Charles Wang needs an ESPN Zone

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Almost comical reading how many problems off the ice the Chicago Blackhawks had this summer yet Espn's Scott Burnside who in the past would rip all over the New York Islanders in print spun the story late Friday to mostly write about how good the team was getting quotes from management and the players here.

Martin Havlat's comments apparently did not make this puff piece which would have been the only quotes Burnside had if it were about the Islanders besides the usual ten year history that apparently would not help ESPN Chicago so it was not included here.

Chicago is a franchise that makes the four playoffs in five season Islanders on and off the ice look like an NHL dynasty compared to how brutal Chicago has been for close to a decade. Stan Bowman was not even asked about Havlat's comments or about how Dale Tallon was fired, er reassigned by Burnside.

What's the reality?

Charles Wang does not have an Espn Chicago for his team and for Espn/Burnside to rip on the Hawks is not good for business so a summer that would have brought out the laughingstock tag for many NHL franchises by this writer in the past instead brought us quotes from management, players defending the Hawks and hyping their Stanley Cup status despite the circus like moves and off ice issues from management to players.

All about business folks for Espn Chicago and Scott Burnside journalist did a good job working like a member of the Hawks PR department and the Espn Chicago sales department.

Meanwhile in Philadelphia we have former Inquirer and long time Flyers writer Tim Panaccio blaming Mike Babcock for the latest Simon Gagne groin injury here and then goes on to note how the Senators media is giving Dany Heatley the Yashin treatment.

Seems like every team but the New York Islanders has people in the professional media willing to sell the product.

Fear not folks, if Heatley becomes a New York Islander (and approves such a deal) our local media will be killing Charles Wang and Garth Snow for adding a player of such questionable character however if he was traded to the other local NHL team the same media will be blaming the Senators daily for how he was mishandled and telling Heatley's story.

Not hitting this too hard but if Nikita Fliatov's comments were accurate in translation he did not sign with a KHL team (despite a signed NHL contract) as long as he is given NHL playing time Garth Snow and Ryan Jankowski made the right decision not to draft him.

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Tribute to Mike Sillinger

One of the very first entries here was the picture of Sillinger's goal at the end of that incredible game against Pittsburgh so I put that image on the sidebar.

This is his final NHL goal scored last season in what turned out to be his final NHL game.




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Depth Chart/Injury Policy/Rico Updates

The goaltending depth chart for those trying to keep up.

New York:
Rick DiPietro
Dwayne Roloson
Martin Biron-Never knew he was the brother of former Islander Mathieu

Bridgeport/Utah:
Mikko Koskinen-Will play in the Isles minor league system this year.
Scott Munroe
Nate Lawson
Parker Van Buskirk-Signed Monday 8/24 by Utah
Dov Grumet Morris-Signed 8/31 by Utah

Odessa:
Joel Martin signed with Odessa on 7/14/2009

Prospects:
Anders Nilsson
Jase Weslosky-See link posted here on his recent status change which makes his signing unlikely according to asst gm Ryan Jankowski's comments.
Stefan Ridderwall
Kevin Poulin-Was in Bridgeport last last season and prospect camp in July.

It should also be noted Peter Mannino's first year out of college was his last with the Islanders organization after taking Dubielewicz path to the pro ranks and is now a Thrasher.
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What do I think of DiPietro's recovery and the recent announcements?

I think it was un-necessary (with good intentions) and exactly the distraction DiPietro wanted to avoid considering in a week or two the team will report and we will get our answers anyway about what he can or cannot do by how/if he practices.

This comes down to the doctors timetable with his recovery, not the player so DiPietro and the Islanders are caught in the middle also because they are not doctors and it's beyond their control.

His time table could be day by day so releasing any schedule as to when he could play may be getting way ahead of ourselves.

The doctor spoke last January and said another surgery was remote after six weeks of doing nothing was first announced but it appears remote did happen which means he's back where he was a year ago give or take a month as frustrating as that is for everyone.

Did he rush back? Who knows what he told the doctors or what they told him he could do on a daily basis. I cannot fault him for trying if he was told he could play, many other players in this league perform with injury and have to play through pain as part of recovery.

How many players with knee injuries who miss a year (usually ACL-MCL surgery) have we been told hit a wall and need two years? We saw this with Martinek, Peca, Nokelainen and who knows if it was a factor for Jon Sim in 2008-09?

Obviously with two veteran goaltenders here there is no rush but the idea now has to be make sure he has the best chance to return healthy because it's fair to write by the Isles actions they have made plans if this surgery is not successful to move on without him.
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And now for the usual rehashing I did several times last season on the injury policy.

The New York Islanders last year were the only team that tried to follow a league mandated policy decided during the finals (by all the clubs) that were bullied out of it daily with relentless assaults from our limited media like they were not allowed to follow the league adapted policy I saw followed in Pittsburgh, Detroit and several other NHL markets.

I guess when you lead the league in injuries it goes with the territory.

Mr Logan/Newsday staff, Mr Botta did not let up on the team for following league policy and much of it centered around DiPietro. Mike Sillinger did not get this kind of scrutiny and in a lot of ways has had a similar kind of last two seasons with a different kind of injury as we saw with Bates.

I'm not a big fan of the public must know everything mantra about someone's health, our players stories are rarely told when they are healthy in this very limited hockey media market, if more coverage is needed that's where it should start from the professional print media.

When someone is ready to play and we see them skating that's when we'll know they are ready and all the updates in the world does not change that.

Bottom line when you lose 582 man games to injury which I believe was a league record and have 402 man games lost the previous year which also led the league it's not going to be an easy process with injury information.

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Final State of Lighthouse

Soon we are going to get into that approved, not approved mantra we saw in other markets with each twist and turn or Islanders saved, Islanders will move with every scrap of news.

I'm not interested in that and will not even waste a test blog on it after this one.

What do you want me to write about the coverage I have not written before?

When Newsday's Eden Laikin makes mistakes (or the editor cuts her article) she seems to never make mistakes on both sides. I saw all the articles where after events this writer portrayed it like only Islander fans were at events and supporting this project with only hockey fan interviews.

Now we get an article where all the submissions were not included for both sides again omitting the ones in favor of the project?

Newsday has a business blog to include how many folks favor or do not approve of the LH regardless of what the numbers are, please get it right.
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As for the project updates and deadlines it's up to the LH people working for Wang-Rechler to let the public know what's happening as they are the only official sites regarding this project with the professional media.

Only deadline we seem to get thrown at us is Charles Wang's, not a mandated deadline for zoning hearing/vote or how long TOH can wait to submit their own final draft of the project which places x buildings on x spot and is the final plan.

My take is it's time to turn the pressure up on Tom Suozzi and Nassau County.

Mr Suozzi's role in the past eight years where the County Executive's talk has been cheap has also done a fine job lately telling us no project, no Islanders which is total garbage and a cop out he has gotten a complete pass for as he passes the buck and the blame to TOH.

The day after Wang's deadline Suozzi better be the first one to say Wang has his lease until 2015 and he will not be let out of it under any circumstances. Nassau taxpayers now have to pay to renovate or replace the Coliseum immediately and pay for a full immediate Smg buyout and condemnation of the lease to make the facility profitable for whoever owns the hockey team along with revenue from other Coliseum events.

That's what every other team in the area got for a new building, that's what thirty plus years of this franchise has earned along with Charles Wang's efforts since he bought the club, not no Lighthouse, no Islanders.

I understand for now it's all about selling the project and getting it approved (so Suozzi can get away with that and use it as leverage) but it does not hide what Nassau-Suozzi has failed to do since he took office which is another reason this project became necessary.

It's a wonderful project as I have written countless times and completely favor because a parking lot is not surburbia but approved or not it does not excuse what led us to this point.

Bottom line.

Nassau gave Smg this lease, Nassau is completely responsible to repair, renovate and replace Nassau Coliseum. I know Tom Gulotta handed whoever owns the Isles this nightmare deal which happened in Pittsburgh but Suozzi's done nothing (other than his worthless proclamation in 2002) but make Wang wait until 2005 to even select him and Rechler as a developer and afterwards sat on his hands two more years before TOH got the project.

As much as there is to legitimately blame TOH for during tthis time there is much more to blame on Nassau County who after 2015 will have to go directly to the taxpayers to keep the building open if the Isles did leave at that time.

Forty odd days until Tom Suozzi has to break the bad news, that Nassau has to pay up sooner or later (sure he can blame TOH or Tom Gulotta) and he waited too many years to get things moving. Until then he better be pushing for this project like his career depends on it daily if necessary to get hearings and zoning votes scheduled and approved.

Newsday did report Mr Suozzi's lease with Wang is ninety nine percent done, why is it not a hundred percent done because that's the out on the lease and he's had all this time to complete that hurdle and announce it to put on even more pressure?

Starting the day after Wang's deadline I want to see some " Just condemn the Smg lease " shirts out there.

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Anything possible for New York in 09-10

I have to see this group play some games healthy before I can dismiss anything, including the New York Islanders winning the Atlantic given some of the weaknesses of the other clubs in the division.

I'm not expecting any answers in preseason which for the most part is get together for a quick skate or two, fly to camp and than start playing games beginning on 9/14 or a day or two after gathering at Iceworks.

That six day stretch between the Coliseum preseason game and the Prudential center game is really the place Scott Gordon will have the most time to work with his players.

No one should really care what media still talking 90's and Milbury project because they can't name five current Islanders. Those same people had the Canes at the bottom of the league coming out of the lockout and they won the cup.

A brief review of the last two seasons and more importantly last year suggest the Isles can compete in this division based on head to head games.

I know the Isles and Pens are a lot different today but two years ago the Isles opened 9-0 against the Rangers-Devils, they played Pittsburgh eight times, won three lost the Simon stomp game by a pp goal, the bounce off Witt for a one goal loss, a 53 shot game for a loss and I think Joey MacDonald lost a late season game in Pittsburgh.

I did not see a team that was outclassed on the ice aside from the Flyers special teams.
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I saw nothing in 24 games against the Rangers, Devils, Flyers or Pens last season that told me they absolutely could not compete with them aside from the keystone cops game in Pittsburgh which was a lot more about the Isles.

Isles played three Coliseum games against Pittsburgh last year. They led 4-1 before over speed and the Pens talent won the game, next time the Isles climbed to within a period of five hundred and again just collapsed with a big lead in the third before losing a shootout and won in Dan Bylsma's debut in the final game.

That, to me is not a team with no chance that is over matched.

That seven goal game against the Devils tells me they can compete with them and the Isles for the most part outplayed the Rangers in games with a lot of callups in the lineup even in games the Ranger trap prevailed where even some media reported the Islanders outplayed the Rangers. MacDonald blew that game at the Garden they lost 5-4 with some terrible third period goals against which was the exception.

Flyers powerplay and shorthanded teams have just killed the Isles the last two years, even in that series the Isles got games to overtime and played them close. It seemed like a a Darroll Powe or someone not expected to score did the biggest damage in some games.

I know that second Carolina game stands out but less than two weeks earlier in the same building the Isles scored four second period goals and the Canes looked horrible before the LaRose show took over and the Isles gave it right back along with two points.

I absolutely think anything is possible for the 2009-10 New York Islanders.

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