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Deep Holes, Hard to Fill Update 2:06 pm |
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2:06 pm: Well, all the talk was correct. Vanek taking a "home-town discount" to play for the Wild leaving a boatload of cash on the Islanders table. Matt Moulson to Buffalo.
12:37 pm: Bridgeport signing? No? One way deal? hmmm... Defenseman T.J. Brennan, 25-year-old from Leaf's Marlie's AHL team, $600,000. Nice...
2:29 pm: Isles sign Goalie Chad Johnson as the back-up to Halak. Good signing. 2 years 2.6 million.
12:18 pm: Well, good intentions but no result. Dan Boyle signed with the Leafs for a 2 year $9 million contract. Enjoy Toronto. Our weather is better.** WTH??? Now they say the Rangers signed Boyle? Stupid Twitter! Okay, so Boyle on Rangers just means we'll need someone to let him know he made a mistake. Ahem.
7 am: We've seen this movie before. Actually, for almost a decade. Free Agency begins with Canadian fanfare and a 10-hour broadcast schedule. We watch hockey analysts fish for things to talk about while they wait for contracts to be signed and watch Bob McKenzie live Tweet on air. It's a marathon of silliness. We watch it anyway.
As the clock stricks Noon today, the flood gates open to NHL free agency and the ground work laid in place the last five days will come to the light. Will Garth Snow be able to improve the team to the extent they need? Will certain player agents take the chance, and the money, the Islanders offer?
Wing, Defense and Goal: huge holes for the next season. Will the Islanders suddenly gain respect if Thomas Vanek comes back to play alongside John Tavares? Will the hockey world be shocked if Dan Boyle actually does chose the Isles? Would snaging Matt Niskanen cause heart-failure on the TSN panel? Would Jonas Hiller consent to being Halak's back-up just so he can pal around with him at the Cheesecake Factory?
We'd love to hear a huge splash that would sound like a tidal wave, but we're more apt to hear tiny ripples. There will be players for Bridgeport that we'll say "who?," as we have done so often.
Whatever happens, the Islanders will make history this season as it is the last in Uniondale. Maybe Snow could use that as a selling point. "Come to the Island and be part of hockey history this season, and next." The first year in Brooklyn will also be historic.
Making hockey history will be a lot easier than winning a Stanley Cup.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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