Survey Says?!

It has taken me almost two hours to read only a portion of what everyone has been saying about Garth Snow's Friday night acquisition of ex-Duck James Wisniewski. So far the survey seems to say the deal was a steal.

Some thought provoking information about the roster was found at this installment of IslandersPointBlank, and I always leave it to my buddy Dom at LighthouseHockey to come up with all the useful information and web links. I don't know how he does it, but I love him for it. Dom took the time to scout out both sides to the Wisniewski signing. Like everything in life, there are ALWAYS two sides to the story.

I have personally had people come up to me and say how great a signing Wiz will be for the Isles this coming season. And I have also had some tell me of dirty hits and lack of character. I decided to contact someone a little closer to his old team and asked if there was anything I should know about James. The response I got was "He wanted more than we were willing to pay him. We have other plans."

Hmmmm...Not exactly what I was looking for, but a quote none-the-less. I was hoping for more insight into his personality or work ethic. But I see this will be one signing I will have to wait to draw my own conclusions about.

But no matter what I think, the overwhelming response has been positive. There was even a little Garth Snow Twitter love fest going on over the weekend, and surprisingly to some -- I didn't start it. But there were some great words of praise from writers and fans alike.

Does this mean that the Islanders will be play-off contenders this coming season? Who knows. So much can change from September's training camp to push for playoffs come trade deadline day. I'll just say that maybe the chances of making the playoffs are slightly higher than they were. Also, the Anaheim signing tonight of Andy Sutton to a two year deal ends the questioning about whether the big man would be back in Uniondale.

So while it seems the Isles swapping shot-blockers with the Ducks, their defense seems to be all worked out. However, I have read fans questioning who will be able to put the puck in the net. Well, some on the net do like to call the Isles GM, "Mr. August" so he may have one more trick up his sleeve.

I will reserve becoming familiar with all the names on the Islanders roster until September. But I should probably at least learn to spell a few of them, even if I can't pronounce them.

On a side note, I wandered over to the game used jersey tab on the Islanders main site. While a lot of the items are sold, I found some of the pricing a little on the surprising side. (i.e., stupid) John Tavares' jerseys are priced at $5,500. at first I thought it was a typo. Then I noticed that all his jerseys in each set were priced that way. I believe only one of them was sold. I am imagining that was John's father that bought it. Just a guess.

So... no other news to report as of yet. Perhaps another depth move this week. But other than the above, I've got nothing. I'm going to be spending the next two days working on another divisional article for another website. This one will be on goal tending. Oh... that should be interesting.