Please Pardon the Dust!

Well hello there Isles fans, it’s been quite sometime since I updated my little blog here. I feel like I have said this before, but life changes – it could be a subtle change or a big one that cause you to either forget about your passion or just not have time to work on it. My life has changed a lot in the last year and change! Well, there is that – and that pesky 113 day NHL Lockout.

As we move forward here, I am really excited to churn out my take on everything New York Islanders. I’ve been given such a great opportunity that not many folks have received, so let’s make the best of this!

Let’s start out with the lockout.

We knew it was coming, each side had their reasons and I really don’t want to go into the semantics of the whole thing. It was horrible to endure as a fan, and that’s as far as I can take that. I refused to write about any of it, although I did read about it and listen to NHL on Sirius/XM daily – go figure.

I don’t see the need to go back 8 months to recap who we’ve drafted back in June, or who we traded for or signed. You all know that by now. I will provide my take on the most recent transactions though.

The Lubomir Visnovsky debacle rages on. Arthur Staple said earlier that the player had “some personal issues to deal with” and would eventually report to camp. This comes after weeks (if not month’s really) of the player trying to find his way out of his contract by any means. What kind of element will he add to the tight-knit locker room? Hard to say – but clearly Nabokov changed his tune once he was here.

The Islanders announced the signing of long time Islander (and short-time Blue Jacket) Radek Martinek to a one year deal. You can never have too many defenseman I say, and clearly Garth Snow feels the same way.

Speaking of defensemen – the Islanders also recently waived d-man Ty Wishart (who has since cleared and returned to Bridgeport) and claimed two players in Joe Finley (Buffalo Sabres) and Thomas Hickey (LA Kings), most likely for depth. The Islanders had a really nice article on Jon Landry that is worth a read. If you think the trials and tribulations of a hockey player are all golden like that of John Tavares – think again. Landry has traveled down a really long road, and it’s nice to see a young man stick to what he loves throughout it all!

The Islanders have also opened up a ton to fans – regarding scrimmages, practice and even concessions. For all the latest visit NewYorkIslanders.com for the latest!

On Saturday January 19th, the Islanders have their season opener against the New Jersey Devils. Also that night, a new website will go live, exclusive for Islanders fans! A site called IslandersPowerPlayDeals goes live exclusively for Islanders fans, offering preferred pricing on Long Island’s best local travel, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, shopping centers and various other retailers. You can learn more details on the Islanders official announcement.