Isles Mini Camp & Beyond

Today was the first day for your New York Islanders Mini Camp.  The teams recent draft picks, prospects and local invitees hit the ice NVMC for a week of instruction from Islanders and BST coaches alike.  Conditioning and media requirements were the tasks of the day and several members of the Isles media were there to "see what they could see."

With the rumors of Garth Snow standing pat with his current defensive line up, fans will wonder if guys like Reinhart, Pulock & Brennan are enough to fix the Isles defense (and power play) this season?

Along with de Haan, Mayfield & Czucman, the youthful look defense has talent, but falls short on experience even if Visnovsky can stay off the IR.  Travis Hamonic & Thomas Hickey will certainly play to the level we are accustomed to seeing, but we will have to see what the roles of Strait & Carkner will be on the Isles blue line.

 

On the prospect depth at defense, Arthur Staple made some notes on the training results of some top defensive prospects.  "Ville Pokka now 6-0/194 (was 5-11/200), A. Pelech 6-3/220 (was 6-2/215), R. Pulock now 6-2/212 (was 6-1/218), G. Reinhart up to 217 from 202."

 

But defense isn't the only thing being watched closely in camp.  After the success had by young guys like Strome, Lee and Nelson last season, the Isles will examine all their options throughout the summer before finalizing their 2014-15 roster.  Snow, on Josh Ho-Sang: "Probably has the most talent of anyone in that entire draft."  With all the fan fare of Dal Colle & Ho-Sang attendance, the entire group of young forwards have something to prove.  Per Daniel Friedman, "One of the more intriguing invites is Thomas Ebbing. Was the top NCAA forward on Central Scouting's midterm rankings."  S. Collberg and K. Schempp are injured, but participating in prospect camp.

Veteran players like McDonald, Boulton and even Conacher may find themselves having to work extra hard to make the line up.  And despite what has been said, don't discount a big trade possibility well into the start of the season with too many players on the current roster.  Team Management has shown a more aggressive stance this off season and have partially silenced some of their critics by their signings and drafting this summer.  Capuano has more to work with this season, so lets see if he can accomplish more with the new look Islanders.  Success will start with accurately evaluating the prospects in camp and Thursdays scrimmage.

 

Isles Notes:

Per Arthur Sttaple, "Isles have added former NHLer Marty Reasoner to player development staff. Will be working mostly with prospects in BPT."

Islanders Announce Affiliation Agreement with ECHL @StocktonThunder for Second Season.

 

 

Per Andy Graziano, "Isles beat out 4 teams for Grabo/Kulemin. One of them his agent called a 'great team'. Per Chris Johnston."

Garth Snow said Barclays played a big role in signing Grabovski and Kulemin.

Per Brian Compton, "Hearing that Frans Nielsen is not and will not be in play. Garth still has plenty of assets, though."

Isles Goaltender, Kevin Poulin filed for salary arbitration on July 5th.

Per Darren Dreger,"If Halak is as good as we've seen him be in the past then there no reason to think that Isles can't be a playoff contending team."

"I think this team will be in a position to perhaps surprise some people."

Per Chris Botta, "Wang I believe is not convinced that he's ready to completely walk away from the team, or at least as majority owner."

Per NHLFREEAGENTS, "Pierre-Marc Bouchard signed by ZUG of the NLA (Swiss) to a one year contract.

 

 

NHL Notes:

 

Pat Lafontaine is back with the NHL, rejoining the Deputy Commissioner's Office as VP of Hockey Development and Community Affairs.