What Pierre McGuire Said About the Isles

WOW! Say one thing on Twitter that Pierre McGuire said some positive things about the NY Islanders and everyone want s to know WHAT! Geeze guys, don’t you have XM Home Ice? ;o)

So while driving to work this morning listening to my favorite show with @HTMBigCountry and Rossi, Pierre McGuire gave an accurate account of the Islanders. He said that without Streit and Okposo what did we expect. Seriously, the Isles are down three of their top defense and now may be without Mottau for awhile. He also said that a good man lost his job and it was a shame, but that’s what coach’s sign up for in the NHL. They know that is what happens when things go wrong on the ice; they are the ones who end up unemployed. Shame, but everyone knows the drill.

Now while McGuire DID say some negative things about drafting and “management blunders,” I’m pretty sure he’s not worried about an Islanders task force placing a hit on him. No, he was honest in his accounts and echoed past history that we have all discussed as business decisions with negative results.

Thing is, that even with this devastating losing streak, the tide is turning. It’s a matter of keeping the young, growing talent in the right frame of mind as they get through their growing pains. He said look out for this team next year, the year after and the year after that. They are going to be GOOD. And if they continue to make the right player decisions, such as sending Nino back to juniors, they will be really good.

I DM'ed Shawn from XM Home Ice’s Hockey This Morning to see if they have the audio clip of McGuire’s morning appearance, if he posts it on Facebook or the like, I will link it.

All I’m trying to say is that as bad as it is to be an Islander fan right now, we can’t throw in the towel and walk away. “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Pierre said. But when it was built, it was pretty damn impressive.

Weight IN: Witt Where?

Late yesterday afternoon, I tried to follow the chronology of the "Doug Weight Returns to the Islanders" signing information and found that it had spanned a full 24 hours and over 75 different Twitter users.

I heard it first on NHL Live on Monday afternoon and it was credited to USA's Kevin Allen. At first I didn't think much of it because Doug himself had spoken to any reporter that would listen expressing his desire to stay on Long Island and return to the Islanders.

It wasn't really news, but it IS June so it was covered like it was a hot topic. Late Monday night, I write a quick entry on HockeyBuzz about the possibility of Doug returning and what it may mean to the locker room. It was only meant to get conversations started as it is -- JUNE. Dumbass that I am, I didn't post a link to it because it wasn't anything important. Had I known... Had I known...

By 9:45 am yesterday, the Tweet went out that Doug had been signed, or should I say, had been JUST ABOUT signed, with only a few details pending. But from the time line I saw, that wasn't the first news bulletin to hit the wire. It doesn't matter any more anyway. Word spread quickly and like a game of telephone little pieces were added to it each time. Perhaps that's what happens because of Newsday's pay wall or because it WAS really a SLOW media day for hockey, but it went out over and over and in multiple languages.

At precisely 1 pm, GM Garth Snow put down the golf clubs and called into NHL Live for a few minutes. When asked about the contract, he said that they were "pretty close to getting a deal done." and that he was "looking forward to a healthy Doug Weight in our room."

So the deal that isn't exactly finalized and signed was Tweeted out later last night as being worth $800-900,000 plus bonuses.

Call it smart, call it a mistake, call it misplaced loyalty, call it whatever you wish. I call it keeping a good man around who has been friend and land lord to John Tavares.

So now here's another line in the water. While I was driving to work yesterday, Hockey this Morning on XM said that the two week NHL buyout period had started. I sent out a Tweet wondering if Brendan Witt would be bought out or not. Oddly -- NO ONE picked up on it.

Witt has one more year remaining on his contract and it is worth $3 million. He played the final games of last season in Bridgeport. Do we really expect him to be paid $3 million to play in Bridgeport? Would any other club want the veteran defenseman for something -- anything?

Good question, right? The sad thing is Witt is a great guy. He truly is!! But he just wasn't the player last season that he had been when he was given the 3 year contract. It happens. So -- Now what?

HTM Agrees! Islanders Did the Right Thing!

As hindsight is always 20/20, I was very happy to hear the HTM guys on XM this morning saying that Garth Snow absolutely did the right thing by standing pat and not trading just to make trades.

If all the interest was in Dwayne Roloson, it was obvious that wasn't a deal he could make. If there was interest in our depth players, if he wasn't getting back equal or better value, then what would be the point. And if anyone was dumb enough to start asking for JT, Kyle, Josh or Matt Moulson, I would hope he would have just laughed and hung up the phone.

As the HTM guys said, we don't know what the conversations were. We have no idea what was being offered. Rumor has it that many GMs make offers that are routinely laughed at. Maybe this is their day of private jokes. Who knows.

I like the way Brian Burke looks at it. He said if you're having to make major changes in March then you didn't do a very good job putting the team together and you should probably be fired. He also said no one gets fired for NOT making deals. The Pope of Hockey has spoken.

So 19 games on the schedule remain. Our team is what it is and we know what we have. With the exception of Dylan Reese who has been called up from Bridgeport. This guy has been on three teams in FOUR days. Someone please remind him which net he should defend.

Isles vs. Thrashers tonight with our MVP, Dwayne Roloson in net and the guy I really LOVE talking to backing him up.

I'm wearing my Blue, White & Orange today and will probably wear a jersey on the couch when covering the game -- and no one can tell me Boo!

Now go out there and win some games!

Oh! And don't forget to vote for this year's Bob Nystrom Award!