Islander notes from June 2011

On June 20, 2011, Scott Gordon and Greg Cronin, former Isles head and assistant coaches were added to Brian Burke’s Toronto Mapleleaf’s coaching staff as assistants to head coach Ron Wilson.  Scott Gordon was head coach of the Islanders from 2008 until 2010.  Gordon has served under Brian Burke and Ron Wilson as a assistant coach for team USA hockey since 2009 with some success, including an Olympic silver medal in 2010.  Greg Cronin was an assistant coach for the Islanders for 5 seasons and head coach of the Soundtigers for 2 seasons in the AHL going 78-61-16-5.  Cronin was recently the head coach for the Northeastern Huskies men's hockey team.  On February 18, 2011, Northeastern announced Cronin would be suspended indefinitely due to possible recruitment violations.

Chris Botta reported that the New York Islanders would not make an offer to career Islander, Radek Martinek on a new contract.  A solid stay at home defensemen, Martinek’s stay on long Island though solid, was marred with injuries, costing him several man games per season, which seemed to multiply in recent seasons.  Martinek will be open to offers from all 30 teams as a UFA on July 1^st.

TSN.ca is reporting that the NHL Salary Cap is rising from last seasons $59.4 million dollar limit.  The increase is reported to be $4.6 million, so the cap will raise to $64 million for this season.  The Cap floor would increase in similar fashion going from $43.4 million from $48 million.  This could be seen as good news to Islander fans.  Management will now have to raise the salary level of the team and could potentially commit more money towards putting a winning product on the ice.  This is not to say that Charles Wang was ever against spending money for the Islanders to be more successful, quite the contrary.  Garth Snow has been quoted on several occasions with saying he had a green light to spend money if the right deal could be made to improve the team.  Now, there will just be more flexability to do just that and possible attract more proven free agents to the Island.  With last years surge and a new Arena vote looming, this summer could continue as an exciting and viable one for the Islander’s Organization.  Top free agents will be needed to complete the rebuild and allow the Islanders to take the next step into the playoffs and beyond.

A press conference has been scheduled at the Nassau Veterans’ Memorial Coliseum for tomorrow at 11 am to discuss the financial details of the new Arena proposal.  Updates will be posted, as they are made available to me.