Islanders News: More Kadri chatter

Another day in August, and another day in which we wake up without the New York Islanders having submitted an NHL contract to the league in the NHL’s calendar 2022-23 season.

And yet, it seems as though we have some ideas as to what the Islanders might be up to. How much of an idea remains to be seen, but the same name keeps coming up, and the fact that his name remains “out there” is, itself, a helpful fact.

Islanders News: The Nazem Kadri Section

• Here is one long-time NHL writer, John Shannon, saying that a well-connected (and sounds like long-serving) source of his told him that Nazem Kadri will be an Islander, and that it could happen this week. NYIHockeyNow recapped Shannon’s comments and added some information of its own.

• Here is another Canadian media bigwig, Edmonton radio host Jason Gregor, reporting that two different NHL GMs believe that Kadri will be (or is already) an Islander. The Kadri talk is in the beginning of the show. [DFO Rundown]
• ESPN, in speculating where he will end up, noted that multiple outlets have connected Kadri to the Islanders. The phrase “Kadri to the Islanders” is going to be burned in my memory for years and will likely become an intrusive thought because I have written it or some variation of it in these posts at least thirty times at this point. [ESPN]

Non-Kadri Reading: Mostly, the Islanders at the WJC

• William Dufour and his line got the better of Aatu Räty and his dominant top line as Team Canada, after jumping out to a 5-1 lead, defeated Team Finland, 6-3. Dufour scored an empty-netter, while both Räty and fellow Isles’ prospect Eetu Liukas recorded assists. Both teams had already qualified for the quarterfinals out of Group A; this was just to determine their match-ups in the quarterfinals. [Islanders]
• Dufour, the QMJHL’s leading goal scorer, has been excelling in a shutdown role for Team Canada. He was a late cut last year, and he made the team this year due in part to the fact that it is being played in August. But he is rewarding coach Dave Cameron’s faith in him. [Toronto Star]
• Butch Goring was The Missing Piece to the Puzzle on the 1980 Stanley Cup run. Long before anyone knew that, though, he used his wisdom and experience to give the Islanders confidence to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks on the road, a task with which they previously struggled. [Maven’s Memories]

Elsewhere

• The Athletic’s Isles beat writer, Kevin Kurz, is a Philadelphia kid at heart. He took a deep dive with former Flyers executive Jay Snider into one of the most important moments of his lifetime in Philadelphia sports history: the 1992 Eric Lindros trade. You’ll remember, of course, that the Quebec Nordiques almost simultaneously agreed to trades with the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers. The Flyers got Lindros, but both the Rangers and Nordiques franchises went on to win Stanley Cups in the next few years. [The Athletic]
• The Blackhawks have reportedly signed defenseman Jack Johnson to a one-year deal. I don’t think he has ever been seriously connected to the Islanders, but he fits the bill of a Lou Lamoriello–type player, so I’m glad that he is going somewhere else. [Daily Faceoff]
• Derek Stepan will go to training camp Carolina Hurricanes again, but this time only on a PTO. [Daily Faceoff]
• Ryan McDonagh is excited to be a part of the Nashville Predators. I have nothing else to say about that. [NHL]
• Joining many of his fellow hockey players, Calgary Flames star Jonathan Huberdeau pledged to donate his brain for research after he dies. [Sportsnet]
• A Flyers fan brought a “Fire Chuck Fletcher” sign to a South Jersey charity game in which Johnny Gaudreau was playing, and he got Gaudreau to sign it. [BSH]
• The ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings hired former Washington Capitals assistant coach Joel Martin to be their bench boss, making him the second Black coach in the ECHL. [NHL]