On a quarter (well, fifth) of the lineup

I love the love for Kip. No, I don’t know where he’s going.

Some of this is in the story tomorrow, but here’s Jack Capuano on today’s newbies, not counting Mannino:

“Brett Skinner, obviously, he’s a really good puck-moving defenseman. He’s got really good offensive instincts. He skates well. He’s an offensive guy. He moves the puck well, which is something we were obviously lacking from the blue line last year. Chris Lee, I haven’t seen as much. Same as Skinner, he’s a bit of a puck-moving guy. He’ll play on the power play. When we did have him that one game at at Albany, you could see his skating was an asset. He has confidence.

“We’ve seen enough of McLean to know he’s a hard-working kid. He competes hard every shift. I watched him in the playoffs here a bit. He’s got real good hockey sense. He’s a character guy. He was a leader for that team last year. And he put up 20-plus goals. …

“I really like Mitch Fritz. He’s a guy, when I was in the ECHL in South Carolina, he was in Columbus. It’s funny how paths cross. You’ve seen him in the American League. Here’s a kid, you’ve heard nothing but good things. He’s a great teammate. He’s really, really great in the community, with kids. He’s worked hard. He’s one step away from being where he wants to be, in an Islanders uniform. … He’s definitely come a long way, worked extremely hard. Against us, he always did the simple thing. You know he has that character, that he’s a good team guy.”

Michael Fornabaio