Islanders News: I could be a color man; you know how I always make those interesting comments during the game?

Good morning and hello everyone. It is, once again, time for some good wholesome Bits. Official All-Star lineups are released today, I believe at noon.

The Islanders take on the Florida Panthers tomorrow night at Barclays Center at 7:00 p.m., in Florida's first return to Brooklyn since losing Game 6 to John Tavares and Thomas Greiss (oh and I guess the rest of the team, sort of). Hard to believe that the series win was only 7 months ago, given the state of the team.

Islanders News

• Kieffer Bellows returns to school an American hero and Ilya Sorokin and Anatoly Golyshev are KHL All-Stars in this week's Islanders Prospect Round-up. [Islanders]
• Speaking of prospects, Isles defensive prospect Mitchell Vande Sompel was traded from the Oshawa Generals to the London Knights in the OHL, much like one particular franchise savior. [LHH]
• Not much has changed for the Sound Tigers up in Bridgeport. [Soundin' Off]
• The latest iteration of John Tavares telling the media he's sticking around feels a little less convincing than all the other times he has, but it's certainly appreciated that he's saying these kinds of things, rather than creating a massive stir as Steven Stamkos did. Also from that article, Travis Hamonic missed practice and saw a doctor about the knee injured in the collision with Lawson Crouse on Saturday. When Hamonic's seeing a doctor, you know it's pretty serious. [Newsday]
• The NHL will be doing away with all alternate uniforms for next season as they make the transition from Reebok to Adidas. Arthur Staple quells your fears of the Islanders sticking with the black-and-white kits over their beautiful blue-and-orange (LHH write-up here):

The #Isles black jerseys will be gone after this year, I'm told. Classic blue and orange stays as the home sweater. https://t.co/OKrJRrwM3D

— Arthur Staple (@StapeNewsday) January 9, 2017

• JT's Dynasty had a fantastic article regarding Garth Snow's rapid windfall, that really might not have been that rapid at all. [LHH]
• HockeyBuzz's Noel Fogelman caught up with former Islander Pierre Turgeon.
• Shannon's latest "Hogan's Highlights" reflects on the Isles bye week and their poor return from it. [MSG]
• Tomorrow night's game against the Panthers will called by broadcasting legend Jiggs McDonald, in what could sadly be his last Islanders game. It's possible he does another, but this is the last one he's scheduled. :(

NHL Itsy Bits

• Last night's NHL scores.
• Ho-hum, the Ottawa Senators have attendance issues. Don't build your new arenas in the suburbs far from the heart of the city, folks. [National Post]
• Gerard Gallant says he wasn't fired from the Panthers gig for refusing to embrace analytics. Even though he probably was. [The Worldwide Leader in Sporps]
• The Maple Leafs are Actually Good, but how Actually Good? [What We Learned]