You can almost smell hockey in the air the way the past 24 hours have been for Islanders buzz. Then again, it could just be the fact that my hockey bag is open next to my computer desk. Aside from that piece of information many may deem as too much information, here is a brief synopsis on what has transpired since my last post:
Corey Witt posted a rumor about a “possible” new candidate for the goaltending coach position. He claims that Mike Dunham is on Long Island and “may” find himself in this job. You can read more about it for yourself here.
At first glance, this screams that Snow is only giving Dunham a job because he is a close friend, but if you look at this a bit deeper – I don't agree with that notion. Here's why; Dunham played like a maniac at the start of the last season, he really stole some games when he was on his game. When DiPietro played all those games and Dunham rode the pine, he was there for DP. He was also there even after he fell apart and Dubie made save after save to get us into the playoffs. He is a veteran player who has experienced a wide array of things as a goaltender. He's not Smitty, but I feel he can relate more to our current net minders more than a coach who never played at this level. It's one of those low-risk, high-reward situations we have come to see often as of late.
Greg Logan, came out of his summer long vacation today with THIS POST. In all honesty, there isn't much worth discussing here that you cannot find somewhere else – except for this quote from Richard Park regarding the Yashin buyout and the locker room last season:
“It’s not about bad-mouthing leadership in this locker room last year. The onus isn’t on one guy, and it never has been. It doesn’t matter if you have a letter on your jersey or you don’t. Everybody is a leader in their own way. If you say we’re going to have a better locker room this year, does that mean we had a bad one last year? I’m not going to say that because I was part of that locker room last year. But the guys we’ve added are very good character guys and have a lot of dignity, and we should be better off for it.”
When I first read that statement my respect for Park grew by 100% because he is completely right. Park is another veteran who has been around the block, and knows that the situation with Yashin could have a positive and negative affect on the team. He took the high road and you have to respect a classy move such as that.
I know this post is getting a bit long, so I wanted to finish up with another classy player – Bill Guerin. Over at Chris Botta's blog, he mentioned that Captain Guerin came by the Team Offices in Plainview to introduce himself and while there, treated everyone to lunch. I can't imagine a better way to make an impression on your teams behind-the-scenes folks that that. True class in my book – makes you wonder why he has a different reputation on the ice.
Sorry for the lack of a post last night, I got home really late and figured it would be better if I held off until today. I have some ideas for this weekend, so keep checking back for updates! Have a great weekend.
