Toronto Shootout

Last night, the Isles lost 5-4 in the shootout. But that isn't the big story.

Radek Martinek got knocked silly with just over three minutes in regulation. He left the game and probably will be evaluated today.

The oft-injured Martinek is one of my favorites. He's a steady influence back on the blue line but he is out of the lineup (it seems) all the time with one malady or another. With the trade deadline approaching, there has been speculation that a contender would want to add a guy like Radek for the playoff run. Now is not the time to play favorites; I understand that.

But again, Radek Martinek is not the big story here.

Brendan Witt threw an elbow at the head of Toronto's Niklas Hagman and received a game-misconduct 2:21 in the third.

Witt, according to Newsday, said the hit was accidental and apologized to Hagman. He'll be at the league offices today and with Colin Campbell running the show, is likely will be suspended. He deserves it.

But that is not the big story either.

The big story, to me anyway, was that Mark Streit played 31:31 and added a goal and an assist for his night's work. No matter how many times we say it, Streit has been a revelation this season for the Islanders...and has arguably the brightest of spots in a season with so very few of them. I find myself still wondering how the heck Montreal thought this guy was not defensively aware enough to garner regular minutes on defense for the Canadiens last year.

This should not come as a surprise, but Mark Streit is also pretty much a lock for the 2008-09 NYIFORLIFE.COM Islander of the Year. More to come on that score after the season ends.

The Isles found themselves down 1-0 very quickly on a goal by Ian White at 1:27 of the first. The way the boys were skating, it looked like it could have been the beginning of a very long night for the faithful, but we ended the first frame 1-0.

Carbon copy to open the second as former Ranger Dominic Moore took a sly drop pass from Jason Blake to make it 2-0 for the visitors 57 seconds into the middle period.

It was a slow start but the Isles were getting their collective feet underneath them and with an increased determination on the forecheck, they were able to bring the pace to the Leafs.

Islander fan and current Islander Dean MacAmmond scored his first as an Islander at 14:32 of the second on a pass from behind the net from captain Bill Guerin.

Sean Bergenheim, who seemed to have about ten breakaways while on the PK, slipped one past Vesa Toskala at 3:30 into the third period to knot it at two. Oh, yeah. Bergie missed on a penalty shot earlier in the game...so, you know, a measure of payback.

Toronto came right back to reclaim the lead on the same power play (Witt's elbowing major) on a goal by Pavel Kubina; which was followed a minute or so later by Nik Antropov.

Streit made it 4-3 at 11:29 of the third period on a slapshot--after faking a first slapshot to draw the defender to the ice. It was really, really sweet.

Then the suddenly hot Jonathan Sim tied the game up at 4 at 16:53 of the third period on a pass from Streit.

In the shootout, Blake and Jeff Tambellini traded scores before rookie Tim Stapleton capped the night with a wrist shot past Joey MacDonald to give the visitors the win. The Maple Leafs won all three games vs. their New York Area foes this week. Check the Canadian papers to see if they think the Leafs can make a last-ditch playoff push!

Islanders are back hosting the Sabres Saturday night at 7PM at the Coliseum.

Jason Blake goes off

Don't know if you heard about this, but old friend Jason Blake has been a healthy scratch a couple of times over the past few weeks and has drawn the ire of Leafs coach Ron Wilson for not going to the net and finishing plays.

It all came to head earlier in the week when a frustrated Blake had a bit of a helmet-throwing tirade in the Leafs locker room and then vented to reporters that he might have made the wrong decision in signing with Toronto a couple of years back.

Now the Leafs have another malcontent on their roster and very few options in hopes of rectifying the situation with Blake. His contract--which will run until he is 38--makes him almost untradeable. According to the Toronto media, they could buy out Blake after the season and take the cap hit of 1.3 million over the next 6 years. (Buyouts are taxed toward the cap for twice the remaining years of the contract and Blake has three years left.)

Another idea floating around is that the Leafs could just demote Blake to the American League Marlies to get his contract off the books. The Rangers did this trick with a couple of players in the recent past; most notably, Darius Kasparaitis. They'd still be on the hook for what they signed him for but because he would be in the AHL, the contract and the salary would not count on the Maple Leafs' cap.

It's not been a great career for Jason Blake since he left for less-green pastures. He's had production issues (15-37-52 in 82 games last year and only 2-4-6 in 14 games so far this season) since scoring 40 on the Island two years ago. Plus, he was diagnosed with a form of cancer last season and that may have attributed to his lackluster play.

Signing a big contract in The Hockey Capital brings all sorts of pressures to players who make the move to Toronto. When you're brought in to score goals for a team that hasn't won a Stanley Cup in a generation and plays in a fish bowl, everything becomes magnified.

I hate to say it, but we called this one a mile away. No doubt that Blake thought he'd be playing with his buddy Mike Peca in TO but when the Leafs had no place for the oft-injured Center, Peca had to look elsewhere after the lockout. Blake, who for all of his hustle and determination that makes him a fan favorite, is one of those guys who reportedly tends to rub his teammates the wrong way. Let's never forget the reports that Roman Hamrlik was firing pucks at Blake's head in warm-ups when both were on the Islanders. Think about that. You really need to have strong negative feelings to fire pucks at a teammate in a warm-up.

Anyway, that is where we are with Blake. What does this mean? Well, for the Islanders, not much. They're committed to The Plan right now (as they should be) and are not going to be looking to bring on more payroll for a guy who is overpaid and not producing. Still, that doesn't mean that there won't be all kinds of (alleged) rumors floating around that are coming from Toronto that the Islanders may want to bring Blake back to help a struggling offense.

Don't buy it. Even at a league-worst 4-9-2 record, the Isles are, for better or worse, going with the kids. First-year Islanders coach Scott Gordon told Newsday today that he sees progress in the team. He even plans on playing rookie Josh Bailey with Kyle Okposo tonight in Ottawa in a pair that Islanders fans are hoping will be the combination that leads the team for the next ten years.

This season is going to be rough. Garth Snow, Scott Gordon, and the rest of the Islanders brain trust understand that there are bumps in the road on the way to success. We just have to hope that they know what they're doing and are strong enough in their convictions to stay on course. That course does not have room for a player like Jason Blake right now.

Around the League

Well, as we all get ready for the really big show of the summer--The NHL Awards Show--it almost seems like nothing is going on in the NHL. And that is true--except that Speculation Time is afoot and we all know how fun, important, and time-consuming speculation can be. But, you know, what else are we going to do?

The Entry Draft is coming up and so far, from what I have seen around the web, the Islanders are planning on taking everyone but Steven Stamkos with the #5 pick. A lot of people seem to want (are begging?) the Isles to draft the dynamic Russian Nikita Filatov on the 20th. He starred for the Russian entry in the WJC this past December and is the #1 ranked European player on the final CSS ranking. Will he be there at #5 a week from Friday? He may be. After Tampa picks Stamkos, many believe that there will be a run on puck-moving defensemen, assuming that no team, trades up to snag Filatov.

I'm still not sold that Filatov is going to be The Guy. I think the Entry Draft has got to be more about picking the best athlete and getting him into the system than anything else. You can't exactly go with need (scoring, in this case) if you aren't picking first overall and Stamkos is sitting there in his tuxedo waiting to go to the prom. This isn’t the NFL where you're all of a sudden committing all sorts of cap dollars to a player who is 22 or 23. The Entry Draft is all about choosing kids who are still, for the most part, still growing into the players and adults they'll become.

Plus, let's not forget the fact that there is no transfer deal between the NHL and the Russians that makes any contract in North America binding throughout the hockey world. Also, with the new Russian KHL starting up, the oil barons who own the teams in the "super league" are not going to think twice about trying to keep and/or lure Russian players home with all sorts of crazy money contracts. It's the Wild West for them.

In other news, Toronto has hired Ron Wilson to coach the Bad News Leafs today. Wilson was fired by San Jose last month. So, let's see. The Leafs--who are completely too screwed up to be called dysfunctional, have hired a so-called name coach who is a known task master and yet, they have not hired a new general manager yet. Hmm. Brian Burke has been refused a chance by the owners of the Ducks to talk to the Leafs brass but in the surprise of all surprises, is very good friends with said Ron Wilson. Burke has one more year on his deal as GM of Anaheim and Toronto has a guy as old as the hills named Cliff Fletcher working as a placeholder until the Leafs GM Search Committee can agree on giving someone the job. I mean, Fletcher couldn't be more of a Caretaker if he was making prison wine in his toilet.

Is it sad to root for another team to lose? I say, no. Been doing that with the Rangers for a long time now. I also get a strange satisfaction with seeing the Leafs constantly mess up because the media in Toronto really enjoyed sticking it to the Islanders during the lean years. Plus, it is going to be fun to watch the Burke Charade as it continues and Wilson is ripping his players in the press. Ron Wilson can talk all he wants about having a Canadian passport (as he did in the Star) and having played for the Leafs but Toronto is not Anaheim or DC or San Jose. It is a totally different animal and that animal is going to hang on his every word and his every lineup change.

I love all of this Brooks-Orpik-to-the-Rangers-talk. Um, does anyone remember when he was playing the wing in December because he wasn't being aware enough defensively? Does anyone really think that the continued employment of Mike Therien as Pittsburgh's head coach is going to drive Brooks Orpik away from the Penguins? The guy is a free agent and man, someone is seriously going to over-pay him. He's sort of like in the seat Adrian Aucoin was in with the Isles. Everybody (including myself) were falling over themselves to pat the guy on the back and after getting a 4 year/16m dollar deal with the Blackhawks, we all know that Kenny Jonsson was doing the real heavy lifting for the tandem back in the day. I'm not dissing Aucoin or saying anything bad about him at all. I am just pointing out that at no time in his career did he enjoy the kind of league-wide success that he had when he was an Islander...and that he partnered with Jonsson the overwhelming majority of the time.

Orpik is going to strike it big all because of that one shift where he flattened half of Detroit (the city, not the team) in spectacular fashion. Good for him. I just hope it isn't with our boys. We need puck movers. Let the Rangers overpay for another guy who gets skated around more often than he makes the play.

I guess that's it for today. We'll try to have something live for the NHL Awards show and some updates as we feel the need. Thanks to everyone who wrote in about the RLB of the WHA vs. USSR game. It was a fun one to do.

Here are all of the Islanders' draft picks for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft:
1st Round: #5
2nd Round: #36, #53 (Ana to Edm to NYI)
3rd Round: #66, #73 (Edm to NYI to Edm to Ana to NYI)
4th Round: #96
5th Round: #126, #148 (Phi to NYI)
6th Round: #156, #175 (Min to NYI)
7th Round: None

And last, you're probably wondering why Ken Stabler's mug shot is included in this post. Well, it is simply because he has one of the most hilarious quotes of all-time. I lifted this straight from the AP story that is everywhere: ...Stabler has long been a notorious drinker. Once when asked about his divorces he reasoned, "All I wanna do is drive around in my truck and drink Jack Daniels... and they just don't understand." Now that, my friends, should be the real Raiders motto. But doesn't he look like a well-meaning-but-hammered Mall Santa in that picture?

That Night in Toronto; Chris Simon to return

According to many reports, Islanders winger Chris Simon was on the ice practicing with the Islanders yesterday. It was his first practice since he tried to chop off Pittsburgh Jarkko Ruutu's ankle on December 15. For his actions, if you remember, Simon was hit with a thirty-game suspension. He's eligible to return to the lineup beginning on February 21 against Tampa Bay.

In other Islander news, defensemen Brendan Witt and Bruno Gervais are out with injuries. Aaron Johnson will dress and play tonight in Toronto.

Witt suffered a sprained knee Tuesday night against Philadelphia. According to Newsday. he'll be out for seven to ten days.

Gervais missed the Flyer game with a strained oblique muscle.

The Leafs are coming off another loss last night in Buffalo. Toronto is going through another one of their spells where the media is all over the organization for another Cupless winter. Trade winds are (as they will) circling and everyone is wondering whether or not the Leafs will trade captain Mats Sundin or not and whether interim GM Cliff Fletcher can do anything to revitalize the franchise.

Fletcher is, as interim GM, a Band-aid at best. The removal of former GM John Ferguson, Jr. was something that the fanbase was clamoring for and by hiring the ancient Fletcher, the (alleged) braintrust of the Leafs is trying to placate the paying customers by bringing the GM from the last time the team was Cup-competitive.

Just to show you how messed up the whole thing is, one part of management actually met with none other than Scotty Bowman about coming in the run the operation. Then, they never got back to him. So they tried again. Bowman took the high road and said that he was pleased with his current position as a consultant for the Red Wings and excused himself from the whole mess.

Let me say this once more in case you missed it: the Leafs met with a man who has won fifty Stanley Cups and wanted to hire him to turn the bus around...only the guy who met with him couldn't actually hire him because he may or may not actually have the power to do so. Then the other hand of Leafs management--the one that doesn't know what the other is doing--refused to try and get Bowman on board because the other guy had talked to Bowman first.

Like I said, it's a mess. The fans and media want to blow up the roster and are rumor-mongering every player from the team to new homes throughout the NHL. Even the classy captain, Sundin, is part of the plot. He has a no-trade clause--as does Bryan McCabe, who they speculate could be sent to the Islanders all the time--but everyone expects Sundin to go to a magic contending team that will sprinkle fairy dust and replenish the team's pool of prospects.

So, you know, the Isles are looking like quite the stable franchise these days compared to the all-mighty and uber-important Maple Leafs. The Isles have 57 points in 57 games. The Leafs, for all of their payroll and all of their headlines, have 55 in 58 games.