Updated 6pm:
Islanders website: Report goaltender Anders Nilsson has been signed to a three year entry level contract.
See twitter for link: Nilsson received a max contract, the highest awarded since lockout ended for a third round pick, and will be in North America next season per his agent.
NYIFC Comments:
That puts Nilsson, Koskinen and Poulin in Bridgeport with Montoya, Nabokov and DiPietro in New York. A lot of surgery/injury among current Islander goaltender ranks, but a signing that had to be done this summer or rights of a high draft pick would have been lost.
ITV: Released Doug Weight's complete press conference.
XM: Had an interview with Kyle Okposo on his new contract, Doug Weight and other items.
Will be toning down blog entries or posting them via twitter. NYIFC is supposed to be more of a blog that's an extension of it's twitter page. It has been a very busy stretch so more has been written here lately.
Setting the agenda:
NYIFC is a hockey blog, not a political blog. Entries have been written on the politics behind this, so from here on we're not going that deep into the political end of things, the recent/past archives have plenty on the Coliseum issue.
The order can suddenly change depending on sudden signings, trades or organizational changes. Bridgeport needs a head coach. RFA/UFA have to be signed or qualified and prospects have to be signed.
Seems every day something is happening, it was not this active during games.
1. The Memorial Cup and Casey Cizikas has to be signed by 5/31. St Michaels Majors plays semi-finals Friday night against Kootenay.
Toronto Sun: Terry Koshan had his usual issues with the Islanders, but Casey Cizikas comments on signing with the club on Wednesday.
2. 5/31 is the next Nassau County legislature chance to vote for a referendum vote happening in August, after last week who knows if that will be delayed again?
Instead of waiting on twitter updates/articles from this blog/wherever go to NassauCounty.ny.iqm2.com and simply watch meeting/hearing/vote live for yourselves.
3. After that no doubt more financial articles and spin in Cablevision's newspaper and a ton of rhetoric both ways. You know where this blog stands on these items, Mangano/politics/ect.
4. Draft updates/possible signings or qualifying offers to RFA or UFA. NYIFC has opened it's draft sections here and at the prospect blog.
As for UFA The Province: Zenon Konopka's comments on Trevor Gillies, and other subjects.
Notables:
It's great the Islanders locked up Grabner, Okposo and likely will do so with their other RFA. The backloaded contracts speak a great deal to Charles Wang's time as owner whether a Coliseum referendum passes and receives approvals or not.
Charles Wang may not be around to pay those players for a lot of reasons, he will be seventy two come final year of those deals.
It also has to be written who is going to buy this team from him if he becomes in effect, the next Smg with a lot of the property/hotel revenue going to him? It's obvious around the NHL simply owning the building and getting all event revenue is not enough to make owning a team self-sustaining, even when it's new.
When details come out from credible media (source free) with direct quotes regarding financing there will be more to read, not before.
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My initial reaction was taken aback when Doug Weight was assigned assistant coach/assistant to the gm. I wanted a reaction from Jack Capuano, who is now the full time head coach who has Scott Gordon's staff. Sometimes a general manager/coach relationship goes south which could be a problem for someone in that mix if Weight is in the middle which his role clearly suggests.
Doug Weight is as visible and respected a figure as there is in hockey. If there was an issue he would be outspoken so I do not foresee a problem here. Weight will not pull punches.
Previous assistant's to Garth Snow seemed very peripheral or not much detail was brought out or confirmed by articles vs what was advertised. If Weight will be behind the bench for every game we will see. Weight's efforts regarding pp at end of last season failed as someone behind the bench with a lot of injuries in a limited body of work.
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If a job is available elsewhere for Scott Gordon, he should be let out of his contract immediately. If one is available here, and he wants it, he should be retained.
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Put no stock on players invited to draft party who are UFA, some can be retained, others let go.
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The silence is deafening out of Atlanta and very sad for their fans. If ASG can own and pay for the Hawks, they can pay for and operate the Thrashers, it's not the NHL's call until they have a sale to approve or reject.
Bill Daly's comment about Seattle were unexpected for a deputy commissioner who is usually guarded with his statements.
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Tsn.ca: Absolutely hit a home run adding former referee, Kerry Fraser. His work is fresh, ground-breaking and comes from a hockey viewpoint few can relate to. I loved his story about Al Arbour and every entry is very good where we learn things.
No, that site does not have hockey centric rss and badly needs a redesign.
Tsn.ca: On the other side of that coin is Scott Cullen, who refused to acknowledge the Islanders 600+ man games lost to injury when we discussed them, but defended the Blues, John Davidson for not spending and cited injury several times when going through players.
NYIFC Comments:
All I ever ask is the playing field be level for all teams in viewpoints. If Scott Cullen wants to do thirty team reviews and he writes the Islanders season was over by the time Andrew MacDonald got hurt, of course I'm going to point out the club was 4-1-2, in first place when he got hurt in October.
If that bothers him to where he is defensive about it, that says something about his viewpoint not being informed, fair or objective.
Sorry.
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