Bits: On the eve of Islanders hockey, hallelujah

We've done lots of prospect and preview posts (with another coming today!) as we pass the time eagerly awaiting for Opening Night, but we haven't done a news dump in a few days.

So if you're catching up or just tuning back in after a summer away from hockey, here's some news and notes and interesting thoughts on hockey overall.

Of note yesterday was the naming of four Islanders assistant/alternate captains, two of them being older players who are very much here for their "in the room" quotient. With none of them being named Frans Nielsen, I can only surmise that Frans works in mysterious ways.

Islanders Links

• Michael Fornabaio has his first Bridgeport Sound Tiger chat of the season today at 1:30 EDT.
• And here's Fornabaio on Kevin Poulin.
• Jeremy Colliton is still hurt this weekend, but he's been named captain in Bridgeport, replacing the legendary Mark w00t w00t Wotton.
• Heading into the season, Newsday's Arthur Staple tries to capture the spirit of the thing.
• Around a busy LHH: Choice bits from Staple's chat yesterday. ... a look at MSM media predictions for the Isles ... Take our SBN survey, win nothing and like it, Spalding ... Pick the Islanders goal song ... Talk about Ty Wishart, #14 on our 25 Under 25
• On the Ryan Strome passive internship: Ryan Strome probably won’t play for Islanders before returning to juniors | ProHockeyTalk
• Newsday's original reporting on the Strome matter.
• Niederreiter behind the wheel {Skates on a Plane)
• NHL.com's Brian Compton on the four A's. Steve Staios does his version of motivational speaking: "It's much easier to be a good teammate when things are going good, but there's going to be tough stretches during the year that every team goes through. I think that's where we as leaders have to take full responsibility to get our team going again..."
• FanShot discussion on the A's (which also drew commentary in multiple threads yesterday)
• 7th Woman on the A's, and what they say about leadership and such
• "Metro publishes in Philadelphia Boston New York Vancouver Calgary Edmonton Winnipeg London Toronto Ottawa Montréal Halifax." That is the oddest geographic combination that not even the NHL can fully match. That said, they've got a very nice Islanders season preview.
• The Islanders one here is one of the better ones: Less is more: Behold the splendor of Minimalist NHL Posters - Puck Daddy
• The Isles are 9-19-10 in season openers and 2-2-2 when it's at home. Florida is 7-7-3, but 2-7-1 when opening on the road. That and other fun nhl.com opener facts.

Hockey Links and Such

Thoughts like this are why the Islanders goalie situation concerns me, but does not incapacitate me (emphasis mine):

Leighton sucks, but over the course of his career, he has allowed 1.4 additional goals per 100 shots, or 0.3 per 22 shots, as Bryzgalov faced tonight. If we make a whole bunch of simplistic assumptions - career save percentage represents true talent, shot totals would have been roughly the same regardless of score - Bryzgalov had a 72% likelihood of allowing 0, 1 or 2 goals, while Leighton is at 63%. 

The difference between the best goalie in the league and a minor-leaguer simply isn't that large, and the difference between Bryzgalov and Sergei Bobrovsky is even smaller.

• Seriously, Glen Sather can't help himself: Rangers GM leaves to door open for Sean Avery’s return - Puck Daddy
• Flyers fans are understandably upset about losing Blair "I'm not Jo, she's the tomboy" Betts for free. I was going to say I'd prefer Betts to Pandolfo, but who knows. Betts is injured right now.
• Banner year for the children? Nine 2011 draft picks could start season in NHL - 2011 NHL Face-Off
• Children like Chicago's second rounder: Blackhawks' Saad looks prepared for NHL debut - 2011-2012 Season Preview
• I honestly never thought I'd see this, but I guess it's still the Bruins Cup to do with what they want.
  
• All your NHL injuries are belong to theScore.com.
• From SBN-NY: The week that was in New York sports. So, Yankees are out?
• Finally, the NBA lockout is leading this fan to hockey. Will there be more? And do we want them?

Technically the NHL season began last night and technically the Maple Leafs and Flyers are now in first place, but I have a policy of not watching until the Islanders open first. Saturday night (for my Blues from another marriage too) is where it's at for me.