Well, that was beautiful Sochi. Great job, considering how many things could have gone really wrong, it really was a spectacular Olympics.
Even the 7 am hockey games weren't so bad and NBC's coverage on line and with so many channels gave us plenty to watch. It also gave John Tavares a Gold Medal to come home with. I'll reserve my comments about that for now.
Okay, so the next Winter Olympics are in Korea. Should the NHL and the NHLPA want to participate in them, they need to change the rules a little. First of all, they should not stop playing for two weeks. Sure, there are still 82 games in the season, but it's a all crammed into two less weeks. Today I heard a radio announcer say the NHL really doesn't 'close' for two weeks. It still runs 'business as usual.'
What a crock. When you don't have any revenue coming in from games, that's basically shutting down. It doesn't matter that they are getting the same revenue on other days. A lot of people who should be working have little to do. But forget that.
Let the business stay open. How? Simple. Only two players from any team can be permitted to join their National team. Let them play for their country as it is a great honor, but let them also realize that their first responsibility is to their home club. So, only two from each team can go. Not two to any national team. Two -- period.
Also, the IOC, who may be the only entity that actually gets anything out of the Olympics, should put up bonds for these players. So many run the risk of getting hurt, and have, including JT, the IOC should cover the expense of the insurance.
With only two players out of line-ups for each team for two weeks, things shouldn't be THAT different. It also shouldn't impact the numbers all that much. However, the loss of John Tavares or any other star player greatly impacts final numbers of a team. So, why should an NHL team pay the price of a player being hurt playing for free on a National team? They shouldn't.
So, things should change before the next Olympics in 2018. For now, it's time to look at the immediate future and wonder what the heck is going to happen now? The NHL trade freeze is done, moves will be made. How many moves will be made on the Islanders is a question mark.
Vanek and MacDonald should be traded before the deadline, but I doubt anything but draft picks will be coming back this way. So, time to look at the boys in Bridgeport as I did today. The names were familiar, but not that familiar. As the weeks go on, they will become the 'new' Islanders and we'll be talking about them shortly.
Strome, Lee, Pedan, Jackson, Halmo, Finley and others. Who joins the team and who stays in Bport? Who knows.
Capuano does and he will be on Butch Goring's radio show tomorrow. Maybe he'll give us a hint.
SoundTigers won 2-1 over the Providence Bruins. Good game, great arena, lots of fun. You should have been there.