Before I get ready to head to the Coliseum, I wanted to write a bit about the first matchup of Peter Laviolette and Scott Gordon.

Both men coached in the Bruins organization, both men know and respect each other. One was head coach of the Islanders and the other is the current head coach. Both men came into the league straight off AHL Coach of the year honors, one has had time to play his sytems and been rewarded greatly. The other, is biding his time before he proves he can perform at the NHL level.

Tonight proves to be an interesting night, a bit of past and present all coming together almost in artistic form. The Islanders have more to prove - hopefully the optional morning skate has the legs refreshed enough to prove to their home fans that they can be successful and win with Scott Gordon’s system.

I will be live blogging tonight, should be fun as I have not done it from the Coliseum in quite some time!

See you in a few!

You may have noticed that I did not post any thoughts on the clunker the Islanders put up on Thursday. I will go into things a bit today, I have had enough time to decompress and really analyze where I wanted to take the discussion.

The sky is not falling, the bottom has not fallen out and there is no need to start a Tavares watch! These three common message board themes are a ridiculous line of thinking. It’s to the point where I visit message boards less and less because it’s the same rhetoric repeated over and over. Look, the team is not playing great - but we are only 6 games into the season - SIX! Six games is not an adequate cross section to determine the overall season outcome.

Things take time, they do. You cannot throw together a team with a new coach and EXPECT instant success - sure we can all hope, but I hope I run into $10-million dollars today.

Islanders fans have been calling for a rebuild for a long time, this is part of the process. Players like Okposo, Tambellini, Gervais, Campoli, Hillen, Pock and Nielsen are not going to be overnight successes. For the most part this is the first REAL chance any of them have had under any head coach the Isles have had. Everyone needs to learn the system, stick to the system and have it be second nature to play the system in order for it to be successful.

I saw glimpses of positive things during the Dallas game, that’s even without the rose colored glasses. Bill Guerin went to the front of the net - AND scored. Mark Streit scored a pretty back door goal on the power play. Jon Sim - well he FINALLY scored, maybe that monkey is off his back. The veterans called a team meeting - something that needed to be done. That shows me that this team cares - losing is not acceptable and neither is tanking regardless of any amount of first round draft picks. I also noticed the forecheck becoming increasingly effective. Less dump and chasing and more puck control along the boards is giving them offensive zone control often enough that they should be looking at more scoring chances.

With the positives, there are also negatives.

Brendan Witt lost to injury, although everyone around the organization is quiet about it. I saw him on the receiving end of a nasty knee-on-knee collision and knew it wouldn’t be good. He was grimacing and had a problem putting weight on it. In his place - Jack Hillen, although Andy Sutton is about a week away from returning. Witt was chased down on the way to room Six by Greg Logan - although Witt wasn’t very chatty.

Bad defensive breakdowns lead to too many virtual empty goals.

Penalties - they need to stay out of the penalty box at all costs.

Power Play, 5 shots and 5 posts on one power play…..close - but no cigar.

Positioning without the puck, I am fairly certain the reason why Gordon had no voice during his press conference was because he was giving his team a stern talking to about this subject. The Islanders were HORRIBLE without the puck. Bad positioning causes bad turnovers, bad defensive support and almost zero chance of a pass landing on the tape. Last but not least - you will have plenty of trouble with a breakout if you can’t find an open man.

Lastly, taking a bench minor while on the power play. That just cannot happen, especially on a two man advantage.

I can tell that the team is coming around, but I just hope that injuries do not destroy whatever forward momentum the team has accomplished - however small it may be.

Being an iPhone owner, it can be a tad stressful when viewing a regular webpage that is graphic intense with the built in Safari browser. Any iPhone owner can tell you that all it takes is too much processing power and *POOF* a blank black screen.

I decided that because I have been trying my hardest to keep up with replying to recent comments, that it would be best to optimize the site for the iPhone/iTouch environment. A quick check of my stats and I found that there are several readers browsing my site with iPhone’s as well!

From this point on, anyone who views Islesblogger will be served the optimized content automatically. It’s easy to read, loads fast and still features the same great content you are used to. The only difference is that the main color of the site is white - which I was tempted to change, but it’s so easy to read I decided to leave it be.

If anyone has any suggestions, or finds a problem - please let me know as soon as you can!

So many things to write about, so little time - seems that is always the case during hockey season.

So what is in store tonight? Chris Campoli is set to return from an Upper Body, Arm, shoulder injury tonight - just in time to face the Dallas Stars. What’s great about this is Campoli has been practicing with Mark Streit and the pair will likely be together at the points on the power play. Should be nice having two guys back there who are known to move the puck - we can sure use some more points on the power play. The Islanders are currently 25th in the league 11.1% - if you crave some more stats head on over to Islanders 360 for a complete breakdown of this season and last year.

A new look for Campoli? Greg Logan had a little snippet of information in his blog today regarding Campoli’s switch from a helmet without a visor to wearing a visor:

For the first time in his NHL career, Campoli plans to wear a visor. “It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while,” he said. “I practiced with it this week, and it was good. I’m going to try and make the transition.”

Take this from someone with experience with and without a visor - it takes a few practices in order to get used to the way a visor warps the vision. Hopefully Campy is used to everything by tonight and doesn’t whiff on the puck like most do first starting out with one. However, another little gem of info - I never got hurt when I played without a visor, but the second game I used a half visor I broke my nose and needed seven stitches in my mouth from a high stick. Granted, it could have been much worse without - but it was still ironic. Good luck Chris!

Continuing with the good news, Rick DiPietro will be starting in goal tonight for the first time this year in front of the home crowd. Everyone agrees that The Rick played well in the 2-0 loss to the Panthers last Saturday - let’s hope he comes out extra sharp tonight against Dallas. Unfortunately, Dallas is coming off a nasty 5-0 shutout loss to the Devils and will come out equally pumped to round out their road trip with a win. If they do win, DiPietro and Campoli can do their jumping shoulder bump deal - so long as both of them promise not to re-injure themselves.

Keep an eye out for the ever present pest Sean Avery tonight, apparently he has wreaked havoc on both Lundvist and Brodeur the past several games. If you cannot watch or listen to the game, stay tuned right here for the Live Tracker all game long!

Live Tracker

News has hit the wire that former Islanders forward Mark Parrish has been signed to a tryout contract with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Parrish will play 25 games with Bridgeport and could then be tendered offers from rival clubs - but it is a safe bet that he could land a spot with the New York Islanders.

Earlier this summer the Minnesota Wild bought out the remaining three-years of his contract (estimated worth around $9-million). I had mixed feelings when the buyout occurred, but apparently his offensive ability trailed off the last several years and no longer fit in with the Wild’s plans. Glad to see Parry is getting a chance to get his foot back in the door - although I wish he never left.

Should he be brought up to the Islanders at some point (after 25 games?) - he will retake his old office in front of opposing goaltenders and help on the power play. What about the youth movement? Well, Parrish isn’t exactly a senior citizen at 31-years old, but Mark Parrish isn’t the same player he was. However, if the Islanders can pick him up without losing a single prospect, player or pick - AND have a chance at dictating his salary, why wouldn’t you do it?

The Islanders lack goal scoring, plain and simple. They also need that front of the net presence that Parrish was known for in his time here. He won’t score 30 or 40 goals, but anything he pitches in is that much extra compared to what was there.

This is a low risk move and hard to fault.

It also adds a known player to your back pocket, once the trade deadline comes - he can be offered a contract when some of the veterans are moved.

I have been putting together notes on the NHL injury policy for about a week or so, I decided to finally sit down and put up a post because Ken over at Islanders Outsider brought up some interesting points, but didn’t speak about the part of the policy that bothers me most. Before I begin, let me make one thing clear - I support the decisions by NHL clubs to hold back injury information during the playoffs, it has been that way for a long time. Read on for how I feel about the latest policy change regarding injury reporting in the NHL.

Only the NHL has a policy as ridiculous as their current injury policy, yes - only the NHL. Some claim the reasoning behind it is so it protects injured players from cheap shots that exploit them to further injury - which Ken covered in his own post. Others claim that because the NHL is as rough as it is, it just helps give players the added protections. The argument has already been made that the NFL has no such policy in place that masks or abbreviates the announcement of injuries to their players - so why does the NHL? The NFL features a style of play that at times, makes you wonder how they can still walk after a hit.

Think about some of the other sports and how ridiculous it would sound if a few of their star athletes were not dressing, playing, practicing or racing because of some unannounced or hidden injury. Let’s sit back and pretend for a minute - shall we? You know, use our imaginations…

2009 US Open

It’s the summer of 2009 and the pro golfers are all gathered at Bethpage State Park’s famous black course for the 2009 US Open. All the greats are there, Mickelson, Singh, Goosen, Garcia and Harrington - amongst others, but where is Tiger Woods?

A spokesman for Woods steps up to a podium to address the press and explains that Woods slipped on a wet patch of grass near the 9th hole during a practice round and will likely miss the first match due to “General Body Soreness” and is listed as “day-to-day”.

Daytona 500

Moving along, we jump from Long Island to Daytona, Florida for the Daytona 500. We watch as many of the drivers circle the track during practice laps and notice that there are several drivers missing. Upon questioning, some of the reporters learn that Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip were all involved in a minor crash upon exiting pit road. Johnson and Waltrip will each miss one race with “lower body injuries” and are listed as “day-to-day”, while Earnhardt will miss 2-4 weeks with what is described as an “upper body injury”. Obviously, all three drivers will be out for the race - but it’s unclear when Dale Jr. will be returning, or for how many races he will be out.

2009 Yankees Spring Training

It’s spring training for the New York Yankees and Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter are the hottest 1-2 punch in all of the pre-season matches. There is a short hop that goes right between Jeter and A-Rod and they each dive at the ball and crash to the ground in a pile. Both players are extremely shaken up and A-Rod has a gash on his forehead that needs obvious attention. Jeter however, is grimacing but seems like he is ok and remains in the game. It is later announced that A-Rod has “concussion-like-symptoms” and will sit out indefinately until he is cleared to play. The season opens and Jeter struggles through the first half and his numbers are extremely low for that point of the season. He misses a few games after the all-star break for “upper-body-soreness” and returns to finish out the season. It is revealed after the Yankees miss the playoffs that Jeter suffered torn ligaments in his right shoulder and this impeded his play throughout the entire year. He undergoes surgery to repair the damage and recovers completely in time for the start of the next season.

I can go on and on for some of the other sports, but I decided to pick three of the top four rated sports in the Unites States for a reason. In each example, how ridiculous do the explanations given sound? Obviously, in each case the clear cut truth would be given so fans do not go crazy wondering why their favorite driver or player is not performing up to expectations. In each case there are examples REAL explanations given by NHL clubs over the past two seasons, right up to where we are with this season.

The NHL injury policy is complete bologna and shouldn’t be as veiled as it is. The only thing they are doing is making clubs and players appear completely foolish. Sure, it’s a rough league with loads of physical contact - but other leagues and sports handle injury reports just fine. Fans NEED and EXPECT information on their teams players - it’s part of the game. Knowing injuries helps dampen the reality of a team not playing well or a player under performing. In a time where the NHL is lower than the NBA and Pro-Beach Volleyball……they need to do everything they can to keep fans happy. If the NHL or the NHLPA feels that the players cannot be protected when returning from injury, there are bigger issues that need to be addressed. As Ken says, isn’t there a code of conduct among players that keeps them from taking cheap shots? Here is a freebie - you intentionally go after a player returning from injury, it is a mandatory 5-game suspension with forfeited pay - no appeals.

Do general managers and coaches really need that much extra help in regards to lineups that they need to make up stories about their players? Does it help on the score sheet or help win games? Look at the scoring in the NHL since the lockout - it’s still down despite all the crackdowns on obstruction. This latest trick won’t help them squeeze an extra win or two out of a season or keep their opponents guessing.

Sorry to say, no matter how vague an injury report is - anyone following a team close enough can figure out what the injury is anyway. This entire debacle is a giant, foolish waste of time and an insult to fans everywhere. When the U.S. Government offers up more information about formerly classified documents, don’t you think the NHL can allow complete disclosure with injury reports? Maybe some day, but until that day comes - at least you know my take on this whole ordeal.