Bits: Islanders and black 'n white; Oilers make big bench move

Not a lot going on in Islanders Country, but we'll continue with our regular summer features as we lead up to the draft and silly season. First, here are some NHL bits from the weekend as well as a little buzz and angst mostly of the sartorial sort:

Nets Daily, our SB Nation soon-to-be co-tenant in Brooklyn transcribed a Russian TV interview that Brooklyn Nets/arena honcho Brett Yormark gave in which he again beat the drum about "synergizing" or some such marketing jargon about the Isles, Nets and their new arena as "one big lens" rather than three.

That raises red (and black) flags for traditionalists and long-time Islanders fans, because Yormark continues to beat a drum that's tuned to an odd tone of "black and white are the colors of Brooklyn." ... which is news to many residents:

"It's something that we're considering. We've engaged in some meaningful research. focus groups in both Brooklyn and Long Island, to understand the desires of the hard core fan, the fan that's been with Islanders for many many years but we also need to understand what the new fan base for the islanders would like to see in Brooklyn. My job is to make sure we can marry the hard-care fan base and the new fan base and to do appropriate branding that speaks to both. So we haven't made an decisions yet, but i think it's fair to say that black and white are the colors of Brooklyn. So the extent to which we can weave those colors into the current color scheme of the Islanders, I think that might make some sense."

This is something that's come up here at Lighthouse Hockey quite a bit, and the prevailing sentiment seems to be These Colors Don't Run, or something. More sincerely, Isles fans generally want Charles Wang's promise of not changing the colors and logo to hold up, though there is concession (and resignation?) to accents or a third jersey (or both) incorporating a more Brooklyn Sports Conglomerate Behemoth look.

We'll see. I'm not panicking because it's a ways off yet. But third jerseys and accessory merchandising seems like an obvious way to introduce new looks that they will eventually shove down our throats.

(That said, he spoke of already being in charge of the Isles business side, something Islanders Point Blank says will officially happen in July -- with current staffers already making moves in anticipation.)

Yormark responded to Isles fans on Twitter regarding colors, assuring them they'll be happy.

NHL News: Firing, Signing, Ejecting

• Craig MacTavish is wasting no time making waves now that he has the big seat in Edmonton. Last week he publicly aired how it might be better to find Shawn Horcoff and Alex Hemsky new homes. (I'll take Hemsky, thanks!).
• This week he canned coach Ralph Krueger (over Skype...so 21st century!) and is reportedly set to name hot candidate Dallas Eakins as the new coach. Eakins and MacTavish crossed paths as St. Louis Blues players in 1995-96. In this interview, Krueger discusses how he found out and whether he has any regrets. Once his wife realized what the phone call was about, things got emotional.
• The Stars not only traded for Sergei Gonchar's rights, they inked the 39-year-old to a two-year, $10 million deal. Mark Streit's agent salivates. (But it's not about money.) New Stars GM Jim Nill is giddy.
• Dancing on Penguins graves: Great interview with Jaromir Jagr on how bad Crosby and Malkin probably feel right now. (And other things. Jeez, it's been 21 years since Jagr was in the final.) Meanwhile, Dan Bylsma says Marc-Andre Fleury is his number one and will be great, so the Islanders are in good shape. Oh, and Sidney Crosby says they deserve better, but they didn't execute. GM Ray Shero has to figure out what to do with what he's inherited created.
• This is why you don't trade Phil Kessel. [Leafs Nation]
• Jonathan Quick on the disappointed Kings: "We're in the same boat as Colorado."
• This is how Shutdown Line evaluated ex-Isle Tim Wallace's season.
• So the pension plan was vital in the CBA talks.

All of which proves, once again, that even with some off days before the Stanley Cup final starts, there's plenty of fodder to fret or frolic over.