The NHL allows teams to release their own pre-season schedules, so I have most of the Islanders', even though they haven't announced theirs.
(all times Eastern)
Wednesday September 16 at Edmonton Rexall Place 9:00 p.m.
Thursday September 17at Calgary 9:00 pm Saddledome
Saturday September 19 vs Calgary 9:00 pm Credit Union Centre/Saskatoon
Sunday September 20 vs Edmonton (at Saskatoon) Credit Union Centre 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, September 22 vs. Los Angeles at Sprint Center in Kansas City, 8:00 pm.
The Rangers have announced their schedule -- the Islanders are not on it.
Teams can play as many as 9 pre-season games, so there will likely be a game or two closer to home. Traditionally, the Isles' last pre-seaon game is on Sunday (which would be September 27), but if rumors that the team will open at home on Saturday, October 3rd are correct, there might be time for another game.
One thing is for certain- the Isles' home opener will not be on Friday, October 2. That night the Coliseum is booked for another home opener -- the New York Majesty.
Who are the Majesty you might ask? They play in the LFL -- the Lingerie Football League.
Visit Eric's Blog at http://forever1940.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
On and Off Ice Comments
Another one of my friends went to the prcatice and sent these comments:
ON ICE INSIGHTS:
Got a last minute invite to todays closed Prospects Camp @ Iceworks and met a few fellow fans there...
We arrived too late for the 10:30 group, but made it in time to see Tavares for the first time in an Isles uniform.
- Wrecker and MadDonald had a few one on one scrimages, and Wrecker held his own in the skating department. Now, I'm not sure if it was because MacDonald is severely lacking in the skating dept, or if Wrecker has improved there - but he seemed to look a tad more graceful out there than at the end of the season. If he can improve in that area and work with Cairnsy some more on his fisticuffs - perhaps our friend Pats favorite Islander of the 21st century will be a keeper (of course adding some lead to that chin won't hurt either).
- Martin? looked pretty fluid out there for a "bigger guy".
- One of the goalies NOT drafted this year looked pretty good. Our goalies drafted in the 2nd and 3rd round this year were on the ice with the first group - so nothing to report there.
- Some kid named Tavares looked to have some pretty decent hockey talent. He might be someone to keep an eye on. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me to see him on the opening day roster.
OFF ICE INSIGHTS
We came prepared with things for the players to sign - sticks, jerseys, miniature Stanley Cups, etc.
Bailey was our first "victim", as he was already done with his skate for the day. Seems like a real nice kid - well spoken, very cordial, and apparently great with the fans. Hearing him speak - he doesn't act like he's got a roster spot locked up because of some sort of "entitlement", which was nice to hear. I'm looking forward to him feeding Okposo, along with Taylor Hall feeding Tavares - for many years to come! :)
Up next at the BBQ were a bunch of kids - most of whom have only a slightly better chance than Doug and I in suiting up for the Isles next season. I'm not sure if its an organizational deficiency, or the players are starting to trend back towards the smaller side - but the majority of these kids were under 5'10. Heres hoping they're all working on their college degrees to have something to fall back on!
Corey Trevino then came out for a bit - at first he was fairly unnoticed by most of the fans. Colin Wilson is gone from BU (not sure if he graduated or is just sticking with Nashville), so Trevino should see much more ice-time this season. The Isles list him @ 6'1, but they must have measured this kid with his skates on, because he's small. However, like Bailey - this kid seems to have his head on straight and was a pleasure to speak with.
Then, when things were breaking up - that Tavares guy came out and started signing things for the fans. Now this is obviously only my first "in person" impression of him - but the first wasn't one I want to remember. Getting straight to the point - he acted like a spoiled brat this afternoon to the fans who waited in some cases HOURS to get the chance to meet him. Obviously, he gets the benefit of the doubt - with all the public craziness he's endured throughout the last few weeks and months.
And while not wanting to blame the Isles for his "bratty" behavior today (shouldn't he be used to it by now, AND expect it?) - it may be deserved. This kids 18 years old, and has had HUGE expectations placed on his shoulders. While its nice to market this kid and strike while the irons hot - lets take baby steps here and NOT make this kid feel like he HAS to become the next Michael Bossy in his first season. Perhaps keeping ALL the players away from these direct "meet and greets" (to sell more tickets) after their skates should be the course of action, so they can ALL concentrate on what their really there for - and thats NOT to sell tickets!
ON ICE INSIGHTS:
Got a last minute invite to todays closed Prospects Camp @ Iceworks and met a few fellow fans there...
We arrived too late for the 10:30 group, but made it in time to see Tavares for the first time in an Isles uniform.
- Wrecker and MadDonald had a few one on one scrimages, and Wrecker held his own in the skating department. Now, I'm not sure if it was because MacDonald is severely lacking in the skating dept, or if Wrecker has improved there - but he seemed to look a tad more graceful out there than at the end of the season. If he can improve in that area and work with Cairnsy some more on his fisticuffs - perhaps our friend Pats favorite Islander of the 21st century will be a keeper (of course adding some lead to that chin won't hurt either).
- Martin? looked pretty fluid out there for a "bigger guy".
- One of the goalies NOT drafted this year looked pretty good. Our goalies drafted in the 2nd and 3rd round this year were on the ice with the first group - so nothing to report there.
- Some kid named Tavares looked to have some pretty decent hockey talent. He might be someone to keep an eye on. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me to see him on the opening day roster.
OFF ICE INSIGHTS
We came prepared with things for the players to sign - sticks, jerseys, miniature Stanley Cups, etc.
Bailey was our first "victim", as he was already done with his skate for the day. Seems like a real nice kid - well spoken, very cordial, and apparently great with the fans. Hearing him speak - he doesn't act like he's got a roster spot locked up because of some sort of "entitlement", which was nice to hear. I'm looking forward to him feeding Okposo, along with Taylor Hall feeding Tavares - for many years to come! :)
Up next at the BBQ were a bunch of kids - most of whom have only a slightly better chance than Doug and I in suiting up for the Isles next season. I'm not sure if its an organizational deficiency, or the players are starting to trend back towards the smaller side - but the majority of these kids were under 5'10. Heres hoping they're all working on their college degrees to have something to fall back on!
Corey Trevino then came out for a bit - at first he was fairly unnoticed by most of the fans. Colin Wilson is gone from BU (not sure if he graduated or is just sticking with Nashville), so Trevino should see much more ice-time this season. The Isles list him @ 6'1, but they must have measured this kid with his skates on, because he's small. However, like Bailey - this kid seems to have his head on straight and was a pleasure to speak with.
Then, when things were breaking up - that Tavares guy came out and started signing things for the fans. Now this is obviously only my first "in person" impression of him - but the first wasn't one I want to remember. Getting straight to the point - he acted like a spoiled brat this afternoon to the fans who waited in some cases HOURS to get the chance to meet him. Obviously, he gets the benefit of the doubt - with all the public craziness he's endured throughout the last few weeks and months.
And while not wanting to blame the Isles for his "bratty" behavior today (shouldn't he be used to it by now, AND expect it?) - it may be deserved. This kids 18 years old, and has had HUGE expectations placed on his shoulders. While its nice to market this kid and strike while the irons hot - lets take baby steps here and NOT make this kid feel like he HAS to become the next Michael Bossy in his first season. Perhaps keeping ALL the players away from these direct "meet and greets" (to sell more tickets) after their skates should be the course of action, so they can ALL concentrate on what their really there for - and thats NOT to sell tickets!
Practice Observation from My Friend Doug
Some things I saw yesterday (we only saw the second session, so we did not see some of the players):
1. Tavares is one of those guys that doesn't seem like he's doing a whole hell of a lot- until he lets that shot go. He ripped one into the net from the inside of the right circle yesterday. The goalie didn't move until after it hit the twine. This is something we have needed since Zigmund Palffy got on a plane to Los Angeles and didn't come back. I don't really give a darn if he does NOTHING ELSE, to be honest with you.
2. I can see why Calvin de Haan was drafted in the first round. He's very smart in his own end of the ice. On every two on one that he defended, the player with the puck took the shot, which is what you want. Very good positionally, and a good passer. He'll be here soon. Probably not this year, but soon.
3. As for some of the others who stood out for positive reasons: I liked Ridderwall and DiBenedetto, and both for the same reason- they hustle. Lee has some talent as well, although he needs to get stronger. Matt Martin is a big boy; he will be a solid player in the NHL- what that means in terms of scoring, I'm not sure, but he can play. Rakhshani is quick, and very talented, but he is definitely on the smaller side, so that will be a question until we see him play against NHL players. Poulin did a very good job of keeping the puck out of his net, considering the amount of times they had three guys coming at him with one or no defensemen in front of him- I guess the Quebec League helped with training for that situation...LOL.
4. The negatives: the goalie at the other end of the ice wasn't nearly as good, IMO (Lawson?). The defenseman MacDonald doesn't look fast enough to play regularly in the NHL, to be honest with you. Most of the other defensemen need work. Kohn was decent, but he's nothing special, IMO. That said, we just have to remember at this point that these are all kids, so it will be a while before we can figure out whether or not they really will be any good.
One negative I forgot about: OK, so you have a practice session where fans are in attendance. These kids work their tails off on the ice, and they come out the side door of the building hungry, and then get mobbed for autographs. No one knows who they are, unless they ask. Some come out the side, and some come out the front to go to the bus. Nobody says anything about what the plan is, so no one knows who will show up where or when.
The good news is, this organization seems to finally have turned the corner in terms of legitimate talent, with a plan and a goal in mind, on ice. Off the ice, however, it is still an absolute disaster. All I kept thinking yesterday was this: I could have planned this better myself. Just that thought alone says it all, because "cruise director" is normally my wife's role in our family.
I mean, seriously: bring the food inside to them, so they can eat in peace. Then bring them out five or ten at a time, to sit at tables and sign autographs. I don't know, maybe have a card on the table with the player's name on it, so one might know who they are. That would have taken 30 seconds to plan, and about five minutes to set up. Yeah, I know, I just found something to bitch about, as usual, but you have to admit that was ridiculous, and it wouldn't have been hard to do the right way.
Doug
1. Tavares is one of those guys that doesn't seem like he's doing a whole hell of a lot- until he lets that shot go. He ripped one into the net from the inside of the right circle yesterday. The goalie didn't move until after it hit the twine. This is something we have needed since Zigmund Palffy got on a plane to Los Angeles and didn't come back. I don't really give a darn if he does NOTHING ELSE, to be honest with you.
2. I can see why Calvin de Haan was drafted in the first round. He's very smart in his own end of the ice. On every two on one that he defended, the player with the puck took the shot, which is what you want. Very good positionally, and a good passer. He'll be here soon. Probably not this year, but soon.
3. As for some of the others who stood out for positive reasons: I liked Ridderwall and DiBenedetto, and both for the same reason- they hustle. Lee has some talent as well, although he needs to get stronger. Matt Martin is a big boy; he will be a solid player in the NHL- what that means in terms of scoring, I'm not sure, but he can play. Rakhshani is quick, and very talented, but he is definitely on the smaller side, so that will be a question until we see him play against NHL players. Poulin did a very good job of keeping the puck out of his net, considering the amount of times they had three guys coming at him with one or no defensemen in front of him- I guess the Quebec League helped with training for that situation...LOL.
4. The negatives: the goalie at the other end of the ice wasn't nearly as good, IMO (Lawson?). The defenseman MacDonald doesn't look fast enough to play regularly in the NHL, to be honest with you. Most of the other defensemen need work. Kohn was decent, but he's nothing special, IMO. That said, we just have to remember at this point that these are all kids, so it will be a while before we can figure out whether or not they really will be any good.
One negative I forgot about: OK, so you have a practice session where fans are in attendance. These kids work their tails off on the ice, and they come out the side door of the building hungry, and then get mobbed for autographs. No one knows who they are, unless they ask. Some come out the side, and some come out the front to go to the bus. Nobody says anything about what the plan is, so no one knows who will show up where or when.
The good news is, this organization seems to finally have turned the corner in terms of legitimate talent, with a plan and a goal in mind, on ice. Off the ice, however, it is still an absolute disaster. All I kept thinking yesterday was this: I could have planned this better myself. Just that thought alone says it all, because "cruise director" is normally my wife's role in our family.
I mean, seriously: bring the food inside to them, so they can eat in peace. Then bring them out five or ten at a time, to sit at tables and sign autographs. I don't know, maybe have a card on the table with the player's name on it, so one might know who they are. That would have taken 30 seconds to plan, and about five minutes to set up. Yeah, I know, I just found something to bitch about, as usual, but you have to admit that was ridiculous, and it wouldn't have been hard to do the right way.
Doug
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
The Montreal Draft from My Friend Doug
OK, I'm finally going to do this now. I kept waiting for this team to do something else, other than fill out Bridgeport's roster, but apparently, that either isn't the plan, or they are having a hard time getting anyone to sign here, just yet. I do know they need to save spots for the youngsters (we HAVE been making this argument for years, haven't we?), but they really need more than five or six veterans to teach these kids the ropes, especially if two of them are goalies.
Personally, I think they should resign Hilbert. I know everyone hates the guy- I did, too, in the wrong role. The guy is not a first or second line player, who should be getting power play ice time. THOSE are the roles in which they desperately need the kids to get their feet wet. However, as a fourth line penalty killer, there aren't too many guys who bust their ass out on the ice more than he does, and that alone is a lesson for the youngsters in regards to showing up every night, and not taking anything for granted.
I'd also like to see them at least take a shot at some sort of veteran who can score a bit as well since, let's face it, we don't have that many, needless to say. That said, maybe the plan is to be at the top of the draft heap again next year, which isn't really an awful idea- it would probably guarantee that this will be a really good team, three or four years from now. We shall see.
I also understand the reluctance to sign a full time goon- those guys are getting decent money at this point, and there are only really a few of them left. You really don't need them every night, so having a guy on a two-way for bottom of the barrel dollars makes sense, in my opinion- as long as he can fight. The issue we had last year was that Fritz can fight like hell, but he can't play any better than I can, where as Rechlicz is at least presentable on the ice, but seems to be a so-so fighter. I'm guessing the plan is to hopefully get the latter to develop into a legitimate heavyweight. We shall see.
At any rate, as you can see from the picture, I was in Montreal at the draft with Roger, thanks to him letting me know he had a ticket for me at the last minute. Thanks again for the ticket, my friend- I love the NHL draft, and I try to go whenever I can. Just a couple of quick observations in regards to the surroundings- the Bell Centre is a monstrous cavern. I doubt we'd ever need anything nearly that big. It's not really impressive on the outside, except for the statues of all the Hall-of-Famers that surround it. However, the arena itself is huge. The thing I like most about it is that the upstairs seats are steep and close to the ice, so the view is probably decent from up there. This is in contrast to NJ, where the "steep" concept apparently failed to enter the engineer's mind, and so I've been told that one can spend the entire game watching the back of the head of the person in front of them.
The second thing is…well, (what else?) the snobby French-Canadians, especially the women. Hate to break this to you honey, but I have been married for 14 years- try not to flatter yourself. I just want the pen that I dropped under your seat back, OK? See you next Tuesday, sweetheart. The best are the ankle biters, though- Roger's brother-in-law is a Leafs fan, and he wore the sweater. I don't know how many people told him the Leafs suck, either while running by at full speed, or from the other side of a busy street, but that applied to pretty much everyone who said anything to him. He was getting annoyed that he had to deal with them (especially since Roger kept pointing him out to everyone….LOL), but let's put it this way- Rag$ fans they are not. That's basically spring training for dealing with the helmet-wearing drunks who ride the short bus to Madison Square Garden, or the Wachovia Center in south Philly. I was not impressed, to say the least.
What I was impressed by was Garth Snow, who spent two months essentially pissing off the Canadian press, on purpose. After all that, he walked up to the podium, and he had this big shit eating grin on his face when he said, "John Tavares," as if he was saying, "guess what, you jerks….who the heck did you think I was going to take?....morons." That was classic.
As for the other pick, he can say whatever he wants, but I still believe he moved up to 16th, thinking he could draft Ellis, and then when Nashville grabbed him, he figured the defenseman parade was on, so he moved up again. I don't question the moving up, but I think that the first time, he probably should have waited until it got down to what triggered the second deal. I'm not a big fan of moving up without a specific use for the pick in mind, which means I don't move up to 16th when the draft is only at pick number 7- but that's just me. That said, we did meet Calvin de Haan toward the end of the night, and he seemed like a nice kid, with a good family, so hopefully that translates into something. I don't think we will see him until next year, though.
As for the rest of the draft, I question the second goalie, because I think it's overkill, but other than that, as with any draft, you can't tell what it's going to be until a few years from now. You can say what you want about the kid with the legal issue, but if he is as good as he was projected prior to it, we may have gotten very lucky with that pick. Some of the others seem to be projects as well, but you can't really complain about anything in rounds 4-7 as far as I'm concerned, because if the draft is a crap shoot, that part is REALLY a crap shoot. Again, we shall see.
At any rate, that is what I have seen so far. Hopefully, they will do at least something else in terms of a free agent signing before the season starts, however little it might help this year. I do think this team has the potential to be really good in the not too distant future, and I haven't been able to say that in forever. I don't know how it will shake out, but I do know that we're probably not going to trade Calvin de Haan for Oleg Kvasha, and that alone gives me hope.
Doug
.
Personally, I think they should resign Hilbert. I know everyone hates the guy- I did, too, in the wrong role. The guy is not a first or second line player, who should be getting power play ice time. THOSE are the roles in which they desperately need the kids to get their feet wet. However, as a fourth line penalty killer, there aren't too many guys who bust their ass out on the ice more than he does, and that alone is a lesson for the youngsters in regards to showing up every night, and not taking anything for granted.
I'd also like to see them at least take a shot at some sort of veteran who can score a bit as well since, let's face it, we don't have that many, needless to say. That said, maybe the plan is to be at the top of the draft heap again next year, which isn't really an awful idea- it would probably guarantee that this will be a really good team, three or four years from now. We shall see.
I also understand the reluctance to sign a full time goon- those guys are getting decent money at this point, and there are only really a few of them left. You really don't need them every night, so having a guy on a two-way for bottom of the barrel dollars makes sense, in my opinion- as long as he can fight. The issue we had last year was that Fritz can fight like hell, but he can't play any better than I can, where as Rechlicz is at least presentable on the ice, but seems to be a so-so fighter. I'm guessing the plan is to hopefully get the latter to develop into a legitimate heavyweight. We shall see.
At any rate, as you can see from the picture, I was in Montreal at the draft with Roger, thanks to him letting me know he had a ticket for me at the last minute. Thanks again for the ticket, my friend- I love the NHL draft, and I try to go whenever I can. Just a couple of quick observations in regards to the surroundings- the Bell Centre is a monstrous cavern. I doubt we'd ever need anything nearly that big. It's not really impressive on the outside, except for the statues of all the Hall-of-Famers that surround it. However, the arena itself is huge. The thing I like most about it is that the upstairs seats are steep and close to the ice, so the view is probably decent from up there. This is in contrast to NJ, where the "steep" concept apparently failed to enter the engineer's mind, and so I've been told that one can spend the entire game watching the back of the head of the person in front of them.
The second thing is…well, (what else?) the snobby French-Canadians, especially the women. Hate to break this to you honey, but I have been married for 14 years- try not to flatter yourself. I just want the pen that I dropped under your seat back, OK? See you next Tuesday, sweetheart. The best are the ankle biters, though- Roger's brother-in-law is a Leafs fan, and he wore the sweater. I don't know how many people told him the Leafs suck, either while running by at full speed, or from the other side of a busy street, but that applied to pretty much everyone who said anything to him. He was getting annoyed that he had to deal with them (especially since Roger kept pointing him out to everyone….LOL), but let's put it this way- Rag$ fans they are not. That's basically spring training for dealing with the helmet-wearing drunks who ride the short bus to Madison Square Garden, or the Wachovia Center in south Philly. I was not impressed, to say the least.
What I was impressed by was Garth Snow, who spent two months essentially pissing off the Canadian press, on purpose. After all that, he walked up to the podium, and he had this big shit eating grin on his face when he said, "John Tavares," as if he was saying, "guess what, you jerks….who the heck did you think I was going to take?....morons." That was classic.
As for the other pick, he can say whatever he wants, but I still believe he moved up to 16th, thinking he could draft Ellis, and then when Nashville grabbed him, he figured the defenseman parade was on, so he moved up again. I don't question the moving up, but I think that the first time, he probably should have waited until it got down to what triggered the second deal. I'm not a big fan of moving up without a specific use for the pick in mind, which means I don't move up to 16th when the draft is only at pick number 7- but that's just me. That said, we did meet Calvin de Haan toward the end of the night, and he seemed like a nice kid, with a good family, so hopefully that translates into something. I don't think we will see him until next year, though.
As for the rest of the draft, I question the second goalie, because I think it's overkill, but other than that, as with any draft, you can't tell what it's going to be until a few years from now. You can say what you want about the kid with the legal issue, but if he is as good as he was projected prior to it, we may have gotten very lucky with that pick. Some of the others seem to be projects as well, but you can't really complain about anything in rounds 4-7 as far as I'm concerned, because if the draft is a crap shoot, that part is REALLY a crap shoot. Again, we shall see.
At any rate, that is what I have seen so far. Hopefully, they will do at least something else in terms of a free agent signing before the season starts, however little it might help this year. I do think this team has the potential to be really good in the not too distant future, and I haven't been able to say that in forever. I don't know how it will shake out, but I do know that we're probably not going to trade Calvin de Haan for Oleg Kvasha, and that alone gives me hope.
Doug
.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Goaltending Around
So, I felt a statement was made about Dipietro's situation last Saturday.
We knew a strong back-up was coming in. It happened.
Roloson is older, but he's coming off his best season ever. The numbers were good. He can play 30 or 60 games. It's a good signing. $2.5 isn't cheap, but we're under the cap level, so no problem.
Throw in this kid Munroe, who just went 31-19-4 with an excellent .926 SV% and well, Bridgeport would seem very well stacked, considerin All Rookie Team goalie Lawson is there and Koskinen is scheduled for BPort too.
Now, not even one week later, the statement has become stronger.
Precaution is one thing, but what the Islanders are doing is more than being careful. They're planning as if Dipietro isn't there. They're planning as if they're assuming Roloson will hold the fort for two years, just to clear the way for Koskinen.
Well, I guess it's the safest way to go.
Makes Dipietro's future look dimmer and dimmer though.
Hope I'm wrong about that!
We knew a strong back-up was coming in. It happened.
Roloson is older, but he's coming off his best season ever. The numbers were good. He can play 30 or 60 games. It's a good signing. $2.5 isn't cheap, but we're under the cap level, so no problem.
Throw in this kid Munroe, who just went 31-19-4 with an excellent .926 SV% and well, Bridgeport would seem very well stacked, considerin All Rookie Team goalie Lawson is there and Koskinen is scheduled for BPort too.
Now, not even one week later, the statement has become stronger.
Precaution is one thing, but what the Islanders are doing is more than being careful. They're planning as if Dipietro isn't there. They're planning as if they're assuming Roloson will hold the fort for two years, just to clear the way for Koskinen.
Well, I guess it's the safest way to go.
Makes Dipietro's future look dimmer and dimmer though.
Hope I'm wrong about that!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Mikko 2009 NHL Draft Videos
Mikko 31st Pick
Mikko Meets the Islanders
Meet Mikko
Tall
Mikko Signs Autographs
Mikko Meets the Islanders
Meet Mikko
Tall
Mikko Signs Autographs
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Montreal Videos - More to come!!!!
Anatomy of the second trade - part 1
Anatomy of the second trade - part 2
Round Three Board turns
Anatomy of the second trade - part 2
Round Three Board turns
Montreal Final Night
I am just getting in from partying like a rock star with many of the Isles Bloggers and BD Gallof and Eklund.
It is one of those days where more things happened then I can really remember.
One of the major events form last night is walking into a bar and meeting sudsie and the Isles Finish scout.
I asked both of them why they chose Mikko. Sudsie said his athletic ability for a guy 6 foot 7. and the scout said "because he can stop the puck."
Again we bumped into Calvin deHaan walking around. He is very excited to be an Islander.
I can not tell you all the different people I met this weekend but I do know that the Islanders went out and got the players they wanted. Plain and simple. All the Isles execs said that this was Snowies draft and although Wang was ever present it was all Snow.
I was hearing rumors from a couple of sources that there was some disparity amongst the scouts. Although I didn't hear anything directly I did hear this from several of my own sources. I expect Brian to have some strong follow up on this topic.
Once I can see straight I will post some more videos of tonight's events including the series on "Excuse me are those your shoes?"
As I walked with the group of Islander fans etc, you can tell the Montreal fans were all envious of our pick for JT,
My head hurts so I will post more later.
It is one of those days where more things happened then I can really remember.
One of the major events form last night is walking into a bar and meeting sudsie and the Isles Finish scout.
I asked both of them why they chose Mikko. Sudsie said his athletic ability for a guy 6 foot 7. and the scout said "because he can stop the puck."
Again we bumped into Calvin deHaan walking around. He is very excited to be an Islander.
I can not tell you all the different people I met this weekend but I do know that the Islanders went out and got the players they wanted. Plain and simple. All the Isles execs said that this was Snowies draft and although Wang was ever present it was all Snow.
I was hearing rumors from a couple of sources that there was some disparity amongst the scouts. Although I didn't hear anything directly I did hear this from several of my own sources. I expect Brian to have some strong follow up on this topic.
Once I can see straight I will post some more videos of tonight's events including the series on "Excuse me are those your shoes?"
As I walked with the group of Islander fans etc, you can tell the Montreal fans were all envious of our pick for JT,
My head hurts so I will post more later.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Recapping
So, the draft has come and gone. If you haven't seen all the picks and wheeling 'n dealing, check out the Islander homepage for details, although they haven't yet posted a simple list of their picks and results.
From what I gather, it's like this:
F Tavares, D de Haan, G Koskinen, G Nilsson, Coyote's 3rd in 2010, C Cizikas, D Klementyev, C Lee
That's what we picked up.
The Plus:
The Isles OBVIOUSLY had Tavares, de Haan and Koskinen on their list of players that they simply had to have. They got them and they didn't care who they skipped or what it cost in the process.
The Minus:
The Isles OBVIOUSLY had Tavares, de Haan and Koskinen on their list of players that they simply had to have. They got them and they didn't care who they skipped or what it cost in the process.
General feeling:
It's funny, because Tavares, de Haan and Koskinen were three guys I had really hoped to get out of this draft. That's exciting. If you had told me beforehand that we'd have them, I'd have been quite happy and probably would have said, "Can't wait to hear about the other 8 picks!"
Problem is, there are no other 8 picks. We have 4 more relatively unknown bodies and a remnant for next year's draft (granted, the Coyote pick is bound to be better placed than this year's 91, although next summer's draft isn't [yet] considered as deep as this summer's).
This draft will always leave me wondering if we couldn't have gotten de Haan or Koskinen at another point, under other circumstances? I will always wonder if we could've gotten de Haan without having to give up the five picks it took to get him? I will always wonder if anyone else was thinking of taking Koskinen anywhere near the 2nd round?
What to make of it all:
Ultimately, some fans will give this team the thumbs up for this draft. Heck, I too see three future NHLers in no less than Tavares, de Haan and Koskinen, which is a pretty good turnout for one draft.
However, now viewing the other three bodies and the general bevy of picks that came and well, mostly went, I feel as though the scouting stuff didn't really take things seriously after getting the three guys they knew they wanted. I get they let themselves rest a bit on the laurels of last summer and the belief that they got three future impact players with their picks between 1-31. When you hear what the staff says about Nilsson, Cizikas, Klementyev and Lee (who I think may just be a real gem at some point in the distant future), you get the jist that they kind of, sort of, just, well, were plucking at hunches.
Now, I am but a simple fan, but other than the Tavares pick, which in many respects is about the only one of real interest to a large portion of the fanbase, I can name you no less than five guys in each round who went AFTER each one of the players the Islanders picked in each respective round who I feel would have been much better choices. This goes for the de Haan pick as well - I truly feel he went a good 8-12 spots ahead of where he should have, well, when you compare him to some of the other first round talent (especially Kulikov, Rundblad, Leblanc and Schroeder)! This is not to say that the Isles didn't have good reason to believe that maybe a Florida, per se, was geared to take him 14th, but a good read of the many draft preview publications would give any ol' Joe this feeling.
With the draft hardly over, and of course excluding Tavares, I think we fans will look back at this draft and think "Doggone, THAT guy was still on the board when we took so-n-so and is now way better! How did the scouting staff miss him???"
Biggest statement made by this draft:
Now to the crux of it all - IMHO, this draft pretty much pointed out that this team no longer sees Dipietro as the longterm answer in goal, or as the face of this franchise. I'll tackle the latter point first.
As is, Tavares definitely becomes the new face of the franchise. There is little doubting of this. Aside from the humongous fanfare, when was the last time this team could call one of Canada's most adored sons one of its own? He puts us back on the map for those in the know....
So, with Dipietro being hereby replaced as the face of this franchise, the Islanders go WAY off the board to take the draft's most interesting and most NHL-READY goaltender. I had this guy pegged for round 3. They kicked off Saturday with the announcement of his name. I can only think: WOW!
In a draft this deep and with this team dishin' off five picks to get de Haan, this Finnish kid hasn't been taken to, uhhh, maybe be a back-up at some point. This pick speaks volumes about what the Isles feel about Dipietro's situation. It tells me, they're doubting Dipietro's longterm future. Heck, it tells me, they're doubting Dipietro's shortterm future.
This pick is a scary statement!
Top it off with the NEXT pick being yet another goalie, one not generally cosidered amongst the best available in this draft and well, those doubting the healthy return of Dipietro have been given a boatload of ammunition.
Know this: the team is still pretty high on Kevin Poulin, a monstrous goalie from the Q who they took last summer. In addition, Stefan Ridderwall is a part-time starter in the SEL and Jase Weslosky had the best numbers of any goalie in the system last year and is heading into a big senior year.
If you ask me, this draft wasn't just about the Islanders' future, but rather of its future WITHOUT Dipietro......
From what I gather, it's like this:
F Tavares, D de Haan, G Koskinen, G Nilsson, Coyote's 3rd in 2010, C Cizikas, D Klementyev, C Lee
That's what we picked up.
The Plus:
The Isles OBVIOUSLY had Tavares, de Haan and Koskinen on their list of players that they simply had to have. They got them and they didn't care who they skipped or what it cost in the process.
The Minus:
The Isles OBVIOUSLY had Tavares, de Haan and Koskinen on their list of players that they simply had to have. They got them and they didn't care who they skipped or what it cost in the process.
General feeling:
It's funny, because Tavares, de Haan and Koskinen were three guys I had really hoped to get out of this draft. That's exciting. If you had told me beforehand that we'd have them, I'd have been quite happy and probably would have said, "Can't wait to hear about the other 8 picks!"
Problem is, there are no other 8 picks. We have 4 more relatively unknown bodies and a remnant for next year's draft (granted, the Coyote pick is bound to be better placed than this year's 91, although next summer's draft isn't [yet] considered as deep as this summer's).
This draft will always leave me wondering if we couldn't have gotten de Haan or Koskinen at another point, under other circumstances? I will always wonder if we could've gotten de Haan without having to give up the five picks it took to get him? I will always wonder if anyone else was thinking of taking Koskinen anywhere near the 2nd round?
What to make of it all:
Ultimately, some fans will give this team the thumbs up for this draft. Heck, I too see three future NHLers in no less than Tavares, de Haan and Koskinen, which is a pretty good turnout for one draft.
However, now viewing the other three bodies and the general bevy of picks that came and well, mostly went, I feel as though the scouting stuff didn't really take things seriously after getting the three guys they knew they wanted. I get they let themselves rest a bit on the laurels of last summer and the belief that they got three future impact players with their picks between 1-31. When you hear what the staff says about Nilsson, Cizikas, Klementyev and Lee (who I think may just be a real gem at some point in the distant future), you get the jist that they kind of, sort of, just, well, were plucking at hunches.
Now, I am but a simple fan, but other than the Tavares pick, which in many respects is about the only one of real interest to a large portion of the fanbase, I can name you no less than five guys in each round who went AFTER each one of the players the Islanders picked in each respective round who I feel would have been much better choices. This goes for the de Haan pick as well - I truly feel he went a good 8-12 spots ahead of where he should have, well, when you compare him to some of the other first round talent (especially Kulikov, Rundblad, Leblanc and Schroeder)! This is not to say that the Isles didn't have good reason to believe that maybe a Florida, per se, was geared to take him 14th, but a good read of the many draft preview publications would give any ol' Joe this feeling.
With the draft hardly over, and of course excluding Tavares, I think we fans will look back at this draft and think "Doggone, THAT guy was still on the board when we took so-n-so and is now way better! How did the scouting staff miss him???"
Biggest statement made by this draft:
Now to the crux of it all - IMHO, this draft pretty much pointed out that this team no longer sees Dipietro as the longterm answer in goal, or as the face of this franchise. I'll tackle the latter point first.
As is, Tavares definitely becomes the new face of the franchise. There is little doubting of this. Aside from the humongous fanfare, when was the last time this team could call one of Canada's most adored sons one of its own? He puts us back on the map for those in the know....
So, with Dipietro being hereby replaced as the face of this franchise, the Islanders go WAY off the board to take the draft's most interesting and most NHL-READY goaltender. I had this guy pegged for round 3. They kicked off Saturday with the announcement of his name. I can only think: WOW!
In a draft this deep and with this team dishin' off five picks to get de Haan, this Finnish kid hasn't been taken to, uhhh, maybe be a back-up at some point. This pick speaks volumes about what the Isles feel about Dipietro's situation. It tells me, they're doubting Dipietro's longterm future. Heck, it tells me, they're doubting Dipietro's shortterm future.
This pick is a scary statement!
Top it off with the NEXT pick being yet another goalie, one not generally cosidered amongst the best available in this draft and well, those doubting the healthy return of Dipietro have been given a boatload of ammunition.
Know this: the team is still pretty high on Kevin Poulin, a monstrous goalie from the Q who they took last summer. In addition, Stefan Ridderwall is a part-time starter in the SEL and Jase Weslosky had the best numbers of any goalie in the system last year and is heading into a big senior year.
If you ask me, this draft wasn't just about the Islanders' future, but rather of its future WITHOUT Dipietro......
Meeting Calvin deHaan
I talked with Calvin's parents last night. Turns out they live like 20 minutes from Jen's parents house in Ontario. I was really excited to meet him and tell him about Long Island and how great it is there.
As I talked to his parents, they told me that the Islanders wanted Calvin from early on. They knew they wanted him as did other teams. They told me that he was out with Chicago the night before and met with the Canes people in the morning before the draft. He also said that Philly and Jersey had an interest in him.
It appears that this is the kid they wanted and they traded up to make it happen. Plain and simple.
The Isles see something in this kid and I said that our scouting staff has been doing very well for us lately and they are right.
Later in the night we are walking down the street and I see someone in an Islander's jersey and hat. Lo and behold, Calvin deHaan!! I asked him what he knew about the team. I also asked him if he was a Ranger fan and he said NO.
Calvin, you will fit right in and welcome to our home on Long Island!!!
As I talked to his parents, they told me that the Islanders wanted Calvin from early on. They knew they wanted him as did other teams. They told me that he was out with Chicago the night before and met with the Canes people in the morning before the draft. He also said that Philly and Jersey had an interest in him.
It appears that this is the kid they wanted and they traded up to make it happen. Plain and simple.
The Isles see something in this kid and I said that our scouting staff has been doing very well for us lately and they are right.
Later in the night we are walking down the street and I see someone in an Islander's jersey and hat. Lo and behold, Calvin deHaan!! I asked him what he knew about the team. I also asked him if he was a Ranger fan and he said NO.
Calvin, you will fit right in and welcome to our home on Long Island!!!
Videos from 2009 NHL Draft - Montreal
GARTH AT PODIUM
GARTH MAKES THE PICK
FOLLOW ON TAVARES
THE ISLANDERS DRAFT TABLE
NEWS 12 LI
NEWS 12 LI Part 2
OUTSIDE BELL CENTER
INSIDE BELL CENTER
Friday, June 26, 2009
The 31st
So folks, the first round is over and as disappointed as I was with what essentially ended up being 5 picks for Calvin de Haan, we do have five picks tomorrow, including the 31st.
With that in mind, two fairly big fish are still available at this point:
A) Forward Jeremy Morin (21 THN, 28 CSS), considered by many to be the 2nd best sniper in this draft, 2nd only to Tavares.
B) Defenseman Stefan Elliot (27 THN, 32 CSS), an offensive Dman from the WHL who reminds many of Mike Green.
Also of note are C Drew Shore, W Landon Ferraro, C Cal O'Reilly, C Ethan Werek, C Richard Panik, C Joonas Nattinen and W Carl Klingsberg.
I sure wish we were going into tomorrow knowing that we'd be getting two of those guys, but be that as it may, we should have a great pick with the number 31.
Pre-Saturday Prediction:
- Should Colorado not be willing to trade 33 and 49 for 31 and 91, then the 31st should wind down to being one of Morin and Elliot. It's a no lose selection at this point.
- I think the team will look to pawn off #56, hopefully to a team like Montreal (home town crowd still wanting more?), from whom they should be able to get #s 65 and 79.
- With pick 91, should it not be moved, expect the team to select a goalie.
Some interesting names for later rounds should be Bubnick, Nestrasil, Vincour, Orlov, Silfverberg, Lehner, Kostinen, Koskinen, Wrenn, Hankowski, Flueler, Hackett, Barrie, Bertilsson, Vanek, Foligno, Dumoulin, Doherty, Vatanen, Bourque, and Kuchin.
Enjoy it folks!
With that in mind, two fairly big fish are still available at this point:
A) Forward Jeremy Morin (21 THN, 28 CSS), considered by many to be the 2nd best sniper in this draft, 2nd only to Tavares.
B) Defenseman Stefan Elliot (27 THN, 32 CSS), an offensive Dman from the WHL who reminds many of Mike Green.
Also of note are C Drew Shore, W Landon Ferraro, C Cal O'Reilly, C Ethan Werek, C Richard Panik, C Joonas Nattinen and W Carl Klingsberg.
I sure wish we were going into tomorrow knowing that we'd be getting two of those guys, but be that as it may, we should have a great pick with the number 31.
Pre-Saturday Prediction:
- Should Colorado not be willing to trade 33 and 49 for 31 and 91, then the 31st should wind down to being one of Morin and Elliot. It's a no lose selection at this point.
- I think the team will look to pawn off #56, hopefully to a team like Montreal (home town crowd still wanting more?), from whom they should be able to get #s 65 and 79.
- With pick 91, should it not be moved, expect the team to select a goalie.
Some interesting names for later rounds should be Bubnick, Nestrasil, Vincour, Orlov, Silfverberg, Lehner, Kostinen, Koskinen, Wrenn, Hankowski, Flueler, Hackett, Barrie, Bertilsson, Vanek, Foligno, Dumoulin, Doherty, Vatanen, Bourque, and Kuchin.
Enjoy it folks!
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