New York/Bridgeport Announce Rosters

Islanders website: Announced it's 23 man roster to begin the 2013-14 season. 
Forwards
Josh Bailey
Pierre-Marc Bouchard
Eric Boulton
Casey Cizikas
Michael Grabner
Matt Martin
Colin McDonald
Matt Moulson
Brock Nelson
Frans Nielsen
Kyle Okposo
Peter Regin
John Tavares

Defensemen
Matt Carkner
Matt Donovan
Travis Hamonic
Thomas Hickey
Andrew MacDonald
Griffin Reinhart
Brian Strait
Lubomir Visnovsky

Goalies
Evgeni Nabokov
Kevin Poulin

Injured Reserve
Cal Clutterbuck

Ryan Pulock, the Islanders’ first pick (15th overall) in the 2013 National Hockey League Draft, has been returned to the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League.

Radek Martinek was released from his professional tryout agreement. 

Bridgeport announced it's roster/changes. 
Mike Halmo, Kirill Kabanov, Anders Lee, John Persson, Alan Quine, Ryan Strome, Johan Sundstrom. Calvin de Haan, Scott Mayfield, Aaron Ness, Anders Nilsson, Joe Finley.

Forward Justin Johnson, goalie Ken Reiter were released from professional tryout agreements, while forward Riley Wetmore was released from an amateur tryout agreement. Johnson, Reiter and Wetmore will report to the Sound Tigers Training Camp, which continues Tuesday, Oct. 1.

Ct Post fills out Sound Tigers roster/status.

NHL contracts in normal font, AHL contracts in italics, PTOs in bold:

F (16)–Chris Bruton, Jason Clark, Joey Diamond, Brett Gallant, Mike Halmo, Brayden Irwin, Justin Johnson, Kirill Kabanov, Anders Lee, Greg Miller, John Persson, Alan Quine, Ryan Strome, Johan Sundstrom, Riley Wetmore, Sean Wiles

D (9)–Marc Cantin, Mike Dalhuisen, Calvin de Haan, Joe Finley, Dallas Jackson, Mike Keenan, Scott Mayfield, Aaron Ness, Andrey Pedan

G (2)–Anders Nilsson, Kenny Reiter

NYIFC Comments:  
Playing split-squad games that late in the preseason came with some expensive price-tags, despite some meaningless wins.

And sure if I'm going to be critical of the early losses, the later wins (especially the one at home against Nashville) with close to the opening roster has to be acknowledged. 


No real surprises outside of Martinek, who could still be signed if Hamonic goes on IR which made Sunday's games very expensive along with breaking up your opening night roster that late to play meaningless split season games. (No, I forgot to include the eight man veteran rule in my previous entry because those kind of games are still somewhat new)

Makes playing those split-squad games an even bigger risk at a point the roster should be final. 

Maybe a trade comes/waiver pickup.

Alan Quine has  left juniors, he's now a Sound Tiger. 

Three New York/Bridgeport Practice Groups

There seems to be some confusion out there.

One group is practicing at Nassau Coliseum, that is mostly the players who have NHL spots or are still in competition for them.

Second group is practicing at IceWorks in Syosset. that may be players more on the outside of the NHL but this could also change quickly.


John Persson, Kirill Kabanov,  Aaron Ness are not getting a lot of ink or mentions.


Ct Post list names of a third group mostly of invites/ECHL players from Stockton at Sound Tigers camp

Updated-The Sound Tigers website has twittered the ECHL/invited players are practicing at IceWorks in Syosset.

Oddly, the Islanders will have one more split/squad game in Canada against Ottawa which is very late for such an event. 

Even for preseason this collective roster has struggled badly in games outscored 13-2 in second periods, winning a game in New Jersey with two shorthanded goals, a Boulton goal out of the penalty box, one powerplay goal, and an unassisted goal among seventeen shots, it's not impressive in terms of five on five play.

Misc:
I asked Ed Mangano, Kevan Abrahams to publish the letter Charles Wang sent regarding the Bridgeport Sound Tigers presented at Monday's legislature meeting.

Obviously Nassau County's post 19-0 vote release makes clear the Sound Tigers are still not the AHL team Bruce Ratner will bring to the Nassau Coliseum by 2017-18 or sooner.

Season went so quick, Summer will be quicker

It's really hard to believe a full hockey season is over in a week.

Seemed like yesterday we were reading about Overspeed and the Islanders were getting together in Moncton.

I remember Chris Lee scoring against the Devils in preseason to win a game in overtime like it was last month.

Unlike last summers off-season where the news never really stopped but was two weeks longer, this one will go even faster with the Olympics pushing up the schedule and the build-up to the draft.

Five months from 4/12, New York Islander Hockey will be back already with camp opening.

Can't wait, even with NYIFC faded well into history by then.

Tough Times for New York Islander fans

No pulling punches with this blog entry because even though many in the media go over the top with the assaults on our team, it's a very tough time to be a New York Islander fan right now.

Do I think this is a 30th place team that was supposed to lose? Absolutely not, the Islanders are where they are in the standings because of an absurd amount of injuries at all positions but this has been the hand dealt to them.

These next ten weeks is where we find out who the real die-hards are among the fans because over these next thirty-odd games you will be tested to the max.

Wins for many will not be a positive, fans want one of those top two picks as the payoff for this poor season and if I had to guess I would say everyone is all in on Taveres because they want a franchise offensive talent who the Isles at best will have a 1/4 chance at landing.

That means the prospects, veterans who are all fighting for jobs and careers can do well, but not too well. A reality check for everyone should be these players could care less about next season and want to win as many hockey games as possible right now. This starts with head coach Scott Gordon who I would guess is having the longest coaching year of his life in his NHL debut.

Gordon has another thirty plus games with an injured roster that is not scoring, too small and with a lot of basic flaws. The lack of size, scoring and toughness is dramatic vs many other NHL clubs. A lot of the frustration that boiled over at the end of last season against Ted Nolan will only be natural to surface again because these are people with a lot or pride who want to win.

However frustrated you may be as a fan, it's worse for the players.

It means some already very frustrated players because of the losing may have to sit so prospects can play.

This is also the background music Garth Snow will face come the trade deadline as he makes critical decisions who stays vs who goes while some will expect him to land first or even second rounders for fringe veterans which is a long shot, he also has the cap to deal with and some players with a NTC.

The undercurrent from the preseason game in KC will be non-stop in the media with any updated news, sooner if not already it will effect the players who will be asked the question more and more as we move ahead.

So what can we do? Watch the games, hope the team puts in a good effort and we see some real signs Okposo, Comeau, Bergenheim, Bailey, Tambellini, Nielsen and others will be ready to carry an offensive load for this team.

Bottom line is they have to, a foundation has to be built over these next thirty odd games with some groundwork for 09-10.

Make no mistake with a few players the clock is ticking very loud right now, they have to show more or someone needs to come up and get their opportunity. This is why you sign prospects.

Tough times, we'll get through them together.

Happy Anniversary 1980 New York Islanders

10/5 Buffalo vs New York 7:30 pm FSN 7:30pm

NYI.com has the pregame thread vs Buffalo. No lines but roster listed.

For your Friday viewing pleasure and recording get the DVD/VCR ready because in a miracle FSN is giving us a day of Islanders hockey:

14 hours of Islanders programming tomorrow, including all 4 Stanley Cup clinching games.

8:30am - Islanders season preview
10:00am - Hall Remembers - Denis Potvin
10:30am - Hall Remembers - Clark Gillies
11:00am - 1980 Stanley Cup Game 6
1:00pm - 1981 Stanley Cup Game 5
3:00pm - 1982 Stanley Cup Game 4
5:00pm - 1983 Stanley Cup Game 4
7:00pm - Isles at Buffalo - Pregame
7:30pm - Isles at Buffalo
10:00pm - Isles Postgame

Buffalo vs New York 10/5 Season Opener FSN 7:30PM start.
Coverage begins at 7pm on FSN.

Newsday's: Neil Best reports Islanders will get expanded postgame coverage this season but pre-game may be scaled back. Also a few words on Jiggs Mc Donald driving up to call games and then the Mets not making the playoffs. Despite the Mets' loss, he is set to work the Oct. 13 game in Philadelphia and perhaps others. "All isn't lost," he said. "I'll get these pipes going."

NYI Fan Central Comments:
It's OPENING DAY, or Opening Day depending on your point of view.

The long summer is over. I'm back with my own blog and message board and thrilled about it. I hope the club gives us a great season and everyone who comes here enjoys this site and what it has to offer. I will go all out with coverage, information ancd commentary for my part.

As for tonight:
Buffalo has some injuries, Islanders have no reported injures.

Islanders lost big in Buffalo to open a season a few years ago but different rosters.

Anything beats starting in Phoenix like last year before they get their bubble broken and start losing. A month later Islanders win against Phoenix.

Nolan has to have his club ready and he has to send a message with a good effort and two points, Berard or no Berard.

Tomorrow Islanders go right back at it with a very early home opener for the club given the countless years on the road.

LET'S GO ISLANDERS.

NY Islander Articles 9/20

Newsday article for Thursday is about the work new assistant coach Gerard Gallant is doing with the powerplay.

* The biggest improvement the Isles could make would be to convince referees to give them more power-play opportunities. They ranked 12th in the NHL last season with an 18.1 percent success rate, but their 348 chances were second fewest in the league to Florida's 337.

"I don't know what their power play was last year, but there's no reason it can't be better because there's some good talent," Gallant said. "We talked about working on the power play early, and that's the main reason I stayed back the first two games was to work with some core veterans.

"My philosophy is that I look to have a couple of set plays. In the power play, when you're getting pressure, you don't have a lot of time to set up plays. But in five-on-threes and four-on-threes, you get a little bit more time. That's when I let the guys know this is their money play. If there's one play that's going to work against a team, we're going to go with that. But a lot of times, power-play goals are scored from guys paying the price in front of the net and getting shots through."

"Obviously, I know the league pretty well after spending the last nine years in Columbus," said Gallant, who briefly played with Nolan in the AHL. "I don't know if my experience was a factor or not, but Teddy knows my character and what kind of person I am."

Times and Transcript had the following articles:
NY Islanders always welcome NHL clash packs Coliseum Have faith Nolan tells grieving students NHL PRE-SEASON

Back in Bridgeport Michael Fornabaio did a Ct Post article Capuano gets feel for future Sound Tigers Montreal Gazette did a Canadian perspective article on the exhibition game.

Cory Witt's media blog gave his thoughts on the game. Kimber Auerbach did a website update on the game that had more of a Sound Tiger perspective.

COUNTDOWN TO NYI CAMP: The Goalies

Islanders Website released their list of goaltenders who will be in the teams training camp.

The goaltending positions on Long Island are solidified, but that is certainly not the case for Bridgeport as four young netminders vie for two spots.

Rick DiPietro
Born Sep. 19, 1981 -- Winthrop, MA
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 190
Catches: Right

The Islanders' franchise goaltender returns to training camp in perfect health following a career year. DiPietro helped lead the Islanders to the postseason, while posting a career-high and tying a franchise record with 32 wins on the season. DiPietro became the first Islander to record 30 wins in two seasons. His .919 SV% ranked sixth in the NHL and his five shutouts tied him for sixth. While stopping a league high 28.4 shots per game, DiPietro made a team record 56 saves against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on March 5.

Wade Dubielewicz
Born Jan. 30, 1979 -- Kerrobert, SK
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 185
Catches: Left

Dubielewicz enters his first Islanders training camp assured of an NHL spot. Dubie earned the job by being the catalyst of the Islanders' miraculous run to the 2007 postseason. Four consecutive wins against the Rangers, Toronto, Philadelphia and New Jersey completed a historic regular season for Dubie and the Islanders. Prior to joining the Islanders late in 2006-07, Dubie was having a memorable season with Bridgeport, posting a record of 22-12-5 with a 2.69 GAA and a .934 SV%.

Joey MacDonald
Born Feb. 7, 1980 -- Pictou, NS
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 198
Catches: Left

MacDonald joins the Islanders after signing a minor league contract earlier this summer. Between 2002 and 2006, MacDonald put up outstanding numbers while playing for Grand Rapids of the AHL, posting a record of 88-57-7. MacDonald made his NHL debut during the 2006-07 season, playing in eight games for Detroit and seven for Boston. In the seven games with the Bruins, MacDonald was 2-2-1 with 2.68 GAA and a .918 SV%.

Mike Mole
Born: Oct. 12, 1982 -- Orleans, ON
Height: 6'
Weight: 183
Catches: Left

After turning heads at the Islanders' Training Camp in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia last September, Mole earned a minor league contract with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the Islanders' AHL affiliate. During the 2006-07 season, Mole split time between the Sound Tigers and the Islanders' ECHL affiliate, the Pensacola Ice Pilots. In 15 games with Bridgeport, Mole posted a record of 3-8-0 with a 3.23 GAA and .897 SV%. Mole performed well at this summer's Prospect Camp, but will have some competition as he fights for a spot on Bridgeport.

Maxime Ouellet
Born June 17, 1981 -- Beauport, QC
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 195
Catches: Left

A former first-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers, Ouellet joins the Islanders at Training Camp on an invite basis. Despite playing on sub-par teams in the AHL the past few seasons, Ouellet has put up good numbers. He went 22-16-7 in 2002-03 with a 2.40 GAA and a .929 SV% for Portland. The next season, despite going 15-29-8, Ouellet had a GAA of 1.99 and a SV% of .930. Ouelett has appeared in 12 NHL games over five seasons between Philadelphia, Washington and Vancouver.

Mike Morrison
Born July 11, 1979 -- Medford, MA
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 203
Catches: Left

As a Training Camp invitee, Morrison brings NHL experience to Moncton after bouncing around the AHL and ECHL for his first four pro seasons. In 2005-06, with both of their top netminders out with injuries, Edmonton called on Morrison to hold down the fort. He did that and more, going 10-4-2, while helping Edmonton clinch the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Since then, Morrison has seen time in the NHL, AHL and ECHL. Last season he split time between the Phoenix Coyotes, San Antonio (AHL) and the Phoenix Roadrunners (ECHL).