We knew it was coming but now it’s official, Bryan Berard is an Islander again. Isles’ beat reporter Greg Logan has the scoop:
After watching their power play struggle in a 2-1 loss to Washington, the Islanders yesterday signed defenseman Bryan Berard to a one-year deal worth $725,000.
Berard is practicing this afternoon and is expected to be in the lineup to quarterback the power play against the Rangers tomorrow night at Nassau Coliseum.
Last chance to stock up Blake, Yashin, and Smyth jerseys…if you dare!
From NewYorkIslanders.com, it was just announced that FSNY will be replaying the Top 15 Islanders games from 2006-07 on Fridays and Saturdays this summer. A new game will be shown every Friday during the summer from 8-10 pm with replays late Friday evening from 12:30-2:30 am and on Saturday afternoon.
June
22 Friday, 8-10 PM - NY Islanders 15 to Remember #1: Carolina Hurricanes at Islanders FSN NY
Isles win 4-3 in OT (10/21/06)
29 Friday, 8-10 PM - NY Islanders 15 to Remember #2: Islanders at Dallas Stars FSN NY
“Father’s Game” (11/5/06)
July
6 Friday, 8-10 PM - NY Islanders 15 to Remember #3: Washington Capitals at Islanders FSN NY
Bob Bourne Night (11/25/06)
13 Friday, 8-10 PM - NY Islanders 15 to Remember #4: Islanders at Rangers FSN NY
Kozlov – 4 goal game (12/3/06)
20 Friday, 8-10 PM - NY Islanders 15 to Remember #5: Islanders at Rangers FSN NY
Blake Hat Trick (12/19/06)
27 Friday, 8-10 PM NY Islanders 15 to Remember #6: Rangers at Islanders FSN NY
2-1 Win (12/26/06)
August
3 Friday 8-10 PM - NY Islanders 15 to Remember #7: Islanders at Rangers FSN NY
Isles snap 6-game slide (1/9/07)
10 Friday 8-10 PM - NY Islanders 15 to Remember #8: Islanders at Boston Bruins FSN NY
Shootout Win (1/11/07)
17 Friday 8-10 PM - NY Islanders 15 to Remember #9: Buffalo Sabres at Islanders FSN NY
Isles score 3 in third to win (1/27/07)
24 Friday 8-10 PM - NY Islanders 15 to Remember #10: Islanders at Toronto Maple Leafs FSN NY
Shootout win; DiPietro great 3rd pr. (2/13/07)
31 Friday 8-10 PM - NY Islanders 15 to Remember #11: Pittsburgh Penguins at Islanders FSN NY
Isles snap Pittsburgh’s win streak (2/19/07)
September
7 Friday, 8-10 PM - NY Islanders 15 to Remember #12: Rangers at Islanders FSN NY
Isles win 3-2 in Shootout (4/3/07)
14 Friday, 8-10 PM - NY Islanders 15 to Remember #13: Toronto Maple Leafs at Islanders FSN NY
Isles score 3 in third to win 5-2 (4/5/07)
21 Friday, 8-10 PM -NY Islanders 15 to Remember #14: Islanders at Philadelphia Flyers FSN NY
Isles win 4-2 to keep playoff hopes alive (4/7/07)
28 Friday, 8-10 PM - NY Islanders 15 to Remember #15: NY Islanders at Devils FSN NY
Isles make playoffs with 2nd goal in Shootout win (4/8/07)
From Newsday.com, Ex-GM Mike Milbury who stepped down last June as GM only to take another front office position with the club, is leaving the Islanders for good this time.
One year after stepping aside as general manager of the Islanders to serve as senior vice-president in marketing, Mike Milbury on Tuesday announced his resignation from his full-time position in the organization.
Although Milbury will remain as an advisor to owner Charles Wang on the Project Hope youth hockey program they began two years ago in China, his move effectively ends his 12-year relationship with the Isles in terms of any major decision-making role. Milbury also served as coach three times and survived through four sets of owners.
“Charles gave me the opportunity of a new challenge for the last 18 months, and I enjoyed every minute of it,” Milbury said in a prepared statement. “Im very proud of our staff and the strides we made last season in corporate sales, customer service and community relations.”
But in an interview with Newsday, Milbury admitted the business side of the game isn’t his first love. His decision to move on, he said, evolved out of his recent season-ending meeting with Wang, who asked how he enjoyed his sales duties and whether he felt he could make a long-term commitment in that area.
Adios Mad Mike. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass. You are gone but cannot be forgotten. The Ex-Islanders All-Star Team will continue to haunt us. From Wikipedia:
Many young players and prospects that Milbury traded away went on to have distinguished careers, often eclipsing those of the players he received in return. He has traded away defencemen Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden, Bryan Berard, Eric Brewer, Darius Kasparaitis, and Bryan McCabe; goalies Luongo and Tommy Salo, as well as forwards Olli Jokinen, Todd Bertuzzi, and Raffi Torres. Milbury has also come under fire for his draft day decisions such as choosing Rick DiPietro first overall in 2000 over Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik .
[Update] From Spector’s Blog, a few more Ex-Islander All Stars from Mad Mike’s Greatest Hits:
Were it not for a series of owners who skimped on payroll and some outright dumb trades by Milbury, there might be a second dynasty on Long Island today. Consider the following roster:
Goal: Roberto Luongo, Defence: Bryan McCabe, Wade Redden, Zdeno Chara and Eric Brewer. Forwards: Olli Jokinen, JP Dumont, Todd Bertuzzi, Jason Spezza (selected by Ottawa with the first round pick moved by Milbury for Alexei Yashin), Tim Connolly, Taylor Pyatt, Raffi Torres, Michael Rupp.
He also passed up the chance to draft either Dany Heatley or Marian Gaborik in 2000 to select Rick DiPietro, which wouldn’t have been necessary if he’d held onto Luongo.
Sillinger’s game winning goal ranks as #2
It always sucks when a ranking of your team’s 10 best games from a particular season fails to include even one postseason performance, but that’s what we have here in the NewYorkIslanders.com list. I can’t argue with their game selection. Wonder why they didn’t include the win over Buffalo in the playoffs. It was a big enough win to keep the dream alive for the Islanders for a couple of extra days and the team played great in earning the victory.
Here’s the Top 5 from the NewYorkIslanders.com ranking:
- Dec. 3 Islanders 7, Rangers 4
- Oct. 11 Islanders 5, Ducks 4 (Shoot Out)
- April 3 Islanders 3, Rangers 2 (Shoot Out)
- Feb. 16 Islanders 6, Penguins 5
- April 8 Islanders 3, Devils 2 (Shoot Out)
The $67.5 Million Dollar man had some arthroscopic surgery on his hip this week. Everything went fine and smooth. Get well soon Ricky!
Even before he suffered two concussions in a 12-day span in March, Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro was playing hurt for the final two months or so of the regular season. Earlier this week, DiPietro underwent successful arthroscopic surgery to repair a labral tear of his left hip.
DiPietro will be on crutches for the next two weeks and is required to rest for the next four to six weeks. But the franchise goaltender is expected to make a complete recovery long before training camp opens in mid-September as he prepares for the second season of his 15-year contract.
The surgery was performed Monday at the Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Vail, Colo., by Dr. Marc Philippon, a well-known hip specialist. Philippon is a consultant to teams in the NHL, NFL, NBA and MLB and has treated many professional golfers. His clients have included Mario Lemieux, golfer Greg Norman and running back Priest Holmes.
DiPietro’s injury resulted from a chronic condition rather than a specific incident and was one of the reasons he sometimes did not take part in optional morning skates on game days.
“Not that anyone needed more proof that he’s a battler, but Rick gutted it out with this injury down the stretch and in the playoffs,” Islanders general manager Garth Snow said in a statement.
Screw the NHL. Who needs their awards? LCS Hockey has released their award nominations for 2006-07 and two Islanders have made the cut. The LCS Award show is more fun anyways…more gin!
The Sean Avery comment made me spit up my coffee this morning.
NO HEART TROPHY
This prestigious award is given to the player deemed least valuable to his team. And the nominees are…
Nikolai Zherdev, Columbus Blue Jackets: Did Zherdev even play this season? Signing that new contract must have taken a lot out of him. But where would the Blue Jackets be without him? Well, probably right where they are now.
Todd Bertuzzi, Florida Panthers edition: Let’s see, the Panthers traded Roberto Luongo to get him, only to watch Bertuzzi miss most of the season and then use his impending free agency to all but force a trade to Detroit for virtually nothing. Yeah, that worked out well for Florida. But what kind of a guy takes millions of dollars from a team, not to mention top medical care, and then bolts town? Probably the same kind of guy who punches someone from behind. Bertuzzi 3:16… I just screwed your franchise.
Alexei Yashin, New York Islanders: A perennial contender, Yashin finds new and exciting ways to disappoint every year. Just when you think he gives nothing, he digs deep and finds a way to give even less. But as long as the checks clear, who cares? Yashin’s still sitting at the end of the bench at Nassau Coliseum waiting for Ted Nolan to tell him to go home.
DALE HUNTER TROPHY
Given to the least gentlemanly player.
Chris Simon, New York Islanders: He two-handed someone in the face. That’s gonna be tough to beat.
Sean Avery, New York Rangers: He’s the guy voted most likely to get two-handed in the face.
Jarkko Ruutu, Pittsburgh Penguins: He’s like Esa Tikkanen’s cheaper, nastier little brother.
Apparently taking a team expected to finish at the bottom of the league to the playoffs isn’t good enough to even warrant a NOMINATION as Coach of the Year.
Click the link above to see all the NHL Award Nominations.
JACK ADAMS AWARD (outstanding coach): Lindy Ruff, Sabres; Michel Therrien, Penguins; Alain Vigneault, Canucks
Seriously?!
Buffalo - Stacked team. Anything less than the playoffs would have gotten him fired.
Pittsburgh - Another stacked (but young) team. How hard can it be to make the playoffs when you have the Art Ross winner on your team?
Vancouver - Somewhat deserving, just made the playoffs in 2005-06, won the division in 2006-07. Luongo knocking 50+ goals off their GA stats this year probably helped a little.
I’m not saying Ted deserved to win the Jack Adams. After all the Isles just squeaked into the 8th spot, but with no true superstars on this team, he should have at least been nominated.
Ted Nolan, blackballed by the NHL? Never. The NHL just loves Teddy and the Islanders and it shows.
[UPDATE] Steve Zipay at Newsday wonders the same thing this morning…
How is Islanders coach Ted Nolan not a finalist for the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year? Granted, he’s not the best X’s-and-O’s guy, but last year, Rangers coach Tom Renney helped guide a team from the preseason pundits’ basement to the playoffs and was nominated.
Same for Nolan. Despite an aging defense, mostly nothing from Alexei Yashin and the loss of Rick DiPietro to a pair of concussions, his team didn’t quit.
Among the finalists, Lindy Ruff is OK in my book. But Vancouver’s Alain Vigneault? Once you pencil in Roberto Luongo every night, is there much else to do? Pittsburgh’s Michael Therrien? Give me Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal, Evgeni Malkin, Mark Recchi, Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney and I’ll win some games.
Is there some conspiracy against Nolan among the NHL Broadcasters Association? One voter with no allegiance to the Islanders told me his ballot included Nolan and was surprised that more of his colleagues didn’t vote for him. Another good choice? Minnesota’s Jacques Lemaire. His system allowed the Wild, without leading scorer Martin Gaborik for much of the season, to finish 20 points higher than in 2005-06.
Newsday Islanders’ beat writer Greg Logan wraps up 2006-07 in a long post on his “On The Islanders Beat” blog. It’s a long post covering Smyth, Blake, DP, Yashin and more. Check it out, a couple of excerpts are below.
RYAN SMYTH: You might have seen these comments previously on the Islanders’ web site, but I found it interesting when Smyth spoke about his contact with former greats Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier before leaving. In particular, Smyth recalled a passage from Wayne Gretzky’s book about the scene in the locker room area at Nassau Coliseum after the Isles swept Edmonton, 4-0, to win their last Stanley Cup in 1983.
“It’s pretty special, actually,” Smyth said. “I came from the west side, knowing all those Oilers, and now, getting to meet the other side. I still remember when Gretz wrote in his book the fact that, when he walked down this hall, they were on ice bags. They weren’t even celebrating when they beat [the Oilers]. They knew how hard it was to win and what it took to win. That’s the reflection you get when you see the other side of it and how they deal with everyday life. It’s a great opportunity to get to know them all.”
That history might be meaningless to many hockey free agents, but I think Smyth honestly appreciated it. Whether it’s enough to convince him to return, I don’t know. But Marc-Andre Bergeron, another former Oiler and a friend of Smyth’s seemed to like his experience on Long Island and to think Smyth did, too.
“It’s been great,” Bergeron said of his own time with the Isles. “Right from the get-go when I was traded here, I talked with Garth, and he made me feel really confident about coming down here. He made sure I was comfortable. The players and the staff made it easy to adjust. That’s the biggest part. They showed me confidence on the ice, and I took advantage…I’m closer to home [in Quebec]. I’ve got friends coming down here. I’m in New York, so, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Of course, Smyth’s heart is far away in Edmonton, where he grew up as a kid in Alberta rooting for the Oilers. But when I asked Bergeron how he thought Smyth liked the Island, he said: “I think he likes it. I know he likes it. So, it’s a matter of having a deal that will make him happy.”
JASON BLAKE: It would be surprising to me if Blake signs before July 1 when the free agent market opens. It’s in his best interest to see if there’s a team that will blow him away with a big-money offer. He is coming off a career season of 40 goals despite playing with a wide variety of linemates that went from Alexei Yashin to Viktor Kozlov to Randy Robitaille. He proved in the second half of the season that he wasn’t just a beneficiary of Yashin’s hot start. If anything, it might have been the other way around.
As much as the Islanders need Blake’s speed, he actually might fit in better elsewhere with a team that places more of a priority on speed. “Is there a better fit out there?” Blake asked. “I don’t know that. For me, I’ve been here for six years; I’ve made a home here, I’m comfortable here, I know everyone in the organization, I know Charles and Mike Milbury and now Garth’s the GM. We’ve done a lot to make it successful. Is there a better fit? I’ll never know that unless I do go somewhere else. I’ll be 34 at the start of next year, and I want to win. It’s not necessarily about money. It’s being happy, and I want to win. Hopefully, that’s here.”
Interestingly, Blake said he and Rick DiPietro both tried to sell Smyth on the advantages of Long Island.
FAQs: Q: What are the chances of 2006 No. 1 pick Kyle Okposo leaving the University of Minnesota after his freshman year to join the Isles?
A: “That decision could come by the summer,” Snow said. “It’s not a rush. We’re not putting any pressure on from the organizational side of things. It’s something Kyle and his family have to talk about. It’s a big change in lifestyle.”
Q: How much talent is left in the farm system after sending Robert Nilsson, Ryan O’Marra and this year’s No. 1 pick to Edmonton for Ryan Smyth and trading this year’s No. 2 pick to Washington for Richard Zednik?
A: In addition to Okposo, Snow mentioned several young players who played with the Isles and Bridgeport, including forwards Jeff Tambellini, Frans Nielsen and Blake Comeau and defensemen Chris Campoli and Bruno Gervais, who were a pair in the playoffs. He said the signing of University of New Hampshire star Trevor Smith, whom he likened to Trent Hunter but with better skating ability, was meant to offset the loss of Nilsson and O’Marra. Smith probably is a couple years away. Snow also mentioned that defenseman Dustin Kohn will be moving up from juniors, and he hopes to sign Sean Bergenheim, who spent last season playing in Sweden.
Q: When will defenseman Radek Martinek return from his fractured leg?
A: He is expected to be ready to go when training camp opens. Snow said Martinek will remain on Long Island during the offseason to undergo rehabilitation.
Q: How is Bergenheim’s knee injury that he suffered at the end of the season?
A: According to agent Marc Gandler, Bergenheim is perfectly healthy and will play with Finland in the world championships. As for signing with the Isles next season, Gandler said discussions haven’t begun, “but both sides are interested in getting a deal done.”
Q: Can Alexei Yashin restructure the remaining four years of his contract worth $26.45 million?
A: Restructuring a contract is NOT allowed under the collective bargaining agreement.
Q: What is the procedure for a buyout?
A: If the Islanders want to buy out a contract, they must do it by June 30 or wait another year. The player then receives an amount equal to two-thirds of his contract spread equally over twice the remaining years. In Yashin’s case, he would receive a total of $17.63 million in annual installments of just over $2.2 million paid in monthly checks for a total of eight years.
The Islanders have posted the Playoff Intro video from the Jumbotron on YouTube. Check it out if you didn’t make it to either of the games.
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