Logan chat highlights: Team mental state, Queens, Weight, Ness

Another great chat today from Newsday's Islanders beat writer, Greg Logan. Some highlights and thoughts follow, but check the whole chat replay here.

Asked about the mental state of the 30th-place team right now:

Good question. I think the players generally have come to the conclusion that it's best to accept whatever their current role is and do their best to survive this season. Gordon's decision to split the top two lines into one with all young guys and one with vets probably helped settle things down and led to better production. Also, the compromises on defense have improved the attitude because it has made the team more competitive. For differing reasons, everyone is motivated to finish strongly.

On Queens:

It was a bit of a grandstand play by the Queens Chamber of Commerce. The real threat to the Islanders leaving Long Island is Kansas City...

Interesting. I don't fully agree that Kansas City is "the real threat," but I may underestimate the dark, shadowy forces of AEG. I also don't know how much of a hit Charles Wang's finances have taken in this economy -- and that's something I'm waiting to see come out of some intrepid reporter's digging.

On talented but undersized prospect Aaron Ness:

... No matter how skilled he might be, I have serious questions about him going into corners in the defensive end and coming out with the puck. No matter how good he becomes in college, he's going to have a huge size deficit to overcome at the NHL level. Good luck to him, but I can't help but be very skeptical...

Yikes. Logan mentioned meeting at the draft and looking "down on him" -- literally. I'll say one thing: if the kid makes it, it will be a great story.

Skepticism about next year:

... Garth Snow was successful in the past in bringing in vets, such as Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie, Doug Weight. But given the direction of the team in terms of youth development, what vets are going to sign up for that project and at what cost?

True. But if there are more Weights out there who need the Isles just as much as the Isles need them, hopefully Snow finds them.

Those are just excerpts, and Logan had much more -- talk of Jeff Tambellini's fate,  the team making too many "perfect" passes, suggesting Richard Park as next captain (not Trent Hunter?), flip-flopping (like myself) on whether keeping Josh Bailey in the NHL was smart, and wondering if both Chris Campoli and Bruno Gervais are on the bubble. (On that topic, I certainly agree the blueline needs a major overhaul.)

And of course the big news was Doug Weight's MCL prognosis of six weeks, but that's already on the main thread.