I am not angry. I am not embarrassed. I am more disappointed. Not in the signings the NY Islanders made yesterday on the first day of free agency, but in HNIC Radio; or should I say ex-NYI Goalie Glenn Healy.
I didn’t even realize it WAS Glenn Healy yesterday when I was driving around listening to SiriusXM. I just always have the station tuned to NHL Radio Network. So when the news broke that Garth Snow had finalized his long term deal with Travis Hamonic, that is where I heard it. And then I heard “Wait, where’s the puke button.” and then “The only players you give a seven-year extension to have an 8 on their jersey like Crosby or Ovechkin.”
He then insinuated that the deal was akin to the long term, 15-year-deal with Rick DiPietro and "Don't they ever learn?"
What? What NHL is Healy in? The current CBA says that you can sign a player for an 8 year extension if you are resigning your own player.
Then he called Hamonic ‘marginal’ and that just twisted me the wrong way. Travis is all of 22-years-old. He was drafted 53rd overall in the second round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. He is still developing his talent. And even those who say he wasn’t worth a 7-year-deal can’t deny his potential.
For the Islanders, Travis Hamonic has been a top line defenseman since 2010 when he was called up from Bridgeport mostly out of necessity for the Isles, but he developed alongside Andy MacDonald and they have come to be an important part of John Tavares’ core team members.
Notice what I said there? This
IS John Tavares’ team. There is no question about it. You want a superstar signing? You have one. His name is JOHN TAVARES and this team will be built around HIM. But let’s go back to last night’s Twitter conversation.
What I am most disappointed over is that Jeff Domet who represented HNIC Radio on Twitter may not have checked on my bio first before responding to me. Certainly I don’t expect the same respect as a writer that Art Staple would get or that Katie Strang of ESPN would get. But his final question to me, as I was stating my case that the 7-year-deal was a good one, seemed a bit gender biased.
“Are you his Mom?” was his final question to me.
Not wanting to have the conversation turn into a pissing match with whomever this PR person is I just responded with a joke. “No, but I could be. I’m old enough.”
In all honesty, would he have asked this if the conversation was with someone like Tony Stabile or Daniel Friedman? Probably not. So I am somewhat disappointed at the exchange.
But I’m not disappointed in signing 22-year-old Travis Hamonic to a long term deal and a reasonable price. Travis is all heart and muscle and loves playing on the Islanders. He may still be developing, but I’m much happier with him developing with team Tavares than anywhere else.
So Glenn Healy -- he will prove you wrong.
Now, I'm sure that there are some of you who may not think Hamonic is worth this deal, so have at it in comments.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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