A couple of former Isles owners were arrested Tuesday for allegedly stealing wads of cash from charities and pension plans. If the charges are true, they seem like really swell fellas. Here’s an excerpt from the NY Daily News story, which is incidentally written by a friend of mine. I’ll have to hassle him for the “once great” line.
Thomas Zambito
NY Daily News
Two members of the Islanders’ “Gang of Four” ownership group stole $553 million from charities and pension plans to buy horses, mohair teddy bears and a $3 million home, the feds say.
Paul Greenwood, 61, and Stephen Walsh, 64, were arrested on securities and wire fraud charges on Wednesday and hauled into Manhattan Federal Court wearing cashmere V-neck sweaters.
The feds say they promised investors, including the University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University, huge returns with bogus claims of a trading strategy that outperformed the S&P 500 Index for a decade.
“Trading is all we do, and our success has been due to the fact that we trade very well,” they promised one investor.
The feds say Greenwood and Walsh produced results as bleak as their four-year run – which began in 1992 – at the helm of the once-great Long Island hockey club.
See the entire story here.
Three wins in a row and Kyle Okposo has goals in four straight games. Now that’s some good news on a Super Bowl Sunday morning.
The Isles downed the Panthers 3-1 last night. Comrie, Guerin and Okposo each tallied for the Isles. Yann Danis set the tone with 37 saves.
The Isles are playing well. Maybe well enough to lose out on Tavares. That said, it’s great to see Okposo progressing like this. He has 10 goals and 8 assists on the season, but half of those goals have come in the last four games. Eight have come in the last 15 games. It’s too short a sample to get crazy revved up about but Isles fans have to like what they see. Keep it up, Kyle.
The Wings signed Star forward Henrik Zetterberg to a 12-year, $73 million deal this week. Wow. That’s an average of more than $6 million a year. We like Zetterberg and think he’s a great player but 12 years for a 28-year-old is kind of risky, don’t you think? The Red WIngs were smart to frontload the contract, meaning Zetterberg will get more money in the first half of the deal than the latter half when he’s likely to be less productive. For example, he’s due to receive just a $1 million in each of the final two years of the pact.
Because we’re Islanders fans, long-term contracts always catch our eye. Rick DiPietro’s $67 million, 15-year-deal could lool like a bargain next to Zetterberg’s. DP is in the third year of his deal and is just 27-years-old. Plus, his deal averages to about $4.5 million a season. Some might call that a bargain.
We’re sort of just messing around with this post. At this point in their careers, you can’t compare the two players at all. Zetterberg is a multiple Stanley Cup champion and was the Conn Smythe winner last season when he set a franchise record with 27 postseason points. The guy has been to the mountaintop and played big.
You know we like DP enough but the jury is still out on him.
The Islanders announced that Mike Sillinger will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his hip for the second time in the last year. The veteran center and assistant captain played in just seven games this season after playing in just 52 last season.
I’m pretty sure this is the final year of Sillinger’s contract. If that’s the case, we’ve probably seen the last of the 37-year-old in an Islanders uniform. He’s been a nice player for the Isles since signing as a free agent before the 2006-07 season, scoring 42 goals and 87 points in 141 games.
In the middle of a dreary Islanders season, we wanted to share some good Isles vibes on a hockeyless Monday. Doesn’t get much better than this moment from Dave Volek in 1993! Thanks to pens91 for this post on YouTube.
Yann Danis led the Islanders to their first victory of 2009 last night with a 2-1 win over the formerly mighty Ducks. All right!
The Ducks outshot the Isles about 317 to 9 (actually it was 40-14 but you get my point) but Danis was a stonewall in the net. First period goals from young gun Kyle Okposo and 28-year-old rookie Kurtis McLean (his first career tally) provided the Isles with all of the offense they needed.
Speaking of McLean, the guy played a really nice game last night. He was constantly around the net and hustling to make plays. In short, he looked like a guy who had to wait until he was 28 to get his first crack in the NHL. That’s a good thing. When your team is dead last in the league, you have to find hunger where you can and there’s no doubt McLean is a hungry player. Great job, Kurtis.
The victory also marked Danis’s first NHL win since the 2005-06 season when he played for the Habs.
“The last two years were tough for me in the minors,” Danis told Newsday. “To be back here, getting a shot and finally getting a win means a lot to me.”
Our suspicions became reality yesterday when the Islanders announced franchise goaltender Rick DiPietro will sit out the remainder of the season to take care of his twice surgically repaired bum left knee.
The news comes as the Islanders have a vice-like grip on the worst record in the league with just 29 points, 10 points worse than the nearest competition in Ottawa and Atlanta. Yann Danis and Peter Mannino will share the goalkeeping duties until Joey MacDonald comes back in about a month from his groin injury.
The season has been ugly by any measure for DiPietro and the team. The Islanders haven’t won a game in 2009 (0-7-1), have scored the fourth fewest goals (113) and allowed the third most (163). Do they play hard? Sure they do. Are they any good? Hell no.
But this is just one season and it can be forgiven if the team progresses the next few years and is actually building a winner, something GM Garth Snow seems convinced about. The major concern here shouldn’t be the 2008-09 season. In fact, a lousy record will give the Isles a better shot at bigtime prospects John Tavares and Victor Hedman in the draft.
No, the real concern is the fate of Ricky DiPietro, the face of the franchise and, more importantly, its largest investment.
DiPietro is just three years into a record-setting 15-year, $67 million contract. In the past two years, he’s had two surgeries on his left knee, and a procedure on his left hip that ended his 2007-08 season early. He has played in just five games this year.
The Islanders and their physicians say the knee should get better with rest and allow DP to make a healthy return in the 2009-10 season. They better be right. The Islanders have spent DP’s entire career trying to convince fans that DP is the building block to a championship club. He has been amazing in spurts, average in others, and now legitimately carries the label “oft-injured.”
Since joining the club in the 2000-01 season, DP has gone 117-112 with 8 ties and 21 overtime losses. He has posted a 2.79 GAA and a .905 save percentage. By comparison, Roberto Loungo, the keeper DP esssentially replaced, has a career GAA of 2.59 and a save percentage of .919. Surefire Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur has a career GAA of 2.20 and a .913 save percentage. Statistics can be tricky because so much of a keeper’s performance depends upon his teammates and the system in which he plays. Still, DP’s numbers seem like an accurate representation of his career – good but not great.
DP is 27. Are his best years ahead of him? They should be. Which means he has time to become the dominant keeper the Islanders envision. But these injuries are a major concern and are threatening to derail not just a promising career but the entire organization’s strategy.
The story of the 2008-09 Islanders’ goaltending woes just got a new chapter. Wade Dubielewicz, the spunky former backup keeper with the Isles, was supposed to make his triumphant return from Russia and take the keys to the Isles’ net until Rick DiPietro was healthy enough to return. Doesn’t look like that’s happening.
Several news agencies are reporting Dubie instead will be going to the Columbus Blue Jackets, who claimed his rights off of waivers earlier today. That leaves the Isles with Yann Danis, Peter Mannino and, don’t forget, Goalie Coach Mike Dunham (who made himself available in a pinch the other night) and about a million question marks.
To review, DP has played five games this season, Joey MacDonald stepped up and did a decent job for 37 games before getting hurt earlier this week, and now Dubie has slipped through the team’s hands. Don’t get us wrong. We love Dubie but we certainly didn’t expect him to turn this horrific season around. It just, you know, would have been nice to have something work out. Maybe the draft? Too soon to hope?
What new in Islanders Country? Plenty, but none of it good. First off DP’s getting ANOTHER doctor’s opinion on his knee. The $67 Million Dollar Man has started just 5 games for us this season.
Next, one of the few bright spots this season – the emergence of Joey MacDonald as a solid netminder, hit a snag as Joey Mac was hurt just 6 minutes into last night’s game with the Rangers. There are rumors of the Isles talking to Doobie (who’s playing in Russia) about bringing him back.
And finally, another loss. To the Rangers, no less. After leading 1-0 after one period, two quick Ranger goals in the second doomed the Isles. Officially the NHL’s worst team, the Isles have just two wins since November 29th. Tavares or bust.
Islander defenseman Mark Streit was named an All-Star yesterday. CONGRATS Mark! The 31-year-old from Switzerland leads the Isles with 33 points and is tied with Doug Weight for the team lead in assists with 25. It’s his first all-star appearance and it’s also the first time a Swiss player will participate in the game, according to NHL.com. Check out the entire roster here.
Streit has been one of the few bright spots for the Coliseum Heroes. The Isles signed away from Montreal as a free agent before the season. He’s been fantastic on the power play, notching 7 goals and 13 assists. The Isles have the 16th best power play in the league, compared with the 29th best last season. Streit should get a lot of credit for that.
All that said, I’m wondering how many people would have pegged Streit as the lone all-star on the Isles’ roster when the season began. I’m sure DiPietro would have been picked by many, and maybe Guerin and Comrie, too.
