The polls are OPEN over at HockeyFights.com for their annual awards. Make sure you have 30 minutes or more of free time when you head over there. They have videos of most of the nominees so you’ll be busy watching fight videos for a little while. Just another reason why HockeyFights.com is one of my favorite websites. They had quite a year this season over there with an awesome new website redesign and a bunch of high profile mentions on Versus, Comcast Sports, The Hockey News, and more.
- Fight of the Year
- Kocur Award: TKO or KO of the Year
- Probert Award: Fighter of the Year
- Crowder Award: Rookie of the Year
- People’s Choice Award
- Broad Street Bully Award: Best Enforcing Team
- Worst Enforcing Team
- Most Improved/Comeback Fighter
- Wells Award: Most Under-Rated/Unknown Fighter
- Best Mid-Season Fighter Pick-Up of the Year
- Best Team Feud
- Grimson Award: Best Punching Power/Most Destructive Fighter
- Best Player Feud
- Biggest Let-Down
- Schultz Award: Most Old-School Moment
- Shero Award: Fighting Advocate of the Year
- Kimble Award: Most Exciting Fighter
- McPhee Award: Best Middleweight/Light Heavyweight
When Newsday asked about Alexei “Zero Points in the Playoffs” Yashin, Ted and Garth aren’t ready to send him packing just yet. Sigh. We here at Islanders Army have seen enough from our “captain” and hope that Mr. Carol Alt is not wearing the Orange and Blue next season.
Three days after the end of their first season together running the Islanders, general manager Garth Snow and coach Ted Nolan answered the easy question but not the hard one.
Yes, they will do everything within their power to sign Ryan Smyth to a long-term contract. But no, they aren’t prepared to discuss the potential buyout of captain Alexei Yashin.
“We’re not even thinking along those lines right now,” Snow said yesterday. “Alexei Yashin is a member of the New York Islanders right now.”
Nolan was high on Yashin’s performance early in the season, but by the end, Yashin was a part-time player, averaging just 11:45 of ice time and going scoreless in the Islanders’ first-round playoff loss to Buffalo. “Yashin’s part of this team, and we’ve got to find the right buttons to push and make him better,” Nolan said. Asked if he expects Yashin back, he said, “Right now, he is part of the team.”
At the other end of the spectrum, Snow and Nolan gushed about Smyth and what he brought to the Islanders after his acquisition at the Feb. 27 trade deadline. Snow confirmed a report that Smyth sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee March 27 against the Devils. He missed the next game but played the last 10, including the playoffs.
“Ryan Smyth was everything we expected and obviously is a player we want as part of this organization,” Snow said. “He’s a great player who epitomizes what this organization is trying to accomplish when it comes to a high-character player and intangibles. He’s a professional, and we think the world of him.”
One more interview from NewYorkIslanders.com, this time it’s Coach Ted Nolan discussing his performance this season, the team, and all the UFA’s this off-season. Here’s an excerpt.
On his evaluation of the team:
“We made a lot of strides in bringing the right guys to change the attitude. Attitude is everything. You look at all the guys we mentioned all year. We added some good, strong character guys. It’s not necessarily about the skill. Skill can get you so far. It’s the will, the commitment and the passion for the game that these guys have. They’re on the ice all the time and look like they’re enjoying it.
“They were sad to see the season was over. They enjoyed one another. It’s a good step. And now we have to build on that first impression. We brought guys in who didn’t just come to the rink to put their time in. They came in to make us better, work and compete. That to me is the most important thing – the willingness to compete.”
On the excitement at the end of the season:
“To win you need strong-willed individuals. You put them together to form a championship-caliber team. The way we ended the season was exciting with the Rangers game, the Leafs game and the two playoff games. It gave us a real good taste of what to build upon. It’s not about resting on what we thought we accomplished. Yeah, we made the playoffs, but the playoffs are a given. You want to win a championship.”
On changes for next year:
“One thing with pro sports nowadays is that you’re not going to go with the same team year after year even if you’re a dynasty team. You’re going to lose people. We’ll probably lose some people. That’s the beauty of sports. We’ll bring in some more people to add to what we’ve got, keep the good pieces and put the jigsaw puzzle together. Hopefully, it’s a combination to win a championship.
“We’re looking for the types of players we added: players with the attitude and the desire to compete. You look at the playoffs and that’s what it’s all about. It’s not about the skill level. The next level to get over that edge is the competitive edge. How competitive are they? How do they prepare themselves? How do they treat their teammates and approach the game on and off the ice?
“We’ll address the fact that we could use speed up front, but we can’t just have speedy guys. You need a good character speedy guy. You can’t just get a big, mobile defenseman who moves the puck up well. You have to see what type of guy he is, and what kind of competitive spirit he has. We’re going to be adding more competitive players.”
Off Wing Opinion gives us the scoop on the new look NHL jerseys coming to the league next season. The Washington Capitals will unveil the jerseys with a return to the Capitals classic red, white and blue color scheme at a special draft day party in Virginia.
The Washington Capitals will unveil their new uniforms at a special Draft Day Party on Friday, June 22, held at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Va. The event will be held in conjunction with the live broadcast on Versus of the first round of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, which takes place that evening in Columbus, Ohio.
The new uniforms will mark a return to a red, white and blue color scheme – the colors the Capitals wore from their first season in 1974-75 through 1994-95. The Capitals are the first team in the NHL to announce their plans to unveil their new uniforms, which are produced by Reebok and feature the Rbk EDGE Uniform System technology that was introduced at the 2007 NHL All-Star Game in Dallas. The Capitals are the first team planning to have their new uniforms on hand at the NHL Entry Draft.
Although the Caps are the first and only team to say so, I expect that all of the 2007 draft picks will be donning the new look jerseys on draft day.
Here’s an excerpt from part two of GM Garth Snow’s interview with NewYorkIslanders.com. In part two Garth talks about working with Coach Nolan, prospects in the Islanders’ system, and the “conspiracy” theories from the Islanders/Sabres playoff matchup.
How do you rate 2006 first round pick Kyle Okposo, and are you trying to woo him to Long Island and the pro ranks?
Kyle is a very high-end prospect and an even better kid. Our fans are going to love him. But I’ll tell you this: I will never go out of my way to convince a young man to leave school. It’s a personal matter. My years at Maine were some of the best of my life, so it would be wrong for me or anyone else for selfish reasons to try a woo a kid at college to come here. There’s always time. I understand it’s an important decision, but I feel it has to come from the young man and his family. We’ll be ready for Kyle when he’s ready for us.
During the playoff series, much was made of tension between the NHL office and the Islanders. You don’t really think there is any kind of conspiracy, do you?
I sure wouldn’t hope so. I think it was just a heated time. Stuff like that is bound to come up when you absorb a few controversial calls in a row and Colin Campbell is going out of his way to refer to me in the press as a rookie GM. Everyone on both sides needs to put it behind us, and I’m sure we will.
In the case of Brendan Witt’s goal against the Sabres, our issue was never that there was a conspiracy. We simply felt the referee made a mistake and the rest of the process at the league level didn’t work either. I read the other day that Colin said there needs to be a review of the process this summer. I was happy to hear that and I take that as a partial admission that he agreed with us.
NewYorkIslanders.com has a two part interview with GM Snow looking back at the 2006-07 season and the coming off-season plans. Here’s an excerpt from part one.
Of course, the question on everyone’s mind is what are your plans for the many potential unrestricted free agents you could have on July 1, but especially Ryan Smyth and Jason Blake?
Snow: We want to bring back as many as possible. I don’t look at this offseason any differently than I did the trade deadline. We only want to add to it while subtracting as little as possible.
I’m not going to go into our plans for each individual player, but I understand that Ryan and Jason are special cases not only for us but to our fans, too. Ryan Smyth turned out to be everything we knew we traded for. He was one of our best players on the ice for just about every game and he brought so much more to the Islanders than just his play. Our players learned a lot from being around him day after day. Of course, we’re going to do everything we can so Ryan stays an Islander for a long time.
What can you say about Jason? He’ll be 34 when training camp opens but he just keeps getting better. His work ethic is phenomenal. We will continue to talk to Jason about ways to keep him an Islander.
How do you look back on the Ryan Smyth trade? It was the talk of the league for a while and you certainly received plenty of praise for it. But when the Islanders looked like they may not make the playoffs late, then all of a sudden criticism came your way.
Snow: That’s a trade I would make every day of the week with no regrets. With the new CBA we’re more of a “now” league than ever. If you have a good team and can add a Ryan Smyth to your roster, you do it. Plus, we still have some strong prospects led by Kyle Okposo – who was not even a consideration for that trade — and plenty of young players like Gervais, Campoli and Bergeron already up with us, so the cupboard is far from bare.
According to TSN.ca, referee Mike Leggo who did such an craptastic outstanding job in the Buffalo/Islanders series has not been selected for the second round of the NHL playoffs. Fore!
Thanks to Eric H. at IslanderFans.com for the heads-up.
Also dropped from the first round rotation was veteran Mick McGeough, who worked the Stanley Cup final last year, along with Eric Furlatt, Mike Hasenfratz, Mike Leggo, Wes McCauley, Dan O’Rourke and Tim Peel.
With the Islanders’ demise, all we here at Islanders Army have to root for is a Rangers exit and the small victory of having our playoffs picks turn out OK. After the first round, Tom holds a slim 5-4 lead. Murph has lost his two finalists, though.
* - correct predictions in bold.
Murph’s Picks:
NYI over BUF
NJD over TB
ATL over NYR
PIT over OTT
CAL over DET
ANA over MIN
VAN over DAL
SJ over NASH
Tom’s picks:
NYI over BUF
NJD over TB
ATL over NYR
OTT over PIT
DET over CAL
ANA over MIN
VAN over DAL
NASH over SJ
Is the NHL out to screw the Islanders? It seems that way to us, but we’re kind of biased. So how about a neutral party’s opinion? Fauxrumors digs around the story and thinks so.
2) We decided to dig deeper(as we at the FAUXRUMORS Group, LLC) usually do to uncover items that the mainstream press ignores/hides/or just doesn’t try to discover. What we found shocked us. Apparently the powers of the NHL decided it was time to teach the Islander organization a lesson. For the past month or so the Islanders have been involved in several close call goal reviews. All of which went against the Islanders. Add to that the fact that the Islanders have the worst PP/PK ratio(The largest disparity of disadvantages to power plays in the NHL) Also the Simon suspension/ and Witt’s public tiff with NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell.
3) The team initially was mute with regard to the man advantage issue, and not too vocal with regard to the video reviews UNTIL the Buffalo series when 2 calls helped decide games in their opponents favor. Following the second Garth Snow, the Isle’s GM was unusually VERY vocal in his assessment of the NHL’s job of officiating. Several other Islander officials including coach Ted Nolan were quoted in the press questioning the league’s job in getting the calls correct.
4) The NHL had just enough and although the drug test was done weeks prior and the results and the following inquiry/appeals could have lasted months, the league decided it was time to send a message directly to the Islanders, and other potential/future complainers; tread at your own risk!
5) The Hill test and results were significantly accelerated and the suspension quickly handed down prior to the next Isles-sabres game. As one league official who didn’t wish to be identified (BUT wanted to be heard) told FAUXRUMORS that Colin Campbell and Gary Bettman had heard more than they have wanted from the Islanders. “Colin couldn’t wait to announce the Hill suspension. I hadn’t seen him so giddy since he has been here”. It still has not been announced what exactly Hill tested positive for, but you can bet that other players who may be using similar ‘enhancers’ will urge their teams to stay quiet with respect to league policy/officiating. The message has been sent!
Islander legend and now Director of Corporate Sponsorships Mike Bossy looks back at his first year on the job, and the future of the Islanders.
We battled to the end
I am as disappointed as anyone that the season is over. When I look back at my first year with the team in my new job I am extremely pleased. I am pleased at the progress the team made at every level and I am happy to share some of the most important aspects for me.
We are lucky to have as many great sponsors as we have. As part of the sponsorship team I am happy to say that every individual on that the team gave 100%. No one is obliged to sponsor the Islanders. I believe everyone who did this year is satisfied that everything they were promised was delivered. I also believe that through the sponsorship team we were able to deliver some great promotions during hockey games this year and I am looking forward to even better ones next year. We are looking forward to working and continuing our strong relationships with current sponsors and also developing new relationships with new sponsors. They are a huge part of the success of the team and I thank them personally for their support this year.
As a fan I was happy with the success the team had this year. I will agree with everybody that making the playoffs is one thing but the ultimate goal should always be the Stanley Cup. Nobody can doubt the effort that was given by every player. Some players underperformed but not because of a lack of effort. I’m sure Garth and Ted will work well together and are probably already looking at ways to better our team next year.
Unfortunately it is not just in their hands. Certain players who will become unrestricted free agents in July will have the opportunity to move on. Their minds may already be made up as far as that is concerned and no matter what we do may not change that. As fans we have to trust that Garth and Ted will make the right decisions. I know I am. Like all of you, I would love Ryan to re-sign with the team. He absolutely proved, even with a knee injury, that he plays to win every night and it is with players like Ryan that you build strong organizations. Ricky matured beyond his years this past season. I am looking forward to him having another great year next season. Great teams have great goalies and Ricky is going in the right direction to become one. I can’t wait to see the progress he makes next year.
We made big strides in creating a team this year from the dressing room to the front office. I don’t see any reason for that not to continue into next year. Until then I wish everybody a great summer. Thanks so much for writing me this year.
Mike
