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Would like to know more abot Daniel Shank we are Fans from Las vegas Thunder when e played here thanks.
nmaziar@cox.net
I’d like to see Dubie play for Bport next year,I doubt he’ll get an NHL deal but maybe he could find a better AHL deal elsewhere
Of the UFA’s I’d like to see Peter MacArthur sign with the Isles. He’s a real dynamic player and for having only played a few games at this level, he looks like he belongs out there.
btw Tomas Marcinko’s season is over in the OHL, any chance we see him for the last weekend of the season?
Barring anything nuts.It looks like Bport`s team for next year is about 65% set.
The major questions are 2 goalies , 2 D and 2 or 3 forwards.
Mike,
What’s the likelihood that Morrison’s done enough to stay within the organization? What’s the likelihood he’ll test waters since he’s a UFA?
I think it was Hank (somewhere in all the comments) that said he didn’t see Dubie as an NHL starter. I don’t either. It’s probably not a popular opinion, but anyway. (at least there’s two of us, right?) I also agree to let Mole walk. If he doesn’t get picked up by another NHL team, he’ll get picked up by an ECHL team that wants an unaffiliated tender.
I love the silly season. 🙂 Even though we’re a week away from it.
Also a good captain would be Boyd Kane or Fata’s buddy…Keith Aucoin, who will likely be re-signed by carolina.
How about Chris Mccalister or Rory Fitzpatrick as a old school D-man.
IMO some of the best captains back in the day were Terry Virtue,Ken Gernander ,Gord Kruppke,Brian Chapman,Daniel Shank.
They all had intangibles ,even though it never transferred to NHL levels , they were the right guys for the job.
I think B-port missed the boat naming Wotton there Capo.Yet I am not sure there were many other options.
another guy i wouldn’t mind the islanders sign would be Dan Jancevski, he’s probably one of the best veteran defensemen in the AHL.
forget about Valiquette leaving the Rangers. They like him and he is dependable. The Caps have some descisions to make. Cassivi with Islanders would give them a bonified goalie to call up. Have him play in B’Port. Maybe have Dubie stay there. With Cassivi and Mac here? Not sure if Dubie will ever be a #1 in the NHL and he is capable to play 10-15 games a year. So staying with the Islanders is prob best for him. 500K to play 10 games! I’ll do it! I would not do anything with Mole, let him go somewhere else.
I believe Dubie and Joey would both have to clear waivers, regardless of their contract type. (2 way doesn’t = no waivers)
A great backup to DiP would be Hedberg. Sharp, no attitude, hard working, and can handle starter duties if needed. More expensive than Valiquette, but better too.
Then have Dubie and Joey in the Bridge. A Dubie/Hedberg (MOOOOOOSEEEEE) combo on the Island would be strong if for some seen reason, DiP gets hurt again.
Anyway, here’s the list of UFA goalies, in case anyone cares.
http://www.nhlnumbers.com/freeagents.php?team=none&pos=G&status=ufa&type=none
Also, Mole’s a RFA, so something has to be decided with him too.
My final point is that, though we are arguing over who will start in Bridgeport and who will backup DiPietro, Garth Snow and Charles Wang don’t really care if Joey Mac or Dubie is the backup. They signed DiPietro to be the goalie for 15 years, so they expect DiPietro to play as close to 82 games as possible
Paul
I copied and pasted.
I disagree i think this team finally realized they need a solid number 2 who can play 15-20 games a year and give Dp a rest.I think they may sign a bonafied number 2 and possibly bring back dubie or someone like him as a 3.
I hate the rangers but Valiquette is a sensible option to back up DP.Also he won`t cost a arm and a leg.He lives in Orange,Ct or atleast owns a house there .
I still believe they should give dubie a shot at 2
Sending joey mac down might get tricky, though. He’ll have to clear through waivers, and there’s no guarantee he’ll do that. A lot of NHL teams are looking for backup goalies, and he there is a slight chance he might get snagged. Worst case scenario for us is Dubie is backing up DiPi on the island, Joey Mac playing for someone else, and we don’t have anyone who even remotely resembles a #1 goalie.
I also can’t see any team, even the Islanders, guaranteeing Dubie a 1-way contract, which always leaves the possibility open for Dubie to be sent down. Dubie doesn’t fit the Doug Mirabelli comparasion yet, but if he has a bad week when the team he signs with is about to make the finishing touches to the NHL roster, he could very well find himself starting in the AHL again. Mirabelli had a bad spring training for the Padres, two weeks later they designate him for assignment, and the Red Sox pick him up again.
My final point is that, though we are arguing over who will start in Bridgeport and who will backup DiPietro, Garth Snow and Charles Wang don’t really care if Joey Mac or Dubie is the backup. They signed DiPietro to be the goalie for 15 years, so they expect DiPietro to play as close to 82 games as possible. This decision to them is like the Packers 10 years ago trying to find a backup to Brett Favre. Who cares who the backup is…he probably won’t play. Snow and Wang need to find themselves some bonafide goal scorers, not backup goalies.
I really don’t think the Dubie/Mirabelli comparison works. First and foremost, I hope we all agree that Joey Mac is not the answer for the Islanders in backing up Ricky next year. If we can’t all agree on that then the rest of my argument is pointless so you can skip it.
If that’s the case then Dubie is guaranteed a shot at his current job again (organization loves him, fans love him, perfect fit). So, the way I look at it, Dubie goes off now and tries to find a starting NHL job (not many of those around so not too likely), and then tries to see what kind of money he can get as a backup. Finally, if he can’t get a starting job then he goes back to Wang/Snow and finds out how much they’re willing to pay him. At no place in this example do I see a future of another season in the AHL.
Figren-I read a article that said he was very interested in playing for the Isles organization next year.I thought in that article i read a entry level deal was immenent but i am having trouble finding the article.
With regaurds to a goalie: a lot of NHl teams have 3 good goalies in the system.Devils,Carolina,Pitt,Buffalo just to name a few.With players not playing hurt anymore its very important to have a solid 3 goalie playing at your top farm system team.
Fretter was a numbers crunch guy,he was the odd man out in Atlanta/Chicago.
Dubie back in the Port would be great.Yet i think he will try to seek out a NHL deal around the league first ,rather then be back in the A.
That’s not how it worked with Fretter.
He played EIGHT games in Chicago. He was a healthy scratch the rest. Chicago had too many guys and no where to put any of them, and Anderson has his favorites (and the Thrashers tell him who to play), so Fretter sat. Chicago sat a lot of guys this year.
If Chicago had really done him favors, they would have loaned him back to Gwinnett until they found the proper AHL team for him. But instead, he sat until the B’port deal.
There are a lot of other backup goalies on the market like Danny Saborin (forgot how to spell his name right; it’s been two years since he last beat us), Steve Valiquette, and of course Ty Conklin who have played extremely well this year. Dubie will have some stiff competition landing a job over those guys.
Dubie is also a perfect example of the “Doug Mirabelli Rule.” The Red Sox traded Doug Mirabelli to the Padres only to have the Padres trade Mirabelli back to the Sox about a month later because the Padres realized the only thing that Mirabelli brings to the table is catching a knuckleball (a skill absolutely useless to a team w/o a knuckleball pitcher). Dubie is absolutely adored by the Islander fans because he played out of his mind for two weeks. If he goes to another NHL team, there is a very good chance that they peg him as a career minor league goalie, which would probably mean he lands back in the AHL again. If he’s going back to the AHL, why not go to the arena where the fans love him.
I’d be highly disappointed if Figren decides to play in Sweden.
Dubie? I can’t see any way he doesn’t get a full time NHL deal someplace if not the Islanders. In fact, if he doesn’t get a decent deal someplace else then I’d expect to see him back on the Islanders. MacDonald is doomed to be a very high paid AHL goalie next season.
On the subject of RFA’s I wouldn’t be so sure that they’re all going to get a QO. I think Colliton, Nielsen, Tambellini, and Walter are locks. Regier and Fata are likely, but not locks. Keith, Spiller, and Jackman and no sure things. I agree that the only AHL FA that they have to sign is Morency. Anyone else would be a bit of a surprise to me. I’d like to see them sign this kid MacArthur to a real contract. He’s been pretty solid and comes with great credentials. As for new kids, obviously Joensuu plans on being here and I think that Hillen has a much better chance of landing here then on the Island. Figren is reportedly going to play in Sweden next season, but I agree that Marcinko will be here.
Without Tambellini I sure hope they plan on signing a big time scorer to pick up the point slack. This team has been hurting for offense for years now and losing a 70+ point scorer is going to be tough to overcome.
and for anyone keeping score, that last comment is posted by me.
Fretter was never signed by atlanta. They were quite interested in him, but didn’t want to offer him an NHL contract, so they told him to sign with Chicago. After playing in 50-something games with them and scoring 1 goal, Chicago realized he was about as useful to them as Andy Hilbert is to the Islanders. The Wolves did him a HUGE favor by basically giving him to the Sound Tigers (a team with an open spot in the lineup and would definitely become more depleted as their NHL affiliate kept nose-diving) for basically nothing (My money says that those future considerations we gave up for him will probably become Streisand tickets). He should be a possibility to resign here. He seems to like the ice at the Arena because it’s just about the only AHL arena he scores in.
The only AHL free agent they should even think about resigning is Morency. Only because the guy is fun to watch. He has virtually no talent, but he’s a fun player to watch. I think they might keep Bourne in the organization (probably in Utah) as a legacy.
Also, is there a possibility of Dubie coming back to Bridgeport if no NHL team guarantees him a roster spot as a backup goalie?
Players for next season…
already under contract: Pitton, Fraser, A. MacDonald, Kohn, Smith, Joensuu, Bentivoglio, Comeau, Okposo
RFA’s: Colliton, Regier, Keith, Nielsen, Tambellini, Walter, Fata, Spiller, Jackman
UFA’s: Brennan, Morrison, MacArthur?
AHL FA’s:Wotton, Ford, Sertich, Haskins, Dwyer, K. Johnson, Morency, Bourne
Atlanta Property:Fretter
NYI One-way: J. MacDonald
Out of the RFA’s I expect everyone to get a QO
I expect Marcinko and Figren to sign entry level contracts
okposo and tambellini still need some fine tuning, true. But let’s face it…in 5 years, Kyle Okposo will lead the Islanders in points and Tambellini be a first line forward for another NHL team (except Pittsburgh and Chicago. They’re the only two NHL teams I think that already have solidified their first line for years to come.)
Everyone has made some great points, I agree with a little bit of everything. I think what the biggest disappointment this year has just been the team’s energy, FLAT. For all the call-ups we played pretty well, but alot of games we came out flat, and lost. Like before the call-ups the team was playing like garbage, once those guys got called up. Players like Keith and Trevor got a chance to play, and they did with some heart. I think part of the reason we stumbled down the strech was by Cap not playing Morency. Now I know he isn’t a producer on the ice, he needs some time to develop, but he always gave 110%. He was the spark of the team, when he plays the team plays hard. There were endless games I sat through in agony at the lack of effort. If were gonna be a poor team, at least play with effort. Jack has to take the blame for some of this and I never witnessed so many “too many men on the ice” penalties in one season.
All we can hope for is a miracle like the Islanders got last year…
Fata,fraser,spiller,kohn,mcdonald
Colliton,pitton,smith,reiger,walter,haskins,mccarther,josenuu,jackman,bentivolglio
Lets assume a couple wont be there but most of these guys are restricted FA`s
Possible new faces :Figren,marcinko,hillen,katic,gratchev
Bring back brennan and morency
Make:Jackman,Fata or Spiller captain.
Ok last post for me today 🙂
Since this season is all but over. Who comes back next year?
oops it was me who had the post above, sorry!!
In response to the last anonymous post:
“I’m not writing this part to annoy anyone but if you are going to make Devils comparisions see Albany for what it was when the Devils ran it.
They played to develop prospects and did not care one bit if Ari Ahonen was ready to be an NHL goaltender or if the franchise won games.
Does anyone think the Isles really have run the Sound Tigers that way considering all the franchise prospects they have had there. ”
my response: I disagree with the Albany under the devils/Bridgeport comparison thing, only because IMO the islanders have done a lot better job at drafting than the devils have when they were in albany.
I’m not overly concerned with the potential prospects that can play in bridgeport over the next year or 2. with players like: Marcinko, Figren, Joensuu, Katic, Hillen, Rakhshani, Guthrie, Gratchev, Weslosky, Ridderwall…etc. I’m pretty comfortable with the up and coming prospects and especially with having 10 selections in this years draft, leaving some margin for error.
However: I do agree with what you said about how the Albany/Devils developed Ari Ahonen and not caring about if they were competitive. Between 1999-2002 the only decent full-time NHL players they produced was Paul Martin and Mike Commodore. They also poorly developed/drafted guys like Adrian Foster, Ahren Nittel, Andre Lakos, Max Birbraer etc…
the last 2 years we’ve done a heck better job drafting than the devils did back then.
I like Pitton ,I am not sure he will ever be a NHl`r , maybe a 4th line checking guy but he is Definitely a solid Defensive Forward ,sticks up 4 his teammates and never backs down from a challenge.I felt like the reason he was sent to Utah was a numbers thing.
He was a Defensive forward behind Comeau and Colliton once comeau left they brought pitton back.
I felt he was a pretty good skater with a quick first step.
Fraser ,i could deal with his defensive shortcomings if he keeps working on carrying the puck and getting open on the PP.His shot needs work along with his Defense but we will see how he comes along from this year to next.
I sit in my office all day and have time to blog i should start a website.
I didn’t add haskins, bourne or sertich because I’m not certain if they’re going to be back next season as they were on AHL/ECHL contracts, but if they were they need to get stronger. But Pitton, not so much, I’d say he’s one of the strongest players on the team. He just needs to get healthy after surgery and work on his skating. Fraser yes it would definitely help him, maybe he wouldn’t shy away from physical play as often.
Bentivoglio also needs to learn how to shoot. One of his big problems, which he will admit, is that he does not shoot as much, he’s more of a passer. A lot of times you will see him looking for somebody to pass the puck to when he had a perfectly good shot.
I agree with you on the players who need some muscles.Lets add Fraser,Haskins,Bourne,Sertich,Pitton
Bentivoglio as well as adding muscle needs to get better at accepting passes.He accepts passes like he has a hole in his stick.
Perfect example was last home game he had atleast 5 passes hit his stick and roll off including 2 very huge scoring opps.
i don’t think any AHL team can lose its top 5 scorers for the length of time we did and compete. On some levels we had no right being this close for this long!. Once coach was able to get a unit together and keep it for some time we played well enough to compete. Truth be told we are behind because we didn’t get to OT as often as the other teams.. we lost the old fashion way in 60 minutes not 65 or shoutouts.
players who can really afford to get stronger are: A. MacDonald, Bentivoglio, Smith, Regier and Colliton especially, added strengh can really benefit Tambellini for the NHL. I really do feel part of why Andrew MacDonald was demoted by the islanders/us was due to his lack of strength and ability to take a hit in AHL hockey.
I don’t feel strength or toughness is a major weakness as far as conditioning goes. The biggest weakness is on and off ice conditioning, especially stamina and endurance training. I must say i was pleased that no key player had any major injuries this year, so the injury-prevention thing was good, compared to the last 3 seasons or so. We just got hammered by the call-ups.
I’m not writing this part to annoy anyone but if you are going to make Devils comparisions see Albany for what it was when the Devils ran it.
They played to develop prospects and did not care one bit if Ari Ahonen was ready to be an NHL goaltender or if the franchise won games.
Does anyone think the Isles really have run the Sound Tigers that way considering all the franchise prospects they have had there.
That to Mr Wang there was a team brought to Bbpt and thanks to Mr Wang he saved them from the Boe family. (again)
I like the Sound Tigers and want them to win but the Isles are not doing anything different than most NHL teams devastated by injuries.
You cannot practice when you are playing four games in five days three weeks in a row and your NHL callups are playing five games in five days.
It limited what Jack Caupano and Ted Nolan could do.
You also cannot blame the Isles for being handed a schedule that gave them three games in twenty days back in October and not one three day break since December aside from the ASG.
Meanwhile the Rangers had five three days break since mid-February including five full days off while the Isles with an absurd schedule and injuries won six straght games before finally not being able to stand up to the schedule.
Isles only had three two day breaks from the all-star break into mid-March.
Cannot put all that on conditioning or any coach/gm or owner.
Conditioning is a great point.A major Problem is Bport is playing 12 games in 19 days.That is a ton of intense skating.The legs and body cant hack all that.I watched the saturday night game and most of the sunday game and they just seemed slow.
Yet all my other points from this morning stand.
I would like to see Reiger gain some lbs he would be more effective in front of the net or tossing some hit but it may slow him down.
Haskins will need to add muscle also.I think he will be solid but he is still weak on the puck and can be moved easily.
Smith, i am a huge supporter but damn how many faceoffs r u gonna get booted from.I think with another year of AHL hockey he can become a solid 3rd or 4th line center , he will need to start hitting again also.He has seemed to shy away a bit from it.
They should build a summer hockey rink in Mexico,
STERIODS AND HGH FOR EVERYONE ON WANG
Paul. I would say tambs and okposo are 2nd liners for a couple of more seasons. Tambs is a bit small and okposo still does not know what to do when he comes up to a player on the boards.
good point about the conditioning. I’ve acutally overheard saffan say that they want regier to put on more weight, and there are probably more guys on the team who are like that. With a nose-dive this bad by a team with so much talent (i.e. okposo and tambellini will become first line nhl forwards), there are many things that went wrong this year.
maybe there was a lack of conditioning that made it seem like we got tired out. in games like saturday in hershey, the week before with wilkes-barre and hartford we had the lead and we looked great early on until later in the game where we couldn’t keep the pressure on. sometimes i wonder how hard some of these guys train in the off-season to prepare them for the next season. i don’t know if that’s just they don’t care or it’s that the islanders don’t encourage them enough, but it seems as if this organization needs to improve their conditioning.
I think there were a lot of nights of the team playing 40 or less minutes this season. In my opinion that is the biggest reason we’re on the outside looking in.
FYI the first anon. post is really mine.
I am by no way comparing steve yzerman’s talent to mark wotton. I agree with you when you see that you can’t even come close to comparing the two. Wotton and Yzerman are similar because they aren’t physical players. Messier is an example of a captain who would drop the gloves with sombody. Yzerman didn’t do it as often. Wotton also doesn’t do it as often. A good captain is not necessarily someone like Kip Brennan or Dennis Bonvie who constantly racks up penalty minutes. Wotton though, is not someone like Ryan Caldwell who completely shyed away from a fight. Wotton was constanly arguing his point with the refs and he would scrap every now and again.
Brookbank would be a good pickup for bridgeport. With the Islanders luck, though, he’ll play the entire year on the island because their d-men will get hurt early and often. I would also like to see Rob Davison play some games for us.
A player I would love to see the islanders try to sign for bridgeport is Sheldon Brookbank. I doubt the devils will try to re-sign him. He would be a good candidate for a captain, he’s tough and sticks up for his teammates, as well as being an outstanding offensive AHL defenseman and a solid NHL depth guy.
The Islanders organization as a whole is light on goal tending. IMO this is becuase they sank all that money into DiPietro and do not see a need to delvelop more goalies as Rick is there for 15 years, or what ever is left on that deal. The real twisted thing is that it having Dipietro signed for so long it has got to be hard to sign younger talents that want to move up and be starting tenders in the NHL.
Steve Yzerman > Mark Wotton
Yzerman is 1 of the best players of his generation and Mark Wotton is not even a good AHL Defenseman.
Yzerman may not have been the toughest but he never shyed away from scrums and also was one of the most creative 2 way players on the ice.Also he played the body when need be and scored many of Detroits biggest goals.He was a hockey god in is hayday.
Now Mark Wotton ,he isnt a solid Defender which we already established ,never sticks up for teammates ,here is the biggest example ever of why he should not be captain let alone on the team.3 weeks or so ago in B-port when the mellee broke out between WB and Bport he stood on the blueline and did not jump in and help.This fight stems from when Sertich was elbowed to the head right next to wotton 15 seconds before and Wotton did nothing to help his teammate let alone challenge the dirty player.That to me is not a team player.
Bring back Joe Rullier he was the best D man we had this year that we cut after his PTO was up.
I am sorry but comparing this 2 guys is crazy.You would have been better off tossing a captain like J.jagr another consumate non team player
there are many players in the ahl who are better than wotton and can lead this team as good as he can.
I don’t think Wotton is a horrible captain. A captain doesn’t always have to get his hands dirty. No one thinks of Steve Yzerman as a goon. He led well and (most importantly) tried to lead by example by just sucking up injuries and try to put this team in the playoffs.
The problem I have is that Wotton isn’t even a decent AHL defenseman anymore. He’s just too old. Captains (though an integral part of the team) are also replaceable.
My issues with this team the entire season:
1.No number 1 goalie
2.The Captain M.Wotton does not lead by example and was flat out terrible in most of his games.Why is he on the PP? Just because you are the oldest player on the team or there abouts does not make u captain.A captain is a player who leads ,sticks up for teammates and can help turn things around or settle things down.Now i am not in the locker room so maybe he is good there but on the ice he is no leader.
3.Capuano almost never kept rolling out the same lines.This drives me nuts.3 forwards would be out there and would look great for a shift and they would never be paired up again.
4.Why does Capuano keep Wotton and Fraser on the same D unit? There play is so similar that they got pushed around on a regular basis also giving up many turnovers.
5.How many times did B-port forwards get the puck to the blue line and turn the puck over?
This seemed to be a all year issue.This issue turned into so many goals it makes me sick.
6.The blown leads in the third period.Bport has lost a bunch of games this year were they have blown 3rd period leads.You dont have to be as good as WB scranton 29-0 when leading after 2 but I can recall about 10 games Bport has blown in the third.
7.Fata,Spiller and Ford did a good job of keeping the front of the net cleared the rest of the D men were not good at keeping the front clear.
8.Bport had issues with any team that had speedy players.They took many dumb penalties because of either bad decisions or slow feet.
9.Many nights this team came out flat and slow and it was just painful to watch.Or would play 40 of 60 minutes and would lose.This team gave away 10-20 points this year and that is the difference from being a playoff team or 6th place.
10.Because this Bport team took so long to put together chemistry was a huge issue and you can`t really build chemistry in 10 days of practice before the AHL season starts.
Ok i am done ranting maybe later i will post some positives i viewed