Former Islanders enforcer Chris Simon has signed with Russian Continental Hockey League team, Vityaz Chekhov, according to team general manager Alexei Zhamnov.
Zhamnov, a former NHL center and teammate of Simon’s (Chicago Blackhawks 2003-2003), confirmed in an e-mail to Newsday that Simon signed with Vityaz Chekhov Sunday.
Simon, 36, spent the latter portion of the 2007-2008 season with the Minnesota Wild, where he was acquired at the trade deadline from the New York Islanders for a 6th-round draft pick.
Simon was traded after serving a 30-game suspension, the longest in NHL history, for stomping Pittsburgh Penguins’ forward Jarkko Ruutu in December while with the Islanders.
Before the Ruutu incident, Simon had been back for only 26 games since serving another lengthy suspension, 25 games, for slashing New York Rangers’ forward Ryan Hollweg in the face last March.
Signing with Vityaz Chekhov could likely signal the end of Simon’s tumultuous NHL career. In 15 seasons, Simon was suspended eight times, and earned a reputation largely for his antics rather than his productivity on the ice. In ten games with the Wild, Simon had no points and 16 penalty minutes.
-Katie Strang
Comments (58)
Who cares?
From a previous thread....
d-money's lines
"Tambellini-Comrie-Okposo
Guerin-FA-Comeau/Bergenheim
If Sillinger returns, I think the 3rd line is probabaly set as:
Sim-Sillinger-Hunter
4th line is wide open IMO, but will likely include Park/Hilbert with the center position TBD."
Here's my variation (dream) on the 1st two lines and comments
Bergenheim/Comeau/Okposo
Tambellini/Comrie/Guerin
Sim/Sillinger (doubt it)/Hunter
TBA/Park/Hilbert
Tambellini can be replaced or moved to the 4th line, Sillinger is doubtful and TBA can just as easily be a 2nd or 1st line guy.
Of course........I am CERTAIN that Comeau is at the Trottier/Sillinger Summer Centerman camp as we speak.
All I know is that I would love to see those 3 guys (Bergie/Comeau/KO) playing on the same line for about 30 games.
Just my opinion from 2 time zones away.
505 Based on most line projections I don't really see a spot for Hilbert on this team. There are too many 3 rd and 4 th line players as it is. The Isles were terrible in the goal scoring department last year and now they have to replace
Satan 16 goals 25 assists
Joe V 16 goals 19 assists
Tank 16 goals 17 assists
I thank that Okopso will be able to replace Satan's numbers. A very good year for him would be between 20-25 goals as a rookie. From what I have seen he should be able to do it.
I aslo feel that Tambellini will equal out Joe V. If Tambs gets a legit shot on the PP he should be able to score 15-20 goals.
So that leaves Tank. I guess if JohnSim has a good year he will equal that production or at least be close.
SO taking a really hard look here all I see is that the team will score the same number of goals as last year if all three of the above live up to expectations.
If this is the case then we are banking on Bergy and Comeau to increse their production dramaticallly. Even if they both double last years total its only another 18 goals. Subtract Hilbert's 8 and you get a net increase of 10 goals if everyone plays up to expectations.
Will Guerrin top last year? Will Sillinger score 20? I doubt it.
Hunter has proved he is a solid 15 goal man.
SO I ask, where is the scoring going to come from?
Can the team really go into the season like this?
Personally I do not think so. The Isles need to add 40 goals to be successful.
Vrbata would be an excellent pick up and would add 25 to 30 of those goals. Snow should go hard after him.
I also think a trade will come down the road involving a young forward and a d man for a 20 goal scorer.
Does anyone want any of these guys here?
Jackman
johnson
brennan
bates
berrerd
davision
I didn't think so.
And we still don't have an enforcer !!!........Sir William
Sir William
Out of my current roster of forwards, there are what I consider 3 open positions that can be filled with UFA's trades and still leave room for Hilbert.
Tambellini can be replaced (and I think he will be traded)
Sillinger is doubtful (in my mind) as a returner due to injury.
A TBA.
I am all for replacing any and all of those spots with two 30-40 goal scorers and a hit man. (Please?)
(And BTW, from a previous post by me....Comeau WILL BE a 30 goal scorer this year....remember?)
505 I'll take that bet. Remember to save this post. Comeau will maybe hit 20 but I would be surprised if he did any better then that.
30-40 goal scorers are not that easy to find. Got any suggestions?
Forget Hossa he is not coming here.
If you can beleive Snow, Tambs is not going anywhere (didn't he say that about Yashin and a week later got rid of him?)
Sillinger would have to retire or be bought out. I do not see that.
I'll take you up on another bet. I say Hilbert will not make the team and I also think that it may be the cause of Ted getting fired.
Just a hunch..............Sir W
Ideally, I'd like to see Kristian Huselius, Michael Ryder, Ryan Malone & Markus Naslund sign as free agents as those 4 would give instant firepower & goal scoring & would be a significant upgrade from Fedotenko, Vasicek & Satan.
Realistically, we're signing Pavol Demitra, Daymond Langkow, Martin Lapointe & Trevor Letowski.
If I were the Isles GM, (and to be fair, I have never played substandard goaltending for 12 seasons so I don't have the experience Garth has), I'd consider trading the pick in what appears to be a defense-heavy draft. Our D is somewhat solid & there's no need to have a draft pick develop for 3 seasons in the minors; not when our glaring weakness is goal scoring.
By the way, at the open forum at the Coliseum last week, I asked Garth who he's drafting. He said, "I'll give you a hint...it won't be a goalie!" I then asked him, "What about in the later rounds incase Dubie leaves? He's unrestricted you know." Garth seemed genuinely at a loss for words for a few seconds. He gave somewhat of a general answer like "Well, Dubie's a good player but July 1 is a long ways off, etc.". Now if Garth can be caught off guard by a fan, imagine what the other 29 GMs are gonna do to this guy!
Well ... seems like a variety of forward and defense combinations ... and I see we didn't add any UFAs and RFAs to any of the lines in deep speculation ... that's good ... I like leaving the lines as TBA because basically that is what it really is.... as far as the draft is concerned ... I still think rounds 2-5 are the keys to get a steal in the draft ... good player analysis by the Islander scouts will be the key ...
On that note ... looking at the Islander website .. where they have the top 10 draft steals in Islander history ..... notice how Mike Milbury only gets credit for one steal ... and that is Radek Martinek .... I like Radek ... he's a good reliable D-man when he's healthy .... nothing spectacular ... just reliable ... but is he really that good to be called a steal? Then I look at when he was drafted .... 8th round 228th overall .... and figure .... was it a steal .... or did Milbury just get lucky?
That my friends is why we've been where we are with the Islanders the last 15 years ... Milbury drafted some real 1st round gems ... but he didn't keep em ... and he just fumbled some picks real bad .... think of it ... how many top 10 picks never developed that he drafted ... vs. how many late round picks turned out to be steals? That is the true measure of drafting. Heck ... I could pick a top 10 pick and score big on it ... so I can't pat MM on the back for drafting Okposo ... infact ... Okposo still has to prove he's worth his pick ... like his colleagues drafted around him. That said .... I'm still waiting for DP to prove he's worth #1 overall for the last 8 years.
After considering how deep the Isles are on D compared to up front ... I am now leaning towards a Filatov (if available) or Hodgson, Wilson or Boedker. The Isles have further to go up front with talent then they do on the blue line ... they may be able to score a big time FA D-man faster than it will for one of the D studs to develop to top notch NHL talent ... and it seems they may have to defense corps support to surround a defensive stud d-man .. just a thought.
Correction ... just remembered ... Milbury didn't draft Okposo .. so DP is the only top pick left in the stable from Milbury's top 10 1st round picks.
19Isles, it's always a balancing act, but I'm still going for the best player available argument. If Filatov is off the board when the Islanders get up, and they think Pieterangelo or Bogosian will be a better player, they have to do that and see where things go.
(Not that I'd mind seeing my boy Colin Wilson in the blue and orange, but you know what I mean....I don't want to completely rehash my post from last thread, but Garth can't force it by drafting Wilson if he thinks an available D-man is a better player)
Agreed Nick ... the Isles need to draft the player best able to step in ... my thought was there would be room made up front faster then the blue line .... I will not be disappointed if he picks a stud blue chip blueliner if he's the best available.
19 I saw that "steal" list and I chuckled. Bryan Trottier was a steal? as a 2 nd rounder?
The big difference in the draft from then and now is that today
there are 30 teams picking. So a second round pick may be the 60 th best player in the draft.
Years ago, the 60 th player went in the late fourth round.
Does anyone think that Satan my come back at a reduced price?
I don't see anyone offering him a big contract and it's not like Snow doesn't have plenty of cap room. The more I think about it, if Snow can't get any UFA's here he may just go with Miro as a stopgap.
Just curious what anyone else thinks.........Sir W
SW- I always liked Miro...even when he played for the Sabres. Even though I was dissapointed in his decline in scoring, it seemed that he improved in his defensive responsibility. I don't know his +/-, but it seems like he would back-check very efficiently last year. That said it wouldn't be the end of the world for me if they brought him back, bit IMO it defeats our plan for going with youth. He is still capable of putting up 25 goals, but he was the slowest skater we had last year (toss up between Miro and Hunter). Personally I don't think its worth it.
Sir W ... I see your point in pointing out that 2nd rounders back in 74 would still be first rounders in this year's draft .... however I think the context of what they meant was where he was drafted compared to other players over. They also had more rounds back then because of less teams.....
Have a look at the draft class in 74 ... and their numbers and I think you'll get an idea of how it was a steal to nab a Hall of Famer when other teams before the Isles could of drafted him.
Round 1 NHL Totals
Num. Drafted By Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM
1 Washington Greg Joly D 365 21 76 97 250
2 Kansas City Wilf Paiement R 946 356 458 814 1757
3 California Rick Hampton D 337 59 113 172 147
4 NY Islanders Clark Gillies F 958 319 378 697 1023
5 Canadiens Cam Connor R 89 9 22 31 256
6 Minnesota Doug Hicks D 561 37 131 168 442
7 Canadiens Doug Risebrough F 740 185 286 471 1542
8 Pittsburgh Pierre Larouche F 812 395 427 822 237
9 Detroit Bill Lochead F 330 69 62 131 180 10 Canadiens Rick Chartraw D 420 28 65 93 399
11 Buffalo Lee Fogolin D 924 44 195 239 1318
12 Canadiens Mario Tremblay F 852 258 326 584 1043 13 Toronto Jack Valiquette C 350 84 134 218 79 14 NY Rangers Dave Maloney D 657 71 246 317 1154
15 Canadiens Gord McTavish F 11 1 3 4 2
16 Chicago Grant Mulvey F 586 149 135 284 816
17 California Ron Chipperfield C 83 22 24 46 34
18 Boston Don Larway R Didn't Make NHL
Round 2
Num. Drafted By Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM
19 Washington Mike Marson F 365 24 24 48 233
20 Kansas City Glen Burdon D 11 0 2 2 0
21 California Bruce Affleck D 280 14 66 80 86
22 NY Islanders Bryan Trottier F 1279 524 901 1425 912
I never realized that the Canadians had FIVE first round draft picks that year ... Geeeezeee
Apologize for the way the stats are listed ... best I could get them in this format.
*****************************
I think there is an outside chance the Isles might bring back Miro at a discount .... I was actually wondering if Miro would be left on the available FA list till training camp starts .... he was kinda banged up this past season and his drop in production may cause teams to take pause .... I guess if his reputation as a sniper in the past shines though he may get signed quickly as a hopeful retread.
***********************
I'd love to see how Campoli would perform paired with one of the stud offensive d-men the Isles are probably going to draft. That's the spark I think Camps needs... he's one of the solid D-men I'm looking to see step up this season.
themass
Satan was -11 with 16 goals, 5 on the PP
Cya
19 ISLES I agree about Campoli. I think he will play better this year if he followed a strength routine durrng his recovery. I think he has a better upside than. Gervais plus he has the advantage of being signed for 3 more year (Wasn't last year the final year of his entry deal?).
He is one player who would greatly benefit from gaining strength so that he would not be pushed off the puck so easily.
I could see him as a second PP point man this year.
505 5 goals on the absolute worst PP I have ever witnessed. I am neither pro nor con about keeping him. I am just wondering who will replace his scoring. I think that Snow may have learned a lesson when he cut Yashin and his point a game production. Before you cut a guy loose, you better be sure you have someone that can replace him.
The more I read about Vrbata the more I am convinced the Isles should throw money at him. He seems to be one of those players that is just hitting his stride . Beside this is a really weak UFA pool and he seems to be the most promising.
I also like Liles but I think he will command more than the Isles will pay.
I watched a lot of Campbell and I think that he is vastly overrated.
He happens to be the best of a weak lot od D men but he is no gamebreaker. Pass on him..........Sir W
Sir William.
"505 5 goals on the absolute worst PP I have ever witnessed."
Let's not forget how many shorthanded goals Satan was on the ice for. I bet it was 5 or more.
"I am neither pro nor con about keeping him. I am just wondering who will replace his scoring."
CYA....me and you could collectively replace his scoring
And I can't skate
hey Hilbert hears a who...
About your question to Garth at the Fan Forum... I seriously doubt you caught him off guard... get a grip of yourself. Do you really expect him to answer a question about an impending UFA just outright like that in an open forum... without first giving it a little thought about how to answer it so as to not tip off his strategy or intention with Dubie.
Happy to hear you think yourself to be so smart that you stumped Garth... but I think it's more the other way around. Garth gave a moment to think of a rationalized answer regarding a potentially sensitive subject.
DOC
Well said Doc.
505 CYA???? I'm not really a Satan supporter or detractor.I just do not want the team to finsih at the bottom of goals scored again.
If they have someone who they feel can do better then replace him. I do feel that Snow made a huge mistake in getting rid of Yashin without having someone in hand to emulate his point production. I do not think that Garth will make the same mistake , twice. At least I hope not.
As for Satan having been on the ice for 5 shorthanded goals, I really do not know. But I do know that Nolan used him out of position on the PP. I think that anyone who watched the games could see that Satan was not equipped to handle the point nor was he comfortable at it.
Satan's scoring abilty has always been within the hash marks and between the circles. That where he scored 90% of his goals all his career.
To blame him for shorthanded goals because the coach had him play a position he could not handle is a bit much.....Sir W
19 ISLES, Back in those days, the Canadians made it a habit of trading off their fading players to the Western Conf. for the teams draft picks. The West was a much weaker sister and the 12 th forward or 6th Dman on the Canadiens was probably better than a Western Conf teams top 6 forward or top 4 D man.
Also remember that the up until the sixties, the Canadiens owned the "territorial rights" to any player born in Quebec. Because there were no Europeans in the NHL back then the Canadien' s were always loaded with talent and could afford to move players on the decline for picks.
Take a good look at that draft list. Not a single European, Russian or American.
As I recall Montreal tried to move mountains to get Bill Torrey to give up the rights to Denis Potvin who would have been a god in Montreal...............Sir W
19 ISLES From "Pro Ice Hockey"
The Leafs and Canadiens held a further advantage as well. Each NHL franchise had exclusive rights to players within its 50-mile territorial limits. So the Leafs and Canadiens could browse the neighbourhood rinks near Toronto and Montreal at their leisure, while the Rangers had a lock on the next great goalie from Hoboken.
Most of these advantages disappeared in 1963 with the introduction of the amateur draft. But the Leafs and Canadiens continued to benefit from players developed under the old system well into the 1970s.
FYI..............Sir W
Sir William, you will recall that Montreal also had an incredible GM who understood what it took to get what he wanted. Sam Pollock's mastery of the system was unparallelled. Take, for instance, Guy LaFleur:
"The young Lafleur was one of those rare talents who was a man even while he was a boy. His speed, his quickness, his shot and matinée-idol good looks had a deeply rooted French flavour to them. Night after night, game after game, he would electrify audiences everywhere. He was junior hockey's royalty, its sweet prince. Every NHL team wanted him, but it appeared that the mediocre Los Angeles Kings, who were to finish dead last in the 12-team NHL with a 14-52-10 record in 1970, were virtual certainties to get Lafleur in the 1971 amateur draft.
Canadiens GM Sam Pollock had other ideas.
One year before Lafleur was eligible for the draft, Pollock somehow managed to convince Oakland Seals management - whose team had finished fourth in the West Division, 20 points ahead of the Kings - to agree to a trade.
Pollock sent fringe forward Ernie Hicke and the Canadiens' first-round choice in 1970 (Chris Oddliefson) to the Seals in exchange for defenceman François Lacombe, cash and the Seals' first-round pick in 1971.
Pollock didn't stop there. On Jan. 26, 1971, he sent his talented centreman Ralph Backstrom to the struggling Kings for Gord Labossière and Ray Fortin with only one idea in mind: to strengthen the Kings sufficiently so that they would at least finish ahead of the Seals in Lafleur's draft year.
That was Pollock: always looking ahead. Los Angeles, with Backstrom, was an improved team. California finished last with a meagre 45 points in what had become a 14-team league. The Canadiens had Lafleur."
Source: Montreal Gazzette.
And, of course, LA got Marcel Dionne that year, so they didn't exactly suffer.
A modern GM would never get away with this, since the GMs in the league would seem much smarter today. Bill Torrey withstood incredible pressure from Pollock to keep the rights to Denis Potvin and it obviously was the right choice.
This season, we have to stick to the program (assuming we finally have one) and pick the best player available in the draft, don't waste assets chasing UFAs that arnen't going to help in the long term and build a team that can challenge before DiP's carreer gets too far along.
Haven't posted much recently as I haven't had anything to say but I wanted to comment that I've enjoyed the recent banter and history lessons. This place can certainly be a great place for some hockey learning sometimes, thanks windbags! (you know who you are) :)
Sir William,
Re: Satan.....
"If they have someone who they feel can do better then replace him."
Take a look at the stats I posted to themass for Satan.....
16 goals----5 on the PP.....and MINUS 11.
Power Play goals do not count when determining Plus/Minus ratings.
So Satan only had 11 goals in non PP situations.
Yet was still a MINUS ELEVEN.
That means 22 goals were scored against while he was on the ice in 5 on 5 situations.
And we have pretty much established that more/or as many short handed goals were scored while he was on our PP.
So what "production" needs to be "replaced" here?
It's all negative!!!!
Like I said, you and I could lace 'em up and put up "negative" production.
Satan needs to go
Sir Yaps A Lot -
u say u are not buying tickets or supporting this team financially, yet you spew your boring diatribe non-stop here daily. give it a rest.
where in Gods name are the regulars ?
Sir William ... Great little snippet you posted there ... My point on the Canadiens' 5 draft picks in the first round of the 74 draft was more to point out the density of picks they had in the first round considering the fact that there was only 16 teams in the league I think at that time. That is almost 1/3 of the first round's picks. That is like having 10 of the 30 picks in the first round these days.
I'm well aware of Prince Pollock's mastery of the Canadiens' front office .... brilliant infact. I think that your mention of the Leafs' and Canadiens' advantage of territorial rights shows also that in today's NHL ... their cup mastery would be considered tainted... in today's American sports market territorial rights would be rejected and the NHL would probably lose their anti-trust exemption. I honestly don't know how it was able to exist for so long during the golden age of the NHL ... the US already had anti-trust laws ... and even though the markets of influence were in Canada ... the league made money in the US with 4 and even 6 US teams at a given time in the late 20s / early 30s (NY Americans and Pittsburgh Pirates).
Nova Scotia showed us by revisiting some of the history of how Pollock handled the NHL expansion with the lack of Montreal territorial rights to players within their former domain. The Torrey / Pollock exchange for Denis Potvin's rights is legendary ... and so was Pollock's reputation for unloading borderline talent for the perceived quick fix for expansion team ineptitude .... infact ... I think Pollock was on the verge of scoring Marcel Dionne too .... now getting Lefluer and Dionne ... geeeze ... maybe that 70's Canadien dynasty would of been 5 or 6 years.
Great historical references guys. Maybe Snow will become a wheeling and dealing GM ... he's taken his bumps ... I'm sure each of them will be considered a growing pain ... before great success ... you will likely experience great failure.
On Satan ~
I'm in the C'ya also frame of mind.
Satan was never a point per game player .... he was a pure sniper and played well with playmaking centers ... currently the Isles are devoid of such a player ... and we've seen Satan's numbers reflect that.
Satan has also lost a step or two ... and we can't rely on the fact that he'll be able to regain a step back ... he'll be 34 the first month of the season ... and as I've pointed out recently .. players in their 30s see a steady decline in their skills. Satan relys on his positioning ... as Sir William pointed out ... Satan is most effective along the hash marks and between the circles where he's scored a huge portion of his goals. Using him at the point really played to his weakness ... speed and ability to back check on turn overs .... thus lots of short handed goals ... and chances against.
Satan was used there because Nolan was forced to find a pivot at the point with a good accurate shot ... but I think it was a bit late in Satan's career to repurpose him for such a role.
Someone said Satan was back checking a lot recently which pointed to him becoming a better defensive player ... I have two theories for that ... One ... Satan was force to back check more because of the amount of turnovers by himself and teammates in the offensive zone while on the PP .. and thusly the image of him back checking was quite more frequent then usual.
Also #2. Satan and friends were putting on much less offensive pressure than we are normally accustomed to seeing when Satan has been on the ice during his career ... so he's been spending more time chasing rushing opponents on the rush.
Keep in mind ... a good back checker also has good speed. Satan has been losing a step ... and other younger players as they improve have been gaining a step ... that is a double negative.
Satan ... I like him as a player ... and his work ethic ... but it is buh bye time ... because even at a discount ... he'll cost a young player a spot. If he's available at training camp ... have him come in like Berard last year and earn a contract. I wouldn't be against that if he signed at a discount.
We can't just re-sign players out of loyalty ... we know that loyalty works both ways ... and even Bill Torrey admitted in his last years as Isles GM ... that his biggest fault was being loyal to players that brought him the cup ... it broke his heart to trade Gillies and Tonelli ... just as it had been hard on him when Billy Harris was traded with Lewis to get Goring before the cup run .... he admitted that he held onto Trottier to long and had been hounded for a Trottier trade since after the Easter Epic in 87 for some lucrative picks and young talent .. but he ran on him till Trotts' well ran dry.
It turned out pretty good for Trotts anyway .... he won two more cups with the Pens.
Question?
Why is Simon playing in Russia headline news to Islander fans? I thought that ship had sailed at the trade deadline?
What I'd like to know is ....
A season summary of Islander prospects .... OHL, QMJHL, WHL, USHL, Euroleagues, NCAA etc.
Updates on the Light House Project... maybe a little sit down interview with Kate Murray and good ole Tommy Suozzi?
How about a little fluff piece on the what ifs of Nassau County Sports?
...... Like ... What if the Town of Hempstead decided not to break away from Queens County in 1898 when the City of New York was incorporated thus annexing the 4 counties outside of Manhattan to create a 5 boro municipality? As part of NYC would the Wang and the Islanders have had NVMC site approved for redevelopment and improvement by now? Look how fast the Mets and Yanks got their new stadium deals done and shovel in the ground. Wang .. and the owners prior have been pushing for something for a decade now. Now that would be a great fluff / investigative piece.
I'm not knocking Wang for his efforts ... I'm pointing out the relative speed of the progress of the 3 projects (Yankee Stadium, Citi Field and Light House).... and wonder if it has more to do with Nassau and the ToH..... I'm not going to even bring up how fast the Devs were able to get their building going ... different state ... different city ... different parameters.
FROM PREVIOUS THREAD:
Aaaah... some decent conversation.
505, I don't want to see Hillen as a healthy scratch. If they get a guy like Commodore then he fits in nicely as a third pair puck mover with Sutton. If not then I'd rather see him in Bridgeport. He may need to get used to the games size and speed, but he's the best blueline passer they have...
I defintely vote Park over Hilbert.
And I would also vote for Nielsen over Sillinger. My argument would be Nielsen offers a speedy and efficient second/fourth line center that can fill in with Okposo and Comeau or allow a four line role shoudl he be stuck on the fourth line. Park should be more than adequate as Sillingers third line replacement.
The addition by subtraction means that Silly and Hilly are not on the roster next year... and not because they aren't NHL level players... i'm pretty sure that Sillinger has proven his worth over his 100 years in teh NHL... but this team needs to be looking three years down the line, and Silly will be in a LAZ-E-BOY at that point.
Give Nolan two more years and two top notch FA's (First line forward and a 220 lb D) and this will be a good (positive progression) year.
I just got back from the Scoping Session...very interesting stuff. Details to follow...
Oh, 19 Isles, quick answer to your question: our regulatory system on Long Island is not prepared to handle a project of this magnitude. Too many people are trying to be too careful given the unprecedented scale, and some are simply opposing the project because it's never been done before. The City deals with this sort of thing all the time, and Newark was so desperate it gave the Devils whatever they wanted. There's your short answer, I need to finish a Point of View for work and then I'll fill you guys in on more of what happened.
JP
When I call Hillen a healthy scratch....I am anticipating that won't be for very long...given the way injuries pile up for D-men.
I am including him on the roster with the idea that he is still gonna play 60-70 games with the team.
If the Isles land Commodore?
That's a whole nuther story.
!9 ISLES I think that back in the 50's and 60's the NHL was considered a Canadian operation. There were no Americans employeed the NHL back then. I think that the League was HQed in Canada so perhaps American corporate laws id not apply?
More likely, nobody here cared what a bunch of crazy Canadians did anyway.
OK so Satan is voterd off the Island. As I said i am ambivalent about him. 16 goals - 11 gets him chucked.
What about Comrie who scored 21 and was -21 which are worse numbers? He got another year. Did he deserve it?
Comrie is another guy who I don't care one way or the other about. If he stays for a year, OK. If he gets moved on I'm OK with that too. What do you other guys think?........Sir W
He's under contract so unless someone offers Kristi Yamaguchi's Dancing with the Stars Gold Medal and a husband named Hedican in exchange for his toe drag move, we've got him.
As such I will simply say that he is an acceptable 2nd or 3rd line center.
I hope he has an outstanding year in 2008/09 and adds 15 goals and 40 points to his 07/08 totals. (and continued luck with Hillary Duff).
Sir W .... I kinda feel the same way about Comrie as you do ... I think his increased production had more to do with the chances he was given and minutes played ... his -21 leaves a lot to be desired .... When I mentioned Satan I was focusing on his ability to match his already low par numbers ... and would consider him a camp invitee without contract .... Satan hasn't put up positive in plus minus since 2002 .... so I don't see him making a come back at age 34 ... giving away a roster spot to an aging vet is foolish if one of the kids is able to show him up in camp ..... let him come to camp if he doesn't sign with anyone else.
Don't forget .... Sim made some noise in camp last season .. and only got in 2 games before getting injured ... I suspect he'll replace some of Satan's numbers .. perhaps 30-40 points and 15-20 goals next season isn't out of the question?? He's under contract so we're forced to find out .. so far Sim is the poster boy for a late bloomer so there's hope ... he'll probably only have 2 more good seasons to prove it.
Using the existing roster I came up with these combos.
Possible lines
Sim - Comeau / Comrie - Okposo
Tamby - Comrie / Comeau - Guerin
Bergy - Nielsen - Hunter
TBA - Park - TBA
Let there be a war in camp for the last two spots ... if Satan makes it ... so be it.
Defensive pairs?
Witt - Campoli
Sutton - Gervais
Martinek - Meyer
Depth:
Hillen (could move up)
Fata
Of course the pending draft and free agency will have an effect ... but figured I'd post a basic framework.
19 ISLES So you dont think Sillinger will be back? You did not include him in your lines.
My questions about Comrie were geared more toward perhaps moving him on draft day in some kind of deal.
Comrie appears to me to be the kind of player who would be better off on an established team rather than a rebuilding one.
He is signed and he is one of the onlt trading chips we have. I just get the feeling from him that he signed here because of his buddy
Bill Guerrin.
He may also benefit from a winger who cam actually put the puck in the net, either Okposo or Tambs.
No strong feeling about him either way...........Sir W
Sir W .... I think Silly has a better chance of becoming the Isles next coach than returning .... I'm not confident that he can return from a serious hip injury and play his brand of hockey ... he may become a depth center .... player / coach ... coaching during camp ... not bench coach ... then we'll see what happens.
He may become an NHL coach one of these days ... just throwing that out there.
Hey .. who knows about Comrie ... he may become a trading chip this offseason ... we'll see.
That will have a lot to do with the UFA market and how certain teams fare. A team targeting another center that misses out on a key UFA could be interested in Comrie, to be sure.
I'm largely ambivalent about him too, unless Hilary shows up to every game. If she watches him play every game his line will be something like 150-200-350 +125
Moving on, what players do you feel strongly about? Who do you feel should be locked up long term or kicked to the curb?
STAY
DP No brainer
OKPOSO him too
HUNTER signed for the next 5 years. enough said.
WITT should get a 2 year extension
SUTTON stepped up when Witt went down and should stay
MARTINEK a bargin at the price
CAMPOLI ready for his breakthrough year
TAMBS needs to play with Neilsen and be given a real 18 min per game chance. Also needs PP mins.
NEILSEN see Tambs
PARK Showed me something last year. Versitile and valuable.
DUBIE Big heart.Deserves to be an Islander
BERGY A make or break year for him
COMEAU Him too, Has to prove last year was a building block. I am not sold on him but he deserves a chance to prove me wrong.
COMRIE IF we must. Duff a plus
GUERRIN Somebody has to have some experience. Final year, tho. NO Extensions
GO
SILLINGER best years behind him Retire with grace
HILBERT cant afford to carry Park and Hilbert. Bye.
TANK plays like one. slow and lumbering. CYA
JOE V in betweener. But he had his chance. Adios.
SATAN voted off
DAVISION AHL
JOHNSON AHL
JACKMAN AHL
BRENNAN AHL
ON THE FENCE
GERVAIS Time to show what you can do or move on
MEYER spare d man at best. Insurance against injuries
SIM proved nothing so far. Show me.
WALTER I liked what I saw of him but he is getting a bit old not to have won a regular job in the NHL. Why?
COLLITON a mystery. Can he play or not?
FATA put up or shut up year for Drew
MACDONALD trade bait. Has NHL contract SO?????
HILLEN could be the sleeper of the year. I hope so.
OK that's my take. What's yours..........SIR W
Not bad Sir William....
Your Stays....
All good except I would move Tambs and Neilsen to the fence.
(They are both trade bait in my mind, to be used to lure a big name scorer-if that is conceivable).
Your Go's
I would move Sillinger to the fence. If he comes back 100% healthy then he is a Stay. I just don't see that being the case.
I would move HIlbert to a Stay. I LIKE Hilbert as a 4th liner because of his D and PK ability. I would keep him unless we come up with 4-5 incredible replacement forwards. But I don't see that happening either.
I might move Brennan to the fence, simply because we have no one who can drop the gloves. If we don't get one over the summer, he begins to fall off the fence to the stay side.
Your Fences...
Gervais a stay....but trade bait.
Meyer a definite stay...he ruined Ottawa's season. I LIKE what I saw of the guy.
Sim is a stay....he showed you nothing cuz well....he was on crutches the whole season.
Hillen is a stay. He's starts off as the D-man in the Pressbox.
The rest are all good.
SW- looks good but I have to agree with 505 on Hilbert and Myer... Those 2 are among my favorite isles from last year.... AND FOR CRYING OUT LOUD BRING BACK DUBIE...THE MASSES HAVE SPOKEN...well at least this one!
Good luck to Simon--he had more guts and heart than most of the Islanders.
The Islanders are officially the weakest team in hockey. Lovely.
If Meyer plays with the same snarl as last year, I am perfectly comfortable with him on the 3rd or even 2nd pairing if need be. My anxiety about him is that he wasn't too impressive in his first tour of duty with the Islanders and only stepped up his game when there was no one else left to overshadow him. Which Meyer will be coming into camp in the fall?
Campoli needs to stay healthy this year, he seems to take big steps and then torpedo his efforts. Gervais has seemed to cool down, I think putting him into tradebait is a good status for him.
As for the backup position, I can live with both Dubie or MacDonald. In terms of class, I hope that they find a way to keep Dubie as he has been the consumate professional along with playing very well. You can tell that he wants more playing time in his interviews but he never whines about it.
I've seen enough of Tank and Oleg Kvasicek.
Healy,
"If Meyer plays with the same snarl as last year..."
Schedule more games against Ottawa
I agree Comrie didn't have much to work with other than a declining Guerin. But give him some tools (Okposo, Tambellini or a FA), and we might think differently of him.
Looks like we're headed for a significant injection of youth next year. What we pick up in speed and enthusiasm from the younger players will outweigh the loss of some of the dead wood (i.e., Fedetenko, Satan, etc.) If we can only make some smart trades, we;ll be well on our way to an improved 2008-09 season.
On Hilbert, I agree with others in that he is competent on PK and defense. Not a lot of offense, but I would hesitate losing him for his speed.
Oleg Kvasicek....lmfao!!!!!
Sir William ... I'm kinda in 505's camp on the Stay Go Fence list .... you're pretty much spot on for most of em ... Sim as 505 put it spent the season on crutches ... I'd give him a fair shot on the stay list...
Love the Oleg Kvasicek line .... hysterical.
Just looking at the Isles, they clearly have the least impressive roster in the NHL, in terms of vets, young players and prospects. Just wanted to share that.
Sim is on the fence becasue he has to prove that he can stay healthy and contribute. I can't fault him for being injured but he does have to prove that he was worth the 3 year deal........Sir W
Hey everyone, been a while just got back from vacation..tried to catch up on all the posts...looks like we were still stuck on on the MARLEAU deal... I was just looking on TSN.CA which listed each team with there unoffical RFA and UFA....And if one team looked to have the best available UFA, it was Calagary...I say we we pick up, GODARD for our enforcer, we all know we miss him....Get rid of Dubie, even though i like him and pick up CURTIS JOSEPH as our backup, he may be gettin older, but I feel hes probably the best backup we could pick up who has experience and can handle 20-25 games...also HUSELIUS and LANGKOW would def add some offensive power on our team...AND JUST BECAUSE, i say we pick up ERIC NYSTROM.......Though i highly doubt HUSELIUS AND LANGKOW will both be available, one will def. be available...Some other notable players i would enjoy picking up were:
John Micheals Liles- Avalanche
Pavol Demitra- Wild
Micheal Ryder- Canadieans
Sean Avery/Martin Straka-Rangers
Mike Commodore/Martin Lapointe-Senators
Vaclav Prospal- Flyers
George Laraque/Jarko Ruutu/Ryan Malone/-Penguins
Brian Campbell- Sharks(most likely impossible)
Brendon Morrison/Marcus Naslund- Canucks
We need to have a smart DRAFT DAY, but we also need to aggressive in the FA market.....We have alot of holes to fill, and there are some good players on the market that we have a chance to grab...If we could steal all those players from Calagary as i mentioned from above id be one happy camper...Some may say Joseph would be a horrible pickup as a back up because of his age (41) but i feel we need an experienced backup who can handle the 20-25 game load.....Unless i missed other potential backups, i would like to have him on our bench...Though Kolzig would be a even better pick up, i dont think hes looking for a backup position just yet...
Hope everyone has a nice Memorial Day, and LETS GO ISLANDERS!!!!!
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?fid=11074
the above link is to the Unoffical FA's if anyone is interested in adding or subtracting from my above list.. shall i say, LET THE GM ROLE PLAY BEGIN!!!
The above post was not me
And anyway, tonysac and Busey.....If you DO have my e-mail address...feel free to drop me a line and say Hi, once in awhile.
Random pictures of the Ice Girls work as well.
I myself would enjoy some ice girl pics
They ARE on the Islanders website you know guys.
Also...why again did we get rid of Osgood? I know Detriot's play is definitely making him look better but what a solid goalie. Would have been nice to have him still to take 20 off DP's hands and teach him a thing or two.
Healy,
"They ARE on the Islanders website you know guys."
Yeah but I said 'RANDOM". I see those every day.
Why did we get rid of Osgood?
Milbury said it had something to do with the movie Papillon or Papineau or something.
BTW, Osgood mentioned in the post game press conf last night that he has not felt this good (seeing the puck, setting up properly etc) in a playoff series since he played with the Isles in.....oh I don't know ....was it 1950?
How quickly we forget....Osgood was traded because of the following reasons:
1. He was injured for a large part of that season.
2. Snow was hot
3. DP was banging on the door and had nothing left to prove in the AHL
4. The Blues offered a guy who, at the time, was a top forward prospect.
I'm not defending the move, just saying they thought it was best at that time to let Osgood go and ride Snow the rest of the way and into the playoffs. I wouldn't have done it, but at the time, Snow was having a better year and they had to do something about DP. Osgood made himself the odd man out due to an injury (aka, no fault of his own).
Imagine how different the fortunes of this team would've been if SNOW was the one they traded.
COME ON NOW!! WHAT'S THE HECK IS UP WITH THOSE METS?? THEY ARE STINKING UP THE PLACE AND STARTING TO PLAY LIKE THE ICELANDERS?? IS THERE SOMETHING IN THE WATER ON THE ISLAND?? SAME SENARIO AS THE ICELANDERS... EXPECT A GOOD SEASON.. LOTS OF HOPE.. SUDDENLY RIGHT DOWN THE CRAPPER AND FANS GET UGLY !!!
THESE METS KEEP THIS UP AND THEY WILL BE PUTTING ON UGLY COLORED ORANGE AND BLUE JERSEYS.. HEY.. THAT'S WHAT THE ICELANDERS WEAR!! MAYBE THAT IS THEIR PROBLEM.. THEY NEED TO CHANGE THEIR JERSEYS!!
HOPE YOU ARE ENJOYING YOUR SUMMER.. CAN'T WAIT FOR THE DRAFT!
Yonkers: Home of Phil McCracken