I cannot say that I saw this coming, at all.

Brendan Witt who has been tough as nails for the New York Islanders the last few years (including a run in with a Chevy Tahoe in Philly this season) has found himself activated from the IR and right onto the waiver wire.

Newsday’s Katie Strang has some great stuff on her blog today regarding this development.

In 42 games this season, Witt has 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 PTS and is a -18. Witt’s play this season has fallen off to what we have seen in recent years – likely attributed to the knee that has bothered him for the last few weeks (he also played through the injury for an unknown amount of time).

Witt has one year and $3-Million left on his contract and was apparently shopped around by Garth Snow for some time. Should Witt clear waivers, he will join Martin Biron in Bridgeport who was recently sent down for conditioning. When and if Witt is recalled, he will be exposed to re-entry waivers where a team could pick him back up at half the price of his contract.

According to Chris Botta of Islanderspointblank, the Islanders could eventually wind up trading Witt at his bargain basement cost of half price.

Something that bothers me a little, is what Snow explained to Katie Strang today:

Snow said the move is less of a knock on Witt’s play and more of an indication of how far along some of the Islanders young defenseman have come and the organization’s confidence in their play

As I said in the Nick Boynton post earlier this week, while the play of MacDonald has been outstanding, giving Dustin Kohn MORE time now isn’t the best option for this club. The team needs help and they need EXPERIENCED HELP.

What do I know though.

Odds are that we will see some moves made with our Islanders before the Olympic break, stay tuned.

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It’s not everyday that a serviceable 6′1″ 218 LB 31-year old defenseman is waived by his team, it’s even rarer of an occasion where your struggling and injured team can benefit by picking him up and NOT MOVE A PLAYER IN RETURN.

Such is the case that Islanders GM Garth Snow will find himself in should he opt to claim Nick Boynton off of waivers before 12 o’clock tomorrow afternoon.

Why should Snow put in a claim?

Let’s see, the team has now lost five straight and is still on the playoff bubble stalled at 54 points. The Islanders defensive corps is battered and bruised, having to resort to calling up two stop gaps in Dustin Kohn and Andrew MacDonald (MacDonald is playing over 21 minutes a game and has been impressive, but I digress). Jack Hillen was felled to a broken jaw thanks to Alex Ovechkin’s slapshot last week and will be out 6-8 weeks. Veteran tough guy d-man Brendan Witt has a leg injury and will be out for another 2-3 weeks at best. Lastly on the injury front, Radek Martinek (aka Glass Man) was lost to a knee injury earlier this season and will be out indefinitely.

Looking further into the depth of the Islanders d-corps depth chart:

Bruno Gervais, is just not cutting it and seems to finding himself in the red in the plus/minus column more often than not. His recent pairing with Mark Streit has allowed him better play, thankfully.

Freddy Meyer (FMIV) bounces in and out of the lineup and has been decent, but he is not a top four d-man.

You’re current top four – Andy Sutton, Mark Streit, Bruno Gervais and Andrew MacDonald. The Islanders need defensive help and they need it now.

Boynton is set to make $700,000 for the rest of this season and is a pending UFA, so it’s not really a high risk move by any means. Should Boynton clear waivers, he will be sent down to the Ducks AHL affiliate and if summoned back to the NHL will be exposed to re-entry waivers and only costing a team $350,000 at that point.

To me, shaking up your team and giving them depth by adding a waiver wire claim seems like a good move. Pundits can claim that Boynton has played for three teams in two seasons, he has had his struggles in Anaheim and doesn’t fit the Islanders system. However, the failed experiment this weekend in Philly with Trevor Gillies should point out the need for toughness in the lineup – which Boynton can bring. Looking over his fight card this season (3 fights in his limited playing time) he has fought some tough opponents.

I say give him a shot Garth, but that’s just my opinion – if he doesn’t work out, no harm no foul and you have given up NOTHING.

What do you all think? Discuss in the comments section.

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About to call into the conference call to hear everything that has or has not transpired today.

I am going to record the call with my fancy device that allows me to do so with my digital recorder. I will either transcribe it or post the clip in it’s entirety.

More in a few!

Update: Well there were technical difficulties in the call. I think I heard Garth Snow say three of four barely audible words. Guess I have to wait for the press release – nothing went the Islanders way today, clearly.

Update #2 Per the Islanders official press release:

The New York Islanders have traded Bill Guerin to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a conditional 2009 fifth round draft selection. The team has also activated defenseman Thomas Pock and center Nate Thompson from the Injured Reserve while reassigning winger Jon Sim to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American Hockey League.

The conditions of the Guerin/Pittsburgh trade are as follows: If Pittsburgh reaches the playoffs, the draft pick is upgraded to a fourth round selection. If Pittsburgh advances past the first round and Guerin plays in 50 percent of those first round games, the draft pick gets further upgraded to a third round selection. The fifth round selection originally belonged to Tampa Bay.

“The entire Islanders organization has the utmost respect for Bill Guerin and we sincerely thank him for his time on Long Island and as the team’s captain,” said Islanders General Manager Garth Snow.

Guerin recorded 16 goals and 20 assists for 36 points in 61 games with the Islanders this season. Since signing with the team as a free agent on July 5, 2007, he played in 142 games and recorded 39 goals and 41 assists for 80 points. Guerin was the 11th captain in franchise history.

Pock has played in 41 games this season and has scored one goal with two assists for three points. He missed the Islanders’ last 13 games with a hand injury. Pock was claimed off waivers from the New York Rangers on September 29, 2008. In 100 career NHL games, Pock has scored eight goals with nine assists for 17 points and 51 penalty minutes.

Thompson has played in 28 games this season and has scored two goals. He missed the Islanders’ last 12 games with a shoulder injury. Thompson was claimed off waivers from Boston on October 8, 2008. In 32 career NHL games, Thompson has scored two goals and registered 42 penalty minutes.

Sim, who cleared waivers earlier today, has played in 49 games with the Islanders this season and scored nine goals and six assists for 15 points. In 51 career games with the Islanders he has scored nine goals with seven assists for 16 points and 44 penalty minutes. Sim was signed by the Islanders as a free agent on July 1, 2007.

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12:47pm

Well, there is nothing really huge to report for the Islanders here this afternoon. I have been glued to my computer constantly refreshing the typical trade deadline sources that have been awesome in the past. I am lucky enough to have dual monitors so I can have an internet browser open on the left, and AIM, TSN’s streaming coverage in a small window and their live tracker next to that.

What we do know:

• Jon Sim has cleared waivers – I know Big Jayy (a loyal commenter) will be mad if he stays, but he has been producing for us as of late. If he doesn’t move – hopefully he continues to contribute. Not much there except for he may get sent down to Bridgeport for all we know.
• Miroslav Satan cleared waivers as well – check out the piece I did for Lighthouse Hockey on that.
• Still no word on Bill Guerin – the boys on TSN spoke about him earlier but even they don’t know whats going on. They did say there shouldn’t be a problem with him remaining an Islander for the rest of the year. Couple that tidbit with what Greg Logan got out of Doug Weight the other night.
• Still no word on other Islanders on the market such as Radek Martinek, Andy Hilbert, Doug Weight, Dean MacAmmond or Brendan Witt – time will tell.

More, if and when it happens.

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For the third season in a row, I have made my own holiday (and taken the day off from work) to celebrate one of the craziest days for the NHL – trade deadline day. Next to July 1st, which is the beginning of unrestricted free agency, we see plenty of player movement as teams dump players for picks and/or prospects or just players for players as other teams bulk up or re-tool heading into playoff season. It is truly an exciting day.

Last year, my first with Islesblogger and as a member of the Islanders Blog Box – I spent the entire day at Nassau Coliseum live blogging the events of the day. We were interviewed by Jim Baumbach of Newsday – whom live blogged our live blogging and even had a run in with several Pittsburgh players asking if we knew if any of them had been traded. However, because this year the Islanders do not have a game, it is impossible to be allowed access to the Blog Box for something similar. Obviously this is dissapointing – but I pledge to carry on from the comfort of my own home with access to the same Canadian television, the internet and hopefully better food then what will be available to the media and Islanders Point Blank who will be crammed into Room Six.

What’s even more exciting, is now that I have access to everything on SB Nation – I will be part of their deadline day special through Lighthouse Hockey! I will have a running post of any and all the large trades made by the Islanders and may do something similar for the division rivals. I will also have a few opinion peices in addition to updating everyone here on Islesblogger – it will be a lot of work, but Dom and I promise to bring to some great stuff tomorrow later today.

Stay tuned for the fun stuff! Remember, you can subscribe to my RSS FEED or EMAIL UPDATES as well as follow along on TWITTER if you will be stuck at work without constant access to the internet!

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It never fails, every time that I either purchase a jersey or actually make good on a promise to speak more in the locker room – a player is either traded or gets waived. Such is this case this time – only it involves two games worth of locker room quotes from soon to be ex-Isle(d) Jon Sim, instead of owning a players authentic jersey that I likely will not ever wear again.

As I wrote earlier today, veteran winger Jon Sim has found himself exposed to the waiver wire for the second time this season. This, despite the fact that he has been on somewhat of a tear as of late – Sim has seven points in the last six games (4g-3a-7pts).

Greg Logan writes:

Coming one day ahead of Wednesday’s 3 p.m. NHL trade deadline, the move is like an invitation to any team in need of a hard-working winger with some grit and scoring touch to add it without giving up anything but salary.

Despite 14 healthy scratches and ice time limited to just over 12 minutes a game, Sim has nine goals to rank eighth on the team. Some might read the move as symptomatic of an attempt to purge the locker room of unhappy veterans.

Talking to Jon Sim two times in the last week – I really did not see that Sim was unhappy having heard him say things like “Thinking positively”, “Positive energy”, “Fun to play here right now”, and “Being patient and professional”. More sensationalism? Perhaps, it really wouldn’t be as fun to read how Jon Sim seems to have turned his game around as of late, likes the Islanders and yet somehow finds himself on the outside looking in on an Islanders rebuild. Here is what Sim told me about his recent pickup in play when I asked him what he has done different with his game (pertaining to scoring 3 times in four games) after the home shutout of New Jersey last Saturday:

I think I’m just playing hard ya know? Playing the way that I can play and playing harder. Not trying to make the big plays, but looking to make the smart little plays instead.

Looking back to early last season, the first in his three year contract paying him $1-million in each year – it really shows that a knee injury can have an effect on a player far beyond the projected period of healing and rehabilitation suggested (prognosis not good on DiPietro – eh?). I asked Sim if at this point of the season, he felt that he was physically back at the top of his game like he was prior to the season ending knee injury early last season. Sim paused and then told me:

Yea, I thought I was pretty much all year. I have been working hard and trying to play hard. Obviously the year off wasn’t the best – but I have been trying to work hard and improve [my game] every day.

It was really beginning to show too, chalk it up to playing with fresh, young faces in the NHL the likes of Kyle Okposo, Josh Bailey, Franz Nielsen and last night Jesse Joensuu whom Sim assisted on his first NHL goal. As Michael Jackson’s Billy Jean blared in the background of the Islanders locker room (An ode to their Captain Billy, perhaps?) following another home win, this time over Ryan Smyth’s Colorado Avalanche, I got to speak with Sim again – but this time asked him about the chemistry he and new Islander forward Dean MacAmmond seem to have and if playing with a new teammate and veteran like Dean has helped with his inspired play. Sim smiled and laughed then told me:

Yea, I mean I was working hard when Dean-o came in, we kind of play off each other. He’s fun to play with – he works really hard and that’s a big thing.

I wanted to follow up with some positives on MacAmmond so I asked Sim if his game made it easier to be effective out on the ice. I mentioned that Dean is such a strong skater and gets into the zone relatively quickly and unimpeded that it was sure to do exactly that. With another laugh Sim told us that “Yea, he’s got young lets and a young face”. We all shared a laugh and Greg Logan said he thought MacAmmond looked like Matt Damon. After another round of laughter – Sim looked at us and said “He looks more like Mcauley Culkin!”

Really Jon, really? Hopefully Dean doesn’t read blogs – but I may have to mention this to him on Thursday, that is – if either of these players are still around.

Note: For those wondering the origins of this very strange photo of Jon Sim holding what appears to be Jon Sim chocolate lolipops…. please head over to Chocoversity. Apparently this company can print any image on chocolate and they recently hooked up with the NHL. For more images, check out their gallery – apparently Mike Sillinger was there too!

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