedotenko and new captain Bill Guerin. There's so much parity in the league that if you work hard, and you compete, you have a chance to win every night.

"We realize we don't have one of the marquee big names or anything like that," Guerin said. "But you play as a team, you play hard, and we've got one of the top five goalies in the league, and we've got four pretty solid lines - everybody's going to have to do their part."

"Those first couple of games are big," said DiPietro, who suffered a concussion in March and missed the final seven games of the regular season, then rushed back for the playoffs after backup Wade Dubielewicz won the final four games to seal the Isles' berth. "You want to get that confidence going and get that good feeling back."

"We're going into this season expecting to win," second-year coach Ted Nolan said. "You can't have any other thoughts going in."

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Brendan Witt is correct. Islanders have too many defenders around and have to make some decisions now. If Berard is at practice and paying for it out of pocket and leading the defenders on the pp, it's time he be signed and some players be exposed to waivers or a trade is made. The season has begun, teams are playing games, this cannot be a distraction any longer and must be decided.

Witt's comments were encouraging, but why Logan brought up Sean Hill when he had all summer and all through camp to bring it up makes no sense, he's not on the club and he's not going to play the first twenty games for Minnesota.

What can I say about the Daily News, show up and cover our team daily and provide a blogger and it will be good for the Islanders and good for New York Hockey which needs all the exposure it can get in a New York City market where it's virtually invisible. Cannot cost that much to have someone blog for the club.

Michael Fornabaio it the Ct Post updated his blog
here and had four articles for the Ct Post Thursday edition Sound Tigers get physical BREAKING DOWN the Sound Tigers FIVE QUESTIONS for the Sound Tigers Jackman enjoyed brief NHL taste.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Impossible not to see how much Fornabaio puts into his work letting the fans get to know the club. Outstanding coverage cross the board. There is very good reason to expect the best Sound Tigers team since it's first season.

Chris Botta's blog box a must read today.

Mr Botta's NYI Point Blank blog today is a must read for Islander fans on the Daily News and the coverage of our hockey team.

The Funny Papers

If you see an Islanders fan pulled over at the side of the road and they are laughing uproariously, chances are they are not listening to Howard Stern, O and A or the Best of Foreigner. They are, however, listening to the most hilarious thing to hit the airwaves in months.

The latest radio spot promoting the sports section of the New York Daily News - it's a knee-slapper!

In the radio commercial, the announcer extols the virtues of the News' sports section, twice giving star billing to sports editor Leon Carter. Here's the part that has Islanders (and Devils) fans rolling in the aisles: "Sports editor Leon Carter makes sure that all New York sports teams have the best coverage in town."

I'm telling ya, folks: it only gets funnier with each listen. I'm at the point now where I volunteer to go to Dairy Barn during my Yankees games, praying Robby Cano makes the third out so I have a chance of hearing the Daily News commercial.

If only it were a joke.

For the record, the Daily News covers most Islanders home games once baseball season is over and does not send beat writer Peter Botte on the road. We get the occasional off-day mention, usually in that box where they lump in somone breaking the pole vault record and golf tournaments Tiger doesn't play in. Sometimes, when the Islanders do something of moderate interest, like fire Neil, give Ricky a landmark contract or trade for Captain Canada, we even get a couple hundred words.

It wasn't that long ago the Islanders received regular coverage in the Daily News. Anthony McCarron, now a baseball writer there, was on us every day. So was Ralph Vacchiano, now the Giants beat writer.

Besides the obvious - losing coverage in a major NY tabloid - the dropoff is an even bigger shame because Pete Botte is one of the best sports reporters in town. Islanders fans know this because Pete used to cover the team for the Post. Back then, he had plenty of space for his wicked commentary and exclusive reports. He was so good.

No one knew how to get more out of Mike Milbury than Botte. How did he do it? Simply by listening. When it looked like Mike might be done with his rant, Pete would make eye contact with the other writers on the beat as if to say, "Don't ask another question"! There would be about ten seconds of silence and then Mike would continue on, always delivering his A material. Botte has those kind of instincts.

Pete still does that today - he has the pride in his work to get to as many practices as he can, even when he knows he probably won't have space - but it's just not the same. Garth and Ted usually put periods on their sentences and well, even when they get off a zinger, Botte usually doesn't have the room in the next day's paper to get it in.

I continue to hope the Daily News changes its position and gets Pete back on us full-time. And then when it happens, that son of a gun Botte will probably make me regret it!

I know I'll get some emails wondering if it's smart to go after the Daily News. Fact is, I wouldn't if it weren't for the absurdist comedy of the radio spot. That's just asking for it. The marketing staff at the Daily News should not insult Islanders fans. You can't NOT cover the team and then run a commercial like that.

And I certainly don't blame Leon Carter for the spot. I knew Leon briefly when I did a short stint a long time ago at Newsday, where he was a up-and-comer at the sports desk. I deal with him from time to time as I push for more coverage. Leon doesn't strike me as a guy who would walk into a board meeting and declare, "Hey, I think we should do a radio commercial where you talk about me like I'm Woodward and Bernstein!"

For now, if you're an Islanders fan who likes the Daily News but you're angry Pete Botte isn't with us at least five days a week, I guess you could do two things: don't buy the newspaper and contact Daily News editor-in-chief Martin Dunn with a polite note of disappointment.

Make no mistake: we want the Daily News back covering us. We need the Daily News covering us.

Please just change that radio spot. My stomach can't take it.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Great blog and basically why I have not and will not support the Daily News until I see an increase in coverage.

Peter Botte's work has always been very good. This does make me re-think all the blame on Leon Carver but from a fan perspective you guess the sports editor has some control of how much space a local club receives in a sports section. Fair to say Chris Botta's been complanining for a long time as he should be and as we do.

Would be a fair thing to ask why Mr Botte cannot blog for the News to make up for the lack of space as John Dellapina does on his full time Ranger beat? How much does it costs for the News to let Botte blog?

This also has me wondering why is the News being singled out when the Post never replaced Evan Grossman who left for NHL.com in season?

Meanwhile our fans have been stuck with infrequent coverage from Dan Martin with our rare summer updates from Devil writer Mark Everson and no blog. This also does not even include the Times, Journal News and New York Sun?

I can understand Mr Botta's frustration on that radio ad. It's like those Cablevision ads for high definition that many Islander fans are supposed to receive but FSN-2 does not have it yet the Islanders are mentioned. No doubt Chris Botta will be brining up the problems with the other city papers.

Were a million years from the day's of Mike Lupica covering the Islanders like the Yankees.

Let's talk New York Islander print media game.

I always kind of laugh when once a year or longer a publication will mention the Long Island chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association of America awarded something to an Islander player or nominated them for a league award like the Masterson.

Where is this association of hockey writers when basically one person at Newsday covers the club on a full time basis during the season?

Can I apply after owning a mailing list for seven years, writing for websites and moderating/owning message forms regarding the club. I have problems even remembering the roster of people who have covered the club locally for the last seven years as hockey coverage in New York has decreased dramatically.

I think it goes like this:
Newsday-Valenti, Hahn, Logan
Post-Berman, Baum, Grossman, Martin, Everson-Brooks infrequent updates.
Daily News-Stephenson, Botte or Dellapina infrequent updates.
Times: Caldwell, Ron Dicker, A.P aside from features and rare Caldwell appearances.
NY Sun-Kevin Greenstein features only
Journal News-rare updates at best

No wonder the Islanders are reaching out to fans to start blogs and come report on games. I'm a little disappointed Chris Botta stopped ripping the media earlier this summer after getting into it with a few writers and promised a media-watch column every two weeks through the summer that he did not follow up on.

Just for reference when I started getting into hockey on-line a site called faceoff.com used to have weekly reports from Peter Botte from the Daily News. The Sporting News used to feature an Islander report from Alan Hahn weekly. Information was much easier to find and few sites were pay/subscription.

Those days are over and sites like that folded or scaled back hockey coverage or demand you pay for what I consider worthless content. Many teams do not have beatwriters on the road anymore to save money so you read the AP/ticker and club website for game information and check out the opposition. Once in a while a Newsday beatwriter like a Heyman, Powell or Howard will show up and the work looks like it's from someone who has only seen a handful of games because they are required, they provide nothing but filler and the die-hard fans know much more.

A major part of all this is the sports editor is the final say with regard to a teams coverage. I can only question the beatwriters content and effort here covering the club. It's kind of like fans blaming the beatwriter for the headline, papers have people to write the headline for a writers article, but we read something and blame the writer because his article is beneath someone else's headline.

Of course the major part of talking about the Islander media starts with new beatwriter Greg Logan, who was assigned to cover the club after Alan Hahn was
re-assigned the Knicks beat last summer. Let me start by writing anyone would have been an upgrade from Hahn after 05-06 who seemed to have an problem with some players and clearly the clubs PR director, Chris Botta was not happy with his work or lack of effort.

Worst of all Mr Hahn got very lazy and sloppy in his reporting of the games and information after the lockout. He never reached out to all the players on the roster. We read more on our European players in Europe and Canada in season then we ever did in Newsday. How long has Radek Martinek been here? Anyone ever read one quote from him in Newsday, even though he tries to give an interview once in a while on FSN.

Was it that tough for Mr Hahn to update his mailbag when in Pittsburgh their writers did one every week or two through the lockout? He claimed to be a life-long fan of the club and wrote two books (that badly needed editing) was it that hard for him to show some enthusiam if he grew up a fan? He ignored the clubs 25th anniversary of the 1980 cup during the lockout and only after fans contacted Newsday were some token features written with excepts from his book the following Sunday.

Mr Hahn sure had no problem constantly reminding us in his limited space that we are not a major market team so our space is limited.

Early years Hahn rated a solid C+ but his final year declined all the way to an F and not because of his negative view toward a losing team in 05-06. You want the beatwriter to tell it as it is, but from my perspective he just did not have any enthusiam for his job and the work was as sloppy as the club on the ice. In fairness Milbury was either a tough person to interview or one who fills quotebooks and makes the job easy. Later we found out his father passed away so maybe that was a problem all season his last year also.

Greg Logan: I don't want a homer covering the club and he shows signs of being one once in a while. Maybe he wants a good relationship with the club but so far I have to give him high marks. He took over the beat during some very tough times in the front office last summer.

If Logan wants to be critical that's great. A few times he seemed to take the high road during adversity where Snow and Nolan deserved some more tough questions, especially Nolan who went with Dunham too long and it practically eliminated the club from playoff contention. I like his blog updates and he does a good job but I don't think he understands this is the only newspaper blog the Isles have and the club needs all the updates it can get. Steve Zipay will put up three small updates in a day, Logan will do three big updates in a month. Meanwhile several of the other major papers have their their writers blogging because they understand the space in the paper is limited for hockey. The Islander blog at Newsday is critical to the coverage of the club.

Logan's work running down the Smyth trade was outstanding as was his getting an
interview from an airport as he flew here from Edmonton. Logan was also quick to point out blog views equals coverage. Islander fans set record numbers in Newsday
and newspaper coverage/backpages increased. That's what he mentioned in his first blog and he followed through which is what die-hards like myself look for.

All writers miss some items in reporting, Logan is no different but he had a very good first season here and I would rate his work a solid B under a lot of fan scrutiny from folks behind keyboards who have it easy like myself.

Peter Botte: I cannot blame Mr Botte for not being allowed to cover games, that goes with sports editor (Leon Carver?) at the Daily News. When he reports his work is usually very good and brings a lot of information. He knows when the club deserves credit and when they deserve to be ripped. Never saw any tendency where he played favorites.

Botte's been around for a long time on the Islander beat, he no longer is permitted to cover road games and the News will sometimes not send him to home games. I would give the editor an F and Botte a B+....

New York Post: Evan Grossman left for NHL.com in season last year and aside from an infrequnet Dan Martin home game article that read like A.P coverage we have not had a new full-time writer named to this point. What's interesting here is I was never a fan of Grossman's work at the Post but his Islander/NHL features at NHL.com are outstanding. I have doubts the Post will spend money on a full-time replacement and Larry Brooks noted the Isles ignored him in a conference call this summer so clearly Botta is not happy with the club's treatment.

Post sports editor Gallo has never given the Isles a fair shake in the Post, he get's a F while Grossman unitl the point he left rated a C. Grossman created a stir in Ottawa in the 2003 playoff when he picked the Islanders to upset the Senators.

New York Times: Again a F to the sports editor for not assigning any beatwriter to the club, Dave Caldwell game articles were so infrequent I cannot give it a fair rating, his Islander work from years ago would rate a B.