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Tea Leaves: Petrov pondering passage, Nielsen not a worry, reinforcement options and more with Newsday's Arthur Staple

Slumps and somewhat surprising departures are the order of the day.

I like you, too.
I like you, too.
Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

With a day off in Arizona a working wi-fi set-up, Newsday's Arthur Staple took some questions from Islanders fans on Twitter today, with topics ranging from trades, the possible end of Kirill Petrov's North American adventure and who's squeezing their stick a little too tightly these days.

Some select questions and replies are below, but the whole thread can be found here. As always, we thank Arthur for doing this since we're reasonably sure he's not secretly an alien lizard person sent to Earth to enslave us.

The Petrov Affair

It seems Islanders 2008 draft pick and KHL veteran Kirill Petrov is leaning towards returning to Russia. Arthur mentioned this in his recap of last night's Islanders-Avalanche game, and he expanded on it today:

It took seven years for the Islanders to get Petrov to North America. In his time here, he's had a nice pro training camp, 12 games in Bridgeport and a broken foot. It would be disappointing to see an interesting prospect not get much of a shot before packing it in, but when a team's line-up is set in stone (for better or for worse) that's what happens.

I'm hoping Petrov changes his mind and at least makes it through the rest of the season because the siren song of the large adult prospect is a strong one. But being a stranger in a strange land without much light at the end of the tunnel must be frustrating.

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Six Santa's Slumping

The "good" news for Anders Lee is he's about to spend some time with John Tavares while Kyle Okposo sits out a few games with a lower body injury. Lee's not the only slumping Islander, but they're going to need him contributing if they want to keep climbing the Metro.

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Unrestricted Elves and other holiday helpers

the Islanders adding a forward is a new idea that we'll surely be keeping an eye on. What's not a surprise is that Frans Nielsen might be a lifer. We could be entering the final stretch of the Islanders' Brian Strait Era, so start savoring these remaining games.

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Wait There's More

Lizard people!