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.