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The Klim Kostin experiment is over. Essentially getting Simek is getting an open spot as it looks like he’ll stay in the AHL. Not sure if this is for a callup or if there is something else going on. Still waiting for waiver report
This is a link to the waiver wire that was posted in yesterday’s entry. There
Isn’t much coming out of the Detroit office, and it doesn’t seem like there will be. Things change, and if a deal too good to pass on presents itself, we’ll find out.
There will be updates as the day progresses (if applicable). The waiver wire holds some interesting names but not necessarily anyone Detroit would (or could) grab without making some room. Vets like Gostisbehere or Perron may get some late attention as the activity this week has pulled a lot of desired targets off of the market. For anyone who missed it, Guentzel ended up going to Carolina.
Standings-wise, it was a mixed night. The Islanders are within two of both Tampa Bay (who lost last night’s game) and Detroit. Both the Isles and Wings have two games in hand over the Bolts (corrected from idiotic repeat of Wings, thank you loyal readers!) but Detroit needs to string together some points after a three game skid that has exposed the team’s frailty. There simply aren’t enough players able to step in and neutralize a physical push while contributing on the scoreboard. That brings us to the question mark of Berggren.
No word, no movement, just a note from 2/24 that the 4th period reported of a contract rejection along with some sort of tension between Berggren and the team. Grain of salt, as always. Unfortunately, if the team needs to get stronger along with goal scoring Berggren may not fit that vision. Marco Kasper (at last check) had 10 goals to JBs 19 with Carter Mazur sitting at 14. Kasper clocks in at 6’1” and may have some physical advantage in that area. Berggren is listed at 6’0” but doesn’t seem to bring that presence. Mazur is also listed at 6’ and seems to bring plenty of edge, sitting second in goals at 14.
Berggren is one of the last players standing from Holland’s tenure. Veleno, Rasmussen and Larkin have all found places this year but even after a season of service Berggren was bumped down in favor of newly acquired Kostin who hasn’t seen a lot of ice time and doesn’t seem to have worked out as hoped.
In short, this could be just another day with a late game (for the EST fans). Arizona dropped their contest last night but can’t be taken for granted. For the next 21 games, no one can. With the scramble on and Tampa (acquired Duclair late yesterday) not ready to be pushed out it will be a game by game crawl to the finish. The group wants badly to see the post season but isn’t at the point where it makes sense to part with players who want to stay and contribute and certainly doesn’t make sense to part with high draft picks.
We’ll see where it all lands as the team gets ready for a very different experience playing in front of up to 5,000 potentially screaming fans.