Yesterday, our
New York Islanders announced that 6’1, 201#, Kieffer Bellows agreed
to terms on a three-year, ELC. Son of former NHL’er, Brian Bellows, Kieffer was
a member of team U.S.A. National Development Program, where he helped his squad
win a gold medal at the U-20 WJC this year, netting 2 goals in the finals. He
also has an international bronze medal to his credit from the 2016 U18 WC with
5 & 3 for 8 pts. in 7 games at the tournament.
Per release, “A
native of Edina, MN, Bellows scored 81 points (50 goals, 31 assists) in 62
games while with the United States National Team Development Program in
2015-16. He finished second on the club in scoring and became just the fourth
player to score 50 goals in a season with the U.S. Under-18 team, joining Auston
Matthews, Patrick Kane and Phil Kessel.”
Bellows was the
Isles first round selection (19th overall) in the 2016 National Hockey League
Draft and had 14 points (7 & 7) in 34 games as a freshman with B.U. Bellows
said he wanted to commit to playing the 2017-18 season for the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL, so the timing of the signing was a bit of a
surprise to me. The only thing I could think of is that Bellows made an early
impression to where the Isles feel he could be used in Bridgeport (when eligible)
sooner rather than later, especially while they continue to observe if their
rosters meet expectations. While talented, Bellows needs more fine tuning
to play at the pro level and should be given every opportunity to develop
properly.
The Islanders
have been tuning up for their season with a rookie and team camp, and the
buzz is starting with fan favorites, and “could-be” future stars getting a look
by the staff and fans for the first time this summer. Per The Hockey News, the
Islanders finished tied for 3rd (Caps) with 199 even strength goals (Pens &
Wild) last season. Their PK is and has been very good. I think the ‘17-18 Isles
could just be a PP away from a dominant team in the east. Can Buchberger & Gomez
help put in the right man-up scheme in place for the team to take that jump and
can Eberle & possibly Pulock raise the bar enough offensively to help get
them there?
Our New York Islanders
started camp roster with 52 players: 31 forwards, 16 defensemen, 5 goaltenders per
Staple. Camp is a great way for the new coaching staff to gel, get to know
their veterans and prospects and come together on who will best fit the needs
of the new look team as they approach the 2017-18 NHL season. While the buzz on
the eventual signing of John Tavares lingers, the players and prospects seem eager to get things back on track in
Islanders country.
Arthur Staple
got a couple of quotes that caught my attention for sure. “Clutterbuck on
Sunday's Coliseum game: ‘It's the first time I've seen so many veterans say
they want to play the first preseason game." And with the vacancies and
injuries reported prior to camp, the prospects are fired up as well. “Scott
Mayfield on #Isles D:
"Everyone knows what Travis meant to the organization. But now there's
also a spot open there and I want it."
So the Isles
opened their preseason against the Flyers with a 3-2 OT win at the sold out (13,917) refurbished Coliseum. Hey followed up
with a controversial (goal disallowed) 1-0 OT loss to the Rangers, a split
squad 3-2 win and 3-2 OT loss against the Flyers. Last night against the Rangers, the Isles pulled
off a 2-1 win in Bridgeport in the Webster Bank Arena at Harbour yard. The warm-up
schedule finishes with the Devils in Brooklyn on Monday, at Sabres on Friday
and another tilt against the Flyers in Philadelphia on October 1st, before their
October 6th season opener at Columbus.
On the pre-season stat sheet, the Isles had some regulars and some exciting names contribute offensively
so far. Barzal, Beauvillier, Eberle, Lee, Pulock and Tavares all have 2 points
so far, with Barzal and JT scoring 2 goals each. Cizikas, Boychuk, Ladd and
Devon Toews all have a goal to their credit. In all, 17 players have registered
at least a point out of the 47 players to see varying degrees of action and
playing time during camp, including goalies.
Speaking of
goaltenders, Jaroslav Halak still has that axe to grind and he doesn’t seem to
want to go away quietly. Halak has seen action in 2 games, gotten a win and
stopped 52 of 53 shots, posting a .60gaa and a 981Sv%. Thomas Greiss has played
in 1 game and posted a 1.50gaa with a .944Sv%. Minor leaguers, Christopher
Gibson (2 games, 1 win, 2.00gaa and .900Sv%), Eamon McAdam (1 game, 2.61gaa and
.950Sv%) and Kristers Gudlevskis (2 games, 1 win, 3.50gaa and .864Sv%) got a
look as well and gave the coaches at Bridgeport some data as they prepare for
their own camp opening on Monday.
Arthur Staple
had a few roster updates for the team at the mid-point of camp.
He mentioned
the first major shift of players went down and likely bound for
Bridgeport in time for their Monday open to camp.
That leaves 31 players remaining in main group, (18 F, 9 D and 4 G).
That leaves 31 players remaining in main group, (18 F, 9 D and 4 G).
The full list of moves, releases, waivers and remaining players can be found in this update per release:
Sebastian Aho, Kyle
Burroughs, Michael Dal Colle, Tanner Fritz, Ross Johnston, Kane
LaFranchise, Eamon McAdam, Kyle Schempp, John Stevens, Devon Toews, Mitchell
Vande Sompel and Parker Wotherspoon.
Six other
players were released from their professional tryout contracts: Casey Bailey,
Scott Eansor, Jeff Kubiak, Ben Holmstrom, Travis St. Denis and Yannick Turcotte
The Islanders also placed the following players on waivers: Christopher Gibson, Kristers Gudlevskis, Seth Helgeson and Connor Jones.
The Isles also
returned Kieffer Bellows, Arnaud Durandeau and David Quenneville to their
junior clubs. - Staple
Per Release, the Islanders roster looks
like this as of this afternoon:
Forwards:
Josh Bailey, Mathew Barzal, Anthony Beauvillier, Steve Bernier, Jason Chimera, Casey Cizikas, Cal Clutterbuck, Jordan Eberle, Stephen Gionta, Joshua Ho-Sang, Connor Jones, Nikolay Kulemin, Andrew Ladd, Anders Lee, Brock Nelson, Shane Prince**, Alan Quine** & John Tavares
Defensemen:
Johnny Boychuk, Calvin de Haan, Seth Helgeson, Thomas Hickey, Nick Leddy, Scott Mayfield, Adam Pelec, Ryan Pulock, Dennis Seidenberg
Goaltenders:
Christopher Gibson, Thomas Greiss, Kristers Gudlevskis, Jaroslav Halak
** - denotes
player on injured reserve
Today’s
practice showed (Staple) the lines of Lee-Tavares-Eberle, Ladd-Barzal-Bailey, Beau-Nelson-Ho-Sang, Kulemin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck & Chimera-Gionta-Bernier. First PP
unit of Leddy-Barzal-Lee-Tavares-Eberle and 2nd unit of Pulock-Bailey-Ho-Sang-Nelson-Ladd,
with Boychuk and de Haan included in the drill work. Pelech (Signed one-way, 4 year deal in late July) and Mayfield have
more NHL experience and are the guys I feel are fighting for the open defensive
spot, despite the attractive idea of Pulock sticking around, especially on the
PP. Like all young D-men, Pulock needs to sharpen his skills a little more
defensively before he can make the AHL to NHL leap.
Isles Notes:
Per Dan Saraceni at Lighthouse Hockey,
“Beyond nostalgia, Ledecky gives update on team’s Belmont RFP bid.”
On 9/20 per
Chris Botta, “Will be writing 2-3 #Isles columns a week
starting Oct. 3. Got ideas, tips, opinions (ha!)? Please place in replies or
email. Thx!”
Per Arthur
Staple, “Weight outlined staff responsibilities: Cronin runs PK,
Buchberger/Gomez on PP, Richardson runs the D. Gomez eye in the sky for games.”
9/13, “Casey
Bailey, attending #Isles
camp on a PTO, was in attendance today. So were Steve Bernier and Seth
Helgeson, both on two-way deals.”
On 9/12, Isles
Blog did a twitter poll for #isles season ticket holders getting close to 600 votes.
“For ticket holders, if #Isles
ended up with a short term situation that had games at BOTH Barclays and
Coliseum, how would that impact you?” 18% said worse, 19% said no change and
63% said better.
Per Randi Marshall,
“Talked to Brett Yormark today, who's hoping yesterday's Coliseum game is
"first step" to bringing #isles back.”
Sound Tigers Notes:
No comments:
Post a Comment