Islanders Wrap: Parenteau's Agent Resumes Campaign; DiPietro a Virtual Alaskan

I don't really know what price New York Islanders GM Garth Snow is willing to go to keep P.A. Parenteau in the fold, but I know Parenteau still wants to return and I know his agent has taken to the Twitter (again) to share that interest.

That and other stories came out of "Clean Up Day," when the Islanders players cleared out their lockers, signed tons and tons of jerseys and things, and did closing interviews with media and team personnel.

Newsday's Islanders beatwriter Arthur Staple has several details in his wrapup and a few more via Twitter, and the Isles have videos of interviews with many of the players. We'll try to tackle some of the highlights here.

Parenteau Wants to Come Back

You knew that already and have known it all season, but he reiterated that Monday. The official site video interview doesn't go into that, but Staple does, quoting Parneteau:

"It's between Allan [Walsh, Parenteau's agent] and Garth [Snow, Isles general manager] and hopefully, they can figure out something that's good for both of us. I'm in a pretty good position right now and I want to keep what we're building here. It's going to be something special."

Meanwhile, Walsh went to Twitter, as he is wont to do (four parts combined):

On PA Parenteau + the NYI: "Now that the New York Islander season is over, we are looking forward to start negotiations with the club. ... PA has made it clear he wants to remain with the Islanders. He has assumed a leadership role with the club ... he's proven to be a great fit on one of the top scoring lines in the League and has great affinity for the organization that gave him his ... opportunity to play regularly in the NHL."

Quite diplomatic, actually. Nothing like the Price-trashing Halak-representin' days of yore. This communique is all on the up and up, re-expressing The Client's interests without burning any bridges with the GM who is probably making sure any deal fits within the "team concept" and such.

While we're pimping Staple's work at Newsday, let's also pimp his chat, which included plenty of information and opinion including this on the Parenteau Situation:

I honestly don't know. His very sensitive agent seems to feel nothing's been decided, so I think there's certainly a chance he signs before July 1; there's also a decent chance he doesn't find his home-run contract after July 1 and returns to a comfortable, familiar place for more reasonable money. This one will go a while, though, I think.

Note: All assessment is the opinion of the beatwriter based on his surely faithful readings of two parties that don't tend to show their cards. Please save the crucifixion if his read is wrong, even if the agent takes to Twitter to rip his understanding of the situation.

My personal opinion, which is worth nothing, is that the sides desire each other too much to not find an agreement ... UNLESS the Isles are so enamored with their prospects that they think one will easily step in and replace Parenteau. Which would be a mistake.

Here's official team video of Parenteau:

Rick DiPietro Read 'Into the Wild'

At least, that's what I'm to infer from just how shaggy he's looking lately [video of the full shag and comments here]. The health-cursed goaltender repeated the statements you may have seen in the Times recently and which he's said each summer since the All-Star Skills Competition Curse [Avery]'d his hip in 2008: He just wants to focus on being healthy and coming to camp strong.

(See the Staple/Newsday link for the latest quotes.)

IIHF World Championship-Bound

Michael Grabner was previously reported by the IIHF to be WC-bound for Team Austria, though Staple doesn't address his status in that recap. Via Twitter he put Grabner and Frans Nielsen in the "still deciding" camp. But in the Newsday piece he has Kyle Okposo, John Tavares, Frans Nielsen and Milan Jurcina heading to the Nordic lands for the tournament. Staple also says Nino Niederreiter has permission to play, while Travis Hamonic declined an invitation.

Bailey Sure Sounds Like a Wing

He enjoyed the opportunity of the last month or so, looks forward to hopefully getting a full season of it -- with "it" not explicitly but sure sounding like his play on the second-line wing:

Nabby Is Close to Frank about Team Needs

Most fans have come to respect Evgeni Nabokov for his goaltending and even appreciated his frank talk about what the team needs. In season-ending interviews, he came close to putting his finger on things: "Need to be more consistent ... maybe take a different approach, maybe (not?) be the most unliked team in the East or something like that, but we need to change some things." Video:

Nabby said his performance as well as the team's was simply not good enough. He's also tired of answering questions about why he chose to re-sign.

Reasoner Disappointed

Talked about how the role he was given certainly wasn't offensive, but there were still "opportunities out there" that he failed to convert. He said at some point it was a spiral that led to shaken confidence, etc. Hopes to rebound, including mentally.

Nielsen Acts Like He's Not Perfect, Which is Crazy Talk and I Won't Have It

Talks about being inconsistent, needing to get strong after what he felt was a slow start for him. "If you're not ready to play you're not going to win in this league." Also credits Doug Weight for improving the powerplay:

Reese: I Like Streit

Dylan Reese understandably said the nine or so games he played next to Mark Streit were the best of his pro career. He also called Aaron Ness, Matt Donovan and Calvin de Haan "similar kinds of offensive-minded defensemen" and predicted fun competition among them.

He credited Brent Thompson with being "very, very, very" helpful with his own defensive game and that of the kids. Also talked about his skating -- seriously good, interesting interview with the pending free agent:

And that's a wrap. More videos like that if you want to peruse IslandersTV or check out this dedicated page of clips.