GM Snow A Busy Man
October 7th, 2007 by murph
GM Garth Snow has been busy this week, let’s recap…
On Friday, Defensemen Radek Martinek signed a contract extension.
Veteran defenseman RADEK MARTINEK has been signed to a three-year contract extension that keeps him a New York Islander for at least the next four seasons, through 2010-2011. The 31-year old native of the Czech Republic had been signed only through this season and could have become a free agent.
“Our organization has felt for a while that Radek is one of the most underrated defensemen in the league,” said Islanders general manager Garth Snow. “He is a very steady defenseman in both zones and he plays with a lot of grit. It was a priority for us to keep Radek an Islander beyond this season. We’re very happy he was as dedicated to staying an Islander as we were to keeping him here.”
Last night, Newsday’s Greg Logan had the scoop on Freddy Meyer being placed on waivers. The Islanders are hoping he goes through unclaimed and they can assign him to Bridgeport. The Isles are expected to sign Bryan Berard soon to take Meyer’s roster spot.
General manager Garth Snow finally made a move to clear roster space when he placed defenseman Freddy Meyer on waivers yesterday for the purpose of assigning him to AHL Bridgeport. Meyer has until noon tomorrow to clear waivers or be claimed by another NHL team.
Although Meyer doesn’t have much trade value at the moment, he might be claimed by another team in search of depth. With one year left on a contract that pays him $540,000, he would be a bargain. Until the anticipated signing of Berard, Aaron Johnson is the only extra defenseman on the NHL roster. He has impressed in the preseason and could get some playing time if there’s a need to tighten up on defense.
And finally, this morning the Isles announced a contract extension for Richard Park.
The New York Islanders and center Richard Park have agreed on a two-year contract extension which will keep him with the team through the 2009-10 season. Park is in his second season with the Islanders after attending training camp in 2006 on a tryout.
“Richard exemplifies the type of character players we want to be New York Islanders,” said general manager Garth Snow. “He’s a team-first guy who plays with his heart on his sleeve and battles every shift.”
The 31-year old Park has appeared in 452 NHL regular season games and has scored 60 goals with 73 assists for 133 points. The 11-year veteran has played for Pittsburgh, Anaheim, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Vancouver and the Islanders. He was originally drafted by Pittsburgh in the second round (50th overall) in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft.
