[Bits] Islanders previews, and a disappointing look back

My Chinese language teacher was a native speaker, so in her second language she had lots of excellent phrases in English where she, as in Mandarin, found prepositions and tense unnecessary. Thus, when we (often deliberately) distracted her with tangents that went nowhere, she responded, "I am confuse." (Which, yes, inevitably led us to prolong with accusations like, "You are Confucius?" What can I say, we were teenagers.)

And when we let her down -- which was often -- she would say, "You are disappoint."

You don't forget gems like that.

Puck Daddy's summer series this year goes in the non-summery direction: of disappointment. Our Dan Saraceni drew the assignment for the Islanders, and no one can package how this franchise has disappointed like the Zeitgeist maestro and keeper of @cultureoflosing. As regular readers know, he is a thinking fan who can appreciate (or at least get) all sides of the coin, rather than fall into the "Kool-Aid" vs. "Fiyre ever1!" dichotomy that some force upon us.

• That's a long intro to say here is Dan's piece at Puck Daddy. It is not disappoint.
• Also not disappoint: The NHL.com Isles preview from Friday, which you probably saw then but in case you missed the entire package: 5 Questions (Reinhart?) | Top 10 Prospects (Reinhart?) | Projected lineup (Reinhart?) | Who could be on JT's left wing (No, not Reinhart) | ...and the general overview for the final season at Nassau.
• So...how did Oilers fans feel about the first year of Jesse Joensuu's two-year contract? [Lowetide]
• A timeless question, this time from Dan Petriw: What on earth should the Isles do with Josh Bailey? [HockeyBuzz]
  
• Officially now: The Sabres name Bryan Trottier and former Isles assistant (under Ted Nolan) to Nolan's staff. [KK]
• Lighthouse Hockey is a featured SB Nation blog for July because we are awesome and others aren't. [Blog Huddle]
  

Around the League

• Another outdoor game in California? Yes, probably in some new stadium named (currently) after some transient corporation for some football team. [CBS Sports]
  
• Say what you will about Sabres fans who resent 1999 and Brett Hull's foot enough to say so on their government-issued ID, at least it's an ethos. [SB Nation]
• Lather, rinse, repeat: Ryan Johansen wants money, but it's more money than Columbus wants to give. [Puck Daddy]
• Also in Columbus, Scott Hartnell knows Sergei Bobrovsky. Because they played together in Philly. And goalies are important. [NHL]
• One more for Columbus: Long Island's own Sonny Milano says yes to college and no to cross-border bus rides through Ontario. [CBJ]
• Do the Devils have good underlying numbers but poor results because of their forecheck? [ILWT]
• What are the options for Mike Green's future? (And don't say "Bailey, Donovan and a 5th.") [Japers' Rink]
• The LGBT-friendly Swedish team Kiruna IF is going all out with a music video. [Puck Daddy]
  
• Presenting the Reddit-informed map of the NHL team haters' ball. [SB Nation]
• Presenting every Canucks jersey that's ever been foisted upon you, except all on one garment.
• Apparently roller hockey (with field hockey sticks?) was in the 1992 summer Olympics. [Sports on Earth]
• Speaking of which, Jamaica is fixing to build an Olympic hockey team. [Color of Hockey]
  

Not Hockey, But: If the Islanders were a REAL ORGANIZATION, then they too would get a "I'm coming home" letter like this. (Or: Dan would write one, actually.) [CSNNE Scalabrine]