2 pm: AND THERE IT IS. Isles have indeed signed Ville Pokka to a 3 year entry level contract.
.
Pokka added 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in 16 playoff games to help lead Karpat to the 2014 Liiga Championship.
Well, that's good
It's 7:27 am and an hour ago, Bridgeport Sound Tigers beat writer Mike Fornabaio posted that @ak_bars_ru had announced they have signed Isles/SoundTiger goalie Anders Nilsson. As I can't find the damn translator right now, I have no idea what it says other than they signed him and there are his stats.
And look at Anders stats. The 6'5", 24-year-old from Sweden played 19 games last season in the NHL and was 8-7-2 with a save percentage of .896 and a 3.11 GAA. Anders was drafted in 2009 and I'm sure that he is not happy watching those drafted after him getting one-way NHL deals.
But look at his stats in Bridgeport. In 21 games he was 8-11-0 with an .899 save percentage.
Anders -- you still have much to learn.
At this stage, the Islanders need the best goaltending they can get for the money they are willing to spend. If that means that they have two veteran goaltenders in Halak and Nabokov, then that is what it is. Nilsson will return, and when he does, perhaps he will have a better understanding of the 'need' to win.
On the Defense front, the #SignPokka hashtag is gaining strength. But I have a question. I went looking at the other Islander defense prospects and found others with better numbers in their leagues this past regular season.
Pokka, the 20-year-old from Finland played 54 games and had 6 goals, 8 assists and 21 points. Not bad. But Kyle Burroughs, a year younger, played for Regina and played 58 gams with 8 goals and 32 assists for 40 points.
Adam Pelech, 19-years-old playing for Erie, played 60 games with 23 goals and 40 assists as did Ryan Pulock for Brandon in 63 games. That's pretty good, isn't it?
On the other hand, Griffin Rheinhart, Captain of the Memorial Cup winning Edmonton Oil Kings played in 45 reguarl season games with 4 goals and 17 assists. In the playoffs, in 21 games he had 4 goals and 9 assists for 13 points.
Now I know why Jeff Marek and crew were saying they needed to see more from him.
Let's see what happens the rest of the day!
New York Islanders Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»