Islander News Articles 12/14

Newsday: Greg Logan's game recap had head coach Scott Gordon on the two goals the Islanders scored that did not count, Bergenheim on how he could have made it tougher on Rick Nash to get the puck off his stick on the breakaway and goaltender Joey MacDonald on how they played better but losing battles on the third goal where two Blue Jackets out battle five Islanders are the ones killing them.

Newsday: Mr Logan has more from the pregame blog on Mike Sillinger's groin injury where he says it could be in correlation to his hip and will have to see. Jon Sim talks about getting back in the lineup while head coach Scott Gordon is quoted about the last two days and what was done to prepare the club on and off the ice.


NYI Fan Central Comments:
All the comments from the head coach were before the game in the second article.

Newsday: Greg Logan and Arthur Staple present a gameplan to fix the Islanders which starts with the Lighthouse, adding a defensive assistant coach as teams study video and adjust to the overspeed system which is the identity, drafting to fit the system, getting value at the trade deadline and a three year timetable for management for Mr Logan's content.

Mr Staple plays the shockjock game immediately declaring this season cannot be fixed, that Mr Wang should pipe down as Neil Smith was again brought up, Rick DiPietro should shut up and not play until next fall and learn what idle means so he has a chance at being healthy. Also included is for management to dump the veterans and get the kids in any way possible.

Finally the Islanders must change league Newsday staff created perception about the team including it's change-on-a-whim owner and a lack of commitment to consistency.


NYI Fan Central Comments:
Nothing like those former Ranger beatwriters getting together and putting a good constructive beating on the Islanders with Mr Staple clearing doing the guesswork and Mr Logan doing a good job aside from the part about Mr Wang selling to someone who can move the club.

Mark Herrmann will be back soon enough for anyone who dare purchase a ticket to drive them away for that part, we need not read it again.

Mr Logan will have some more Msg memories for those Ranger profile shows on Msg.

Mr Staple lost his hockey fastball in terms of present day journalism.

Recently Mr Staple had Clark Gillies fourth on a list of NY hockey enforcers with Gary Howatt ahead of him?

Now for those who believe whatever Newsday writes some fair points were made here but having written that............

Charles Wang since 2006 has given Newsday one interview at the end of last season (where he put his foot in his mouth about Ted Nolan) and was not even quoted at Scott Gordon's press conference.

While Mr Baumbach demands he speak up, Mr Staple demands he shut up?

Funny they never pull this on Mr Dolan. Mr Wang also did the WFAN interview last season.

Next up....

Since when did Newsday become the medical staff aside from the unprofessional rants by Mr Logan since the summer and the sports department until the Islanders finally dumped the new NHL approved policy like they were bullied out of it?

No other paper in North American went after a club who followed league policy like Newsday did with our team.

If the doctors say Rick DiPietro can return to play why should he shut down anything?

I did not see these plans from Mr Staple when he had the Ranger beat during their long losing years. Newsday largely creates Islander league-wide perception, some fair and a lot not fair.

Most of the other outlets work off the late nineties plan, in short they no longer follow the club.

If Newsday had been paying attention the Islanders have stuck to their plan aside from going for it one time in 2006 in a weak draft class. No one can be expected to win when you lose four hundred man games to injury one year and pick up that same pace the following season.

That has to be included here at the top if a state of the franchise/plan to fix the club feature is written and a plan is presented. I did not see a call for Witt, Martinek, Sillinger or Comrie to shut it down for the season.

Some very obvious things in Mr Logan/Zipay comments that did make sense on dumping veterans and playing prospects.


Edited: Mr Logan & Mr Zipay edited the article and put their names to the part they contributed since my earlier comments. It was easy enough to figure out beforehand who wrote what.

Columbus Dispatch : Covers the Blue Jackets on their 3-1 win against New York on Saturday.

Windsor Star: Jim Parker Saturday had Windsor gm Warren Rychel's comments on Josh Bailey that they have not talked since Bailey told them he would be with the Islanders but the window to send Bailey back to the Spitfires must be before Jan. 10.

If Bailey plays more than 40 games this season with the Islanders, he's a year closer to unrestricted free agency. If Bailey is returned to Windsor before playing 40 NHL games, the Islanders would lose one year on his entry-level contract, however
Bailey would not be a year closer to unrestricted free agency.

Tsn.ca: Jared Spurgeon had an assist in Saturday's Red-White scrimmage for team Canada.

AHL.com: Recaps Bridgeport's 6-4 shootout win against the Norfolk Admirals on Saturday.

1. BRI Lee, (1) (Iggulden, Hillen), 0:30
1. BRI Hennigar, (3) (Hillen, Iggulden), 8:16
1. NOR Ward, (1) (Downie, Lundin), 10:31
1. BRI Tambellini, (1) (Walter), 14:21
1. NOR Lawrence, (1) (Downie, Rosehill), 18:30
2. BRI Smith, (12) (Colliton, Iggulden), 14:07
2. NOR Keller, (2) (Downie), 16:34
2. NOR Keller, (3) (Downie, Mihalik), 17:13
3. BRI Smith, (13) (Colliton, Skinner), 16:47
3. BRI Smith, (14) (Iggulden, Hillen), 19:59 (EN)

Peter Mannino twenty one saves. Colliton/Smith +3.

Ct Post: Mr Fornabaio's newspaper coverage had head coach Jack Capuano on Bridgeport's win on Saturday in Norfolk who credited the Admirals and his own club for getting in front of their big goaltender.

Jack Hillen had three helpers.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio had a live blog from Norfolk which includes Bridgeport blowing it's thirteenth two goal lead in twenty four games.

Virginian-Pilot: Paul White has the Admirals coverage.

Islander News Articles 12/1

Canadian Press: Reports the situation in Thialand is growing increasingly worse at the airport with empty planes being flown out of the area.

CTV.ca: Has Jiggs McDonald's comments on a situation that only appears to be getting worse on every possible level.

Newsday: Greg Logan had Mike Comrie's comments on his HIP surgery and the expected time frame for recovery vs playing in Scott Gordon's system.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I wonder if the club knew how much he was hurting before they signed him just before the trade deadline? Within a few weeks he had to stop playing, obvious he was not very effective down the stretch.

His injury was much worse than reported given a time frame of November-January back in the summer.

Comrie has to be given a lot of credit for being ready to skate and play in camp given this information. No one is going to be able to play an effective game for long under those circumstances which somewhat explains Scott Gordon moving him to a wing.

At this point the only questions left are when will he not only return but be completely healthy? His offensive skills are something this roster absolutely needs.

Unfortunately Comrie's track record is that of a player who does not play eighty two games.

Windsor Star: Jim Parker had Josh Bailey's comments that he plans to be back often to visit his former club and hopes the Spitfires win a championship. General manager Warren Rychel said Islander gm Garth Snow called and thanked them for his development while Mr Rychel credited the Islander coaches and Bailey for going in and doing a great job earning a spot.

Bailey targeted March 27th when the Islanders visit Detroit as when he could be visitng Windsor.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Classy stuff from the Windsor general manager and a reflection of a first rate organization.

Josh Bailey Stays With Islanders

Note-Islanders have issued a brief release with comments from General Manager Garth Snow and Josh Bailey here.

Windsor Star: Jim Parker reported Josh Bailey has informed the Windsor Spitfires he would not be returning to the club at this time, general manager Warren Rychel & head coach Bob Boughner comment.

Mr Parker reports the Islanders could still opt to send Bailey back to junior before OHL rosters are frozen Jan. 9 but at this point if he plays tonight the first year of his contract counts.

My Point Blank: Mr Botta noted the article last night and the Saturday announcement.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Hopefully the folks in Windsor are not critical here and let Bailey enjoy this.

I'm not sure if this is the right move in 08-09 for Bailey but it's obvious he has the ability to play at this level now and with Nielsen out there is a spot for a young center. That pass to Hilbert in the second against Boston was just another example he can make plays at this speed.

Just before Hunter scored against Pittsburgh he was already ahead of him.

Bailey Leaves Practice/Notables

AP: Ira Podell had comments from Bill Guerin, who disputed the media predictions about the club along with past knocks about management with his opinion this is a playoff team that can surprise next spring while Rick DiPietro discussed his surgeries as summer maintenance as he also defended the clubs record.

Mike Comrie talked about the young players while head coach Scott Gordon felt this team has to play more in the offensive zone because they were working well, but too
long in the defensive zone a year ago.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I thought the AP was only supposed to put the quotes in the article? Instead Ira Podell writes Bill Guerin comments are about bravado, competitive spirit, or sheer denial and then writes about the clubs relevance?

That to me is over the line for the Associated Press.

Not the first time I have noticed this New York based AP Hockey writer get in a few shots at the club or not let the comments tell the story.

A little surprising Ira Podell's stat based argument went nowhere near the club leading the league in injuries or that the club was in sixth place last January.

Isn't the AP supposed to tell us the entire story, especially when they decided to discuss stats and players lost along with the standings?

I'm glad Bill Guerin defended his team and the management, some of this is out of hand and over the line. In my opinion (and I post all these articles) it sure seemed the core players on this team told the AP writer here a lot more than they have seemed willing to tell Newsday since camp started.

The real value in this article through head coach Scott Gordon inadvertently is we
are picking up more and more of what he felt last year's team did not do well which had to come from the tapes of games and the hockey staff.

Newsday: Anthony Rieber had an interview with Josh Bailey's general manager in Windsor, Warren Rychel where he talked about the teams captain playing at the NHL level and that fans in Windsor will have a nice choice on Monday when both teams play.

Of course the important news of the day was Bailey left practice left practice on Thursday with an undisclosed injury as Mr Botta had more on from the teams practice on this but the team is not release details per policy.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Sure hope Bailey finally gets a chance here completely healthy, no doubt this means all bets are off for when/if he plays.

It also means Scott Gordon needs to tone down it's only the players from last years roster getting injured in drills mantra.

Mr Rieber got his implied message in about the Islanders keeping him here for PR purposes, no doubt about that. Rychel got his message out too asking why the fans could not see the exhibition game in New York.

First a full article from Mr Baumbach, now Mr Rieber? It beats their blog entries based on no information at all but given their past work it's a matter of when before they start beating all over the club for any reason they can find.

That's what they told us this summer themselves.

Newsday: Greg Logan has a blog update on Josh Bailey's new injury, the ramifications to the line combinations and what this means for Nate Thompson who plays center with Blake Comeau seemingly not on a set line.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio's blog updates the injuries and line combinations at Thursday's practice. Mark Wotton will remain as captain. Tim Jackman is one assistant, Jeremy Colliton and Joe Callahan alternating the other A depending on home vs road.