On the Islanders Beat

Coral Springs, I think you have a great point, and I've agreed with previous posters that Comeau is a misfit on that line. He should be playing LW with Guerin and Comrie, driving the net and digging in the corners for the puck. I'm more impressed by his hockey sense every day, and I'm starting to wonder if he's a captain in the making.

Tambellini and Nielsen have disappointed me so far...you're right, they don't have that innate sense of knowing where the puck is at any given time. I loved Tamby's move against Backstrom, and if not for a wonderful save he has a goal and maybe some confidence. I'm not ready to give up on them, but they need to show more and, frankly, they need to show they WANT it. Walter deserves a shot if Nielsen can't get it done as a center.

Healy, I have to apologize to you even though you won't know why...I mis-read your post initially and thought you were criticizing those players, but re-reading it I see your point that fans always want what they can't have. I'm sure in 01-02, if the Islanders had kept the pick, many fans would've been screaming that Spezza was in Juniors and the team should've acquired a #1 center like, oh, Alexei Yashin.

(Carried over from last thread)

Also, guys, I know this is the obligatory post KH usually makes. However, please go and sign up for the Lighthouse advocacy group for which we're working. Show your Islander pride and help make Wang's vision a reality!

http://www.lilighthouse.com

Today is Cyber Rally day...please, if you can, hop on the web site and send Kate Murray an email outlining your support for the Lighthouse project. In numbers we are strong!

While most fans have been anxious about this slump, I've kind of grown comfortable with it. We had a nice run, but if we tank from here on out, I would be fine with it. I'm enjoying the games just from the perspective of seeing Comeau, Bergie, Frans and Jeff get more and more experience.

Package Miro with MAB to a team like San Jose, and they would fetch a nice return. Our prospects are balanced players and will find roles next year, and if we trade off these UFAs we can build a contender down the line.

However, Comrie should be hung on to. He isn't a first line center, but I believe he stepped up when we needed him to, even if he couldn't win the games by himself. He IS a leader on the team, he can score and should be renewed before the deadline. I admit I thought he was kind of a floater, and the kind of guy more worried about his own numbers than that of the team, but I see more character in him and I hope him and Billy stick around for another season or two.

No worries Nick!

As for that headline thing, I was pretty confused by the headline as the article didn't reflect it at all. I've always wondered why writers don't just submit headlines themselves....Then again, I've enjoy the terribly cheesey sports headlines "Shea it Ain't So!" "Met's Have the Wright Stuff" and my all time favorite "You Gotta Bereave!"

And now for something completely different:

An article on ESPN (I think it was Frei) was discussing the myth of a hockey team being ".500" with the way the standings work (allowing 1 point for an OTL). Apparently there are 22 teams at or above .500 and 5 teams at one game below .500. Gary Bettman is quite proud of how much "competition" there is this year.

This was eye opening and I realized how this thinking has quickly permeated our views of the standings without much being said about it. We have 24 wins and 32 losses, (looking at it this way should quickly silence any buyers vs. sellers debate).

There was some good debate about how to fix the standings but I guess that would be too far off topic :)

Gotta be honest, I do enjoy Greg's blogs, and obviously the banter surrounding it, but I could have written this one.

I think Bill said recently that blogs are for expressing your opinions. Given his access to the team, I would love to know Greg's opinion on whether or not the Isles will be sellers and who is most likely out the door. We have all rattled off the same laundry list of players that could be traded and wonder which way the Isles will go - without the access Greg gets.

C'mon Greg, bring us a scoop of some kind!

Snow does look smart for only going with short term contracts. There will always be players available. Toronto is in the worst contract position in the league.

I had high hopes for Fedotenko. Eventhough he isn't scoring, he has consitently gone to the front of the net. Problem is, no one is putting the puck there. Just constant passing around the boards and behind the net. I don't think Fedotenko is to blame for the fact that no one is getting him the puck in the area where he is dangerous.

Kevin T.

Greg,
Please give us some rumored teams or some teams that have been scouting the Islanders on a consistant basis. Thanks

I have been hoping that the Islanders would be sellers at the deadline and it looks that way. However in typical Islanders fashion they are going to blow it!!!! We haven't heard one trade rumor for Comrie, you know why? COS HES NOT GOING ANYWHERE!!!! They will sign this scrub to a long term deal and pretended that he is a scorer. Comrie wants to stay because no other team in the NHL would be foolish enough to have him as their #1 center!!! He could fetch a kings ransom this year!!! Why not keep Old man miro and I look Rusty Fedotenko while we are at it and sign them to extensions. Maybe they can continue to score around 15 goals a year and justify there huge contracts. GARTH YOU BETTER DEAL THESE GUYS AND GET SOME PICKS!!!!

I read that San Jose is looking to deal Marleau since he has had a disappointing year. They are also shopping Bernier. They are looking for a scorer and Offensive Dman. Why not package Miro and MAB and take a chance on Marleau that he rebounds under Teddy Nolan?

Kevin T: Good point regarding Fedotenko. He has had more opportunity the past two games playing with Vasicek & Hunter. Maybe that line combo will bring more production down the stretch. As Ted Nolan said nobody remembers what you did in the beginning of the season, it is the end of the season that matters most.

I don't know if anyone else will be on board with me but Trent Hunter in my opinion has Hilbertitis. He misses the net on so many shots and it is driving me crazy. He must have missed the net on 5 of 6 shots against the Wild.

Mike Comrie has redeemed himself. Ole MC Toe Drag has stepped up his game and deserves some praise for his play of late. I still agree he is a second line center. Now if we could get a Jokinen from the Panthers that would be a nice pickup. Dream on.....

Comrie is one of the few players on this team with any sort of offensive creativity and imagination, an attribute that has been lost on many. Is he a defensive liability at times...yes, does he stickhandle too much in the offensive zone...yes, but at the end of the day if my team loses I want to at least be entertained as we have been the last couple of games.

I hate to say it but this cycling and grinding that Nolan has preached to be part of every line's practice and gameplan sucks. Not every player is wired to play that way and his "system" is sucking the life out of a player such as Comrie who thrives on a more open style.

Ole MC Toe Drag ... LOL!

Comrie has set himself up to be pretty good trade bait. But I agree he has shown he can be a more responsible player and still do some damage.

Go for the finesse pass on a 2-on-1 with 2 guys chasing. Not when you roll back to the blue line and a mistake causes a heart attack for the D.

Kevin T.

I'm really going to be curious as to who gets traded, if Snow is able to make any trades at all.

jisles7: if Bernier is available, i would be all over that trade in a heartbeat!!!! Although I don't think Marleau would be involved in that deal. We don't have enough to make that blockbuster move.

There are more people watching this game in my basement, than there are at NVMC.

Fire Snow and get a G^d D^mn hockey guru......WAKE UP WANGER ! This is NOT a Computer Company!

p.s Comrie BLOWS!!! We should all be happy b/c he has played a couple of good games going into the trade deadline? Give me a break! His other good games were the first three of the year. He is a PRETTY BOY that plays when he feels like it.

Bergey has come a long long way. He has played strong hockey as of late. By far the best Islander on the ice so far tonight!

So be patient with the other kids....If they have the talent, it will come to fruition!

who the hell are these announcers cuz they blow more then MAB and berad trying to play deff

222 I could not agree more. They should be announcing specials at Kmart.

I have to give Comrie credit...That pass was awesome on the power play to set up Richards. Ohhhh wait Richards is on Flyers.

My bad. He still BLOWS !!!

MAB looks stellar! HOW DOES THIS MAN HAVE A JOB ????

Steady, despite my joking about you and MAB, I have mostly agreed with you, and can remember a few games that I felt MAB single-handedly gave away (including the 2d game we played against Philly).

But he's really looked a lot better lately. I am not watching tonight's game live (DVRing it), but in the game against the Wild, MAB looked a lot crisper and more confident handling the puck, he fought for pucks successfully (even in the corners at times), he made a couple of very pretty and well-placed passes, including one play that he single-handedly created with a solo rush to behind the Wild net followed by a beautiful centering feed that unfortunately we couldn't convert.

Similarly, Comrie definitely has some annoying idiosyncrasies both on the ice, and in terms of giving off a "pretty boy" vibe. But to be fair, he's a feisty player for a small guy. How many guys of his stature will seek out a fight, against a bigger guy, at an important time in the game when his team needs a spark? Comrie has done that at least 3 times this year that I know of. And he's put up respectable offensive numbers on a team that, as we all frequently observe, has a low offensive skill level. Hockey is a team game to such a degree -- unlike baseball -- that one's linemates have an enormous effect on one's own stats. I know I'm stating the obvious, but really, what would Comrie's numbers be like this year on a team of even average offensive talent? (It's not just his linemates that affect this, but his other teammates, because our lack of O depth means that opponents can focus on shutting down our few offensive threats, including Comrie...) I still can't really defend his defensive play, but there too, I have noticed a much better effort the last 3 games or so. Some criticism is legit for sure, but I don't feel he deserves the trashing he gets here.

i know i said b4 about the announcing of the game (or lack there of) but the whole production of the game 2nite was HORRIBLE!!!!! if they put the camera on biron one more time while the play was going on i was gonna throw something on tv....no replays, stupid comments and all around just poor producing....was 2nite middle school night where they let the little 6th graders come in and produce the game? VERSUS IS SUCH A JOKE!!!

KH - I hear what you are saying.

BUT....wait till you watch tonights game. Both MAB and Comries true traits come out!

KH

"Hockey is a team game to such a degree -- unlike baseball"

WHAT????
Here I am, quietly mDdling through my self imposed 3 day suspension, confident that no one will post anything that might tempt me to violate it, and then I read THAT!!!!!
KH, you're killing me.
You are intimating that baseball is a "limited" team sport?
PSHAW!!!

As much as it pains me to use the METS as an example, (for your benefit only)
We'll see how many wins Santana gets this year if he has a door knob for a catcher, or a brutal defense behind him.
We'll see how many bases Reyes steals if the guys behind him are swinging at every pitch near the plate.
We'll see how many runs Beltran or Wright drives in if everyone in front of them bat .185
How many games will Martinez win if the closer is a can of gasoline?
Shall I go on?
BASEBALL is AS MUCH, IF NOT MORE, a team game as any other team sport.
DON'T GO THERE!!!!!

My point KH (you got me started), is that while sports like Hockey and Hoops may have more VISIBLE team aspects within their games, to intimate that baseball is ANY LESS a team sport because it's team aspects are not as visible, is naive and pedantic.
In fact, a case could be made that there are FAR MORE "team aspects" to the game of baseball than any other sport. I can deliver a 19ISLES type of War and Peace list of ways that an individual's personal stats are DEPENDENT on the other guys in the same uniform as him.

back to my exile.

505....For breaking your 3 game suspension silence, I as the blog enforcer, must hand you down an extra 1/2 day suspension.

Actually, I am going to add yet another 1/2 day for using words I cannot even spell like "pednatic!"

Thank You!

Just got back from the game. Don't judge the attendance by the first period, they showed up in the second, pretty good considering there was nothing to drive on but ice and snow and there were delays everywhere.

I have to give MAB a little credit tonight. He played a pretty solid game when you compare it to the rest of his body of work.

Tambellini is one more great save away from Hilbertitis. Man how could he not lift the puck over the sprawling defensemen and Nitty. He got one on a nice shot though.

Bergenheim...very impressive tonight, he was the spark plug that got the crowd into it.

Comrie MUST be hurt. He was dancing all over the ice tonight but his shot is ALWAYS this little chinzy pass to the goalie. Other than that I thought he battled tonight, lets not be so harsh on him, he might get us something good in a trade, but if he can bring this effort every night I wouldn't mind him here.

The kids line...looked good in spurts but got hemmed in their own zone way too often.

Good effort by the team tonight.

I still expect 505 to check himself into rehab and be photographed with Lindsay Lohan within 3 days.

Rehab is for quitters.

LOLOL... Good stuff.

Our revered 505 -- "Pedantic"? The Oxford English Dictionary (just chose that one randomly ;-) ) defines "pedantic" as "Of, relating to, or characteristic of a pedant; characterized by or exhibiting pedantry; exaggeratedly or absurdly learned." It defines "pedant" as: "A person who excessively reveres or parades academic learning or technical knowledge, often without discrimination or practical judgement. Hence also: one who is excessively concerned with accuracy over trifling details of knowledge, or who insists on strict adherence to formal rules or literal meaning."

What have I ever done that's pedantic, I ask you? Point to ONE THING!

Anyway, I couldn't have been pedantic because I was so imprecise in my choice of words. I said "Hockey is a team game to such a degree -- unlike baseball -- that one's linemates have an enormous effect on one's own stats." That could sound like I mean baseball's not a team game generally. That would be wrong, but that's not really what I meant. What I meant was that stats in baseball are not AS team-dependent as in hockey, NOT that they're not team-dependent at all, because they are in all the ways that 505 mentions.

But I was making a really simple, seat of the pants, non-PEDANTIC point. Starting-level baseball players don't the see same kinds of incredible swings in their stats from one year to the next or one team to another that their hockey counterparts seem to (not all do, but more, it seems to me, than in MLB). There's some of it in baseball, but if you look over a career (leaving aside the juicers), you see generally consistent avg, HR, and RBI numbers, accounting for peaking in mid-career and declining with age. Whereas hockey is full of players who suddenly go from being 25-goal guys to having a 40-goal season, and then drop down to 15, and so on. Hockey fans constantly chew over the question of who is the "real" Jason Blake, or Alex Kovalev, or whoever. That does not seem like a common discussion among baseball fans,esp. when you leave out the chatter about young players who haven't produced a large enough body of work to predict what they'll do over a career.

Most of this kind of talk in baseball, it seems to me, is about pitchers, but that's also often driven by injury histories. Pitchers get injured a lot and that produces the kind of statistical swings in individual performance that you see so much of in hockey, but it also provides a firm basis for a discussion. When you talk about whether such and such pitcher can bounce back, you know you're dealing with an injury. Or perhaps with whether he's developed a specific new pitch, and how fast he can throw it. Concrete factors.

In hockey, that "enigma" conversation often seems to be about coaching, effort, a player's happiness in a particular city or on a team, i.e., all things that involve a lot of conjecture. I think the reason for this is that individual statistics depend so much on who a player is playing with that it's harder to filter out the individual player's performance than it is in baseball. And so hockey seems to present these "puzzles" all the time. Of course, I am not bringing up something that lots of other hockey fans and scouts haven't already said. There is definitely an effort, in discussions on this board, to figure out who a player could be with different linemates and teammates. To find that diamond in the rough. That discussion is rarer and much less central to discussions of baseball players. In baseball, it's more about park effects, health, matchups against specific players/pitchers in one's division. Because individual performance is easier to see in baseball. I don't even think it's seriously debatable.

Pedantic?
Not at all.

What is the call when an opposing player continues to lay on top of a goalie, and the goalies teammate pulls the player off the goalie???

Can someone please inform me of that? I don't have my NHL Rulebook with me right now...

KH

"What have I ever done that's pedantic, I ask you? Point to ONE THING"

Everything after that in your last post?
:)

Okay, enough, I'm on suspension....and Steady the Executioner has already extended it from a self imposed 3 DAYS to 3 GAMES to 3.5 games to 4 games.
I'm morphing into a Martinek undisclosed injury.

oh man!!!!!!! finally a freakin' win! Yo "STEAD" Fishler..... 1 of 6... I'll go along with the other 5 (except the Sharks game), since I'll be at 2 of them...but you seem to know how to call them...

505... I love you man... but baseball is not a team sport when mentioned in the same "Sports Center" episode as hockey... No other sport boasts the same individuality as it..... well, maybe Basketball coming a close second. You need a team to win in the NHL... look at TB... man if we had Vinnie or the St.!!!!!!!!

Back to my Rum... its been a long day at work... I knew the Isles won before i started by DVR.... since none of the Fly Guy fans here texted me to bust by chops.... I hope they choke on their demise... 4 in a row.... they're about to become......US!!!!!! hhahahahahahaha

Anybody heard the rumor that Jesse Joensuu is coming over to North America this season?

http://brochuishockey.blogspot.com

I thought the younger guys stepped up tonight... Bergenheim, Tambellini especially... showing more than he has on other nights... a little more nose for the puck - maybe a good sign?

But the best 3 or 4 forwards I thought were Fedotanko, Vasicek, Hunter and Comrie.

Just my opinion.

DOC

SNOW - " ...We’ve just got to get back to playing the correct way.”

WRONG! you also need good players.

Asked if he needs to add more skill, Snow said, “You look at the skill guys we have -- Mike Comrie, Miro Satan, and Bill Guerin is a proven goal scorer. You look at our depth chart, and we have some good young prospects – Tambellini, Okposo, and I think Frans Nielsen will surprise people with how good a hockey player he is. We have good young players who are stepping right in and have proven so far that they belong at this level.
“You can see the energy it gives the lineup when a young guy like Comeau comes up and plays well…You see them in Bridgeport at the AHL level, and you see them in training camp and at the mini-camps. But to get the opportunity to play during the season in a much more intense situation, to me, it really bodes well for this organization, not just for today but for the future that we have young kids that are stepping in and playing well.”

the man does not acknowledge that his team needs more "skill."
very telling.

Its hard to judge Snow's words because with everything he says he's got please his boss and try to keep some butts in the seats. I have a feeling that Snow is Wang's man. I'd be interested to hear about something they disagree on.

It's even harder to judge Snow's words because no GM in his right mind would say his team had no talent. It alienates the locker room and puts the Islanders in a bad position to trade any of these guys should the team decide to sell at the trade deadline. Politicking is not always reflective of your actual thoughts.

Isle fan 222: Right on call; that was the worst produced game I ever watched. There were so many critical plays that they never showed a replay of. The color commentary was awful. For those of you on here that knock Rose & Jaffe you might want to eat those words. I always maintained that FSNY & MSG produce the best hockey games. Another thing that bothered me was all of the advertisements for VS. that would stay on screen for over a minute and block the view of the puck. They also had a picture window of Biron towards the end of the game that blocked the view of the play.

Bergenheim played great, Tambellini showed the first signs of skill and a nose for the puck. He seemed more confident on the ice. I was disappointed with that lines ice time; I felt they should have had at least another 5 shifts. Satan is clearly hurt to the point where he can't produce. He had a couple of great chances to bury the puck and just couldn't seem to get anything on the shot. His lack of production is really hurting this team. I did like Park playing with Bergenheim, they created a lot of speed and good transition. It seemed as if Tambs & Neilson's line got less ice time after having trouble getting the puck out of their own end. I can see with the Isles having the lead you would want to play a more defensively responsible line.

Anyone else think that DP looked off of his game last night? It also looked like he hurt himself at the end of the 1st period. He had trouble handling the puck and then I saw him leaning backwards to try and stretch his back. But of course the Vs. crew made no mention of it during the game or showed a replay. Howie Rose would have been all over that!

Three solid efforts in a row; at least it is something to build on. The team desperately needs more speed. Whether this team ends up buying, selling or exchanging player for player with another team; the main focus needs to be SPEED.

Snow was asked at the end of last year if the Isles are considering buying out Yashin's contract and he replied: Alex is a member of this team and part of our plans. We have a lot of respect for Alex and the skills he brings to this team. Three weeks later the Isles bought out Yashin's contract. The point is that Snow isn't going to tell you how it is; he has to be politically correct. We have no idea what his plans are and he is not going to reveal them to Newsday or any other media source. These guys answer questions factually about the past not about the future.

This video from U-Tube was posted on Hockeybuzz today. It is pretty funny and shows you how bad it has gotten for their fans.

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=13289

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCAVMrn4D0Y&eurl=http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=477620

Kip Brennan suspended for 15 games

what?

Who saw Bill Guerin's wife last night??? vavavoooooooooom!!! lol! Way to go Billy!!!!

Was great to see Tamby start to loosen up and play. His game might really show itself in the next week.

Bergenheim was an ANIMAL. Easily the best, most energetic and effective player on the ice. His goal is a guaranteed play of the week finalist.

The current Ricky is definitely not the Ricky we had prior to the turn of the year. Not sure if he's hurt or not, but his positioning is way off, as is his timing. He's clearly just an "average" netminder right now.

First, good game last night, great effort. This team already looks noticeably faster with the kids being in the lineup, and it was good to see Tambellini thread a shot through the defense and by the goalie - hopefully he gets more opportunities to show us is can be a goal scorer, and maybe even a "sniper" if he has that kind of accuracy.

Someone poasted fairly recently that Comeau has been marginalized playing with Nielsen and Tambellini, and I thought that was really obvious last night. Even when that line was out, I felt like he hardly touched the puck. There was one point, after a penalty in the 1st, that Comeau played with Guerin-Comrie. I thought, "Great, Ted is really rewarding this kid finally," and then on their next shift, Hilbert was back out with Guerin and Comrie. It dawned on me the only reason Comeau was on with them was because Hilbert had just killed a penalty and needed a shift to catch his breath.

So, that being said, someone please explain why Comeau is not getting a look regularly on that "top" line if we have been experimenting with Hilbert and Park there lately?

Cincy - agreed with all your points. With Rick, I am not sure if it is an injury or just frustration. If injury, let him rest a bit more and play Dubie a game here or there.

If frustration, hopefully last night's win goes to alleviating that. He looked like he let out a big ole sigh after the buzzer last night - one of those "Thank God that's over" sighs. But, that is something that he ultimately also needs to get under control. Your best players have to be your best players night in and night out, and when you get in a funk, they have to be the one's to bail you out. You can't sulk and feel sorry for yourself. I think staying a little more even is one thing Rick could still work on that will help propel him into "elite" status.

Let's see what happens in the coming games, and if he continues to show bad timing/positioning, I'll chalk it up to injury.

I think the game would've been a guaranteed sell-out if Hilary Duff participated in the fashion show, but hey what do I know?

I agree DP has seemed to be going through the motions again, and I really hope Ted stands up and says he's playing Dubie for at least 1 game in the next week. We need him for the next 13 years more than this week.

As for Comeau, it's really getting bad now....he needs to play with Comrie and Guerin....And as for Comrie, I know Steady hates him and so do many others. However, he's stated his desire to stay. Do you try to extend him or maybe trade him at the deadline with a handshake agreement that he'll come back, sort of like the Blues did with Tkachuk?

And I have to say....I love Bergy's game and I'm thrilled he's coming on so strong lately.

I missed part of the game last night, but from what I saw, they looked good. But did you all see Bergy's acceleration on his goal? Man, haven't seen speed like that from an Islander in a while.

As for Comrie, I’ve thought for a while that they should keep him. Just don’t think of him as the first line center, but rather as a potential second line center when we get a real first line. His production is more than you can ask from a second line center.

I posted two weeks ago that Bergy has started becoming the player we hoped. He just started looking so involved and relaxed. He is a GREAT new reason to watch the Isles.

After the first period I posted that he looked awesome and it continued throughout the game!

Guys get pumped....He looks good !!!!

So all those bailing on Tamby give him time. The NHL is a completely different league. IT takes these guys time to get comfortable. Tamby has some nice hands....That goal he scored was a perfect shot between the arm slot of the goalie. He actually looks like Bergy from the beg. of the year.....Patience young skywalker!

5 More WINS for my MAVEN prediction to come true. It worked last year and it will this year.....Hopefully this youth will pump some blood into these guys. I pray that, that will be the reason they play well and NOT b/c they are being shopped around!

**Did you guys see Comries give away on the PP to Richards??????? Guys, I promise I am trying to like him. MAB, forget about it, I hate him......Comrie showed life with his slap fight the other night, and every once in awhile shows life.

IT is just his absolutely PATHETIC shot...His weak swings at guys with the puck..His annoying Toe Drags which I hated from game four of the season for those that remember. I will continue to give him a closer look and hopefully I will be wrong!

***Congrats Hunter....See what happens when you crash the net and swing at that black thing that looks like a ring ding!

I don't want to harp on Comrie and the fact that I am not as disappointed as many of you are at his production and some of his shortcomings, but I will say that at least he has some fire in him when he plays. Guerin on the other hand, aka wet noodle, aka captain lazy, has been a HUGE disappointment. He is slow to the puck and is constantly reacting instead of being proactive in creating offense. Defensively, he is a horror with his constant clutching and grabbing and stick work all while forgetting that he has to move his feet. He reminds me alot of Yashin, minus the borderline playmaking ability. He is a one-trick pony and the few times in a game when he has the puck on his stick he shoots from anywhere. He is a lock to shoot the puck the moment he steps over the blueline instead of looking to create, which is especially stupid considering that none of his linemates are adept at attacking the net for rebounds. As a captain, he says all the right things, but sometimes actions speak louder than words, especially when you have several young guys in the lineup lookintg at you for guidance.

FREAKY... Does Nolan read this blog? Almost word for word on what I blogged about Fedotenko before the game. Although I thought he was going to the front of the net all season. Since I know you guys are as lazy as me, I will copy and paste...

My entry above:
"I had high hopes for Fedotenko. Eventhough he isn't scoring, he has consitently gone to the front of the net. Problem is, no one is putting the puck there. Just constant passing around the boards and behind the net. I don't think Fedotenko is to blame for the fact that no one is getting him the puck in the area where he is dangerous."

From -Islanders home win breaks losing streaks-
"He just wanted me to find my game and go more to the front of the net, create some traffic and bring the puck to the net," Fedotenko said. "I've been trying to find the perfect play on the outside and hold the puck and go in the corners, but you can't score goals from the corners. I just tried to bring my body to the front of the net, and hopefully, good things would happen like on the first goal."

Anyway, I was glad to see Fedotenko get the game winner. We need him to start to do more damage out there.

Kevin T.

Kevin T. and Logan are the same person!!!! LOL

niko - I've also been somewhat disappointed in Guerin's captaincy this year. He's not a bad 2nd line player. And he's like a good overall leader in the locker room, but I just don't see him doing the things I think a captain should do. When he's out on the ice, he should be the first player to stick ou for his teammate after a bad hit. But he's not. And the team has sadly followed his lead in that respect. It might not be just coincidence that he's never been a captain before.

Anyone else make the connection between Hunter's increased energy and goal last night... and the shaving off of his goat?

I think that assesment of Guerin is a bit harsh. If he didn't shoot so much we'd probably be on his case for dipseedoodling too much.

I think he's stepped up big at times this season and has been a better captain then Yashin. The thing that has bothered me about his game are his speed and the fact that you can count on him to give the puck away once or twice on the powerplay. He's better when he's down low (got that nice feed to Satan). But at point he chokes. I know this may sound ridiculous but MAB looked more comfortable moving the puck around last night on the PP than Guerin did.

Speaking of MAB, we talk about entertainment value on here, the Mad Bomber got one of the biggest cheers of the night when his cannon was let loose on the ankle of a Flyer (I forget which now!) who stepped in the way. The guy immediately hobbled to the bench. If we can't out hit them maybe we can have MAB shoot constantly at the other team.

Or just tell MAB to aim at the net...that'll guarantee people will have to duck for cover.

Goat-free Speedy Hunter, hmmm.

Cincy, I would think that losing the GOAT would reduce wind resistance!

Hmmm....so Simon is practicing with the team again. Will he replace Comeau or Tambellini?

(I'm being sarcastic...I want Nolan tarred and feathered if he puts that thug back in the lineup over one of the deserving kids)

Healy, I was going to hire MAB to hit me in the face with one of his shots if we dont make the playoffs and put me out of my misery, but I'm only 6 foot so that makes me 2 feet short of him having any chance at making contact.

Reality- How are those contracts working out for the rags? How are those 55 million dollar losers you got? How is your first place cup run going ?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH

WOW!!!!! Missed the game last night .... and missed some good banter on here ....

I'm glad the Isles beat the stinkin' Flyers ... if I had to hear my buddy's chatter one more time I'd have to slug him ... so far his fear of my Giants rants to his E-A-G-L-E-S has kept his mouth shut.

505 suspended? Damn ... those big words .... I use a lot of words ... gonna keep the big words to a minimum. LOL!!! We get Simon back and lose 505? Where is the justice in the world?

How weird, Logan messed something up. You should be fired, get your facts straight for once. Logan, its been 2 weeks, shouldn't u be on another 4 week vacation like you usualy do??

I been saying it for weeks--Nolan plays favorites.

While Comrie and Hunter have been subtle examples, Simon is the epitome. The fact that he is still affiliated with the organization is a disgrace on its own. But practicing with the team, with a possible return next week?

Shame on you Ted Nolan

Nick,

I'm totally with you! To be honest I think it's such a f*cking joke that Simon is coming back at all - regardless of who he replaces (although we all know it's going to be a kid!) ...I mean does this team have any respect for the fans?

Does anyone, other than Nolan, really want this guy back? Does anyone think he represents what we want the Islanders to be?

It's funny ...Nolan can't forgive a young guy for turning the puck over BUT if you make national headlines TWICE for smacking a guy in the face with a stick and stomping on someone with your skate and he can't wait to bring you back ....

I don't care what anyone says ...I'm more than sick of Nolan ...I just can't wait to see who sits so I can get even more pissed off ...

** Plus, I find it really funny/ironic that Wang wouldn't want "The Chicken Dance" played at the NVMC because he wants it to be a more kid friendly arena, but has no problems putting that pyschopath out there for them to watch????????????????????????????????????????????????????

This franchise is a joke ...sorry ladies and gents, but it's about time we face reality on this one ....