Islander News Articles 1/29

Newsday: Mark Herrmann has comments from former Islander Jean Potvin in an article about comparisons between this team and the 72-73 version because of the current road losing streak.

This article does not take into account an overtime point in Buffalo on December 27th.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
The Islanders and Atlanta Flames were both expansion teams, that version of Atlanta moved to Calgary. Mr Herrmann of course neglects to write that this Islander team has lost over three hundred man games to injury which is a large part of why they are in last place which is why it makes little sense to compare them with an expansion club.

Also the NHL did not have overtime/overtime losses in that era.

Hopefully this is not the only game preview for the paper?

NY Post: Dan Martin has comments from head coach Scott Gordon on his practice lines with Mike Comrie and Doug Weight.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
These writers sure love stamping that Long Island label on everything. Why not just start slapping a New Jersey tag on the football teams or the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan on everyone other club depending on where they play.

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Mike Knobler has the latest on the Thrashers which contains player features about Niclas Havelid and Tobias Enstrom, not 72-73 Flames or anything from Phil Myre who played against the Islanders in the 1980 finals but was part of that club.


NYI Fan Central Comments:
That's how you market players and make them known around the league, the media does features on them. When was the last time Campoli, Gervais or another player received this kind of feature in the local papers?

Players on the Islanders are under-rated in league circles, local media cannot put that on the arena but themselves.

Metro Daily News: Ken Hamwey has an interview with former Islander coach Peter Laviolette about what's next for him as he plays the waiting game and reflects on his time with the Islanders and other teams he coached.

Nanaimo Bulletin: Reports former Islander Bill Smith, Cliff Ronning will be part of the Old-timers’ Hockey Challenge goes Tuesday (Feb. 3) in Nanaimo.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Smitty and Ronning are playing more hockey these days than a lot of Islanders on the current roster.

Gopher Sports: Reports Islander prospect Aaron Ness collected four assists for Rookie of the Week honors for the his second league award in three weeks after taking defensive honors after his tournament MVP award at the Dodge Holiday Classic. 

Peter Laviolette Fired by Carolina Hurricanes

Tsn.ca: Has reported the Carolina Hurricanes have fired head coach Peter Laviolette and replaced him with his predecessor in former Canes coach Paul Maurice.

The Hurricanes website is showing the press conference live with general manager Jim Rutherford and new coach Paul Maurice for those interested which began at 11:30am EST here.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Given the recent article from the paper in Carolina that said he was almost fired and back to the summer when management waited a long time to make an announcement he was returning this seemed a matter of when, not if.

Sing no sad songs for Peter Laviolette, he won a Stanley Cup and proved he is a top flight NHL coach and will be hired by another club. Mike Milbury saw something in him long ago and his judgement was correct about his ability to coach.

Twist here is Paul Maurice is taking the job of the man who replaced him.

Desert News: Dan Rasmussen had an excellent feature article on Utah Grizzlies head coach Kevin Colley who talked about his career, how his life has changed with his injury and what he had to go through to recover from what happened.

He also had a lot of praise for the Islanders-Sound Tigers as he talked about someday making back to the NHL as a head coach.

AM New York: Lisa Freedman has a feature about the Islanders organist since 1979 in Paul Cartier.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Mr Cartier has always done an amazing job for the Islanders, you can tell the difference when he is not at the organ, good stuff at how he got the job and how things work behind the scenes for those interested in doing this.

Updated 5pm:
NY Times: Jeff Z. Klein had an interview with former Islander Bryan Berard who is playing in Russia this season.

NHL Notables

Carolina News Observer: Luke DeCock speculates on the job status of former Islander head coach Peter Laviolette with the history of how gm Jim Rutherford reacts in these circumstances and felt the Canes recent win may have saved Laviolette from being fired afterward.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Usually when a coach is on the hot-seat as Laviolette was entering last summer where the Canes took a long time to confirm he would be back, a firing does happen if the club struggles at the beginning of the next season. Mr DeCock is speculating but this is not a writer that plays the shock-jock game with hockey content.

I suspect it's as serious as the writers speculation indicates.

I know I'm rooting for a good coach like Laviolette to keep his job, our game is better with him behind an NHL bench where he belongs.

USA Today.com: Ted Montgomery had an update where he tells us what we already know, the Wings are not on the media radar in Detroit vs the major market teams in town.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
What's disappointing was all the talk of the Islanders attendance, the Wing went to the semifinals two years ago in front of a lot of empty seats and opened last year
to completely empty sections here yet all we read is about the age of the Nassau Coliseum and not Msg?

Sportsnet.ca: Jim Kelley in an all NHL column took some digs again at the Islanders injury policy speculating some feel Mike Comrie was listed injured as a face-saving gesture but the writer did not accept that crediting Scott Gordon for running a tight ship and demanding performance.

Mr Kelley also wrote the truth is there are very few kids worth playing in the New York system and Gordon has been patching together what he has while leaning on his vets, much the same as Ted Nolan did.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Kind of funny Mr Kelley now thinks Scott Gordon runs a tight ship after criticizing him back in August along with his claim no other coach interviewed objected to being passed over Sports Illustrated for the Islanders opening.

Mr Kelley had a few words about the Devils doing this also in terms of injuries a week ago but a lot of clubs have the same policy, apparently Mr Kelley failed to notice the club has been releasing more information.

A few good story lines around the club right now, too bad he did not bother noticing any of them once again which include the prospects.

Tsn.ca: Central Scouting released it's 2009 early draft rankings with the full list expected to be released later today.

Islander News Articles 10/25

Newsday: Greg Logan's article has comments from head coach Scott Gordon and former Islander coach Peter Laviolette on their coaching philosophies and influence as they have both been part of the Providence Bruins.

Mr Logan has no update on injuries or lineup beyond speculation given club policy.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Given Mr Wang comments on Peter Laviolette a few years ago if the Canes fired him last summer I have little doubt he would have succeeded Ted Nolan unless that was a deal-breaker for Garth Snow coming back himself.

Of course we all know how that has to work. Gm has to hire his coach, not the other way around which is why the general manager's contract has to be the first story.

NY Post: Dan Martin has Trent Hunter's comments on the early success he has had in Scott Gordon's system despite the clubs overall struggles on offense.


NewsObserver: Chip Alexander reports Cam Ward is expected to start against New York on Saturday after the Canes gave up four goals in the third period against Pittsburgh and Peter Laviolette having a few words about his clubs uneven performances this season to date here.

New Glasgow News: Has a feature about Joey Mac Donald on being a full-time player in the NHL along with playing in New York as he also comments about playing with New Glasgow’s Jon Sim who resides about eight houses apart on the same street.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Impressive stuff from the New Glasgow News who even had Joey MacDonald comments about Martin Brodeur giving up six goals against the Flyers on Friday night. This was not some article from training camp that finally made a blurb in the sports section.

If everyone recalls Sim and MacDonald were among the players who were part of the play the pros charity event in August started by Jon Sim and Colin White of the Devils here.

In the no one can top this department:
Blues goalie Manny Legace tripped on the carpet VP pick Sarah Palin came out to drop the puck on Friday and had to leave his game after the first period with a hip injury here.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Of course if this happened to the Islanders Charles Wang, Chris Dey and Rick DiPietro would never hear the end of it while the former golden personality of broadcasting John Davidson receives another pass along with Dave Checketts after Flyers chairman Ed Snider took a lot of criticism for having the VP nominee drop an earlier puck.

Nothing like bonds, friendships to influence sports journalism double-standards.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has the recap of Bridgeport's loss with comments from head coach Jack Capuano on his clubs puck-management/turnovers and Tim Jackman with a post-game blog here.

I am not seeing the Pirates coverage in the publication that covered them last season here.

Ct Post: Mr Fornabaio previews Saturday's game at Worcester Sharks.

WHEN -- Tonight, 7:05
WHERE -- DCU Center, Worcester, Mass.
ON THE AIR -- Webcast and Internet pay-per-view at www.soundtigers.com
RECORDS THROUGH THURSDAY -- Bridgeport 4-1-0-1; Worcester 2-2-0-0

Islanders News Articles 1/1/2008

Newsday: Greg Logan wrote like he wanted to be anywhere else labeling Marc-Andre Bergeron moody in his game recap. Ted Nolan credited his team for their effort.

"Dubielewicz did a great job for us, similar to what he did last year in the playoff run," Nolan said. "Tonight he was very composed, his rebound control was excellent and he didn't panic."

"It's a long year, and you take those lucky goals," Bergeron said. "Tonight these were real goals, and they were good for my confidence . . . It was fun to see myself play a good game again."

"We knew we were going into a tough month," Nolan said. "We gave Ricky an opportunity to rest and get totally healed and showed faith in the other goaltender, and Wade did a great job for us. The last [six] games, they've played as a group, and that's a strong indication for us going into this busy month."

Newsday: Greg Logan's second article is mostly on Brandon Nolan, who was sent down and Ted Nolan's disappointment he did not get a chance to coach against him.

"I'm sure they both would have liked it," Laviolette said. "Unfortunately, you can't make decisions like that. It would have been a neat thing."

"I was looking forward to coaching against him," he said. "It would have been one of those memorable things you never forget. But there will be another time and another place for it."

Goes without writing it the Post, Times and Daily News sports editors did not send anyone to Carolina.

The News & Observer: Rachel Carter has comments from Peter Laviolette and the Canes on the loss.

"We were flat the first 5-7 minutes -- they cost us," Laviolette said. "It was 3-0. We were flat. We lost battles right off the bat, battles to get it in, battles to protect the puck. We took careless penalties."

Sound Tigers website: Has the recap of Bridgeport's 3-2 in Binghampton.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio blogs on Bridgeport's 3-2 against Binghampton which gives them seven wins in nine games and pushes them back to five hundred which was more like an article that was not printed in the Ct Post yet with player comments. Jeff Tambellini had the game winning goal for Bridgeport.

"I thought we played a really good game," coach Jack Capuano said. "They're a good hockey team. Obviously, in the second, the momentum swung. They came out and did what they had to do. But I like the way we've been competing, the way we're playing, win or lose."

"They played a heck of a game," Regier said about Bootland and Colliton. "I thought they were our two top players. They did a lot of little things. They didn't get a point, put they did a lot of unsung-hero-type things."

Press & Sun-Bulletin: Michael Sharp has the Senators coverage.

Pioneer Press: Charley Walters wonders if signing Kyle Okposo means Tim Jackman will lose his spot on the Islanders in a quick blurb.

The Second Year trend for NYI Coaches...

If the New York Islanders in year two of Ted Nolan's tenure take a major step backwards or if his message grows stale will he be fired?

I know on the surface that may seem a little absurd considering he took a team predicted by some to be 30th and produced a 92 point playoff team that put up a respectable fight against the President Trophy Winning Sabres. I also understand that Nolan was signed to a three year contract and that this is reportedly now a hockey board made up of Wang, Snow, Nolan, Trottier, Morrow....ect

I'm also still not sure about the 2006-07 Islanders, even if they took the ice with today's roster, they could be a good or bad team but I'm not writing this to project the club's outlook on August 2nd.

That said the trend for second year coaches here have not been good. Peter Laviolette's Islanders finished a game over five hundred, made the playoffs and was fired, despite Wang giving him an extension that season.

Steve Stirling produced a 91 point playoff team with many injuries as a rookie head coach (without shootouts) his club put up a respectable series with Stanley Cup winning Tampa Bay. The following year (after the lockout with a lot of changes) it fell apart quickly and by January he was fired and again the coach was reportedly having problems with the players.

You want to go back to the dark days? Butch Goring got a max effort out of a young team as a rookie coach and won more than he was projected to. In year two it fell apart (for reasons other than Goring) and he was fired in March of his second season and the decision received a lot of criticism.

The question has to be asked if Nolan's way of doing things grows stale with the few remaining veterans and the new core group fails on the ice does this new management react the same way and fire the coach or hold the players accountable?

Some may argue this is standard practice in a results-oriented business, you don't win it's easier to fire one coach than twenty-odd players.

Personally this is one trend I think the new staff has to break from the days Milbury was gm, win or lose next season and that the players go before Nolan.

Ted Nolan's is good coach and what he did last season with a team some projected 30th was a quality job, especially after such a long time out of the league and validates his abilities. No one's sure what kind of coach Nolan is with a championship level club because he's not done that yet or with a team that takes significant steps backwards.

Nolan's well respected and knows how to get the most out of players and will almost always be an asset for a club, even if the roster is lacking things coaching cannot make up for. It's also clear Nolan's opinion of Alexei Yashin factored in his decision to be bought out when in the past Yashin likely won out over Laviolette and Stirling if there was dissention among them.

This is one trend I suggest Wang, Snow and whatever management they have making decisions break now and for the long-term. In my estimation Ted Nolan is part of the long-term solution for this franchise.