In an off season that saw the Islanders very active in areas all across the spectrum, it’s finally behind us and we are ready to drop the puck.

While the team may not have drawn in big name marquee free agents, they signed Marty Reasoner, extended veterans Jay Pandolfo and Steve Staios tryout contracts and were each ultimately signed to one year contracts. The Islanders also extended John Tavares, Josh Bailey, Kyle Okposo, Michael Grabner this off season. They also traded Trent Hunter to New Jersey for Brian Rolston earlier this summer.

The roster for tonight, should look something like this:

Forwards: Josh Bailey, Blake Comeau, Michael Grabner, Matt Martin, Matt Moulson, Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo, Jay Pandolfo, PA Parenteau, Marty Reasoner, Brian Rolston, and John Tavares

Defensemen: Mark Eaton, Travis Hamonic, Milan Jurcina, Andrew MacDonald, Mike Mottau, Steve Staios and Mark Streit

Goaltenders: Al Montoya and Rick DiPietro

The scratches for tonight: Evgeni Nabokov, Ryan Strome, and Milan Jurcina.

With the Florida Panthers visiting Long Island, there are some interesting stories. The Panthers had a very active off season. Our old friend Sean Bergenheim was signed as a free agent, Ed Jovanovski, Upshall and Campbell were all also acquired or signed.

Their lineup tonight:

Forwards: Fleischmann-Weiss-Versteeg, Booth-Kopecky-Upshall, Bergenheim-Goc-Skille, Matthias-Carter-Bradley

Defensemen: Jovanovski-Gudbranson, Garrison-Campbell, Weaver-Kulikov

Goaltenders: Theodore, Markstrom

Expected Scratches: Dadonov, Ellerby

The Florida Panthers team the Islanders are facing tonight is a far cry from the team they faced last season. They’ve added speed, toughness and some scoring punch – so it should be a good matchup. Last season, the Islanders faced the Panthers four times and tied the season series with 2 wins and 2 losses.

The Islanders have added experience in veterans Marty Reasoner, Steve Staios and Jay Pandolfo – whom without a doubt, will be feeling much younger playing with the Isles young squad.

It’s going to be a great game, I know I’m glad hockey is back in action!

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If you’ve watched any TV the last few weeks, you may have seen some of Capital One’s new commercials featuring their 5x Checking Accounts. The commercials are pretty funny and feature Jerry Stiller as a movie theatre usher and actor.

Well, there is a hockey tie in here – trust me!

This coming Saturday at the Islanders Home Opener, Capital one is holding a High Five Contest for fans outside the Box Office, in an area called Visigoth Ice Village (Visigoth’s are those characters from the Capital One commercials, the Vikings). I’ve been asked to take part in a panel of Judges that will also include former New York Islander Benoit Hogue!

Capital One is promoting its new High Yield Checking account by highlighting the excitement of competitive sports with a pre-game “High Five” sweepstakes at this weekend’s New York Islanders game, in addition to an online sweepstakes recognizing metro-area New York teams. Both sweepstakes give fans the chance to enter and win “five times the tickets” (five tickets) in recognition of Capital One Bank’s new High Yield Checking account, which earns at least five times the national average interest on checking.

New York Islanders fans who come to the Nassau Coliseum on October 8 before the game can give their creative “High Fives” in front of a panel of judges and enter for their chance to win five times the tickets to an upcoming Islanders game. The High Five event begins at 6 p.m. at the Capital One Bank Visigoth Ice Village, just outside the box office entrance of the Nassau Coliseum.

Additionally, metro-area sports fans can enter the “High Five for 5X the Interest” Online Photo Sweepstakes. Beginning October 8 at 6 p.m., fans can log on to http://highfivefor5X.snapfish.com and upload their favorite “High Five” photo to be entered into a drawing to win five tickets to an upcoming game of their favorite metro-area professional or college sports team. Follow @SnapfishbyHP on Twitter for updates about the online photo sweepstakes. You can join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #highfivefor5x. For more details, see official rules at http://highfivefor5X.com/a>.

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Earlier this off season, the Islanders lost two of their MSG hockey reporters in Deb Placey and Rob Carlin. Placey was moved to the Devils telecasts, while Carlin moved down to Baltimore to be near his wife, who is expecting the birth of twins.

This left a pretty big hole in the Islanders telecasts, with MSG slow to name a replacement. Yesterday, MSG Network finally named a replacement in Peter Ruttgaizer.

Ruttgaizer, a Toronto Native, isn’t a newcomer to the sport of hockey – having covered the Colorado Avalanche recently for Altitude Sports Network. He’s also done work for CBC Sports, EastLink Television, TSN in Winnepeg and CTV in Toronto covering professional and junior hockey as well as the CFL.

Here are a few clips of Ruttgaizer in action:

In a story on the Islanders website, Ruttgaizer had this to say:

“I’ve always thought about working with the MSG family, and the Islanders are an up-and-coming hockey team with a great history, so I’m honored to have this opportunity,” said Ruttgaizer. “MSG Network and MSG Plus are two of the premiere sports networks in the country and I’m excited to get started with Howie, Butch and the talented production staff.”

As you can tell from the video clips above, Ruttgaizer sounds professional and has knowledge on the game. He’s also said the right things about the organization, which is what we want to hear as fans. Carlin and Placey were great in their own ways, but sometimes change is ultimately not a horrible thing.

The MSG telecasts will still be held down by long time play by play man Howie Rose, with the color being called by Islanders alumni Butch Goring.

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News out of Russia this morning brings more heartbreak to the NHL during a time of remembrance for players lost here in North America.

A chartered plane for the KHL’s Lokomotiv hockey team has crashed, allegedly killing a majority of the clubs roster.

Per the AP story:

TUNOSHNA, Russia (AP)—A Russian jet carrying a top ice hockey team crashed into a river bank Wednesday while taking off in western Russia, killing at least 43 people and leaving two others critically injured, officials said.

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the Yak-42 plane crashed in sunny weather immediately after leaving an airport near the city of Yaroslavl, on the Volga River about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Moscow.

It said the plane was carrying the Lokomotiv ice hockey team from Yaroslavl to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where it was to play Thursday against Dinamo Minsk in the opening game of the season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The ministry was carrying 45 people, including 37 passengers and eight crew, and two people survived the crash.

There were quite a few NHL names among them: Defensemen Karel Rachunek, Ruslan Salei and Karlis Skrastins, as well as forwards Pavol Demitra and Josef Vasicek  all spent a good deal of time in the NHL and were listed on the most current roster on the KHL website. Forward Alexander Vasyunov played in 18 games with the New Jersey Devils this past season.

Josef Vasicek played for the Islanders for 81 games in 2007, scoring 16 goals and 19 assists for 35 points. He signed with Lokomotiv in 2008 where he’s played since. Note: It is unknown at this time of Vasicek was on board the downed jetliner at this time. He is on the roster however.

Here is a video made by Two Man Advantage during the Islanders 2007 training camp, as a good tribute to Vasicek’s character.

Vasicek wasn’t the only player, or ex-player with ties to the Islanders organization. Lokomotiv’s head coach Brad McCrimmon was an Assistant Coach on the team from 97-99.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved in this tragedy, the Hockey World mourns the loss of some of our brothers.

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Things have been downright slow in Islanders Country, so slow – that news of Ice Girl Tryouts and apparently something else that may, or may not, be edible with an Isles logo will be coming soon seem exciting to the hockey famished freaks, like myself.

Then as always there is the latest and greatest fad for those who follow other teams not named the New York Islanders, mock and bash them for every step they make (or even don’t lately).

Cue the chorus, we have Jersey Gate.

If you’ve been following lately, you’ve seen some leaks posted out on the interwebz claiming what could be the Islanders third jersey for the upcoming season. It’s hard to explain, well no – it’s not. It’s a jersey sans the awesome crest on the chest that we have all come to know and love, it features colors that were a fixture way back when Starter was the NHL’s uniform designer – yeah, we’re talking black folks.

It’s easier to just show you a picture, courtesy of my friend Greg over at Puck Daddy that ran last week – this was round one of Jersey Gate:

I don’t really have an opinion on the jersey, well strike-that – I likely wouldn’t buy one, I absolutely love the old-school retro nod to the glory days the team is currently wearing. I’ll certainly be purchasing one of those this year, you know – with the 40th Anniversary Patch.

The team did issue a statement last week however, in reference to this leaked design, via their Twitter Feed:

There was a problem connecting to Twitter.

Fast forward to the second alleged leak of a similar jersey design over on Icethetics and we have this image:

We already knew how I stood on the first design, the second is pretty much the same.

The only thing I can remind everyone about, NOTHING is set in stone until the Islanders themselves release word and/or photos of their third jersey. I’ll also remind everyone that their last third jersey was a variant of what they wear currently.

The Islanders have asked their fans what they wanted in a third jersey – I doubt they’d ignore that given how active they are in the Social Media department.

Have a little faith fans, until then – I point back to their short statement via Twitter earlier in this post.

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They often say that a picture is worth a thousand words – well videos convey feelings and emotions in ways words often come up short.

Flash back to the 2002 Playoffs – Islanders vs Toronto

Shawn Bates is screaming down the left boards and gets taken down in front of CuJo. The Islanders are awarded their third playoff penalty shot in team history….well you know how it ends.

Many people are using attendance as a reason to Vote NO on Monday. History has shown that there are a ton of Islanders fans waiting, wishing and most importantly – WANTING for another shot at the playoffs. The Coliseum can be a loud and intimidating place, many teams have said so and continue to say the same.

Take a listen for yourself, 16,000 Islanders fans – all rooting for Long Island’s only professional sports franchise. If you vote no on Monday, the only thing you’ll here is silence – so go ahead and listen to the amazing sound and excitement the Coliseum is set to hear in the near future:

If you build it, they will come. Jobs will be saved, you’ll help the local economy and most importantly – keep Long Island, specifically Nassau County, a destination for people to come and enjoy for generations.

Without the Islanders and the Coliseum there’s not much more than some white noise and the occasional strip mall – if you can find a store that’s still open anyway.

Do Long Island and Nassau County a favor – Vote YES on Monday August, 1st. Help the Islanders create more history, and complete their Drive for Five!

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I’ve wanted to post something on the Islanders Arena debate for some time now – but being summer and in the HVAC trade, it’s been hard to make time. As you can see though, I’ve added a VOTE YES banner above some time ago that links right to the Islanders page on the arena project.

I know there is a lot of debate on this subject and it’s the very reason why I have such a distaste for politics in general. I wish I could vote on Monday, August 1st – I picked the worst time to become a resident of East Hampton, after living in Nassau for 30 years. That doesn’t mean my support of this Arena isn’t there however.

I’ve preached endlessly to family, friends and co-workers on the benefits of this project, and what COULD happen should the vote not pass. I’m even having my office put out a memo with tomorrow’s paycheck reminding Nassau County residents about the vote Monday and why they should be supportive of this, it does have an effect on everyone, fans of the Islanders or not.

I think that’s the coolest part in all of this, Isles, Rangers and Devils fans alike are all saying the same things in unison – that the Islanders are important to the community and need this arena to survive.

If you listened to WFAN’s Mike Fransesca this week talk to Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs – you’d know the Democrats are dead set against this – it’s a Republican idea after all. Fransesca buried Jacobs in the interview – shooting down his suggestion of PSL’s for seats like in football, among other half wit ideas he threw out there. It was blatantly clear that Jacobs wants HIS cronies to build on this 77-acre parcel in Nassau.

Islanders owner Charles Wang followed and really hit a home run, thanks in part to Jacobs. He addressed taxes, reminded the listeners he’d be on the hook for any cost overruns above $350-Million, cited studies that show how LITTLE taxes would go up of the referendum passes and how much taxes would go up if the Islanders leave Nassau and the arena goes dark.

If Nassau Coliseum goes dark – it will be shuttered. It’s in dire shape and the cost to improve the facility wouldn’t be worth the money with no major tenant. That means no more concerts, the circus, car and boat shows and other shows that come to the arena when there isn’t hockey. In turn, the surrounding businesses in the area would suffer as well – and that’s not good during these tough economic times.

The most important factoid in all of this, the unprecedented revenue sharing deal that the Islanders and Nassau County have agreed to. The Islanders will pay 11.5% of ALL revenue earned, per year towards repaying the “loan” of the bonds. At the bare minimum, based on an independent study – this would GUARANTEE $14-Million a year to the county. Obviously, the better the arena does with events (tickets, concessions, parking ect.) the more the county earns.

The onus is on us, Long Islanders, Nassau County residents, the young and old – to correct past mistakes and help build towards a brighter future on Long Island. Enough of the political games, Long Islanders DESERVE a destination and it would be a tragedy to lose an arena, and more importantly Long Island’s only professional sports franchise – due to politics.

This Island used to be something special, people came here in droves to make a better life and live life to the fullest. Well, the Island is becoming a dry desert – businesses shuttered, corporations leaving New York due to the cost of doing business, the “brain drain” of Long Islands youth that leave for college and never return. This can all stop, if you go out on Monday August 1st, and VOTE YES for the Arena Referendum.

Do your small part to save long Island, and help the local economy.

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With the Islanders first round draft choice in the fold (Ryan Strome, 5th overall) the team has a number of picks in rounds two through seven on the second day up Minnesota.

Here is a breakdown of their remaining selections:

Round 2 – 34th overall
Round 2 – 50th overall
(Acquired from Montreal in Wisniewski trade)
Round 3 – 63rd overall
(from 4th round 2010 draft selection dealt to Colorado)
Round 4 – 94th overall
Round 5 – 124th overall
Round 5 – 126th overall
(from two 6th round 2010 draft picks dealt to Atlanta)
Round 7 – 184th overall

The three picks in the second and third round should enable the Islanders to select three talented players. I’d imagine GM Garth Snow to pick up another talented forward and a defenseman or two, as he has done the previous years.

Day two of the Draft goes much quicker, the teams do not bring up players to the podium – they announce the name and bring the player to the media rooms to be interviewed.

You also generally see more trades occur on day two as well, as teams package together later round picks and future considerations in an attempt to move up in the second round – targeting players who have slipped out of the late first round.

I’ll do my best to keep things updated this afternoon – I’m also working on an updated Ryan Strome post.

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Up in section 203 here is a panoramic shot of the floor here at the draft party!

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As the clock ticks down to the start of tomorrow evenings First Round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, I thought it would be best to post up a little update.

For the last three years, I’ve had the absolute pleasure of covering the draft LIVE from the event. Unfortunately, due to reasons beyond my control – I could not attend this years draft in Minnesota.

My lead up to the draft, coverage of prospects as well as draft rumors – missing in action, and I apologize. This is the busiest summer I have had work wise, and my blog has suffered (as it has been) as a result.

Fret not Islanders Country, for I will be live blogging and tweeting from tomorrow nights Draft Party at Nassau Coliseum.

Don’t forget that there is an Isles Draft Party Meetup before the event at Doolins, and I’ve been asked to help out at the Islanders Social Media table. Stop by and say hello to your fellow Fans and Tweeps alike.

Will Garth Snow trade his fifth overall selection? Will he package his later round picks to move up in the the later part of the first round? Will we see other transactions?

One never knows, that’s the beauty of Draft Day and what makes it so exciting!

Later on this evening I’ll be taking a look at who should be available to the Isles at the fifth pick, and continue my tradition of “Islesbloggers Draft Wish” that I have done the last several years.

Stay tuned!

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There is nothing like fantastic news after the first blazing hot day of the summer.

It’s been a slow few weeks in Islanders country, although – not in terms of talks with Nassau County on that whole new Arena business. The Islanders however, have announced today that they have agreed to terms with Kyle Okposo on a five-year contract.

Per the Islanders press release:

The New York Islanders announced today that forward Kyle Okposo has agreed to terms on a five-year contract.

“I’m very excited to commit to the Islanders for the next five years, especially with the news of the new Coliseum,” Okposo said. “This team really showed its potential in the second half of the season last year and I’m excited to be a part of getting the franchise back to the playoffs.”

Okposo, 23, scored five goals with 15 assists in 38 games for the Islanders last season. The St. Paul, MN, native missed the first 44 games of 2010-11 due to a shoulder injury, which he suffered during training camp.
“Kyle has been a critical part of our young core over the past few seasons,” said Islanders General Manager Garth Snow. “He is a high character guy that brings size and a scoring touch to our lineup.”

The Islanders selected Okposo in the first round, seventh overall, of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. He has served as an assistant captain since 2009-10. In 192 career NHL games, all with the Islanders, Okposo has scored 116 points (44 goals, 72 assists).

The 6’0”, 210-pound forward has also played in 35 American Hockey League games with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, and he’s represented the United States at two World Championships and two World Junior Championships.

Before beginning his professional career, Okposo spent one season in the United States Hockey League with the Des Moines Buccaneers, followed by two collegiate years at the University of Minnesota.

Now that Okposo is in the fold for the next while, Garth can look to some of the other players who are also restricted free agents and deserve some longevity as well.

Kyle didn’t really show us what he could do to the fullest potential this past season – due to his shoulder injury in camp and I was personally disappointed. He is one of those players who may not always wind up on the score sheet, but is ALWAYS in position defensively and makes those important offensive plays as well. He’s not afraid to hit and has shown he has that razzle dazzle with the puck on his stick.

The Islanders certainly solidified themselves for the long term with this contract, as they did with Michael Grabner’s contract a few weeks back.

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It was 1983, the Islanders were on their way to their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup and the then young official Kerry Fraser called what he even admits was a bad game. He recalls the feeling like a young school boy being scolded by Arbour, and gives a fantastic insiders look into what goes on within the officiating community – especially during Playoff time. Fraser’s remarks came from a TSN column on make up calls.

Here are a few tidbits:

In 1983, I worked a game in Chicago Stadium between the New York Islanders dynasty team coached by the legendary, Al Arbour. Discipline was the trademark of those Arbour-coached teams. Al seldom raised his voice. When he did, I knew I screwed up. Ten minutes into this game, I had given the normally disciplined Islanders four penalties. It wasn’t that they were playing poorly; it was just that I was that awful.

The fourth penalty put the Islanders two men short and Al stood in the open door of his players’ bench with his hand on his hips while I waited in the end zone for him to place three players on the ice. His icy glare drew a bead on me as he waived his arm at me and yelled, “Kerry, get over here!”

I had such respect for Al, I skated over upon his command and stood before him like a school kid in front of the principal. Al said, “Kerry, what the hell are you doing out here tonight?” With my eyes focused on my skates beneath me I replied, “I don’t know Al. I’m really struggling and don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Finally, I raised my eyes to see this coaching icon scratching his head and staring back at me. He pressed his lips together and said, “Well get the hell out there and try harder.” Like a little kid that was scolded by his father I responded, “Okay, Al, I’ll do my best.”

There is certainly a lot more to read and it’s a great to see that Fraser continues to contribute to hockey even in his retirement. As much as he has taken his digs from fans with all those now famous chants, he was always one of the referees I would hope to catch a glimpse of – there was always something about the way he skated and officiated.

Then there was the fact that he was one of the last officials to forgo wearing a helmet, oh and how could I forget – the hair.

In an off season that has seen some crazy stuff during the playoffs – at least there was some talk of the Islanders, and it wasn’t even draft related!

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