In the past few days that I’ve been watching other teams playing hockey, the Islanders have sent out a few press releases. So here’s the Isles run down before I get into my NHL Combine rant:
Jaroslav Halak will wear #41 this season and his tee-shirts and jerseys are on sale at the team store right now. Team store has a Father’s Day sale going on as well. The Isles are still talking with Nabokov’s agent regarding a new contract.
Kevin Czuczman and
Anders Lee graduated college this month. Well, Czuczman did after cramming to finish all the finals he missed while playing with the Isles at the end of their season. Lee did graduate, but he will be in summer school finishing up a few electives he missed. But what it tells you is -- these hockey players have brains.
Bridgeport will host another NHL game this October when the Bruins will play the Isles on Friday, October 3rd. This will be the first NHL game in Bport since 2011. Of course, I would have loved it to be on a Saturday or Sunday, but Friday it is. The Port Jefferson ferry will run until 10 pm that night and they’ll make announcements so no one misses the last boat out. That is one of the reasons I wish it was a Saturday or Sunday 3 pm game. Less stress making the ferry home.
The Barclay’s people are being put in place for hockey as Twitter announced that John Bair was named the new VP of ticket sales for Brooklyn and new offices have been given a city address. Expect a push for ticket sales for the Isles new home that will start with the pre-season game against the NJ Devils on Friday, September 26th.
The Isles also announced another entry level signing of
Jesse Graham, a 20-year-old played seven games with the Sound Tigers this past season. Drafted in the sixth round in 2012, Graham scored 11 goals and 43 assists in 66 games this past season for the Niagara IceDogs. So the Islanders are restocking their defensive corps.
But Graham, just like
Ville Pokka, who will turn 20-years-old tomorrow, are little more than kids, two years away from their own NHL draft day. Pokka only had to wait until the second round to be drafted. The wait was far longer for Graham. For many young men this year, the wait may be much longer.
The 2014 NHL Entry Draft has 453 listed prospects: 243 North American Skaters, 155 European Skaters, 40 North American Goalies and 15 European goalies. Of these 453 prospects, 119 are invited to the NHL Combine in Toronto.
“The primary purpose of the Combine, which runs May 26-31, is to aid all 30 NHL teams in the player selection process. NHL Central Scouting invited 119 players from North America and Europe to take part.”
But is it really worthwhile?
The tests of strength and agility have turned into media fodder, so much so that today on the MSN home page, a Fox News article has the headline:
NHL's top prospect can't do one stinking pull-up? http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/nhl-s-top-prospect-can-t-do-one-stinking-pull-up-060214
Written by
Zack Cox of NESN, is a bit harsh considering that the top prospect, Sam Bennett, is a 17-year-old.
Cox goes on to say “The young forward told reporters afterward that he was unhappy with his showing but not all that worried about it. 'I was definitely disappointed with myself,'" but the kid continued saying that games are won on the ice, not on a chin-up bar. Certainly, his agent was pleased with that answer to the microphones in his face.
To me, the scrutiny and media attention that surround this NHL institution seems to be nothing more than a dog and pony show. Along with the feats of strength, some GMs and scouts conduct their “interviews” (or should we call them psychiatric evaluations) prior to the physical portion. NHL.com filmed a few of these interviews, two with Brian Burke and the Calgary Flames. They also have silly videos asking the top prospects who their celebrity crush is. Why? Is that important? No.
BTW, the Islanders conducted their interviews before the combine, so they have the information they want already.
But, it does give us something to talk about when we’re not talking about the LA Kings and NY Rangers heading into the Stanley Cup finals.
We should also be talking about this kid and his amazing stick handling skills.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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