The New York Islanders returned from the All-Star break, and their message to the NHL is clear. They mean business. But it's still the Islanders, and in gaining 5 out of 6 points this past week, they did it in unconventional, Islanders fashion.

Three games. Three starting goalies. Not a normal move in the NHL, especially coming off a half of a week off and having a goalie on your roster who went into the break on a 5-2 run with a GAA under 2. But again this is the Islanders, and it also leads to speculation that there may be a move on the horizon.

What once seemed to be a no-brainer as to who would be moved before the deadline (hint: he's Russian), now has turned into a whole handful of scenarios, all of which I'll attempt to break down for your reading pleasure.

Continue reading this post »

Yesterday we looked at some of our qualitative impressions of the Islanders season thus far, with a glance toward next month's trade deadline.

Today's roundtable focuses a little more on the future: Second-half predictions, free agency possibilities, and criteria for decisions on the coaching staff. Of relevance to some of this discussion is afrosupreme's timely gander at the (as of now) UFA defensemen class for 2012.

Cheers to everyone who provided their own thoughtful answers yesterday. Of course you're invited to do the same with these.

Continue reading this post »

It's not clear whether the NBC Sports "Science of NHL Hockey" segments will do more to teach kids about physics using hockey, or teach anyone about hockey using physics.

In either case it's a refreshing initiative and a great jumping off point for a fun topic: The little, often unseen biomechanic factors involved in a hockey game.

There's a kinematics preview video with Matt Moulson embedded below, you can watch several of the other segments here, and read a good New York Times backgrounder on the initiative here.

If you have never played hockey, or have never played it on ice, you might not be aware of the many little physical things that influence a player's ability to pull off an action which is done with a simple two-button combo on NHL 12. (Of course, even when we do play, it's no guarantee we understand what's going on at a vastly more skilled level.)

The point is there is so much to learn about this game. This topic is one I don't see covered enough yet have always wanted to explore more here using the collective wisdom of crowds.

So please see this post as an invitation and jumping off point on the subject if you're so inclined. After all, physical intelligence is a beautiful thing, and I'd wager it's a major unspoken reason so many of us watch sports.

Continue reading this post »

Each at age 28, Matt Moulson and P.A. Parenteau haven't suddenly gotten better since last year. They were good in 2010-11 and they are good now, whether with John Tavares (Moulson) or without him (Parenteau).

John Tavares, age 21? He's gotten better. In the last 20 games even. We'll get to a few advance stat/possession pictures of that in a moment, but one expression of this progress is the pace of his most frequent linemates (Parenteau has been on a different line now and in a previous stretch) this season:

Just 55% of the season's schedule in the books, both players are around 80% of the way to matching last year's totals. (Tavares, who collected points at a .84 per game clip last season, is up to 1.0 points per game in 2011-12.)

No doubt they're on a hot run now and that pace is likely to taper off, but it's still impressive and Tavares' growth is the source.

Continue reading this post »

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."

-Robert Frost 1915

"A few years ago we knew we'd go through some rough patches...and what doesn't kill you will make you stronger. We're going to keep working at it, both as a staff and as players, and we're going to get better every day. This is a team, to me, that can rattle off several wins in a row."

-Garth Snow 2011

A look at the standings will show the Islanders are in a precarious position. They currently sit 10 points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins (that's surprising right there) for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They also sit only 1 point above the Carolina Hurricanes for the worst spot in the conference.

While 10 points is not an insurmountable lead, the fact is the Islanders are closer to the absolute bottom of the NHL (9 points away) than they are to a playoff spot. With 42 games left in the season, history shows that the Islanders can not afford to fall any farther back if they have any notions of making the playoffs.

Continue reading this post »

The NHL Winter Classic is over (but we can always dream of a future one that includes the Isles), and the Islanders' 2012 schedule begins Tuesday when so many North Americans go back to work.

I always know it's a new year when I click the "archives" link and see just a handful of posts instead of the however many hundred we had in 2011. Already there are plenty of decisions facing the New York Islanders in 2012, but before we fully put 2011 to bed, here's a wrap of the decisions and moments that affected the team most in the last 12 months.

Food for thought: The Islanders were 11-19-6 at the stroke of midnight Dec. 31, 2010. A year later, their record is 13-17-6.

Continue reading this post »

Mark Streit and Dylan Reese are two names you don't often hear together. One of them is a legend of Swiss hockey and the other gets in half price at Hershey Park. If not for them both being part of the Islanders organization their names would probably never be mentioned in the same paragraph. Yet both of them in their own way are a part of the answer for the Islanders. At least if that answer involves being competitive for a playoff spot.

Streit's Struggles

The early season struggles of Mark Streit has most Islander fans worried. His minus-13 is tied for worst amongst Isles defenseman (and second-worst of all skaters), with Streit's most common partner Milan Jurcina also at minus-13. Streit has already had 4 games in which he was a -3 or worse. For comparison in his first two Islander seasons he only had a -3 or worse in 5 games. The biggest worry though is this comes after he was given the C, and in his age 33-34 year (Dec. 11) he is one of the Islanders oldest players to be in their long term plans.

ThAfter missing a year of hockey, you could expect some bumps in the road. Last season Kyle Okposo missed half the season and didn't look right until early March. He was also eased back into the lineup, and had nowhere near the responsibility he had the previous season. While in 2009-10 Okposo had been averaging 20 minutes a game, last season he was down to 16 minutes. He also wasn't put immediately back on the first line, but instead joined Frans Nielsen and Michael Grabner who were defensively sound.

Unfortunately the Islanders can't afford to do that with Streit, at least if they expect to compete for a playoff spot. They could have possibly eased off his minutes this season, but unfortunately the injuries and struggles of Andrew MacDonald left them without a strong second D pairing. Part of the flirtation with Christian Ehrhoff might have been to take some pressure off the returning Streit. Alas, Ehrhoff found Buffalo more appealing in winter.

Continue reading this post »

Friday CBS/WFAN ran a follow up article attempting to add context to the arrest of Islanders prospect Corey Trivino on allegations of three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, one count of assault to rape, and three counts of breaking and entering in the nighttime for felony, according to thebostonhockeyblog.com. The piece by B.D. Gallof may have slipped through the cracks in the wake of the news of former Islanders GM Mike Milbury's arrest, though it was linked in Yahoo Puck Daddy headlines and by other hockey blogs.

There are significant pieces of the article that need to be examined: The public outing of Trivino's mother's sexual orientation, the airing of his family business, his father's ethnicity and grip of the English language and the stretch for corroboration between any of those so-called "demons" on Trivino's struggles at Boston University ... especially when many describe -- on record -- the actions of the previously "calm, polite, mild-mannered" young man as "out of character" from what they knew of him prior to his joining BU.

Continue reading this post »