July 27 2010 by Scott.

Chris Botta reports that former Islanders assistant GM Ryan Jankowski has signed on in Montreal.  Not to surprised at all that it didn’t take him long to find work.  Its a good hire by Montreal and remains probably the most puzzling move of our off-season thus far.

Posted in New York Islanders | 1 Comment »

July 27 2010 by Scott.

According to Chris Botta moments before their hearing this morning the Isles settled with forward Matt Moulson on a one deal worth 2.45 million.  Now hopefully if he has another good season we don’t walk away from him because he wants to much, we give the guy what he wants and god for bid we actually have a solid player in his late 20’s.

Well it took long enough and I am happy they finally got it done.

Posted in New York Islanders | No Comments »

July 24 2010 by Scott.

Well if you were away for most of the day it came out this morning that Islanders play by play man Billy Jaffe wouldn’t be returning to the organization next year. 

According to Chris Botta MSG had an agreement in place with Jaffe however the Islanders chose not to bring him back because in their minds Jaffes analysis wasn’t positive enough.  I am sorry but given the teams Jaffe called games for I think well he was a heck of a lot more positive then me.  He was fair and honest and really good at what he does. 

This summer is really turning into a circus.  First our GM turns into superman and now we get rid of what was probably one of our few strengths as an org which was our announcers and now we know that our announcers with only kiss the teams a$$ and not give fair and honest criticisms because of fear of losing their jobs. 

There is already internet speculation as to who his replacement will be.  The three names I have seen out there have been Islanders studio man Butch Goring, former Panther announcer and Islander legend Denis Potvin, and lastly long time Islanders radio man Chris King.  If Goring gets the job there is speculation that Potvin might get the studio job.

Another bad day in this summer for the team!! 

Posted in New York Islanders | 1 Comment »

July 22 2010 by Scott.

This afternoon the Islanders signed former pro MMA fighter and minor league tough guy Jeremy Yablonski to a one year 2 way contract.

Yablonski has had some heavy battles with people such as Jon “Nasty” Mirasty and current Islander Trevor Gillies.  He has had over 500 PIMS in the last 3 years and over 800 PIMS in 266 games. 

Heres a video of Yablonski fighting Gillies in Jan. of 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3wQm-3c_q0

Posted in New York Islanders | 1 Comment »

July 15 2010 by Scott.

Earlier this afternoon the Islanders announced that they signed forward Rob Schremp to a 1 year qualifying offer.

Good to see because Schremp looked really good for us last year and has great skill and ridiculous hands!  Looking forward to seeing him continue to develop this year also some high-light reel goals.

http://islanders.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=534466&navid=DL|NYI|home

Posted in New York Islanders | No Comments »

July 15 2010 by Scott.

This afternoon it was reported that the Islanders signed a deal with a local cup cake company to have them sell cupcakes at Islander home games in the 2010-2011 season.  For more visit the link below:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/38247521

I think its rather interesting that we now have the chance to buy cupcakes of all things at games next season.  Just wonder how much they will be.

Posted in New York Islanders | No Comments »

July 13 2010 by Scott.

This is an awsome read from Nick at lettherebelighthouse.blogspot.com on the TOH gutting of the Lighthouse.

http://www.lettherebelighthouse.com/2010/07/kate-murray-slits-long-islands-throat.html

Newsday quoted many people who say that their project is no longer viable because of the reductions.  But the brilliant supervisor of the TOH continues to push the scale back saying it would preserve our suburban quality of life.

What I want to know is what suburban quality of life?  The sumps?  We have parks and a couple beaches!!  But what else??  Not much quality of life that would be “destroyed” by the Lighthouse now would it.  What a joke this town is!!!  Yet certain people in this town who don’t give a crap about the issues continue to vote these morons back into office.  People wonder why people are leaving at rapid paces, and why we may end up having a casino at the site instead of the Lighthouse.  Its because 98% of the government around here doesn’t do anything to make life better and all they do is raise taxes and collect pay checks.

Posted in Lighthouse Project, New York Islanders | 1 Comment »

July 13 2010 by Scott.

Well this morning the TOH unveiled their plan for the Lighthouse and saying its underwhelming is quite an understatement.  The size of the original Lighthouse proposal was between 10 and 13.5 million square feet and the TOH reduced proposal is 5.4 million feet.  Two million of which is reserved for parking according to Chris Botta.  Here is the press release issued by Kate herself as well as councilwomen Dorthy Goosby who is responsible for the district the Lighthouse would be in. 

http://www.lettherebelighthouse.com/2010/07/kate-murrays-lighthouse-scale-down.html

Reaction to that press release deserves an entry in that of itself and I will try to get that up as soon as possible.

According to Chris Botta Wang and County Executive Ed Mangano are talking about doing a proposal with the Shinnecock nation troop in which a Mohegan Sun type Casino would be built along with a Coliseum for the islanders among other things.  Check out pointblank for more on this.

I don’t like or support the idea of putting a Casino a couple hundred feet of local Colleges.  But this is what happens when you have brainwashed people who vote for candidates based off party line and not the issues.  Hopefully we reach an amicable resolution but I am not holding my breath.

Posted in Lighthouse Project, New York Islanders | 1 Comment »

July 09 2010 by Scott.

According to Chris Botta that the TOH’s plans for a scaled back Lighthouse should come out within the next week maybe as early as Monday.  He said it is believed they cut the original proposal by more then 50%.  If so that would be like a joke offer and if I were Wang I would be insulted. 

However an interesting twist that will surprise some, Botta says that County executive Ed Mangano will support Wang and his partner Scott Rechler in their attempts to develop the Nassau Coliseum with the intention of keeping the team here. 

Botta said after a quite few months he expects things to heat up again and he says we appear to have Mangano in our corner.

 http://www.islanderspointblank.com/2010/07/tohs-lighthouse-reduction-will-be-se

Posted in Lighthouse Project, New York Islanders | 1 Comment »

July 08 2010 by Scott.

According to Chris Botta from islanderspointblank.com Bryan Trottier will not be returning next year.  Chris says he hopes to remain in the org. though. 

http://www.islanderspointblank.com/2010/07/trottier-out-as-player-development-directorhall-of-famer-hoping-to-stay-in-the-organization/

Hoepfully they keep him in the organization in some respect!

Posted in New York Islanders | 1 Comment »

July 07 2010 by Scott.

Update 2: Ryan was “blindsided” by Garth when told he wouldn’t be back. 

Low class move by the Isles here, the guy rejects a GM position because he wants to stay and then you don’t even give him warning you let him go when his contract expires.    

http://www.islanderspointblank.com/2010/07/ryan-jankowski-and-islanders-splitcontract-not-renewed-for-draft-director-since-2006/

Update: According to Newsday the position won’t be replaced and Garth will take on more responsibility when it comes to scouting at draft time.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islan…-ways-1.2086351

This smells fishy to me, Jankowski did a really good job for us and for us to just let him go especially after he turned down the WHL GM job.  I think he was due for a raise because of his success and Wang didn’t want to pay him hence why the position isn’t being replaced. 

According to Chris Botta Ryan Jankowski the director of amateur scouting as well as the assistant GM is no longer part of the Isles organization.  He had been a member of the organization since 2006.  According to Chris his contract expired soon after the 2010 draft.  Unless theres something wrong behind the scenes I don’t like this move at all!!  Ryan is very good at what he does and drafting is one of the few things that has gone right recently.  To make this move is mind boggling to me.

According to Newsdays Katie Strang because the plans for China during training camp were scrapped the Islanders will do the right thing and hold training camp at the Nassau Coliseum in September.

Posted in New York Islanders | 1 Comment »

July 05 2010 by Scott.

According to Katie Strang the Isles are out of the race for star free agent sniper Ilya Kovalchuk.  If they were ever in it to begin with.  I don’t doubt the phone call that was made, however there were reports Saturday that we were finalizing a deal with him and stuff like that. 

My question is how could you be considered in the race for a player if you never even made him an offer?  If you make him an offer and he says no it is one thing you move on but to publicly declare interest in the top free agent out there and not even send the guy an offer.  Cmon now!!!

Bad job on this one by the Islanders…you can’t publicly declare interest in a guy and never even send the guy an offer.

I hope they do something to improve this team because as of right now I think were slightly better then last year because of the maturation of the inevitable maturation of the young players.  However given there massive ticket increases if they remain status quo I wouldn’t anticipate many sell outs next season if I were in the Isles ticketing staff or front office, especially with all the Season ticket subscriptions that are being dropped.  I am sorry but I don’t think El Nino is going to get people to pay for season tickets especially at an increased rate from the last few years.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islan…e-out-1.2081059

Posted in New York Islanders | 4 Comments »

July 05 2010 by Scott.

This was started Saturday and will be continued til he signs

8:16 - According to his agent Jay Grossman Kovalchuk has narrowed down his choices but there will be no decision tonight

2:15 - The headline to the New York Post report has changed…it now states that Kovalchulk will make his decision today and the Devils are favorites

1:20 - New York Post reports that the Devils are the front runners to land Kovalchuk.  Reported deal is 7 years 60 mil

1:05 PM - Earlier this afternoon Kovalchuks agent Jay Grossman said on twitter that Kovalchuk is looking to make a decision on his future today.

Posted in New York Islanders | 1 Comment »

July 04 2010 by Scott.

According to Elliotte Friedman of Hockey Night in Canada the Kings badly want Ilya Kovalchuk.  However they weren’t able to back him off of his demands for 100 million dollars.  The Kings refused to give him that because they were scared it would render them incapable of signing Drew Doughty/Jack Johnson to extensions.

http://twitter.com/FriedmanHNIC/status/17757203920

http://twitter.com/FriedmanHNIC/status/17757265600

So Islander fans this poses an interesting question…Would you give Ilya Kovlachuk 100 million dollars?

Posted in New York Islanders | 2 Comments »

July 04 2010 by Scott.

According to the LA time the Kings are out of the bidding for the services of Russian sniper Ilya Kovalchuk. 

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2010/07/ilya-kovalchuk-kings-nhl-free-agency.html

If they indeed are then that would leave the Isles and Devils by themselves in the bidding for the high scoring winger.  Things should be really interesting in Islanders Country in the next day or two.

Posted in NHL News, New York Islanders | 1 Comment »