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CHICKENS COMING HOME TO ROOST: Isles Lose, DP To Be Shutdown? Wade On Call? |
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Last night we had a live blog. I'd like to thank all those that participated. It is always nice to get a good response. Scott and I also like to thank the Isles Blog Bloxers for coming in, Eklund, Jon Jordan, our forum mod JProbber, and the many Isles and NYR fans who stopped by.
You can read through the fun below. Below that is my latest blog about Wade, DP and other doings.
I'd also like to give a HUGE thanks to my readers of this blog who have come up to me during games, sent me emails, and on facebook. This blog got half a million hits last year. An Islanders blog, no less. This all from relatively very little when I started.
Thank you. What an amazing ride it has been, and it continues to be.
You got to give it to Greg Logan. The Newsday Islanders beat writer is off for a few days after on the road with the Isles, and then comes up with a doozey of a blog return last night that Garth has contacted Wade Dubielewicz and his agent.
I won't say I told you so about Rick DiPietro's too-quick throw into the mix. It is likely more complicated when a surgical repair is not going as planned on the rehab. But what I will say is that it seems to me that Rick's body is telling Rick exactly who is boss.
Those on the Tavares and Hedman watch are likely happy with this pronouncement. As are those who are tired of the Isles seeming to cater to their franchise goalie whims. He is just a player on a team like everyone else. The team and Rick's own long term health must take precedence.
But when Joey MacDonald versus the Rangers last night went down with a groin injury, it was the topper to a bizarre set of circumstances of injuries to the Isles that even Bill Guerin admitted in the lockerroom that he has never seen before.
Yann Danis came in cold, but played fairly well. The Isles got league permission to have Mike Dunham to be used in the pinch if Danis got hurt. He was half-dressed in the room just-in-case. The Isles seem a bit embarrassed by this reality, because no mention of it made their own online game report which was done by fellow Blog Boxer and all-around good-guy, Tom Liodice.
As the Isles fell to the Rangers in a pretty tight game, all focus seemed to be on other things internally. The DP story, Joey Mac, murmurs of Wade, the injuries, Sutton having surgery and to miss at least 8 to 12 weeks, all seem to have taken over than frustration of the loss.
I don't mean to be a killjoy, and I appreciate Wade's work in the pinch two years in a row. Wade, to many, is a type of player we all can identify with. He doesn't look like a hockey player. He looks like just anyone, yet performs when the chips are down. Just like Joey Mac.
I am not convinced that if Wade came here that he'd be anything more than a backup and insurance since Joey Mac has never dealt with the kind of workload that he has gotten thus far. Wade was recently bought out in thr KHL, where he was 2nd banana to Stanislav Galimov who was 16 wins and 3 losses. Dubie's own stats were 11 wins, 8 losses and a .892 Save pct.
What also speaks loudly is that the team does not seem that enamored with Yann Danis who hasn't seen action for over a month on the NHL level until last night.
But what does Wade feel after being upset by the two-way offer that he felt was unfair over the summer? Or when Garth Snow in his infinite wisdom dropped his personal opinion that he felt Wade came in out of shape at the beginning of last season. That comment seemed to be throwing Dubie under a bus unnecessarily and playing politics with his unhappy coach Ted Nolan. Especially when Dubie performed in the pinch once again.
So as Dubie looks at multiple offers, how fresh is that memory and how might it dictate what he chooses? And even then, his work in the KHL led to a buyout, so obviously he did not exactly have the type of season he wanted over in Russia. So even if he does come home, there are simply no guarantees. However, already his agent stated that "no bridges were burned". And the other day, Wade and his son visited the Bridgeport Soundtigers.
It will be very interesting to see what happens here. Stay tuned.
- BD
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