Tag Archive for 'mike-comrie'
Since the season ends today, we figured why wait on handing out the hardware. So, without further ado, some of my thoughts on who did right by us Isles fans this season, with a top choice and a runner-up. I also refrained from picking any one player for two different awards. I love making up rules for myself. Murph, let us know what you think, too:
MVP - 1) Rick DiPietro 2) Brendan Witt
Ricky was the obvious choice here. On a team with very little firepower and a no-name defense, DiPietro stood on his head a ton of times to keep the Isles in the thick of things before going down with the injury. His play and Ted Nolan’s coaching were the primary reason the Isles had a shot at the playoffs for most of the season. For that reason, I almost picked Nolan as the runner-up but then I thought it was lame to pick a coach. Brendan Witt personified the team’s toughness and did a very good job manning the backline until, he too, went down with an injury (I sense a pattern here). Honorable mention goes to Mike Sillinger, Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie, and Trent Hunter.
Hardest Worker, aka the Jason Blake Memorial Trophy - 1) Trent Hunter 2) Bill Guerin
Both of these guys leave everything on the ice every night. I know a lot of Islander fans are disappointed in Hunter’s lack of points (just 12 goals this year and 40 points), but the guy is one of the few Isles playing physical from end to end, each and every game. He’s also the type of player who would be lighting the lamp much more regularly if the Isles were fortunate to have a true sniper on the team. Guerin is exactly what we thought he’d be. The guy works hard. He’s a little older now and maybe a little slower but it’s hard to gauge when there is just so little offensive talent around him.
The Wow He’s Actually Pretty Good Award - 1) Richard Park 2) Dubie
Richard Park! I can’t tell you how many times I caught myself getting excited at something Park had accomplished and then saying to myself, “Hey, that Richard Park is pretty o.k.” Maybe not the most ringing endorsement in the world but in all honestly it can take some time to win me over and Park is slowly doing that. The guy made a host of big plays this season and was fairly consistent. He currently ranks seventh on the team in points and leads the Isles with three shorthanded goals. Maybe that’s what won me over right there. Love those shorthanded goals. Back-up goalie Wade Dubielewicz was more than solid spot-starting for DiPietro for much of the season before DP went down with the injury. Since then he’s gotten even more time between the pipes and he continues to keep the Isles in games. He’s shown that last season’s heroics wasn’t a fluke and proven he can play at this level.
The Dumbest Play of The Season Award - 1) Chris Simon
The Jarkko Ruutu play. Totally unacceptable. Simon played hard but every once in a while the guy just went off the deep end. The Ruutu play got him a 30-game ban and a ticket off of the Island. Simon won the same award last year when he hit Ryan Hollweg with his stick and was suspended for 25 games.
The Invisible Man Award - 1) Shawn Bates
Another winner without a runner-up. Bates, you know we fell in love with you in 2002 but, man, where’ve you been? For the second straight season, Bates was pretty-much a no-show. He played in just two games this season. Makes last year’s 48 seem Ironman-esque.
The Why I Can’t Wait For Next Season Award - 1) Kyle Okposo 2)Blake Comeau
The Young Guns have shown some signs of things to come in their limited action this season and should give all Islander fans some hope for the future. The Isles need to get some help from the outside if they want to take the next step, but it’s nice knowing the cupboard isn’t empty.
As always, we look to our readers to let us know where we screwed up.
So I was just cruising the NHL Auctions site for Islanders gear - some interesting stuff up there. At first I was scared when I saw Guerin and Comrie’s locker room nameplates for sale - does the auctions staff know something we don’t?? But there are a lot of locker room nameplates up there, including DP and I’m pretty sure he’s not going anywhere.
Need skates? I wish they told you what size they were - Comrie’s look barely used and $80 for Bauer XXX’s is dirt cheap.
You could get the “new RBK-style” Bossy jersey signed for $65, but I’d rather have the “classic” style for just $46.
Act fast…Ryan Smyth jerseys are almost all sold out. $99…yeah right. Maybe if you paid ME $99.
It appears all of the game-worn jerseys from the “Core of the Four” ceremony are available online. Here’s DP’s. Hey, wait a second…DP didn’t even play that night. Oops…false advertising!
Finally, the one thing that really caught my eye was the lineup card from Kyle Okposo’s debut, signed by both coaches. No bidders, bidding starts at $25.
Check all the Islanders auctions here.
According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Sidney Crosby returns to action for the Penguins tonight.
A few shifts. Maybe not even that.
In Sidney Crosby’s mind, he and right winger Marian Hossa won’t have any trouble clicking as linemates now that they will finally get a chance to try.
“I don’t see it being too much time at all,” Crosby said yesterday after announcing that he will return to the lineup tonight when the Penguins play the New York Islanders at Mellon Arena.
He has missed the past seven games and 28 of the past 31 because of a high ankle sprain.
As the Islanders try to play spoiler vs the first place Penguins, without Mike Comrie who will miss at least one game.
From what I gathered, Mike Comrie does have an injury to the hip and will indeed miss the game tomorrow - what happens after that depends on how fast whatever the injury is heals.
With the Islanders’ continued inability to score, we got curious about how former OrangeAndBlue sniper Jason Blake is faring with his new team - the Toronto Maple Leafs. We certainly knew that Blakey wasn’t exactly lighting it up this year but it had been a while since we saw his stats. Here they are:
Jason Blake 2007-08
GP G A P +/-
67 12 28 40 1
At first glance, you might interpret this as “good thing the Islanders didn’t sign that guy.” And you can’t argue with that sentiment. Blake got $20 million from Toronto after coming off a career year in which he posted 40 goals and 29 assists in 82 games. He was durable and he consistently lit the lamp. This season playing in a new system with a new club that has been plagued by inconsistency, Blake has been a shadow of his former self. He still gets the shots off, leading the Leafs with 277 so far this season, but they cross the goal-line just 4.3% of the time. He’s actually averaging more shots this season (4.1 a game) than he did last year (3.7). The difference is last season with the Islanders, Blake scored on 13.1% of his shots, more than three-times better than his average this season.
The question is - would the Isles have been better off this season if Blake had stayed? Long-term, I think the answer is obvious, they had to let him go. Blake just got too expensive and, at 34, is past the prime age for big-time scorers. But would the Islanders been better off with Blake for this one season? Probably, but I don’t think anyone could have expected him to duplicate last season’s numbers. For the three years prior to last season, Blake averaged 25 goals and 28 assists per campaign.
On this season’s club, Blake was basically replaced at left wing by Ruslan Fedotenko. Fedotenko has scored 15 goals and 16 assists this season. The other two big offensive additions are Mike Comrie (20G 27A) and Bill Guerin (20G 17A). To afford Blake, the Islanders wouldn’t have been able to acquire all three of these guys. Substitute Blake for any one of the three, and give him his average numbers over the three years prior to his break-out season, and the numbers are pretty even.
What is harder to gauge is what intangibles Blake would have brought to the club. He hustles. He goes all out. He creates chances out of thin air. He causes penalties. He can hog the puck. He can get trigger happy. He’s not a very good two-way player.
So, after thinking about it, I guess my answer is it is really difficult to tell whether the Isles would have been better this season with Blake suiting up but I don’t think he would have made much of a difference either way. I know it’s all guess work but I just don’t see how Blake could have had a big impact on this moribund offense. The problems go deeper than missing one good sniper.
From NewYorkIslanders.com
“I’m extremely happy to have reached an agreement with the Islanders for the 2008-09 season,” said Comrie early Tuesday morning. “I love being an Islander and wanted to stay. The management and the coaches have shown great belief in us as players and I am honored to be a part of this organization. I would like to thank Garth Snow and my representative, Ritch Winter, for making this a deal that both sides are comfortable and happy with. I look forward to the rest of this season and I’m thrilled to be an Islander for at least another season.”
The 27-year old Comrie has played in all 63 games for the Islanders this season and has recorded a team-high 45 points. The native of Edmonton has scored 18 goals (second to Bill Guerin) with a team-leading 27 assists.
I’m at work all day, and will try to update with any significant Islanders news. However for the absolute latest trade deadline news, check out these Blog Box Bloggers who are at the Coliseum all day today. I’d already scheduled vacation days on Thursday and Friday so I can move, I couldn’t bag today as well. Have fun today bloggers!
Tiger Track
Isles Blogger
Okposo.net
The Bouncing Puck
The 7th Woman
[Update] Here we go…things are heating up. No Islander moves yet, but the Sabres’ Brian Campbell and Lightning’s Brad Richards are on the move. I don’t think Voice of The Islander Fans is at the Coliseum, but they are doing a good job with updates.
The Isles and GM Garth Snow have about 24 hours to decide whether to be buyers or sellers in the trade market. As reported by Greg Logan in today’s Newsday and aFeb. 22 piece, the OrangeAndBlue have some pretty good chips to offer, should they decide to let go of some talented veterans now in the hopes of turning them into prospects or high draft picks. Here are some of the names that may no longer be stitched on the back of an Isles jersey come tomorrow night:
Miroslav Satan - Proven scorer (335 career goals, 679 points) who would be an offensive boost to almost any club in contention. He has played 56 postseason games, scoring 15 goals, 23 assists, and a minus-1.
Mike Comrie - At times very good, other times he sort of disappears. Helped Ottawa reach the finals in 2006-07. Has played 32 playoff games in his brief career, registering 4 goals, six assists, and a minus-2.
Ruslan Fedotenko - The 29-year-old was one of the leader’s in Tampa’s march to the Stanley Cup Championship in 2003-04, tallying 12 goals in 22 games. For his postseason career, Fedotenko has 13 goals, four assists in 53 games with a whopping minus-15.
Josek Vasicek - Has been a solid contributor for the Isles for most of the season. Has just five goals and two assists and a plus-3 in 37 playoff games.
Chris Simon - You think anyone is going to touch this guy? For the record, he’s played in 73 playoff games, scored 10 goals, assisted on seven, has a minus-12 and totaled 191 penalty minutes.
All that said, the Isles could easily decide to be buyers and bring in some scoring prowess and blueline skill. With 67 points and 19 games to go, the Isles are tied for ninth with the Flyers and are just one point behind Buffalo for the final playoff spot. Both the Sabres and the Flyers have a game in hand on the Isles.
Our friends at FauxRumours understand Snow’s predicament and have the Isles as a bubble team going into the deadline, which basically means they could go either way.
Whatever Snow decides over the next 24 hours or so will have a huge impact on this franchise. Is there enough there to win now with a little outside blood or do the Isles need to replenish the core with a talented young group from the farm? Decisions, decisions.
OK here’s what I saw of last night’s game…the last 30 seconds of regulation and OT. During that time I saw the Caps hits three posts including two by Ovechkin, and then Comrie scored the shootout winner. It didn’t look very pretty, but fortunately pretty isn’t a column in the standings.
Chris Simon returns tonight as the Isles host Tampa Bay.
Wild afternoon at the Coliseum as a full house watched the Isles storm back from a 2-0 deficit with three third period goals for the 3-2 victory. Late in the second period, a Radek Martinek shot hit Sharks’ goalie Evgeni Nabokov square in the mask, breaking one of the protective bars and gashing the bridge of Nabokov’s nose. Nabby left for the remainder of the second period, but returned for the third and did not look sharp (or very pretty with that gash and stitches).
Just two minutes into the third period, Sharks’ Captain Joe Thorton made it 2-0 on a backhander over DiPietro’s shoulder. Andy Hilbert got the goal right back for the Islanders by crashing the net as Bill Guerin seemed to harmlessly flip the puck on net. Hilbert got a stick on the rebound and it bounced past Nabby to make it 2-1. 59 seconds later, Mike Comrie undressed Sharks defender Kyle McLaren with the “Comrie-Dangle” and then beat Nabby 5 hole to tie the game at 2-2. Nabby saved his worst for last though, as Freddy Meyer beat him with a simple wrister from the left circle with about 8 minutes left for the game winner.
However all is not well in Islander Country with more possible injuries, this time to Blake Comeau who got boarded from behind in the third and left the game looking woozy. Later Andy Sutton left the game with some kind of leg/hamstring injury.
Woah! Two in a row! 4 powerplay goals? Who are these guys? Special teams were the difference last night as the Isles PP was 4 for 7 last night while the PK killed 4 of 5 penalties.
“We saw the improbable last year when we were left for dead,” goalie Rick DiPietro said after the Islanders slipped past the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Thursday night. “There’s still a lot of hockey left.”
“There’s still belief in this room,” Comrie said. “Ted (Nolan) and the coaching staff have us focused on the game at hand. We’re not looking too far ahead.”
Ex-Isle Jason Blake had an assist on Toronto’s last minute goal. After 59 games, Blake’s stats are 11G 25A 36PTS, just a little off his 40G 69PTS performance last year which led to his big Toronto contract. Gotta get back to work now…
Hey all, NO time whatsoever today to do a proper write up of the latest Isles’ loss but I wanted to share with you the video of Mike Comrie dropping the gloves last night with Maxime Talbot plus the game highlights. I was out apartment hunting and missed the game, Isles apparently got screwed by a quick whistle and the game tying goal was waived off with just 0.4 seconds to play. Awful. What else can go wrong for this team?
