HockeyBuzz.com - Dee Karl - It's 7am, Do you know where your Isles prospects are?

I wish I had known earlier that I could post a link to my HockeyBuzz.com articles right from the share button. You learn something new every day, right?

Welcome to hot & sticky on Long Island. But knowing that it could always be worse, according to my friend Mark who writes TheViewFrom111 blog on blogspot.com said the heat index in Nashville today is 114 with an ambient temperature of 100. Oh my GAWD! Get me to the RINK!

HockeyBuzz.com - Dee Karl - It's 7am, Do you know where your Isles prospects are?

Oh and by the way... VOTE YES on 8-1-11 Nassau County! The stakes are much higher than just hockey in Nassau. Please realize that.

If you are a fan and aren't following the @NYIslanders Twitter feed, you're missing out on all these great photos. Wonder if Kirill told ITV the same thing he told Katie Strang, that he is done with Twitter. Guess the backlash from things he said was too hot to handle. He still loves facebook though.

Max Capuano is indeed Jack Capuano's nephew. Seriously, how many Capuanos from the same town could there be that AREN'T related.

Eric Boguniecki has been named Sound Tiger's assistant coach. I always loved saying his name: BO-GUN-IECKI. Awesome.

Isles GM vs. Bloggers Chapter 1 9-22-10

Oh what the heck. Blog Box Round Table Discussion, Chapter 1


“Kirill! You’re late! Go skate!” Garth Snow barked at me from his chair at the conference room table. Yes, I was late again. I hadn’t seen the text message asking “WHERE ARE YOU???” until I sat down and unloaded my things on the floor and the table while the blackberry totters snickered.

This was the first Blog Box Round Table discussion and I was seven minutes late. Tony Stabile from Hockey Independent thought it would be a fitting punishment for me to start the Q&A. Okposo Net’s Ken Dick agreed with him. They probably shouldn’t have.

I opened up my note book to two pages worth of questions I thought were more difficult than my usual ones. No, there would be no “softballs” today.

Question one: “After the media had made such a big deal about the Islanders sending out an email to certain agents regarding their available free-agents inviting them to training camp for a try out, are you disappointed that no one you up on the offer?”

He squinted to challenge me. “What email? Do you have a copy of it?” I was there to play “hardball” but he was doing the pitching. There are five full seconds of silence on my tape as we stared waiting for the other to crack a smile and the others in the room held their breath.

“You KNOW which email. We HAD this discussion.” I was defiant. Not only did we have the discussion, I did a spot on a Vancouver radio show about it. Don’t ask me WHAT email??? On the inside.

He pitched two more curve balls at me and when he felt I had sufficiently “struck out” at the plate he turned to my Blog Box buddies and chuckled. “We do this all the time.” He had set the stage for them. This would be an informal exchange of questions and answers. Garth Snow is a comedian -- when he’s not dead serious.

The short answer to the question was “No” he was not disappointed. “We explored different options of invitations to camp for certain players. And there were a few reasons why we wanted to explore inviting players to the camp.” Long story short: Bodies. Veteran bodies. With the split squad schedule, looking at the roster in August he wanted to be sure he had enough bodies. “You have to have eight veterans to play in a pre-season game. So to keep up with that rule, we thought that injuries that could incur during camp, we may end up being in a position where we needed to invite some veterans and we wanted to fill out our roster.”

It would have been nice if I knew about the “eight veterans” rule. That would have played well on Vancouver radio.

He continued saying they haven’t invited any other players to camp as of yet, but that scenario may change. “I want to leave the door open just in case we get into a situation where we need more veterans.”

If that statement doesn’t underscore the current “Youth Movement” of the New York Islanders, I don’t know what does.

The conversations were heavily tilted toward the younger players and how they are selected and developed. With today’s news of Kabanov’s second tardiness to camp, Garth’s disappointment in the Russian bad boy was evident. The kid was given a chance to succeed and he was blowing it quickly.

He also discussed his concern over Kirill Petrov’s development in the KHL. During the mini-camp in July, Petrov was clearly a mature and talented player with a desire to play in the NHL. As much as the Islanders are willing to do whatever it takes to bring Petrov to North America, they will abide by the rules of the KHL and leave this situation up to Petrov’s agent and KHL club to decide. (He dismissed my idea of an unmarked car and duct tape.) They will wait patiently for Petrov but I’m sure there are already two jersey’s with Petrov’s name on them hanging in Shakey’s equipment room.

While we were on the topic of youngsters, I asked about one that I have personally been patiently waiting for to join the Islanders roster: Blake Kessel. That other Kessel brother that was drafted in 2007.

Granted, the current crop of Islanders hopefuls is very deep on defense, so Blake is better off staying at UNH and continuing his education. But when I didn’t see him at mini-camp, I was concerned. (He had actually declined because the Wild Cats training camp was the same week.) I asked Garth if they were still keeping a close eye on Blake.

“Absolutely. I think we have a tremendous support group in place with not only our player development guys, but the relationships that our coaches on the Island here and in Bridgeport have with the coaches at UNH. So for us, it’s another situation where we have a college player where time is on his side and on our side. We’ll let their coaches do their thing and develop him. If he needs even more help, we’re there for him.”

Prospect Projections

As we are now in September and my season has officially started, I'm making the prediction that at least one of the prospects from 2010 are sticking. Okay, let me be clearer -- Kirill 2010 or Nino. One of them. For my reasons and rantings in all the typo ridden detail you can read it at HockeyBuzz.com here.

Isles Prospects Show off for Long Island

There were no surprises for Scott Gordon from last night’s scrimmage, but he was happy with what he saw. With the mixture of new draft picks and those returning for a second year, Gordon said "We saw what we expected and there is a varying level of talent and ability and where they played and how old they are. There are certainly no disappointments. Some of these guys who are only 17 years-old will be a lot different when they are 19 and 20 and they turn pro.”

While the ages on the ice ranged from 17 to 22, no one looked out of place or overwhelmed. Hockey is a game you play because you love it. It’s apparent they all do. “This whole week isn’t about anyone coming to make the Islanders, it’s about building team unity so that when they come to camp, they know the coaches, the training staff they know the players. It’s an opportunity for them to learn how to be a pro both on and off the ice in the weight room how we do things as coaches here and give them a feel for everything so that when the time comes for them to turn pro they have a better understanding of what it takes to be a pro.”

Kirill Petrov did not take part in the scrimmage as he “...banged himself up in the pregame skate this morning.” This was only prospect camp in the middle of summer and no one wants an injury here that could jeopardize a player’s development in the fall.

However, watching Matt Martin play this scrimmage the same way he did the playoff games against the Calder Champion Hershey Bears, I asked Scott if he should have held up a little. “That’s Marty’s game. This is a contact sport and you have to be physical. The players can’t think that they can go out and it’s going to be shiny hockey. We encourage checking and you’ve got to play the game with the idea that you could get hit. You can’t go out there thinking no one else is going to touch you. And if it was like that, it wouldn’t be the type of look we would want to see anyway.”


The returning attendees, especially those who spent a year in Bridgeport made sure the kids knew this was physical hockey. A year in the AHL certainly has made a difference as Scott Gordon pointed out.

“Well, some of the Bridgeport players like Justin DiBenedetto looks like a better pro now. He’s leaned out a little, he’s a little quicker on the ice. He’s skating more, he’s not standing around. I was encouraged to see that. It’s good to see our goalies where they’ve come in a year. And even some of the college guys, like Aaron Ness, to me he looked a lot more comfortable in the game than anything I saw last year. And even the two practices it was a good setting for him to show what he can do. I could go down and have my comments about each guy. But the biggest thing is, it’s not about where they are today. It’s where they’re going to be and this is all part of the process.“

Being “pro” also means facing a crush of media with lights and recorders all vying for attention. Not one of them flinched. Each prospect seemed comfortable even while the interviewers at times did not. It seemed the more main stream media (read that as Ms. Katie Strang) headed off in a different direction, the group of more “new media” types grouped together in a clump. However, without the presence of a main stream media reporter whose job it is to speak out as quickly as possible to get their questions answered so they can meet their deadlines, us internet types are trained to be more accommodating of each other. The respect we offered up to each other often left a pause in the questioning.

Kirill Kabanov did not have to translate for his fellow countryman last night. He faced the recorders alone and was quick witted and talkative. His English is excellent and he answered each question with ease. At the young age of 17 (he turns 18 next Friday) he has a full understanding that hockey is not just a job and a game, it is entertainment. “It’s like a show It must be fun for people.”

The unexpected crowd of 5,024 were indeed entertained “It was pretty cool. I really like Islanders fans. They’re like crazy. I like Long Island a lot. Everyone asks me how bad am I with all my tattoos. In less than one year I’ll make a big one here (over his heart) a map of Long Island. No, really. Right here.”

Whether he was joking or not, the sentiment was real. He is happy to be here and looking forward to showing who he truly is. His ability to charm is evident. When asked who his favorite player in Russia is, he rattled off a name and repeated it three times for us. However, as none of us were familiar with him, he immediately made a reference us North Americans could relate to.

“I have the same coach as Ilya Kovalchuk. I have the same number, 17. I got the first letter in the last name, K. But my favorite is Valery Kharlomov. You’ve heard of him? Everybody heard of him? He was a great guy.” (No. I had not heard of him and it just took me five minutes to find him on the web as I was having difficulty spelling his name.)

Kirill has enjoyed the other activities the camp has provided such as the Mets game but missed out on the fishing trip as he was having his wrist checked out. At the Mets game, he enjoyed being in the crowd of Season Ticket holders but “It was a little bit boring because the game is so slow, it was like three hours.” He was lucky it wasn‘t a Yankee game. That may have lasted seven.

Kabonov was asked if camp had taught him what it was like to be a pro and he agreed he has changed his attitude. “I learned not to be late for practice, for buses, for everything. Just trying to be a good boy. I am a real good boy.”

This is a young man looking desperately to change his image to attain what he wants. “I have to work hard and do my best and try to make the team as soon as I can.”

Nino Niederreiter shares the same ease with the press as Kirill with perhaps, far less to prove. Nino models his game after Vinny Lecavalier and Ilya Kovalchuk. “He’s just a fantastic skater. I would love to be like that.”

While he didn’t know much about Scott Gordon before this week, when asked if he found anything surprising about prospect camp he was quick to say “Just that the coaching staff is fantastic. They do everything for you.” I don’t believe that meant they were being coddled, I do know it means they are being TAUGHT.

Nino said he was surprised that so many fans showed up for hockey in July, (So was the Coliseum staff.) and is enjoying his time on Long Island, including the fishing trip. He did not have to eat the fish he caught as was indicated in the website article. “No, I don’t like that fish I caught.” But it did make a great photo op. “Yah! Big smile I guess.” Nino has enjoyed the weather here but was reminded it will certainly change come Hockey season.

Brock Nelson is only a few weeks removed from high school and last night played in an NHL arena. “It’s pretty awesome. I know it’s a big jump but it was fun to be here in the Coliseum and play with the guys here. It was a great experience.”

You would think that someone so young would seem out of step with the 22 year olds who already have a year of AHL experience under their hockey shorts. “I felt I did pretty good. I know it’s a little bit quicker They’re bigger guys, faster, stronger. But I felt right there. So I just have to bulk up a little more and I can contribute a little more.”

As John Tavares had offered advice to all the prospects, the biggest item on their agenda should be getting stronger. In every interview Tavares did this year prior to the draft, that is the one thing from his rookie year that stood out -- how much stronger NHL players are.

These mini-camps are designed to cultivate the stars of the future. As Scott Gordon said, it is not to see who will make the Islanders come September, but who has potential to in a few short years. Some of these prospects will return to their Junior teams in the fall, some will move on to College. Perhaps a select few will remain with the Islanders as Josh Bailey did in his rookie season. (John Tavares was a given that he wasn't going anywhere except Uniondale.)

I am going to go out on a limb here. While I was thoroughly against that move for Josh Bailey and was pretty vocal about it, after seeing the 2010 first round draft choice -- Keep him up. Nino Niederreiter will do just fine.

Next up, following up with 2009 prospect Casey Czizkas.

“Work Hard – Have Fun” Kirill Kabanov

It was the Kirill & Kirill show today at the Coliseum in the hallway by the locker room. I had no idea that Kiril Petrov spoke no English. But that wasn’t a problem because Kirill Kabanov speaks better English than some American teens.

Training camp today was broken up into the two groups and a gaggle of goalies. I arrived at 11 am, so I was somewhat late for the first group. But I was really there for other reasons – first and foremost to get out of the 101 degree heat. There was a gaggle of reporters there all watching the kids. It’s always funny to hear the men in the room say things like “Geeze, they can’t even SHAVE yet.”

Yep. They’re young. They’re excited and they’re a little nervous. You could tell which prospects were first timers and those who were returning. There was a definite comfort level difference. Unless you were looking at Kirill Kabanov. He seems to be comfortable no matter where you plop him.


It was great to see both John Tavares and Josh Bailey there. They both aren’t very far removed from their own first prospect camps. I’m sure that made the likes of Nino Niederreiter a little more comfortable. Especially after he left the dressing room and was followed like a rock star down the tunnel with cameras snapping wildly behind him.

The name plate on the back of his jersey spans from shoulder to shoulder and then some. But there were also a few others with the same situation. DiBenedetto, Rakhshani and Klementyev, names with many consonants stretched across colorful jerseys. Some we will see again, others we will only see at these camps.

On one end of the ice, the pair of Kirills was running through one legged skate drills. At that time, I had no idea that Kirill Petrov does not speak English. Kabonov must be translating all of the coach’s instructions to him. I started to wonder if he would change the instructions just enough to make Petrov look bad. Nah…
Matt Martin was chirping at Casey Cizikas as they were waiting to get on the ice. It sounded as if they are very familiar with each other. It also sounded as if Martin was looking forward to getting a piece of Casey out on the ice. We’ll see at the scrimmage.

The amazing amount of Long Island talent that was invited to camp was probably for a few reasons. First, bodies and second a better taste of Long Island and the idea that we DO have a hockey program here on the Island.

The Islanders were kind enough to give everyone a printed player guide for the camp. This way we can spell their names correctly. But looking at it I can tell you that Rhett Rakhshani, the Right Wing from Huntington Beach CA, has and ENTIRE PAGE of awards and honors. He was selected 100th overall in the 6th round of the 2006 Draft. He played five games with Bridgeport last season. That was after playing 41 games with the University of Denver and scoring 21 goals and 29 assists for 50 points.

Scott Gordon and Scott Allen were their usual reserved selves on the ice while Sound Tigers coach Jack Capuano was his usual, smiling and gum chewing self.

The scruffiest man on the ice has to be Robin Figren who could body double for the Geico cave man. Just kidding… sort of.

Charles Wang stopped by for a few hours to check out the future of his team. He watched from the stands in the company of GM Garth Snow and then went down to the ice to say hello to John Tavares and Calvin deHaan (I hope that was deHaan).

Anders Nilsson and Mikko Koskinen are a matched pair of 6’5” goalies, according to the stat sheets. But for some reason, Mikko still looks bigger. It made me giggle overhearing one of the reporters say “What’s his style? Standing.”


All in all, it seemed like a good day at the rink. Sadly later that afternoon it was marred by the news that Assistant GM Ryan Jankowski’s contract would not be renewed. His name is in the player guide and he was just interviewed about the 2010 draftees on ITV. His contract expired. That is an accurate detail. I guess the rest happened just as fast as the coach turning back into a pumpkin in Cinderella.

You can play circle the errors in the post. There are plenty. I wrote this way too late for and don't have time to fix it this morning or to post the videos until tomorrow. It’s too damn late.