The Day After

Luckily this was not the scene last night at Nassau Coliseum. The Islanders were in tune with the wants of most of their fans. While everyone was happy that the team was able to trade up to pick number 12 (from 26). There are starting to be rumblings about why they traded that high to pick defenseman Calvin De Haan and the associated cost in picks. My thoughts remain that they really like De Haan and they had a lot of picks (to spare?) obtained in last year's draft. My sober conclusion the day after is that they could have obtained De Haan at pick 16 and they did not need to trade up further to pick 12.

Courtesy of Wikipedia, here are the details the Islanders two moves to trade up from 26 to 12.

1. The Minnesota Wild's first-round pick went to the New York Islanders as the result of a trade on June 26, 2009 that sent a first-round pick (#16 overall), a third-round pick (#77 overall) in 2009 and a seventh-round pick (#182 overall) in 2009 to Minnesota in exchange for this pick.

2. The Columbus Blue Jackets' first-round pick went to the Minnesota Wild as the result of a trade on June 26, 2009 that sent a first-round pick (#12 overall) to the New York Islanders in exchange for a third-round pick (#77 overall) in 2009, a seventh-round pick (#182 overall) in 2009 and this pick. New York previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on June 26, 2009 that sent a first-round pick (#26 overall) in 2009, a second-round pick (#37 overall) in 2009, a third-round pick (#62 overall) in 2009 and a fourth-round pick (#92 overall) in 2009 to Columbus in exchange for a third-round pick (#77 overall) in 2009 and this pick

On to today's picks. I'm going to start by saying I am not a professional hockey scout and I do not know a lot about the players the Islanders are taking in rounds 2-7 so I will purely analyze the trades of picks and the positions that these players play. If I come up with any interesting tidbits as I am working, I will of course include them.

As I correctly predicted (not in writing, rather while lying in bed this morning) the Islanders used the first pick in the second round, 31st overall, to select a goaltender. I figured this based upon the fact that it is general knowledge that Islanders needed depth in goal and that they picked a forward and a defenseman in the first round. The pick was 6'7" 20 year old Finnish goaltender Mikko Koskinen.

The Islanders traded their remaining second round pick (#56) to the Columbus Blue Jackets to reacquire the first pick in the third round (#62) and the first pick in the fourth round (#92). Please note that their were 31 picks in the second round due to the compensatory pick awarded to the New York Rangers as a result of untimely and sad death of their 2008 first round pick Alexei Cherepanov.

At the start of the third round, the Islanders held picks #62 and #91 (#91 was obtained in the trade that send Bill Guerin to the Pittsburgh Penguins in March 2009). With the first pick in the third round (#62), the Islanders select...another goaltender, 6'5" Swedish goaltender Anders Nilsson. Well that is the second goaltender the Islanders have picked which speaks volumes about how General Manager Garth Snow feels about goaltenders and about one particular goaltender. The Islanders then traded pick #91 to the Phoenix Coyotes for their third round pick in the 2010 NHL Draft.

At this point in the draft the Islanders had three remaining picks. The first pick in rounds four through six (#92, #122, #152).

With their fourth round pick (#92), the Islanders selected 5' 10" center Casey Cizikas. Cizikas played junior hockey last season with the Mississauga St Michael's Majors of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).

With their fifth round pick (#122), the Islanders selected 6'1" Russian defenseman Anton Klementyev.

With their sixth round pick (#152), the Islanders selected Anders Lee. Lee is a 6'2" center out of Edina High School in Minnesota. Per Chris Botta of Islanders Point Blank, there is a good chance that Lee could end up choosing football over hockey.


The draft appears to be complete at this point for the New York Islanders unless there are any last minute trades made to obtain additional picks. I want to give special thanks to the New York Islanders, Chris Botta of Islanders Point Blank and B.D. Gallof and the crew at Islanders Independent for an exciting draft night and an exciting week leading up to the draft.

All Hail Garth Snow

So I am home now from the Draft Party at NVMC. It was quite a night. I was correct in my prediction that the Islanders would select John Tavares. Now it is not like that was a big reach, so I do not take credit here, but I am glad that Garth Snow and Ryan Jankowski did not go against the grain.

It is such a wonderful night to be an Islanders fan. The moves the Islanders made to go up to pick 12 and select Calvin De Haan came at a very reasonable cost. For all of those who were apoplectic at last years moves to trade down and select Josh Bailey, this is what it was all about.

For all the doubters out there, let it be known that Garth Snow has proven himself to be a smart General Manager. Yes, this last year, the Islanders had to suck on Chef's Salty Chocolate Balls in order to get the first overall pick in the draft. That being said, when you combine the moves and picks in the last two drafts (there are still 6 more rounds left in this draft), my respect for our starting goalie cum backup goalie cum General Manager has just increased significantly.

Further analysis to come over the weekend. Have Stanley Cup (in a few years) dreams tonight.

Updated Estimate

With over 24,000 tickets given away for the draft party, I am upping my estimate to 8,000 - 10,000 people in attendance for the draft party.

Also of course I am going to reiterate what I said back in April. It is this bloggers humble opinion that the Islanders will select John Tavares with the first overall pick in the draft.

Other than that, I am starting to get inpatient waiting for my friend John to arrive so we can leave for the Draft Party. Of course he said between 5:30 and 6:00 so I guess I should just settle down!

MadMen

I may be a bit late on this considering Chris Botta's post on this subject today, but considering I posted a similar theory on the comment section of his blog yesterday, I'm not feeling very plagiaristic about it. Also, I have a different take on the subject.


The Public Relations/Advertising team with the Islanders are touting that 11,000 fans have grabbed their free tickets for the Islanders Draft Party scheduled to take place at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (NVMC) on Friday June 26th. This sounds like a lot of Islanders fans are very excited about the upcoming draft, which is absolutely true. But there is a catch to this public relations ploy.

Public Relations or PR men are a lot like advertising men who are also known colloquially madmen. They spin truth and facts about a product or event to show it in the best light and generate a buzz. Nothing wrong with this in my opinion. After all we live in a capitalistic society. However as a consumer, one should always be aware of this.

So "More than 11,000 Islanders fans have gotten their free tickets" Really? I find this rather entertaining. I would say that the whole reason why you need a ticket is so they can post this little factoid on the Islanders website. I assure you the number will keep going up taboot. After all it was only 10,000 yesterday.

So let's look at the reality of the situation. By going through the Islanders website, you can request up to six free tickets per customer. So let's use myself as an example. I requested six tickets. There is a chance, that I may use all six, but I consider it unlikely. To use all six, my son would need to attend the Draft Party after the Islanders Spring Hockey League "picnic" which coincidentally takes place at NVMC immediately before the Draft Party. My son is 14 and most likely would rather hang out with his friends on the first Friday after school ends. My girlfriend would have to be able to attend and that is iffy since she has responsibilities to her 15 year old daughter as well as to her aging father. The aforementioned 15 year old daughter would have to attend (see the comment about my son). Then my friend John would need to attend and bring either his wife or son or both. If all the above came we would need one extra ticket. I think it more likely that it will just be me and John. If that happens than four of the six tickets requested will go to waste. Using myself as a microcosm and assuming that most people requested six tickets just because they could, then 11,000 becomes 3,666.

That is one way of looking at it. There is also the possibility that many folks requested six (or even less) tickets for themselves and their friends not knowing that their friends have likewise done the same thing. Say a group of four friends, that always go to games together, each requested four tickets, not knowing that each of them has requested the tickets. All four friends are going to go to the Draft Party, but then twelve tickets will go to waste. Using this example, 11,000 becomes 2,750.

Both of the above examples do not take into account that some folks may have requested tickets on the chance that they might want to go to the Draft Party, but will then decide that they do not feel like going that night and being accosted by Sparky and his sweaty paws.

I think it likely that their will be approximately 3000 - 4000 people in attendance. Your thoughts? Hello? Is there anybody out there?

So Nice

I went to see the Mets play today on Mother's Day with my lovely girl Trish who is a fantastic Mom. When we drove into the parking lot, I thought I had taken a wrong turn and arrived at the Domino's headquarters. When we walked into the main entrance and were going up the escalator, I cracked that I felt like I was in a shopping mall. And that is true, but it was a very upscale baseball oriented shopping mall that I was imagining. When we entered an elevator to go up to our seating level (Excelsior), Trish was very confused about the nicely dressed elevator attendant that was pushing the buttons and announcing the levels. To her it just seemed out of place, and to be honest, it did to me too. Picture yourself walking in circles on concrete ramps as you have so many times in the past (if you are baseball or football fan, or if you've seen concerts at the old NY stadiums). Definitely an interesting start to our day at Citi Field.

When we got off the elevator on the 5th floor (Excelsior), I immediately started going towards what I knew was the third base line side of the field. I brought us right to our seats and we sat down and started watching the game. Trish turned to me and said that it seemed like I knew exactly where I was going. I told her that the signage was great and it was very easy to know where you were going if you knew your section number.

After a few innings we decided to take a walk out to out Taste of the City section and walkway behind the outfield. As we first entered the Left Field side of the walkway, I was immediately struck by how it reminded me of KeySpan Park in Coney Island, but of course this is the Major Leagues and it was so much better. It is very cool that they have a lot of tables out there and cup holders for people that lean against the rails. The auction table is in an unobtrusive segment of the walkway and is not a major impediment. It was really nice to be able to just walk around and see the game and check out the accouterments all at the same time.

We returned to our seats for the last few innings and had a good day at TARP field. Being a Yankees fan. I am rather disappointed that I saw the Mets new home before I saw a game at the new Yankee Stadium. That is what a rainout will do to you as I had tickets for last Sunday's Yankees game that was rained out.

My point with this post is remind myself and others what an outdated dump NVMC is and state that the Islanders badly need a new or renovated home. If it takes surrounding infrastructure to make that happen, so be it. Remember folks, the Lighthouse is a privately funded project and not coming out of your tax money.

Draft Choices

As all Islanders fans know at this point, the Isles indeed won the first overall pick in the upcoming NHL Amateur Draft. As I expected, Garth Snow did not follow the lead of Tampa Bay and announce their intention to draft any particular player, whether it be John Tavares or Victor Hedman or anyone else.

Anyone that has followed the Islanders for the last few seasons should know that Islanders are following a very corporate model of not discussing their internal discussions with the media. They also seem to keep their options open. That being said, unless the team is completely blown away with an offer, expect the Islanders to indeed make the first pick in the draft and pick John Tavares.

If you read between the lines of various interviews with Garth Snow, they expect to use that pick wisely. He has stated in multiple interviews that will be getting a great player. Not a good player, not a player with leadership ability, not a player with promise...a great player. Here is a link to an interview yesterday afternoon with Garth on Toronto's AM640 as an example.

http://www.640toronto.com/HostsandShows/LeafsLunch/Audio.aspx

More to come in the next weeks and months folks.

Entry Level Igloo

Per Chris Botta of Islanders Point Blank, the Islanders have signed two of their amatuer prospects to three year entry level contracts in the past two days. Mark Katic (3rd round - 2007) and Justin Dibenebetto (6th round - 2008), who both have been playing for the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario (Junior) Hockey League are now both Islanders "property" and will both get an opportunity to play with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers for the end of this season on Amatuer Try Out agreements.

With the season ending wrist fracture suffered by Blake Comeau on Tuesday night, Mike Iggulden gets the call from Bridgeport for tonight's game in Pittsburgh versus the Penguins. Jesse Joensuu, Joel Rechlicz and Mitch Fritz all stay up with the Islanders for tonight's game as well.

The Islanders can clinch the top seed in next Tuesday’s NHL Draft Lottery and are guaranteed a top 2 pick if one of the following three things occur:

1) The Islanders lose in regulation to the Penguins tonight

2) The Islanders lose in overtime or a shootout / Tampa Bay gets one point tonight versus Washington

3) Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitols tonight

8:17 PM At 5:06 of the first period, Frans Nielsen scores a powerplay goal to make it 1-0 Islanders. Franzie was assisted by Doug Weight and Josh Bailey. At 14:15, after another juicy Joey MacDonald rebound, Philippe Boucher scores for Pittsburgh to tie the game 1-1. You gotta love Jiggs...Sean Bergenheim just "rang the chimes". Tie game to end the first period.

9:12 PM At 3:51 of the second period, Pascal Dupuis scores for Pittsburgh to retake the lead, 2-1. At 8:19, Matt Cooke scored make the score 3-1 Penguins. That's the way the period ends. Tampa Bay is losing by the same score to Washington.

10:04 PM At 11:08 of the third period, after a nice pass from Sydney Crosby, Bill Guerin scores to give Pittburgh a 4-1 lead. At 12:36, Sergei Gonchar scores a powerplay to make the lead 5-1. At 16:58, Tyler Kennedy scores to add to the humiliation and make the score 6-1 Penguins.

The Islanders have clinched 30th place in the NHL for the season. They are now guaranteed to have the first or second overall pick in the draft. 48.2% chance of obtaining the first pick in the draft lottery to be shown on Versus this Tuesday at 8:00 PM.