Islanders Bits: Views and semi-news from a holiday weekend

Team will play out of the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference for one year before NHL realignment kicks in.
Twitter for BlackBerry® • 5/31/11 8:03 AM

I’m not against bringing him in. Your talking about someone who was 5th on the Flyers in scoring this year and managed 21 points in 19 playoff games a year ago. He’d probably line up well with Bailey. I just wouldn’t trade Nabokov for his rights.

necessarily read that as trading those guys for Nabokov. More that if he lets them walk he can make some room to retain/sign others with the additional money Nabokov will save.

I wouldn’t really want to see him traded for either of them (not even if Leino is signed), in large part because regardless of his actual value as a player, he has significant value to the Flyers because of the minimal cap hit. That, plus the fact we’re helping a team in the division compounds his value significantly in my opinion. There are other teams out there in similar boats, and I’d think the Flyers should have to pay well beyond whatever Nabokov’s value would be in a vacuum.

Spelled two wrong, so it should be 90. Dammit!

You really need to know your Old Tyme Hockey to get those Leafs guys.

He just doesn’t even have the timeline right.

Cliff Notes on the Blues are: Wal-Mart-in-law owner wanted to own an NBA team in St. Louis, so he bought an NHL team and areener (1999), goosed the payroll, went hog wild to compete with the Western Joneses, including rival Stan Kroenke, who is a different Wal-Mart-in-law who owns the Avalanche.

Once it was clear he would not get an NBA team (ironically, the NBA said it was “determined” to keep the Grizz in Vancouver), he tired of the hockey toy and stripped it of long-term commitments under the excuse that it made the team “more attractive” for potential buyers. (Yes, if I’m buying a hockey team, I definitely don’t want that team to have prime-era Pronger, Stillman, Demitra…no way.)

The sale process took over 1.5 years, the new regime under John Davidson didn’t take over until literally the eve of the draft and free agency period in 2006 (when the team had already hit rock bottom), and they had to try wild things like overpay Jay McKee ($4 million per!) just to come sign there. (Does this sound familiar to anyone?)

I guess the writer’s point is that you’re supposed to tank, tank, tank and the Blues haven’t done it well enough. They’ve consistently turned vets/UFAs into good chips. They’ve made some mistakes, but they have not veered from the path. If anything, their surprise playoff appearance boosted expectations too soon, but I’m not sure how you avoid that.

• the collective groans talking about what a pain in the ass DiBo is really clarified why he got boarded so much last year. I really had no idea about that with him…all I saw was some pretty good point totals and assumed he was…cleaner?
• the fact that these guys are training partners and making appearances makes me think Haley will be retained…getting TEH CORE guys with deadlines (RFAs like MG, KO, CC, Nillson) are probably more of a priority.
• that does suck about Bailey…it’s a shame if he was pretty much forced into playing here against his wishes.

I guess flashing the visiting team has a long and noble history in Vancouver.

He signs the HUGE TV contract with NBC/Comcast. It’ll be interesting to see how the league shakes out now. The ’peg getting a team out of the ATL is huge. Most likely Florida and Glendale are next on the summer snowbird migration schedule… and the Islanders getting some stability.
It might turn out that Bettman gets credit for the 30 team league, and the seeds of hockey being planted in places like Carolina and Nashville… which very well could work over the long haul. With the exception of the “instigator” and the “trapezoid” post lock-out hockey has been pretty exciting. Now we need to get rid of those two things, add no touch icing and start cutting back on goalie pads. We need more 6-4 games… before it becomes ice-soccer.

The ‘70s and ’80s had relocation/instability galore, teams going bankrupt (bankrupt Blues in 1983 DIDN’T EVEN DRAFT), and the on-going cabal with Eagleson.

(I always feel like I come off defending Bettman, but really I just think he’s just a symptom of the clown owners who have always run the NHL.)

animal with the puck, always cannot wait for the start of training camp and the season to begin. A ways off, but seems like a very very exciting summer. Something is coming up almost everyday and there is always news, thus far good, in Islander Country.