An independent blog on the New York Islanders, the NHL and AHL by a guy from New York.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

2014 Free Agency, Part 2


Garth Snow made a couple of deals on Day 2 of free agency.  He signed  C Mikhail Grabovski & F Nikolai Kulemin to 4-year contracts.  Solid work by the General Manager.  Grabovski gets $20 million over 4 years & Kulemin gets $16.75 million over 4 years.  I can't wait for all the tweets about how Snow overspent for these guys after some were claiming the organization was cheap, despite big offers to unsuccessfully sign top guys yesterday.  And to happen just hours after Snow was being bashed across twitter and in the hockey media for an incomplete showing on Day 1.  Not everything needs to be done in the first day and Snow has shown in the past that he has the  patience to wait for what he wants.  A little too much patience if you ask me.  



Garth Snow was quoted as saying, "It's like fishing. You put your line in the water and you hope for some nibbles. We got two big bites today."  Both of these forwards will give the Isles more punch and they will fill out the offensive snarl quite nicely.  Arthur Staple made a good point when he said, "Both Kulemin and Grabovski played for Isles asst. Greg Cronin with the Leafs. Have to believe he pushed hard for both."  This probably had something to do with the signings.  Neither contract has no-trade clauses from what I understand.  Even better.
 

Mikhail Grabovski, C - 4yrs @ $20M
 
The 30 yr old Grabovski has scored 107g, 252 pts in 425 NHL games. He had 13g, 22a, 35 pts +/- +6 last year for Washington.  He has had 3 20+goal seasons (29g in '10-11). Last was in '11-12 per Dan Savarino.  Grabovski has represented Belarus 9 times in international play and won a gold medal in the 2004 WJC.


Nikolai Kulemin, LW - 4yrs @ $16.75M

Kulemin, age 27, scored 20 points (9 & 11) in 70 games last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs.  He has 195 points (84 goals, 111 assists  in 421 career NHL games.  His  career best came in 2010-11, when he recorded career highs in goals (30), assists (27) and points (57) in 82 games. In International competition, Kulemin represented Russia in this years' Olympic games & won a gold medal in the 2014 WC.  In six international tournaments, he has two gold, one silver and one bronze medal.



Your New York Islanders have a much improved team and will most likely use the next few weeks to deal for their missing piece on defense.  This can be accomplished by using their surplus of veteran and prospect pieces.  Their NHL line up has the most depth it has seen in years, especially in goal.  And don't forget that with enough solid veteran presence, the BST's should be able to concentrate on developing prospects and making a push for the Calder Cup instead of playing for the Islanders.
 

 
Day 2 was better than Day 1.  I wonder what will happen on Day 3?
 


 


Isles Notes:

 
Per Anthony Stabile, "Isles are now 22nd in overall payroll after today's signings and Grabovski, Kulemin, Tavares, Bailey and Halak's deals all end at same tim


Islanders announce mini-cap roster.







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