Saturday, July 18, 2015

Islanders Off-Season 2015: Leblanc, QO's & Tyler Gianchetta



Louis Leblanc, 24, signed a one year/two-way contract with your New York Islanders.  Leblanc, the former 1st round pick (18th overall) of Montreal in 2009, had 14 & 15 for 29 pts with AHL’s Norfolk (Edmonton) last season. He should provide some solid depth to the organization with the Sound Tigers and be given a chance to improve his skating and overall game.  Arthur Staple adds, “Isles now have 4 of the top 18 picks from the 09 Draft in the org: Tavares, de Haan, Leddy and Leblanc.”  Leblanc earned USHL & ECAC rookie of the year, All-Rookie Team honors.  In international play, Leblanc won a silver medal with Team Canada (3 & 4 for 11 pts in 7 games) at the 2011 World Junior Championships.




Mike Halmo and Kevin Czuczman accepted their qualifying offers, Brock Nelson and Kevin Poulin did not.  A deal with Brock Nelson (20 & 22 for 42 pts in 82 games last season) will get done, but Kevin Poulin may not have the leverage required to stay in the Islanders organization.  Especially with the way Parker Milner and Stephon Williams played in Bridgeport last season.  The BST started the 2015-15 campaign with Kevin Poulin and David Leggio, but then made changes.  Milner, a former two-time champion with Boston College, went 4-2-0 with 2.95gaa and a .905 Sv% in eight games with the Sound Tigers last season while Williams was 3-1-0, 2.12gaa and 936Sv% after a stellar outing with Minnesota State at 25-6-3.  In any event, despite not signing their QO’s, Nelson and Poulin’s real deadline is the start of training camp on 9/17.  The Islanders have an organizational rule that a player who doesn’t sign by the start of camp sits out the season, ala Sean Bergenheim.



Tyler Gianchetta is a super fan of the New York Islanders.  On Wednesday, he and his mother Susan were involved in a car crash.  Despite having a broken wrist from the impact of the accident, he pulled his mother from the burning car on the Island before authorities arrived on the scene. An act of courage for anyone who finds themselves in his kind of situation.  "I am not a hero until my mom is OK," Tyler Gianchetta said.


Tyler told me his Mom had successful neck and hip surgery yesterday and is recovering comfortably today.  I know Tyler from his presence on Isles social media.  He handled himself in the crash just like he faces the challenges of Autism.  With courage.  And be sure he is a loyal and passionate Islanders fan who is all about supporting his team.


But today, Tyler had a message for Garth Snow, the Islanders team and his fellow fans everywhere.  “One of their biggest fans would love if they could pray for my mom and send their support however they can. I know they have to focus on their own stuff, but it would be great to know that I have their support.”






Isles Notes:



Final game from Isles mini-camp:  Team Blue 7, Team White 4 @AWQuine scores four goals, including a natural hat trick in the third period.




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