Islanders News: Gomez in the fold; Bellows moves; Catfish fever

The Stanley Cup Finals resume tonight in Pittsburgh. Let's see what convoluted way the Penguins manage to luck themselves into victory again. Meanwhile, look at all the news we have!

Islanders News

• In the story that never ends: NHL Deputy Commissioner and human expression of a/enlarged thumb Bill Daly tells Newsday that the Isles won't play a regular season game at NVMC, but may play a preseason game. [LHH | Newsday]
• In confirmation from reports filtering out over the last couple weeks, the Islanders officially hired Alaska native Scott Gomez as an assistant coach, with Gomez viewing the opportunity as a way to make it up to Doug Weight for all the help during his late career struggles. [LHH | Newsday]
• LHH user When the Levy Breaks provides us his tale of how he became hooked on the Islanders. Fair warning: he says he was 8 in 2006, so don't feel too old, folks.
• Isles 2016 first-round pick Kieffer Bellows has officially made the transition from college to juniors, signing with the Portland Winterhawks.
• Former Islanders swordsman Chris Simon has filed for bankruptcy in Ottawa. [Ottawa Citizen]
• Shameless Self-Promotion I: a week and a half ago I contributed to FanRag's mock draft, giving input into who the Isles should select (along with some help from Les, LHHer HockeyGoalieEh). [FanRag NHL]
• And finally, here's your chance to vote for your favorite Islanders goal from the past season. [Islanders]

All Around the League

• Shameless Self-Promotion II: as the Cup Finals unfold, I wrote about how the NHL should embrace the excitement of the Predators P.K. Subban and make him the face of the NHL if it wants to compete with leagues like the NBA. [Unbalanced]
• Out of nowhere, Scott Stevens has resigned as an assistant coach with the Wild. [Star Tribune]
• Ray Shero hasn't ruled out the possibility that he keeps Ilya Kovalchuk this season. That would be boring. Don't do that. [TSN]
• Current Preds and former Avalanche goon Cody McLeod was traded as per his request to be moved to a contending team. He's happier now. Hooray for us. [Denver Post]
• The Avs also let go assistant coach Tim Army, who was unsurprised by the change.
• Blast from the past: former NHLer Sandis Ozolinsh was promoted from assistant to head coach of Dinamo Riga in the KHL. [IIHF]
• The Penguins, as I said, are the luckiest team in the world - but apparently there's more to it. [SBN]
• That being said, Pittsburgh is still the worst: the catfish guy is actually facing criminal charges for tossing the fish onto the ice. What a pathetic city. (Sorry to any of our readers from Pittsburgh, I obviously don't mean you!) [Pensburgh]
• Let's hear how the thrower did his deed! In his own his words, he's a "dumb redneck with a bad idea." [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]