Wow, has it really been since the 11th since I’ve updated this?  Wow, well I do have my European trip excuse.  Which was beautiful by the way.  Not much has happened in Islanders Country since I’ve been gone, and I guess you can say that’s a good thing.

Onto some news, it looks like the Islanders will visit the Bridge again this preseason for an exhibition game against the Devils.  This will be the second year in a row that these two teams will be tilting at Harbor Yard.  I, for one, love these games and it brings up some fond memories for me.  the first game I covered was an Islanders preseason game at Bridgeport in 2003 against the Boston Bruins.  I remember it vividly…Islanders 5-3 win over the Bruins, Steve Stirling led the Islanders to a perfect 7-0 preseason that year.  Ah…the memories…

Oh, more good news.  I’ve been named as one of the first members of the NYI Blog Box!   I’m very excited for the opportunity, and in kind, have created my own blog, The Tiger Track.  Over at the Tiger Track, I’ll be focusing on all the former Sound Tigers that are now playing with the New York Islanders in the NHL.  Guys like Trent Hunter, Chris Campoli, Sean Bergenheim, Wade Dubielewicz, and much more.

I’ll also be doing some retrospectives on some of the greatest games from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers last season as well, from my perspective as a writer being enthralled with the action.  It should be fun.  I’ll place a link in the sidebar as well for easy clicking.  And you’ll be sure I’ll be pimping it every chance I get!

That’s it for now, I’ll be back very soon…

Well guys, I’ll be leaving for Europe in about two hours, so just wanted to stop by and say I’ll be gone for the next week and a half-two weeks.

So be good!

See you then!

(Yeah, Chris Botta stole my would-be-”Slapshot” reference!)

Well, what a couple of days can do for Islanders fans. Just a few days ago, Isles fans were writing this team off as quickly as their income taxes with the departures of Smyth, Blake, Kozlov, Poti, and Zednik, and honestly, I didnt blame them. I was on the “Rome is burning” bandwagon just like everyone else, but I also held out hope as well that Garth and Teddyhad some sort of plan in their back pockets.

Billy Guerin and Mike Comrie instantly make up for the goal production lost from Blake and Smyth.  Ruslan Fedotenko is almost a perfect replacement for Kozlov, providing that he can return to his 26-goal form in the 2005-2006, plus he seems like a player that Ted Nolan can get the most out of with his speedy and relentless play.  And Jon Sim is a nice little gritty 3rd-4th line center that can pop 10-15 goals.

I think this team is getting better and better.

Also have some other minor signings and trades to report and analyze.  I will get to that in a bit.

Until then…

Nope, that’s not referencing Toronto Blue Jay’s DH Frank Thomas, but for many Islander fans, July 1 really feels like a kick in the proverbial gut.

July 1 is free agent day, and the rumours were flying.  Excitement was in the air at Islanders Iceworks during the Islanders Prospect Camp.  But as the day progressed for Isles fans, the news got dimmer and dimmer…very…slowly…

Lets take a look at who has been lost…

~Jason Blake - Toronto (5 yrs./$20 mil)
~Viktor Kozlov - Washington (2 yrs./$5 mil)
~Richard Zednik - Florida (2 yrs./$3 mil)
~Tom Poti - Washington (4 yrs./$14 mil)

and finally… Ryan Smyth - Colorado (5 yrs./$31.25 mil)

Now, I totally can live with the loss of Zednik (who wasn’t even qualified) and Kozlov.  They won’t be missed much by me.  Poti’s loss hurts, but IMO, he’s not worth $3.5 million a year.  He needed another year to prove that worth.  The loss of Blake was obviously expected, and I wasn’t surprised to see the five years out there.   The Smyth loss though, that hurt the most.  I knew Colorado was the obvious suitor that was trying to lure Smytty away, so that wasn’t surprising.  The fact that surprises me is that Smytty took LESS money to go to Colorado, as opposed to stay here on Long Island.  One would think where Smyth was traded from Edmonton because he wasn’t being offered enough money, that would go to the team that offered him more.  We always knew to expect the unexpected with the ISlanders, and this one certainly came as a shocker for sure.

But now, the Isles have some serious issues to address.  They just lost this season their top three scorers (Smyth [granted w/ EDM], Yashin, Blake), their most reliable defenseman (Poti), and another 20-goal scorer (Kozlov).   When you look around the league, I see the Flyers getting Briere for a ridiculous 8-year deal, the Rangers inking Drury and Gomez, Kariya (who was strongly rumoured as a potential backup to Smyth) going with St. Louis, and all the Isles have to show for it is Jon Sim.  Not a very impressive opening IMO.

Garth and Co. better be making waves instead of splashes now, because the pool is draining…