A lovely laxative of links from around the Island, SBN and beyond:

• Chris Botta decrees that we not expect to see Islanders 2008 first-rounder Josh Bailey in the NHL lineup this season. [Update: Yet Bailey has been "activated."] If they were so high on Bailey out of camp, why not let him get the allowed three-game AHL conditioning stint, plus a taste of the NHL, before sending him on his junior way?
• Islesblogger notes a LiveScience article that goes into concussions and how the growing size and speed (the two ingredients of kinetic energy) of players must statistically play its part.
  
• The Islanders don't play the Sharks until Jan. 3, but according to Fear The Fin they have 2 of the 4 possible ingredients for defeating the Sharks: Empty seats and ice girls. Do these two talismans count on the road? [SBN's San Jose Sharks blog]
• Mile High Hockey reflects on how the Avalanche have made Scott Parker an unperson, under suspicious circumstances. You may not know Parker, who spent his whole, uh, "career" in the West, but he once climbed the glass to attack Brendan Witt in Witt's Predator debut as Parker was being escorted to the locker room. [SBN's Colorado Avalanche blog]
  
• The Isles, they have nothing on the farm, right? Then why is AHL Bridgeport in first place in the East?
• Darcy Tucker's attempt to derail another career will add some spice to the Wild-Avalanche rivalry. [Hockey WIlderness, SBN's Minnesota Wild blog]
• Speaking of assaults, Pension Plan Puppets is (are?) up in arms over Kosta-, Kostop-, Kos--ah, screw it, the Canadiens' guy who concussed Mike Van Ryn on a check from behind. [SBN's Toronto Maple Leafs blog]
• We're not alone: The Sabres blow third-period leads to the Thrashers, too. And old friend Tim Connolly still gets hurt a lot. But he scores, too. [Die by the Blade, Buffalo Sabres blog]
• James Mirtle is crunching numbers again, and he reports scoring is up slightly this season. He suspects goalie equipment is having the subtle effect. I've been wondering about this since seeing an explanation of the pad adjustments and trimming on NHL Network during the GM meetings in Chicago. There are those areas beside the knees and around the calves that do make a difference in goalmouth scrambles, when the puck goes under a leg but is seemingly vacuumed up by the Magic Goalie Pad Enhancer. Danny Sabourin's shootout save aside, I'm all for eliminating ways that a puck can disappear into a piece of equipment whose presence and/or size has no discernable relation to the sacred proportions of that species Da Vinci drew that one time.
  
• Mirtle also has goal differentials (excluding empty-netters) through the first 16 percent of the season. Are you sitting down? The Islanders rank 28th.