Twitter and Follow the Action

I plan on going into more detail about how awesome Twitter is. It was great following the NHL Draft on it and it’s great following NHL Free Agency on it.  You get updates from multiple sources all in one place. Here are some quick and easy steps to get going.

1) Go to: www.twitter.com.

2) Sign up for an account (real easy a quick). Don’t get caught up setting up your tweeting page.

3) Go to my Twitter page and click on who I’m following. Scroll through and see who interests you. When you find someone, click on their page and then click the follow button.

4) Once you’ve picked who you want to follow, go back to twitter.com (make sure you’re still signed in) and you’ll get all your updates there.

Send me an e-mail if you need help.

Draft Observations – Part 2

The Goalie Odds

The Islanders drafted two goalies early on Saturday morning with Mikko Koskinen at # 31 in the second round and Anders Nilsson at # 62 in the third round. Add Stefan Ridderwall, a sixth rounder in 2006, and Kevin Poulin, drafted in the fifth round in 2008, the Islanders most likely have a starting or back-up goaltender of the future in their system.

Why am I so sure about that? Because teams are just as likely to find an NHL goaltender in the first or second round of the draft as they are in rounds three or four or five, six or seven.  Most goalies do bust before they get signed by their draft team, but by playing their odds over the last four draft, the Islanders have put themselves in good position to beat the odds.

Look at the 2001 draft:
- The Islanders drafted Rick DiPietro with the first overall pick. For better or for worse, he started an NHL All-Star Game and was the No. 1 goalie on the US Olympic team.

- The Calgary Flames drafted Brent Krahn ninth overall that year. He has played in one NHL game.

- Ilya Bryzgalov was drafted by Anaheim in the second round, 44th overall. Mathieu Chouinard was taken with the very next pick by Ottawa. That’s 189 NHL games vs. 1 NHL game, respectively.

- Peter Hamerlik (Pittsburgh, third round), Jean-Francois Racine (Toronto, third round), Stefan Liv (Detroit, fourth round) and a dozen more goalies were taken before the NY Rangers took Henrik Lundqvist in the seventh round, 205th overall.


All four Islanders prospect goalies I spoke about above could turn into busts. But with a wide selection of goalies, chances are one of them will make it. And with three of them European prospects, the Islanders will hold onto their rights for a long time unless a transfer agreement gets ratified by the IIHF.

Advantage: Islanders.

Draft Observations – Part 1

The reason why I didn’t comment on the this year’s draft before it began or during is two fold: 1) I had no idea what was going to happen and 2) If I guessed right, I didn’t want to be accused of actually knowing and spilling the pot. Bu it’s over now, so here we go.

Jordan Nolan, son of former Islanders head coach Ted Nolan, was finally drafted today by the Los Angeles Kings in the seventh round, 186th overall. This was Jordan’s third and final year of being draft eligible.

In 2007, Jordan’s first year of eligibility, father Ted told me he would be a mid-round selection. Unfortunately for the Nolan family, he went undrafted.

Last year, Ted told me he thought he would be a late round pick. He was a year off.

But this might be a good sign for the Nolan family as Jordan is 20 years old and teams do not usually draft 20-year olds if they do not intend to sign them sooner rather then later. This is somewhat reminiscent of when the Islanders drafted Chris Campoli in 2004 in the later rounds and had him playing in the AHL a few months later. Ditto for Steve Regier that year.

Actually, both Chris and Jordan both went undrafted in their first two years of eligibility, so you never know what can happen. 

Congratulation to the Nolan family.

Other Players from the ’03 Draft

Looking at the Islanders draft picks from the 2003 Draft and you can think to yourself what could have been. Jeremy Colliton (2nd round , 58th overall) still has potential to be an NHLer (even though he’s now in Europe) and the team struck gold with Bruno Gervais in the sixth round. But looking at where the team picked and who was picked right after, you can’t help but wonder what-if.

Aside from the Nilsson-Bernier-Parise slide in the first round, there are three more occurrences very similar later in the draft.

In the second round, the Islanders took a flyer on a Russian named Dmitri Chernykh at 48. Nashville picked Shea Weber at 49.

In the seventh round, the Islanders drafted Denis Rehak at 212. At 214 Edmonton grabbed Kyle Brodziak.

In the eighth round, the Islanders selected Cody Blanshan at 238. Atlanta took YoungStar Tobias Enstrom at 239.

Any draft could be labeled as missed opportunities for almost any team. If a team drafts two players that make a significant impact per draft, they did well. But the 2003 draft just makes you scratch your head. Probably just bad luck.

Luckily for the Islanders, it seems like they’ve righted their drafting ship in recent years, a big credit to Assistant GM Ryan Jankowski.  

’03 Draft Wasn’t Just About One Player

The 2003 NHL Entry Draft will always be remembered among Islanders fans as the draft the team passed up Zach Parise for Robert Nilsson. The first round of that draft might go down as one of the best ever. Corey Perry was drafted at 28, Mike Richards at 24. Anaheim, then Mightier, probably scored the best value picks with Ryan Getzlaf at 19 and then getting Perry nine selections better. Only one player has not played in the NHL from the first round of that draft -- Hugh Jessiman who was picked by the New York Rangers at 12.

To say the Islanders missed because they didn’t grab Parise isn’t wrong, but it’s not 100 percent correct either. The team missed back then because Steve Bernier was drafted right after Nilsson (and right before Parise), because of Getzlaf, Brent Burns (20th), Ryan Kesler (23rd), Richards, Perry and Patrick Eaves (29th) all went after Nilsson.  It was hard to miss in that round and unless Nilsson (a fine person off the ice) finds his desire to play in the NHL for an entire season, the Islanders did unfortunately missed out -- but not just because of Zach Parise.

Islanders fans gravitate toward Parise because his father J.P. once played for the team. It would have been a nice story to go along with a solid selection, but that cannot factor in to a team’s decision on a draft pick. It can’t even be a tie-breaker. Every team needs to draft the player they feel is the best available. Unfortunately, the team made a mistake. It’s not the first time that’s happened to a team – Hello Ryan Leaf and San Diego Chargers.

The Islanders are currently in a rebuilding phase. Everyone is in agreement that it was necessary for the franchise to resurrect itself. The fan support was tremendous this season, a year where the team finished dead last in the league. To say the fan base was onboard with the rebuild would be an understatement.

But when a team rebuilds, it must move on from previous mistakes. The San Diego Chargers aren’t dwelling on Fred Taylor or Randy Moss anymore – Just two guys they passed up when they selected Leafs and both have had NFL Hall of Fame careers. The Chargers rebuilt, got their new quarterback, fixed their mistake and have been a successful franchise.

While it hurts to see Zach Parise succeed only because he could have been Islanders and isn’t, it’s time for everyone – myself included – to move on.

You can’t move forward with the rebuild until the past has been let go of.

Draft Lottery News

Just as a general FYI: The NHL Lottery Draft Drawing has been tentatively scheduled to take place on Tuesday, April 14.

I'll assume it will take place in Toronto again and I'll hope Versus and TSN will televise it again this year.

Discuss this post at IslanderMania.com

The Jerseys Arrive in Ottawa

I arrived in Ottawa on Wednesday evening after spending two hours on the LaGuardia runway with my fellow Air Canada passengers. The “08” Islanders draft jerseys were with me and never left my sight.

I’d like to think I’m going to get a lot accomplished in my few days in Ottawa. From league meetings to making contacts with the national hockey media.. I’m going to have a busy few days. But none of that is important if I don’t have jerseys with the accompanying nameplates with me on Friday night when the Islanders select …. With the fifth overall selection in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

What am I talking about? I’ll explain.

A few weeks before the draft, I got a list of names from Hockey Operations with potential names of players we might draft in the first round. It’s pretty obvious stuff, especially when you’re drafting fifth overall.

We take those names and make up nameplates (the fabric that has the players name sown onto the jersey material). Each nameplate has Velcro attached to the back so I can throw the nameplate on the jersey when I get the heads up from Garth right before he announces our pick. It should look pretty seamless when Garth selects…

These names and subsequent nameplates are guarded closely. Not so much because I think someone will look at my nondescript duffel bag and steal them, but because at this point I can’t afford to lose them!

Just as I did in 2006 when Kyle Okposo was drafted, I didn’t let these nameplates out of my sight when traveling today. The nameplates and five jerseys sat in a small duffle bag right in front of my seat the entire flight. I’m not willing to take the chance and have it being lost with my luggage.

If there is one thing I do right in Ottawa it is to make sure I can make up the jersey for …. And hand it off to Garth on Friday night for announcement and presentation.

I’ll probably sneak under the draft table to keep it a secret as long as possible when I get the word and I’m going to do my best to put it on straight. (Back in ’06, I almost put Okposo’s nameplate on backwards since his name starts and ends with an “O” and a certain former GM was pushing me under the table to hide it from the TV cameras!)

And as always, I hope the nameplate stays on the jersey!

Pick # 73

We put a web story on NYI.com yesterday listing all of our draft selections this year. That included the team’s two third round picks. # 66 overall and # 73 overall.

But here’s how #73 read: #73 (Edm to NYI to Edm to Ana to NYI)

The team abbreviations in the parentheses are the previous owners of the selection. Yup, Pick # 73 has been moved four times to be owned five separate times.

Well, here’s the story behind Pick # 73 and how Marc-Andre Bergeron was involved.

----

The Edmonton Oilers were the original owners of the selection. Back on February 18, 2007, the Islanders acquired the # 73 draft pick and Marc-Andre Bergeron for Denis Grebeshkov.

However, in the summer of 2007, Edmonton wanted to make an offer sheet for Anaheim’s restricted free agent Dustin Penner. If you sign a restricted free agent, the signing team needs to give compensation to the team the player is being signed from. This is all negotiated in the CBA and the compensation is draft picks. But not any old draft picks. They have to be the team’s original draft picks.

So when Edmonton wanted to sign Mr. Penner to an offer sheet, they needed their original third round pick () back. You know, the one traded with Bergeron for Grebeshkov.

So Oilers’ GM Kevin Lowe swung a deal with Islanders GM Garth Snow on July 5, 2007 to acquire their original third round pick # 73 back (along with Allan Rourke) in exchange for a second round pick, which had no consequence on their offer sheet for Penner.

Edmonton signed Penner to an offer sheet and Anaheim declined to match the offer. So, in exchange for Penner, Edmonton had to give up a package of draft selections to Anaheim which included Pick #73.

But the story doesn’t end there.

At the trade deadline this past season, the Islanders traded Bergeron to Anaheim in exchange for Pick #73 on February 26. The Islanders got old #73 back. And it just so happens that Bergeron was traded only yesterday to Minnesota for … you guess it… a third round pick.

Fortunately, I don’t think the Islanders have any involvement with that third round pick.

Talking to prospects

It happens every year. It starts in February and gets heated up the weeks leading into the NHL Draft.

A reporter, or now blogger, hears that Team A spoke to Prospect X. And the reporter makes it seem like it is all but a forgone conclusion that Prospect X is going to Team A on draft day. You know, just because a scout from Team A was at a game for Prospect X and might or might not have spoken to him after the game.

In a nutshell, here’s how scouting works for the draft. Teams send scouts all over the world looking at players who are not only draft eligible this year, but in the coming years. So, when Team A’s scout goes to see Prospect X, he’s not only looking at Prospect X, but his teammates as well. But according to the reporter, Prospect X is the only one on Team A's radar. Chances are, the scout was there to look at Prospect X, but he wasn’t the only one to look at. And if you have ever been to a junior game, there is always a scout talking to a coach or a player after the game. It’s how they do their jobs. And it’s no secret.

This happened to the Islanders a few months ago. One of our scouts was at a game which a top-10 player in this year’s draft was playing in. Two days later I got a call from a reporter in that area saying “Hey, I heard the Islanders are looking at so-and-so…, Can I talk to someone about that?”.

Well of course we had a scout looking at him. He’s a top prospect for this year’s draft and we have a pretty high draft pick. So of course we’re going to look at him. And I’m sure the 29 other teams had a scout watch one of his games at some point.

So what am I trying to say here? Just because you read somewhere that the Islanders looked closely at this guy or that guy, just keep in mind that every team looks at as many players as they can and as closely as they can. Scouts try to get as much information as possible about these young kids so they can make educated recommendations come draft day.

Don’t get hyped up because someone is reporting that the Islanders looked at this guy "closely". Like the other teams, our scouts are just doing their job.

So, when draft day comes around, you can ask 10 different people who the Islanders are going to take and you’ll get 10 different answers, but they’ll all say: “I heard a scout for the Islanders looked at him closely. And I think they really like him and might take him at No. 5.”

Blog Box Hits the Road

We’ll go more in depth on NYI.com in the coming weeks, but NYI Blog Boxers Tom Liodice of The Tiger Track and Michael Schuerlein of IslesBlogger.com will be attending the NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa later this month. It’s a big step in the evolution of the Blog Box and I think they will do an excellent job of providing extra and different coverage for Islanders fans.


Also, our good friends at Islander Mania will be holding a tailgate party in the parking lot of the Coliseum before the Draft Party begins inside. For information on that, logon to Islandermania.com.