Islanders News: Seidenberg the Sequel

The New York Islanders got down to offseason business early by...re-signing an aging depth (or shoulda-been depth) defenseman. The press release didn’t bother with a fawning quote, which is about right.

• Dennis Seidenberg signs for one year, $1.25 million, a quarter-million raise over the deal he signed during the World Cup last fall. [LHH | Isles | Newsday | Yahoo]
• Of note, at least according to Wikipedia? Seidenberg’s middle name is Marvin.
• Anders Lee and Josh Bailey had career years. Lee called it a breakthrough. Bailey called playing on the top line an opportunity he craved. [Isles]
• For the love of John Tonelli: Revisiting how the Islanders dynasty was very close to being interrupted in a five-game series with the 1982 Penguins. [SI] (Said Chico Resch, once upon a time: Tonelli was the only player he knew who “worked beyond what I thought was humanly possible.”)
• Speaking of which, here’s Resch talking hockey, stories about a clubhouse attendant’s girlfriend painting his iconic mask, and describing how pathetic the old goalie pads were. [Leader Post]
• Mathew Barzal’s WHL Seattle is off to a 2-0 start in the second round. [Isles creature prospect report]
• There are at least seven certain home dates for the Sound Tigers next season, beginning with Oct. 21. [CT Post | Soundin’ Off]

Elsewhere

Marc Bergevin faced the media, and insisted he wouldn’t trade Carey Price with a year left on his deal. Price also said he wants to stay, so that issue’s put to bed, right?

• Playoffs?! The Capitals believe they’ve learned and are better prepared for the Penguins. They better be right, this may be their last kick in this “window.” [NHL]
• (Aside: Is it cool to anyone else that the second round starts old-school style, with the Campbell, er West playing one night, then the Wales, er East on the next?)
• They say you can’t fire 20 players so you fire the...assistant coach? The Hawks dumped Joel Quenneville’s longtime friend Mike Kitchen, and Q is apparently pissed. [Chi. Trib | Yahoo]
• John Stevens was promoted to head coach of the Kings, and no surprise here after Darryl Sutter: He wants a more aggressive offensive approach. [Puck Daddy | Jewels From The Crown]
• No cap relief for the Kings with Marian Gaborik: He needs a medical “procedure,” thus he can’t be bought out. [Puck Daddy]
• Joe Thornton played through a “floating knee” — i.e. one with a torn ACL and MCL. For all the crap he and Patrick Marleau take, teammates have the “ultimate respect” for what they do and play through. [Puck Daddy | Fear the Fin]
• Sharks coach Peter DeBoer deserves no pass for the first-round ouster. [Fear The Fin]
• Man, post-mortems are fun. Here’s a bunch on the collapse of the Wild, whose Nino, ahem, disappeared for the second consecutive playoff. [Star Trib, searching for reasons | HockeyinSRP, sad but expected | Star Trib. on deadline moves that were reasonable, but futile | Hockey Wilderness on the blame game]
• The Avs can save themselves without cleaning house? [Denver Post]
• The Bruins don’t want 20-year-old David Pastrnak beating himself up over that overtime penalty in their elimination game. [CSN]
• Hey, Ilya Kovalchuk is still a first-line NHL player, maybe. [Sportsnet]