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Ladd Visits The Island, Thoughts On The Scrimmage |
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After losing out on both Steven Stamkos and Taylor Hall in a span of 30 minutes yesterday, the Islanders are hosting unrestricted free agent Andrew Ladd today. "Plan B" is underway.
The 30-year-old scored 25 goals with the Winnipeg Jets and Chicago Blackhawks last season. Ladd would provide leadership, a little toughness and a scoring touch to the Isles. But is it enough? Would just re-signing Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen have been enough? The answers are no to both.
If Ladd signs here, Nielsen is gone. They are not going to get into a bidding war for Nielsen with let's say, the Detroit Red Wings. The 32-year-old will likely get 6 million on the open market. The Islanders will likely look to the next wave of UFAs in David Perron, Jamie McGinn and Lee Stempniak. Garth Snow can improve this team on the eve of regular season in October.
Last night the Islanders held their annual Blue and White Scrimmage last night at their beautiful practice facility in Eisenhower Park. It was curious as to why the event was not held at the Barclays Center like it was a year ago. I'll assume it was held at Barclays last season to get fans go take in a hockey game there and push season tickets.
The sold-out event featured three 20-minute four-on-four games. Russian goaltender Ilya Sorokin stood out the most. This was child's play as Sorokin plays against men in the KHL. The 19-year-old had a shutout in the first game. The Islanders should not let him get on the plane back to Russia.
Among the forwards, Joshua Ho-Sang stood out. His vision and stick handling is clearly above any of their other prospects. He does have to learn that he doesn't have to dazzle every time he's out on the ice. 2015 first-round pick Mathew Barzal was held out of the game with a hip strain. 2014 first-round pick Michael Dal Colle did not impressed.
A under the radar guy who impressed was forward Colin Markison. The Sound Tiger was one of the fastest skaters last night, scored a couple of goals. He will be back in Bridgeport for the upcoming season.
The play of the night went to six foot eight goaltender Steve Mundinger. The university of Maine product (hint, hint) scored an empty-net goal in the middle game of the night.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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