Thurs 1:09 pm: After practice today, Michael Grabner was asked how he felt about playing with his new linemates, Josh Bailey and Matt Martin. He said he "no, Bales has pretty good speed and so does Marty. I'm just going to try to open up room for them with the D to do their thing out there and try to use my speed."
Jack Capuano is hoping that line changes will increase secondary scoring. Grabner said he feels if they get back to "the little things" that will happen. Somehow those little things are really big things when it comes to putting the puck in the net.
P.A.Parenteau said that a little change never hurt anyone and that it had worked earlier this season. "So why not. We haven't been scoring many goals as a team, so I think it's a good idea to mix it up a little bit." With PA's new linemates of Rolston and Nielsen, he said he felt they played well together earlier in the season. "I think we match up pretty well together."
We'll see.
When Peter asked PA how the team could get consistency, he told him if he knew he'd be a genius. "It has to come from everybody. Everyone on the team...."
So are we getting the feeling that there really IS a problem with work ethic and that is why there is no secondary scoring?
Thurs 10:18 am: In a surprise move (NOT!), Jack Capuano announces that Evgeni Nabokov will start tonight. Look for tonight's lines to be: Moulson-Tavares-Okposo; Rolston-Nielsen-Parenteau, Grabner-Bailey-Martin (oooo Promostion for MattyMarts17) and Wallace-Reasoner-Niederreiter.
Thurs 9:54 am: David Ullstrom has been placed on IR retroactive to Dec 20th with his concussion. I take it this means David will be out for at least another week, if not more. Brian Rolston has been removed from IR and as we said yesterday will more than likely play tonight.
*Okay, difference of opinion or just my lack of knowledge of how IR works. I thought being on IR meant two weeks, but Kevin Schultz (IPB-lite) said putting Ullstrom on IR means he could come off at any time providing there is room for him in the line-up. I like Kevin's idea better of course because Ullstrom was effective.
Wed 10:40 pm: The Calgary Flames visit Uniondale on Thursday for the only time this season. The Islanders have taken four of their last five meetings, however the Flames are currently at 40 points to the Isles slumping 28 however the Flames are in their own injury hell just as the Isles are.
From the NHL.com preview by Matthew Mankiewich
Alex Tanguay (upper body) did not make the trip with the Flames. Matt Stajan (ankle) is still on the mend after missing four games so far. Mark Giordano (hamstring) is skating and making progress but has no set return date. Goalie Henrik Karlsson (knee) will soon start skating with a brace, while Anton Babchuk (broken hand) has been cleared to play but has yet to crack the lineup.
The Isles still are without Al Montoya due to concussion along with David Ullstrom. Rick DiPietro skated today with the team but is not ready to return and only Brian Rolston of the walking wounded could be ready for tomorrow’s game.
While the game itself should be interesting, there‘s a sub plot here. Jay Feaster just passed his first year mark as the Flames GM. He too is not very happy with his team‘s current standing, even though they are even with the Predators for the eighth playoff spot in the West.
Also from the NHL.com preview is this quote from Jay Feaster:
"I think I read today that we're five points ahead of last year's pace. That's not good enough," Feaster said. "It's a situation where we're not where we want to be. We expect to be a playoff team, so there's a lot of work that needs to be done. That's the focus all the time."
Well, this afternoon in Uniondale, another General Manager said basically the same thing.
“Like our fans, our season ticket holders, it’s unacceptable that we stand where we are. Everyone in that room and on the staff is disappointed. We’re trying to get this ship headed in the right direction.” Garth Snow told Chris King at the beginning of his GM Show iTV interview.
Whether they can right the ship or not, they are running out of ocean. One fan’s question laid Garths’ own words at his feet. Where is the quality defenseman he was supposed to acquire? He talked about letting Radek Martinek and Jack Hillen go and acquiring Steve Staios and trading for Brian Rolston, “There were different ways we tried to skin a cat, but there wasn’t anything that made sense at the time to add a top pair defenseman and really the market was thin.”
On the bright side the emergence of Travis Hamonic at such a young age has been “a big boost to our organization. Sometimes you forget that Travis is in the second year of a three year entry level deal. He turned a lot of heads last year….”
Travis Hamonic not only turns heads he seemed to become the target of every zebra in the league.
The general manager answered quite a few questions and you can hear them all on the iTV replay of the interview. But for now, the Isles and the fans should concentrate on what’s ahead this weeks. The calendar really is just one page and 2012 is staring us in the face. It’s Thursday night against the Flames and on New Year’s Eve day, Ken Morrow will be inducted into the Isles Hall(way) of Fame. It should be a great afternoon of Islander memories from the glory days.
At some point, there will be more Islander glory days. Because history generally repeats itself.
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