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The Islanders have a lovely two-day break in the schedule, but the news and the rest of the NHL's moves have no time for pausing for breath.
Islanders Reads
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Anders Lee bet on himself last summer, and it was a smart bet. His teammates knew he belonged even after the numbers/waivers game put him in Bridgeport at the start of the year. [Newsday]
- On NBC Sports Bob McKenzie spoke of contract talks between the Isles and Johnny Boychuk, but nothing new. We know the Isles want it to happen. [Nichols]
- Injuries and then some, Sebastian Collberg is back with Bridgeport and read to put it all behind. [CT Post]
- The Sound Tigers traded C.J. Stretch because he is a player who belongs on a good team and the Sound Tigers, sadly, are not that. [Soundin' Off]
- SB Nation College Hockey puts Robbie Russo at #55 among the Top 100 NHL Prospects in the NCAA. [SBN CH]
- The Val James stuff is pretty great. The Long Island native was a black player for the Sabres who experienced some pretty horrid stuff (thanks, Boston!) along the way. [James with Stan Fischler | NHL.com feature | Newsday]
- Our power rankings are in, and are disturbingly close to how the national media ranks the Isles. [LHH]
Trade Frenzy Time
- A lot of the top trade deadline names are already moved, which should make Monday's all-day talkfests even more hilariously mundane than normal. Don Maloney pledges he has several up his sleeve though. [NHL]
- The Penguins acquired Daniel Winnik from Toronto. [Pensburgh]
- The Jets got Jiri Tlusty from Carolina, while placing Blake Wheeler on IR. [NHL]
- The Kings got Andrej Sekera from Carolina. [Jewels from the Crown]
- They also re-signed Kyle Clifford for FIVE years. [JFTC]
- JFTC is thrilled it wasn't Roman Polak the Kings were looking for.
- Jaromir Jagr is not digging the reduction in ice time. [NJ.com] Scott Gomez is fine though, thanks. [Sportsnet] We used that to ponder Jagr's trade pros and cons. [LHH]
Beyond the Island and the Frenzy
- Two of Jagr's former teams brawled last night in a fracas that spilled ON to the Pens bench. [SB Nation]
- Friday's Isles opponent, the Flames won in New Jersey but may have lost Marc Giordano for a while. [Matchsticks & Gasoline]
- Patrick Kane is out roughly 12 weeks after surgery for that hit and crash into the boards the other night. An angry Jeremy Roenick says it's lucky it wasn't worse. [Sportsnet] Anyone else see similarities between that and the Oliver Ekman-Larsson hit on Brock Nelson?
- The the Hawks totally have options to replace Kane, man. Yeah. [NHL]
- Elliotte Friedman's 30 Thoughts is chock-full of good scuttlebutt as usual, including interesting stuff on Jacob Markstrom, and the Isles' opponent Friday night. [Sportsnet]
- Eric Lindros sues Paul Stewart for MILLIONS for writing he's a dick or something. Once again, those two deserve each other. [TSN]
- Not about the debate, but the presentation: There are a lot of ways hockey analytics could be communicated better. [High Heels and High Sticks]
- Lessons in fandom after a political writer wrote about the Sens and people flipped. [Silver Seven]
- On that note, a plea to consider women's hockey on its own merits, not in comparison to men's. [Hockey Wilderness]