Bridgeport Camp & Preseason Schedule

Islanders website: Announced training camp in Shelton from Sept. 29 – October 5th & pre-season schedule which included the following games:

The Sound Tigers will travel to Albany to take on the River Rats October 1st at a location to be determined.

Friday, October 3rd against the Hartford Wolf Pack, at the Northford Ice Pavilion in Northford, Conn. at 7 p.m.

Saturday, October 4th gainst the Lowell Devils, at The Rinks at Shelton at 7 p.m.

Sunday, October 5th, against the Hartford Wolfpack at the Champions Skating Center in Cromwell, Conn scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

Sound Tigers Website: Also has a release on camp and preseason.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Has to be noted the Sound Tiger roster players along with the prospects will also be heading to Moncton in September before Bridgeport camp opens. Groups get officially split up when the club comes back to the New York area but some Sound Tiger players will be part of a few preseason Islander games in Canada.

Season for the NHL is starting a week later this year.

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New York Islander Fan Central

Islanders announce new CHL affiliate

Central Hockey League: Announce the New York Islanders have entered into an affiliation agreement with the The Odessa Jackalopes of the CHL which also includes the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

General Manger Garth Snow & Sound Tiger President Howard Saffan have their comments along with Odessa general manager Joe Clark.

Sound Tigers Website: Also have a release on the agreement.

Odessa Jackalopes.com: Website for those who would like to learn about the new affiliate.

Odessa American Online: Lee Scheide reports general manager Joe Clark is a former Islander scout and with coach Paul Gillis were working on this agreement since April.

Updated:
Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio in his Sound Tigers blog comments about the affiliation agreement with Odessa.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I created a new section for the Odessa Jackalopes below the Utah Section with team and roster links along with their coverage. Local newspaper does not have a direct RSS feed.

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New York Islander Fan Central

Late notables for Thursday

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has an article on Bridgeport’s schedule with team President Howard Saffan’s comments why the club is playing two regular season home games in Canada.

Ct Post: Mr Fornabaio in his blog had some speculation on why Bridgeport is playing two games in Canada and that the Sound Tiger fans will be compensated for the missed games as he breaks down the trends in the schedule and compares it with last year’s club.

Sound Tigers.com: Released Bridgeport’s schedule for 2008-09 which puts two November home games against Binghampton in Summerside and St John’s NL.

AHL.com: List all the other games scheduled for neutral sites which include a lot of games involving Albany and Portland.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Love the trip to the Western Conference, hope the Ct Post allows Mr Fornabaio to travel as he did in year one, total ripoff for the Bridgeport fans to lose two home games for sites the Isles play or practice in preseason.

CamWest News/Ottawa Citizen: Don Campbell reports the QMJHL may vote to elimitate it’s import draft of players from Europe with the Ontario Hockey League set to address the import draft on Friday at annual meetings in Collingwood, Ont., the QMJHL will have it’s annual meeting Aug. 20-24 in Victoriaville, Que.

Quick Hit:
Sean Hill signed in Switzerland, too lazy to provide a link nor does the former Islander comment. Another member of the 06-07 club that falls off the NHL map.

Former Islander Jan Hlavac will also be heading to Sweden.

Day off for US-Finland-Swedish prospects in Lake Placid Thursday.

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New York Islander Fan Central

Monday Update: Isles/Tigers/NHL

Quick Notable:
John Rolfe sent me another e-mail today which I added to the earlier thread where he also looked at SI perspective. Great stuff from someone who clearly is a long-time fan and again I thank him for taking the time to respond.

Norwalk Plus: Has a release on the Islanders announcing Matthew Bertani is the new assistant coach of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, who will join head coach Jack Capuano and assistant coach Pat Bingham, assisting in video analysis for the upcoming 2008-09 AHL season with comments from Mr Bertani and Sound Tigers President Howard Saffan.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio in the Sound Tigers blog has a few words on the hiring along with Sound Tigers website.

Miami Herald: George Richard reports in the Panthers blog defenseman Jay Bouwmeester signed a one year contract today avoiding arbitration but could be moving on sooner or later if a long-term contract cannot get done or he does not like the Panthers direction.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Only if he agrees to a long-term contract with the Isles before a trade should Garth Snow have interest. Bouwmeester is going to want to pick and choose sooner or later, it may be Florida but maybe not.

Updated 8pm:
Islander prospect Jared Spurgeon scored the final goal in the Red teams 4-3 loss on Monday at the Canadian prospect camp. Corey Trivino has a second period penalty for team red here.

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New York Islander Fan Central

A few words on P-Bruins coach Scott Gordon

Providence Journal: Joe McDonald had an article from 2/25/07 about Scott Gordon and his coaching backgroud about how qualified/ready this man seems ready to become an NHL coach on top of winning the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award for American Hockey League coach of the year. In his fifth season as head coach, Gordon led the Bruins to a league-best 53-16-3-4 record.

Boston Globe: Fluto Shinzawa reports on Scott Gordon working with the Bruins prospects at their camp this week.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I do recall he was down to the wire for the Bruins job last summer before Claude Julien was hired by Peter Chiarelli, at the time some speculated Chiarelli needed a friend given the Bruins upper management problems off a tough season but given the on ice results the right selection was made as Julien did an outstanding job.

For those wondering Scott Gordon is a former goaltender also from Boston for some connections to Garth Snow, Peter Laviolette and Mike Milbury. Given he is under contract the Bruins could stand in the way of hiring him.

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New York Islander Fan Central

Islander/Sound Tigers/NHL Monday Notables

Not much going on around the NHL today so far.

Mr Logan had a brief chat on the Islander Newsday blog, nothing really new was introduced beyond some speculation.

Both European signing sites do not list Josef Vasick signing in Russia at this time or even have it as a rumor.

Steve Simmons in one of the Toronto papers called the signing of Doug Weight a weird signing by a weird team as he did the shock jock game.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Nothing weird about a player signing with a club who wanted to come here during the season to play with his friend signing with that same club in the summer. We can question whether his production will be enough but if this what it takes to get more out of Bill Guerin and it works it could work out fine.

Or it could be a major bust.

Only thing weird is so far Doug Weight not releasing a statement through the clubs website after Mark Streit did a press conference from overseas.

Owen Nolan signed a two year contract here with Minnesota confirmed by several media outlets.

Todd Bertuzzi’s NHL tour lands him in Calgary to start 2008-09here.

USA Today.com: Kevin Allen looks at some of the remaining free agents which include Mark Recchi, Pavol Demitra, Bryan Smolinski, Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Teemu Selanne, Yanic Perreault, Stu Barnes, Marek Malik, Mats Sundin, Steve Montador, Sergei Fedorov among several players still on the market.

Tsn.ca: Announced Flyers gm Paul Holmgren was signed to a three year contract extension.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Ken Hitchcock got signed to such an extension too by Philadelhia, he was gone a month into year one of the contract.

Flyers website: Report they have come to terms with former Islander Aaron Asham on a multiyear contract.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
It’s going to be interesting to see if he took a paycut or even a two-way contract after a disappointing season with New Jersey and a pretty bad public altercation with Brent Sutter at one practice.

Best of luck to Asham with the Flyers when they are not playing the Isles.

Buffalo News: Bucky Gleason reports on how tough it is for the Sabres to keep or sign free agents.

Ottawa Sun: Don Brennan does an article that the Senators needs a few more trades like the one that landed them the Isles second round pick in 2001 or the one that Mike Milbury made with Florida, but did put the current New York Islander club in the mix for the eighth seed.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reports in his Sound Tigers blog Bridgeport/Utah will be adding defenseman Joe Callahan and that another forward will be signed along with several items. Callahan’s profile is available here.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
It should be noted all UFA in the Sound Tigers/Utah section have been deleted at this point. If they are resigned at some point I will add them in again but too much clutter. Mr Fornabaio will do a great job keeping us up to date.

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New York Islander Fan Central

McLean, Lee, Fritz, Mannino signed by NY

So much for one thread fits all signings today. Obviously Garth Snow and Howard Saffin’s staffs are very busy today. All profiles were added to the Sound Tigers section.

<a href="http://www.soundtigers.com/news/show/id/282
“>Sound Tigers website: Reports the New York Islanders have announced that the club has signed Kurtis McLean, Chris Lee, and Mitch Fritz all to one-year, two-way contracts and also acquired goaltender Peter Mannino to a one-year entry-level deal.

The Bridgeport site has a brief profile of each player.

Kurtis McLean: Is a center who played for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last season last season after being signed as a free agent playing in their AHL/ECHL system.

Chris Lee: Is a defender who played last season for the Iowa Stars, he played one game with Bridgeport during the 2006-07 season.

Mitchell Fritz: Is a left wing who played for the Hartford Wolfpack last season and is well-traveled in the AHL for his two hundred plus games.

Peter Mannino : Is a twenty four year old who should immediately draw comparisons to former Denver product Wade Dubielewicz after playing for the Pioneers for four straight seasons and graduating this spring leading Denver to a National Championship in 2005, he holds or is part of several team records for goaltending in school history.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Fair to say Mr Fornabaio will have a few more blogs today and many of the UFA names listed on the sidebar will be moving on with what looks like a very different Bridgeport club moving forward.

Seems apparent the goaltending depth chart is coming into focus with Danis, Mannino, and MacDonald.

Islanders website: Has more on the signings.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio in his blog has a few insights on the players Bridgeport signed and will have an article tomorrow.

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New York Islander Fan Central

Skinner signed: 7/4 New York notables

Updated 1:30pm
In the notables department Tsn.ca reports here the Pittsburgh Penguins has verbally agreed to deals with forwards Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko with both one-year contracts, with Satan earning $3.5 million next year and Fedotenko $2.5 million.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
My thanks to both Satan and Fedotenko for playing hurt and for both being class acts while wearing a New York Islander uniform and best of luck in Pittsburgh when they are not playing our team. Unfortunately neither were able to produce enough with Satan struggling for the better part of two seasons under Ted Nolan.

Still, Satan had some very memorable goals against the Pens on Al Arbour night and the game he got to overtime against the Devils, to be centered by Malkin and Crosby will only help their careers.

Updated 12:30pm:
Newsday: Greg Logan updated the Islanders Newsday blog and corrected an error on how many one-way contract he reported but again notes the few spots on the current roster if any more players are signed.

He also notes the two way qualifying offers to most of the prospects and that Tambellini, Gervais, Walter and Colliton all would have to clear waivers on the way down to the AHL if they were assigned to Bridgeport and that Frans Nielsen was qualified on a two-way contract for 30 more NHL games.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Mr Logan edits and updates his blog entries, I would check back to see if he clarifies some of this, including what Nielsen’s thirty game qualifer means being that he is one of the oldest prospects.

I was not aware Jeremy Colliton had to clear waivers if he signed a two way contract considering how few games he has played in the NHL but his age could be a factor and he was drafted in 2003. I have read some conflicting information about this.

My guess is Mr Fornabaio will see Mr Logan’s blog and fill in some details but a good job to bring us some information on this because it will determine some decisions as to who goes down vs who cannot go without waivers.

Sound Tigers.com: Announce the signings of center Mike Iggulden and defenseman Brett Skinner to one-year,
two-way contracts.

Mike Iggulden was profiled yesterday and in the Ct Post today.

Brent Skinner spent last season with the Providence Bruins and posted the best numbers of his career last season scoring seven goals and 40 assists for 47 points. The 25 year-old has played three seasons in the AHL with the Manitoba Moose, Portland Pirates, and Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights totaling 17 goals and 73 assists for 90 points. Prior to his AHL career, Skinner played three seasons with the University of Denver winning two National Championships in 2004 and 2005.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Brent Skinner’s profile from AHL.com is posted here obviously there is seemingly no room on the current New York roster for Skinner or Iggulden unless they force someone out in a trade.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has been keeping a depth chart of players under contract to New York/Bridgeport for next season.

BST
G–Yann Danis, Peter Mannino
D–Jamie Fraser, Jack Hillen, Dustin Kohn, Andrew MacDonald, Mark Wotton (V), Andy Sertich, Brent Skinner, Chris Lee
LW–Sean Bentivoglio, Jesse Joensuu, Jason Pitton, Kurtis McLean, Mitch Fritz
C–Micheal Haley, Tyler Haskins, Rob Hennigar, Tomas Marcinko, Trevor Smith
RW–Mike Iggulden, Tim Jackman (V), Joel Rechlicz

I added everyone to the to the list as of 3:30pm 7/3

I have been updating the sidebar with the roster changes as players come and go, with Drew Fata deleted.

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New York Islander Fan Central

Weight signed: 7/2 New York transactions/news

Updated 8:00pm
Drew Fata has signed with Phoenix per sportsnet.

Updated 6:30pm
Islanders website: Reports the club has come to terms with Doug Weight on a one year contract with Garth Snow’s comments that bringing Doug aboard was a priority that he not only brings a wealth of NHL games and experience with him, but he’s the type of player we want our younger players to learn from.

Point Blank: Mr Botta gives his take on Doug Weight and the start New York has had in free agency.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
For this to work he has to produce as a first or second line center, if not and he’s hurt or unproductive it’s a bad signing that keeps a roster spot from a player in the organization or from another club. Anaheim made him a healthy scratch at the end of last season, he has to be the player he was a few years ago, not just a mentor or a veteran presence.

That may not be fair on my part to ask but on this team there is no alternative, in terms of numbers this is a step back from what Vasicek gave them as a center.

Tsn.ca: Reports he signed for 1.75m but has bonus clauses that could push his deal to as much 4.3 million.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Fair to write Isles are approaching the cap floor or above it. Did anyone not think he was not going to want Guerin-Comrie money if he hits his bonus clauses which I hope are production based.

Newsday: Greg Logan reports on the signing and includes the bonus money that confirms TSN 4.3 million figure and writes he will have more details later on this but speculated Garth Snow added an older pivot in the hopes that he not only will be a solid playmaker for the young wingers but serve as a mentor.

Uppdated 5:35pm
Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reports the Isles/Sound Tigers have added center Mike Iggulden from the Sharks organization and provides his stats with his stats here.

Mr Fornabaio speculates more signings are coming.

Updated 5:00pm
Newsday: Mr Logan reports on the signing of Yann Danis, a four-year AHL veteran from the Montreal organization who figures to start for the Sound Tigers and speculates prospect Stefan Ridderwall will stay in Europe but remain New York property because of the transfer agreement.

Mr Logan writes he will have a lively interview with Mark Streit for Thursday, who he says he spoke with Wednesday from Zurich with what the beatwriter reports are interesting comments about how he was used the past couple of seasons in Montreal and about why he is looking forward to the opportunity to join the Isles in an expanded role playing strictly as an offensive defenseman.

Updated 4:30pm
Islanders website: Confirms Yann Danis has been signed to a one-year, two-way contract. A former NCAA All-American with Brown University, Danis has a record of 81-67-18 in 176 career AHL games with a 2.78 goals against average and a 908 save percentage.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Credit to Mr Fornabaio for reporting it on his blog. Seems like a replacement for Mike Mole or will get a brief shot to unseat Joey MacDonald.

Montreal Gazette: Pat Hickey reports back on 6/14 why the Canadians decided not to bring back goaltender Yann Danis.

Newsday: Greg Logan had another blog on Mark Streit, with the upside of what he will bring to the current roster, some of the possible downside and looked at the market for free agents and matched up where Streit stood and felt it was a good signing for the club.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Nothing new in terms of Islander-centric news. With Sundin taking what could amount to days or months once Jagr goes off the market the second tier forwards start to come into play and there are tons of them.

THN.com: Ryan Dixon blogs on the ups and downs Mark Streit will bring to the Islander lineup next season.

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New York Islander Fan Central

Islander/Sound Tiger News Articles 6/26

Barrie Examiner: Ian Schantz reports signed Islander prospect Tomas Marcinko is expected to go pro this year according to assistant gm Jason Ford.

Windsor Star: Dave Waddell reports Islanders first round selection Josh Bailey was among the 45 players invited by Hockey Canada Wednesday to attend the Canadian national junior team developmental camp which will be held July 25-29 in Ottawa.

York Region News:
Mike Hayakawa and Jim Mason have comments from Islanders second round pick Cory Trivino.

Chatham Daily News: Mark Malone has comments from Islanders fifth round selection Matt Martin about how the Islanders decided to draft him.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reports on the changes in Bridgeport with Steve Regier’s comments that he is disappointed but will move on and try and find another home somewhere else but will not be looking at Europe. He also commentst he enjoyed my time with the Islanders, it was good for him and his development and that they have the right people in place both at the NHL and AHL level.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reports in his blog that after speaking with Howard Saffin. Micheal Haley, Tyler Haskins and Andy Sertich are all signed. Pascal Morency will be given a tryout invitation. Scott Ford and Colton Fretter are among those who probably won’t be back; tryout kid Daine Todd is probably going to college. Peter MacArthur isn’t signed but it sounds like he’ll be coming to Kiddie Camp. Saffan also mentioned that Drew Fata had been talking about Europe.

Updated 6pm:
NHL.com: John Kreiser in his NHL blog has Islander scout Eric Cairns and his experience at attending the NHL draft.

Islanders website: Reports the club has a league high five players invited to attend the Canadian Junior Development Camp in Ottawa from July 25-29 with Ryan Jankowski’s comments.

Josh Bailey (2008, 1st round), Travis Hamonic (2008, 2nd round), Mark Katic (selected in 2007 in the third round), Jared Spurgeon (2008, 6th round) and Corey Trivino (2008, 2nd round) were the players invited.

Point Blank: Mr Botta blogs on Bryan McCabe and the price it would take for the Isles to take back his contract along with his thoughts on the Isles and Leafs draft along with how the media spin out of Canada.

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New York Islander Fan Central