Frans Nielsen: The Great Dane

Your New York Islanders are 16-8-5 with 37 pts in the NHL standings.  That puts them 3rd in the Metro at just 3 points behind the first place Capitals, and sitting 4th in the eastern conference.  Their play hasn’t been perfect, but they are 6-2-2 in their last 10 games and on a 6-0-2 non losing streak.  The Isles are on an 8 game point scoring streak and are at a season high 8 games over the NHL .500 mark.  It is a bit concerning that they have blown leads and have been subjected to 4 consecutive O.T./Shootout games (Including a victory against the Rangers) while being out-shot by a 16-8 margin in those extra sessions.  Per Eric Hornick, they are now the winning-est NHL team (67 wins) in the shootout.  Their recent defensive game and particularly from the net out has been the primary reason for their success with Jaroslav Halak winning his last 2 shootout appearances. Halak made 43 saves in the last win against the Flyers, his most as an Islander, and improves to 8-4-3 on the season.  Although offensively, while their primary scoring has been struggling, the Isles secondary scoring has improved. But their tendency to take the sloppy and untimely penalty (like 2 too many men penalties in last 2 O.T. periods) has made closing and winning games much more difficult than it should be.  But they are getting points and staying close to the top of the division.  I wrote about the goal-tending tandem being the primary reason for the team’s success in a prior article, but there is a particular player who is making a major statement on the offensive side of the ice for the Islanders this season.

Frans Nielsen will be an unrestricted free agent heading into next summer and is sure to get a raise from his current $2.75M salary from the Islanders or anyone else.  When they selected him 87th overall in the 3rd round of the 2002 NHL entry draft, they probably didn’t realize that he would be one of the most consistent players for the modern day Islanders franchise.  He is certainly reaffirming his quality as one of the standout players for his team with 11 & 10 for 21 points and a +4 in 29 games on the season.  As a complete two way threat, Nielsen seems to be getting better each and every season.  In last night’s win, Nielsen scored twice and was a major component in the team preserving the win.  That puts him one goal behind John Tavares for the club lead and one point behind Kyle Okposo & John Tavares for the team lead in points. 

Whether it’s his fan dubbed, “Danish backhand of judgement,” his five-hole shot or are n improvisation of the moment, Nielsen has all hockey fans eyes glued to the ice when his number is called in the Isles shootout rotation.  And it doesn’t seem to matter that goalies know what shots are coming.  Nielsen’s proficiency in the shootout (33/60) has also been a major contributor for his team’s success in that area and their ability to hold on and win when it counts.  His success rate remains as the NHL record holder in shootout goals (all-time), and game deciding (shootout) goals.

How Frans Nielsen will finish the season and what will happen over the summer isn’t known to us at this point.  But his character and commitment to his craft is beyond question and out of anyone who has worn the orange and blue in the last 13 years, I hope he can stay with this team for a long time to come.

Isles Notes:

From a historic standpoint (Hornick), Frans Nielsen’s 110 goals has him 25th all-time for the NYI, and just 6 behind Ray Ferraro.  He tallies 208 assists, good for 16th all-time and 29 behind John Tavares.  That’s a total of 318 points.  19th all-time for the Islanders, 9 behind Kyle Okposo and 13 behind Ziggy Palffy in 554 games played, ranking him 15th among Islander skaters and 40 behind John Tonelli.

Sound Tigers Notes:

The Sound Tigers are 15-9-1-0 on the season, beating Hartford by a 4-2 score on Sunday.

NHL Notes:

NHL exec committee member says no discussion on when vote on expansion will happen. There was only information passed on to board during Monday’s meetings.

The range on next year’s salary cap was given out, with high number of $74.5M.