According to Andy Strickland’s blog, the Islanders have claimed Nate Thompson off waivers from the Providence Bruins.
Thompson was drafted in the 6th round 183rd overall in the 2003 draft, he plays center and had 19 goals and 20 assists for 39 points in 75 games with the P-Bruins last season.
Not a bad pickup, obviously this is a Gordon choice with all his experience in the Bruins organization.
Apparently, Thompson is quite the scrapper – as evident in the video below:
Greg Logan also had an interesting update in his blog this evening, seems as if Brett Skinner was returned to Bridgeport and Thompson will take Skinners place in the pressbox. He also claims that this move will not affect Bailey’s playing time and had some good quotes from Gordon.
It’s uncertain how quickly Thompson will fit into the lineup, but for the moment, the Islanders are carrying 14 forwards and only seven defensemen since Brett Skinner got sent down to Bridgeport to make room for Thompson. If Thompson performs well, it wouldn’t be surprising if general manager Garth Snow looks to trade a spare forward.
Emphasis added in the last sentence of the quote, but it appears that Garth Snow has really grown comfortable in the GM role and had set the Islanders up in good position should the need arise to ship players out or form a package deal for scoring.
Does anyone else think Friday, Saturday and Monday cannot come soon enough?
