Islanders News: Swirling endlessly, like an old toilet

There is nothing worthy about this team right now. The organization doesn’t deserve the emotional investment of associated with the pissing away of yet another season of John Tavares’ prime, perhaps the last he’ll allow himself to endure here - for his own sake, perhaps the last he should.

To be handed such a gift and to utterly waste it the way the New York Islanders have is: irresponsible, reprehensible, pathetic. The worst part, though, is how unsurprising it is to watch them tread water at best, and absolutely tank at worst.

Islanders Bits

• I am leaving Dom’s coverage of the game separate from the rest, as it isn’t really a recap so much as it is a precise encapsulation of the Isles fans’ thoughts of late. [LHH]
• Recaps: Newsday | Islanders | NHL
• Tavares’ holding pattern has resulted in a near gridlock of the trade market, every GM waiting for him to announce his intentions to leave. [The Athletic]
• The Leafs’ Nazem Kadri would like to be a part of the team pitching Tavares, his one-time junior teammate, on Toronto. [Toronto Star]
• On the brighter side, Andrew Ladd returned to the lineup after a nine-game absence. [Newsday]
• Jordan Eberle is the unsung hero of the Islanders, according to Stan Fischler. And it has somewhat flown under the radar, but he’s been amazing, as the Yost article the other day highlighted.
• It was a blur, but Michael Dal Colle is happy to have made his NHL debut and wants to prove he belongs there. [CT Post]
• Elliotte Friedman’s 31 Thoughts features Dal Colle as the only Islander mention, in regard to his eyebrow-raising call-up. [Sportsnet]
• Devon Toews is focused on the future, now that his surgery is complete. [CT Post]
• David Quenneville scored for the Tigers as Medicine Hat dropped to the Kelowna Rockets. [GlobalNews]
• The return to the Coliseum will bring lasting improvements to the structure, ones that will likely stay past the Islanders’ stay there. [Newsday]
• That being said, the improvements will cost the state $6 million, something the taxpayers will probably be asked to cover. [Newsday]
• John Tonelli is glad to see the Islanders returning to their roots. [NHL]
• VIDEO: UFC fighter Chris Weidman took the ice with the Isles for practice recently. [MSG]

Around the League

• Last night’s NHL scores. Only two other games took place.
• Adam Henrique has made a seamless transition to the Ducks since being swapped for Sami Vatanen. [NHL]
• Jaromir Jagr has officially gone back to the Czech Republic, where he is seeking treatment for a knee injury. [NHL]
• Not entirely sure why Bruce Garrioch decided to frame the story this way, but he thinks Senators owner Eugene Melnyk’s comments in this article are “a step in the right direction.” Something something schadenfreude. [Ottawa Citizen]
• Mike Babcock wants last night’s opponent to sway Lou Lamoriello’s deadline decision; last night got them off to a good start, it seems. [Sportsnet]
• Mike Fisher has decided to come out of retirement, and for some reason it was the Predators’ idea, at least initially. [OTF]
• Yesterday was #BellLetsTalk Day, a now-annual event in which the Bell group pledges five cents for any tweet and retweet of said hashtag toward mental health research. Former Islander and bright spirit Kelly Hrudey sat down with Matchsticks & Gasoline to discuss mental health. [M&G]
• Pretty cool story about tracing back some of the last active Quebec Nordiques. The article makes mention of Garth Snow as a member of the Nordiques organization (I believe they drafted him, actually) the last season they were in Quebec, something I often forget about. [EOTP]
• And finally, the new Hurricanes owner (whom is a piece of trash otherwise, by the way) announced that the organization will honor its roots, as the Hartford Whalers. [Deadspin]