Keeping up with the rumor theme, Sean Avery - now of the Dallas Stars thanks to his 4-year $15.5-Million dollar deal, has never really been the kindest player to the New York Islanders. He has “allegedly” headhunted DiPietro after a concussion, he has spit water at the Ice Girls, speared Brendan Witt, and mouthed off among other cheap shots during the course of his time with the Rangers. This parting shot, sort of makes me chuckle a little bit though and makes me wonder how much he must have been annoyed that the Islanders never even called him.

In an interview with the National Post, Avery claims the Islanders should have reached out to him with an offer for his “services”. It seems someone is a little bitter about being taken away from The Big Apple and the Fashion District.

Avery touched upon high fashion, Russian bathtubs, break-up speeches and a love for New York’s Lower East Side. He was saying goodbye, but not farewell, to Manhattan after signing a four-year US$15.5-million deal with the Stars. In parting, Avery’s most inflammatory barb was a muted blast at the Rangers’ archrivals in New York.

“If they were smart,” Avery said of the Islanders. “They probably would have tried to sign me.”

The Islanders did not even bid for Avery’s services, and the Rangers backed away from the big money the super-pest was going to bring on the open market, despite the fact the team was 33-14-10 with him in the lineup last season and 9-13-3 without.

“I am sitting in a Russian bathtub in the Lower East Side right now,” Avery said. “I spent about a year and a half in New York, and I think it is always a place I am going to come back to live. It’s home.”

Sean, that’s what happens when you wear out your welcome somewhere - you don’t get re-signed or offered a contract by the other local teams. He also fails to mention that Islander management DESPISES him as a player. Oh well - such is life, at least he gave me something else to write about tonight.

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Speculation (read: rumors) has been running rampant the past several days that the Tampa Bay Lightning are looking to purge themselves of Dan Boyle’s six-year $40-million dollar contact in order to reach a self imposed spending limit. The problem with this grand master plan is that Boyle was given a no trade clause in his extension prior to last years trade deadline. There have been numerous teams rumored asking about the services of Boyle, you guessed it - the Islanders are said to be in the mix.

Normally, I would take whatever I read on the various message boards or rumor websites with a grain of salt - but the websites and writers I respect most are all reporting the same things. Greg Logan from Newsday wrote about it in a story for Friday’s paper and in his blog, Spector mentions the Islanders in his Boyle updates, and Kuklas Korner also mentions the Islanders with Boyle. What makes things even more interesting, is that the Islanders are even mentioned in a local Tampa newspaper blog as well. All signs point to this being a confirmed interest in Boyle.

While Boyle may not fit into what the Islanders are trying to accomplish perfectly, he is another offensive defenseman - and a fairly solid defender. Tampa is looking to shed salary, so this is another example of how the Islanders cap-space has become even more valuable. The Lightning are trading from a position of weakness, so the Islanders could snatch Boyle up for a mid-level prospect and a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick. To me, this would be a no brainer because it would solidify the defensive corps and you can then shift your focus on adding a top-six forward to jump start the offense. Boyle doesn’t make the Isles any more of a contender than they would be without him, but he definately makes them a solid team defensively. This is something that needs to be watched closely over the next coming days, that is for sure.

July 4th Update

Apparently San Jose has traded for Dan Boyle and completely overpayed in my eyes: Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich to San Jose for Matt Carle, Ty Wishart, a 1st and a 4th

Chris Botta claims that the Islanders did more than just “kick the tires” in his blog - they very much wanted Boyle - but I bet the first round pick made Snow cringe and terminate any talks of a trade. Good on ya Garth!

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It’s not everyday that you hear the entire fan base of an organization spew forth an expletive laden rant when reading “news” on an old player.

No, strike that from the record.

When you are a fan of the New York Islanders you have an unfortunate level of expectation this time of year. You also learn that the organization can be somewhat like a crazy relative in their decision making. You love the relative no doubt, but you may not understand the way they think or agree with their decisions all the time.

When I received an email on Greg Logan’s Yashin article Saturday night, I was out to dinner with my fiancé. I literally laughed out loud and she asked what was wrong. I told her about the story behind Yashin and the laughter spread across the table. Even casual hockey fans know a good joke when they hear one.

Fortunately, Logan’s story doesn’t mean the return of Yashin is set in stone. If you read it carefully you can see the ploy of Yashin’s agent - in the dark, without a flashlight. This is clearly an attempt to get his client attention, all the while making the Islanders look foolish (they need little help there Marc).

The two sides are said to have had talks, hopefully the talks involved abrupt laughter from Garth Snow and a dial tone. Gandler claims his player received big offers from Russian teams, but makes no mention of NHL interest. Chris Botta brings this to light and breaks things down in his blog yesterday. He also mentions the Newsday editors lack of reading articles before they title them - great stuff.

I will expand on this later, I am posting from my phone and wanted to get my feelings on this out there while it was fresh in my mind.

To reiterate, no matter the level of desperation by the Isles - just say no to Yashin.

Thank you!

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Poor poor MAB, regulated to secondary minutes some games and flat out benched for a majority of his time with the Ducks - Marc-Andre Bergeron has been traded again, this time to the Minnesota Wild for a third round draft pick. Seems the only thing consistent with MAB is his NHL trade value - a third round draft pick.

Per Michael Russo’s blog at the Star Tribune in Minnesota:

The Wild has traded a third-round pick to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron, a hard-shooting, strong-skating player who scored 15 goals in 2005-06 for the Oilers and a career-high 46 points in 2006-07 for the Islanders and Oilers (He was traded to the Isles for Denis Grebeshkov, whom the Oilers are extremely high on).

His 38 goals the past three years rank ninth among NHL defensemen.

Bergeron was dealt to the Ducks from the Islanders in February after scoring nine goals and 18 points in 46 games for the Isles. Bergeron didn’t get in any playoff games for the deep blue-line Ducks.

Bergeron is considered mid-range defenseman. According to a writer in Edmonton, “he can shoot like hell and skate, but he’s very unsure of himself, doesn’t have a lot of self-esteem, gets down on himself. He also struggles at times in his own end. He’s serviceable. He’s can play some reasonable minutes, but he’s prone to mistakes the more minutes he gets.”

What I know of him is he’s one of the hardest-shooting defensemen in the NHL. He’s got a bullet, like a left-shot Kurtis Foster, only much smaller. He also tends to have blinders in his own zone as far as picking up guys that are closing in on him. But this is a depth move as the Wild looks to replace guys like Sean Hill, Petteri Nummelin, Keith Carney and potentially Foster at the start of the season.

Oh well, maybe MAB can find his place on the Wild and under his 4th coach in 3 seasons. Hey, it’s bound to happen sooner or later - right? Being traded this many times does not do anything for someone with on going confidence issues, that’s for sure.

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In a surprising announcement, Chris Botta - the Islanders VP of Media Relations and creator of the Islanders Blog Box has resigned after a 20 year career. Greg Logan has an article in today’s Newsday on this breaking news.

Here is a quick quote:

For the past 20 years, Chris Botta helped the Islanders navigate through a public-relations minefield replete with revolving owners and controversial personnel decisions that threatened their existence as a viable NHL franchise. But that relationship ended yesterday when the Islanders’ vice president of media relations announced his resignation for personal reasons. “It was my dream job, and it’s been an incredible ride,” he said yesterday. “But it’s time to end it.”

I know I am nothing short of surprised by this, but in the same breath I can’t imagine anyone being in the same job for 20 years being able to make more of an impact than Chris Botta. Botta has survived ownership changes, coaching changes and even the evil fire spewed forth by fans due to management gutting the team.

After a great season for us in the Blog Box, I find myself a little concerned in the fate of our group of bloggers.

Lastly, having never really gotten the chance to properly thank Chris Botta for all his hard work this year, thank you. Never in my life have I felt more welcomed and embraced by a team that I follow closer than anything. The ability to see the behind the scenes things we have has been a dream come true. I hope your “personal reasons” are nothing more than wanting to spend time with your kids and that everyone has their health. Islanders nation (at least in my eyes) has lost their brightest star today.

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It’s not everyday that there is news on our beloved Islanders, especially when they are not in the playoffs. During a time when hockey writers tend to take a bit of a break (See: Greg Logan on vacation), the Islanders find themselves in the headlines regardless and it’s not all about the Lighthouse Project!

Here is what’s happening, recap style:

Tomas Marcinko Officially Signed

The Islanders announced yesterday that they have officially come to terms on a rookie deal with Slovakian born Tomas Marcinko their 2006 fourth round draft pick, to a three-year entry level contract.

Per the New York Islanders website:

The 20-year old Slovakia native, who just finished his second season with the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League, recorded 36 goals and 47 assists for 83 points in 104 career games with the Colts, while also representing Slovakia at the 2007 and 2008 World Junior Championships.

“Tomas is a very responsible two way player who had a terrific season in 2007-08 with Barrie in the OHL,” said Ryan Jankowski, the Islanders Assistant General Manager and Director of Amateur Scouting.

In 2007-08, Marcinko tallied 19 goals and 26 assists for 45 points in 48 games with the Colts, which ranked second on the team in points. In nine career OHL playoff games – all coming this season - Marcinko registered four goals and three assists.

It was nice that this was done relatively quickly after Garth Snow informed us that a deal was done in principle last week at the Islanders Stakeholder meeting at the Coliseum. It seems that Garth has been very busy for the Islanders in filling holes for Bridgeport and locking up our younger future players. That definately isn’t a bad thing.

Bill Guerin and Steve Mears on ESPN’s Sportscenter

Seems good old Billy G was out and about in Bristol, Connecticut along with Steve Mears last night for a Sportscenter piece. Corey Witt has a bunch of blog entries and photos (where I snagged the above photo) on the job Bill did last night. I personally missed the piece, but from what I hear he held his ground and could have a future in broadcasting after hockey.

In other Guerin News

Despite the 2007/2008 season as being Guerin’s first ever serving as team captain, his team mates felt that he deserved recognition for the job he did this season (he did after all have a very big role leadership wise and handled it very well both in the media and the locker room) and have nominated him for the King Clancey Memorial Trophy.

Per the Islanders Website:

The New York Islanders organization is proud to announce captain Bill Guerin as its nominee for the 2007-08 King Clancy Memorial Trophy, awarded to a player who exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in the community.

“It’s a great honor to be nominated for such a prestigious award,” said Guerin, who was picked by a team vote. “Despite a disappointing finish to the season, my family and I had a wonderful time on Long Island and we look forward to continuing to serve the community as best as we can.”

In 2007-08, Guerin showed his dedication and leadership not just on the ice, but off the ice in the community as well. On the ice, Guerin showed his dedication to the NHL, along with his longevity in the game when he skated in his 1,100th game on March 21 at New Jersey. On October 18 at Washington, Guerin notched his ninth career hat trick, becoming the first player to record a hat trick with six different NHL teams. When he recorded his 20th goal of the season on March 20, Guerin became just the second player in NHL history to record 20 or more goals with the six NHL teams.

“Congratulations to Bill on his nomination,” said GM Garth Snow. “As our captain, Billy was exactly what we were hoping for and more when we signed him in the off-season. Everyone in the organization appreciated his commitment to the team this season.”

To read more, head on over to the Islanders website.

Sean Bergenheim, Hurt?

Bergenheim needs to quit playing in Europe, really - he does. It seems no matter what, every time this kid straps on skates and plays overseas, he winds up injured in some way. The message boards came alive yesterday afternoon once a Finnish newspaper article came out claming Bergy’s injury. Naturally, the translation of said article yielded very little clues - and we come to find out later the injury wasn’t very serious. I think all of Islanders country heard Dee Karl (7thwoman and Bergenheim Super-Fan) scream in horror and then sigh with relief.

Katie Strang, who is manning the Islanders column and Blog over at Newsday in Greg Logan’s absence, made a blog entry on this subject yesterday. Here is a snippet of some “unofficial, official news” as there was nothing out of the Islanders camp.

Bergenheim’s agent Mark Gandler said he is day-to-day with a slight groin pull.
Doesn’t sound like anything too serious, but I’ll keep checking up to see if I hear anything new.

As far as Sean’s contract negotiations with the Islanders, Gandler said that “we have started talking, but numbers have not yet been exchanged.”

More on Greg Logan’s Blog.

So - while the Islanders are certainly out of contention and done with hockey in the NHL until September, they certainly do know how to remain in the headlines - somewhat.

More as it happens, right here on www.islesblogger.com - all summer long!

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