Happy Fourth of July Long Island

For some reason, Blogger won't let me copy and paste into it from my own word documents. BUMMER!!!

So please check out my latest entry on HockeyBuzz until I figure out what the hell is wrong with Blogger.

Guerin, Stanley, Nolan

Awwweee... It's always nice to wake up at an un-godly hour and see a nice little story that makes you smile, and Point Blank always manages to find them. So it seems that ex-NY Islander Bill Guerin will bring the Stanley Cup to Long Island. Nice of him to do so since we haven't been able to do it ourselves in what? Twenty-five years? But I'm not sure if anyone other than his kids and their friends will be spending any time with it. At least it will see the LIE again.

The bigger question for the Guerin family should be... where are you going to live next season Billy? Have you put your Long Island home up for sale yet? Great guys like you are hard to come by. Sorry to see you go.

So Ted Nolan has landed himself another job in hockey now that his NY Islanders pay checks have ceased. Hockey Ops? Are you SERIOUS? I like Ted Nolan. He's an affable guy with a great smile and a good heart. But his office skills seemed to be less than adequate. During his time on Long Island, he wasn't one to stay in the loop well.

A few times I would find him at a practice, go ask him a question about something that I knew was going on and he'd say "We are?" Now, perhaps this was just a charming rouse to engage me in conversation, but my gut feeling was he really had no clue.

Good lucky Teddy. I hope you've quit smoking by now.

Does Your NHL Prospect Twitter?

Let me know if you're newest prospect has told the press he twitters or not!
Thanks

Free Agency: Job Hunting the Big Bucks

So if you really think about it, the NHL free-agency frenzy is basically job hunting on a really grand scale. You leave one job, for whatever reason; they don't love you, you don't love them, etc., and you search for a new one. You hope that the choice will be yours. You hope that you will have so many offers that you will have to really think long and hard to make a decision. You hope.



I have this conversation, or should I say arguement with my husband every year at this time. I hate this time of year. I do not like change. If I've built an attachment to the players on my roster I like them to stick around. I generally wait nervously biting my nails by the radio waiting to hear who will go and who will stay. In certain cases over the years, when those I wished would stay abruptly left, I would silently cry at my computer and answer emails from friends saying they were sorry. No. I don't like the free-agency frenzy.



But how do the families of these men feel? (Okay, here's where the arguement comes in) "Who cares!" my husband would yell at me. "They make millions of dollars to play a GAME. You're going to feel SORRY for them? Are you out of your mind??" And off he'd go into the yard mumbling at me.



Yes, I must be out of my mind because I can't help but think of the wives and children who wait and wonder as well. It's July, the children need to know where they are going to school in September. They need to know if they will have friends in their new home. They need to know if they will be moving or if Daddy will come around every few weeks when there's a break in the schedule. If Daddy isn't going to live home, who will help get with the kids day to day lives.



I'm sorry, but on a family dynamic level, these are stressful conditions for anyone. Then you throw the Agent into the mix and it just gets tricky. You have seen it before. Some NHL agents haven't given their client's the best career advice. "It's not what you're worth. It's what you negotiate." is great on a monetary level. But it can be a career killer. Take Alexei Yashin for instance and the current situation with Scott Gomez.



Is it really their fault that they have the most maligned contracts in NHL history? Probably not. I'd look to their agents that told them what a great deal they were getting.



So while we all wait for the next "BIG DEAL" of the "FAF" there are families whose lives sit in limbo. As glamourous as it is for a young man with no ties to a family to pick-up and pack his belongings in his car and drive to the next city, it's a little tough when a man has to leave his kids crying in the doorway.



But yes, I understand. Contracts worth $3.5 million a year can buy a boat-load of tissues. But it's still gotta hurt.



Dust off those "Free Agent Sprinkles" Garth. We've got a few spots to fill this year.

ESPN Hates the NHL

I turned on ESPN at 7:45 pm just to make sure I didn't miss it. John Tavareses first taste bite of the Big Apple. The ESPN Game of the Week between the Mets and the Yankees.
I waited, and I waited, and I waited, and I looked at the clock and it was 8:07 pm and there was a pitcher on the mound and the game had started.
WTF??? Did I fall asleep for a minute? Did I have my nose too deep into Twitter to notice? Where was John Tavares????
On Twitter, @Isleschick had posted the photos of JT in a Mets Tavares 1 Jersey and Isles cap from Yahoo Sports. They were great shots. Again, my jaw dropped and all I could think was WTF????
I received an email from Islanders arena hostess Dina, who was at Citi-Field only by chance and sporting her new JT T-shirt.
"Ok, so I don't know what showed up on TV. But not as many boo's as I expected. More claps. (And some confused faces. Lol!)"
ESPN had the chance to show a little respect to the NHL coming off one of their biggest event weekends. They chose to not air it.
Debate again why the NHL is on Versus. Once again, opportunity squandered.
And another thing!!!! This morning I woke up to a few articles about the potential error in chosing De Haan over a more physical player. To all those pundits who are blasting the move I say this:
"The NHL draft is a crap shoot. They made the choice for their own reasons. Only TIME will tell if they were right. "
PS: Congratulations Mariano Rivera on your RBI and 500th save. You ARE and always WILL BE the greatest closer in the game of Baseball.

A face for Radio, and maybe even a Voice

So through the wonders of Twitter and HockeyBuzz, I was asked to do a few call in podcast discussions before the draft. You know... just to see how TOTALLY off base I could possibly GET!

Here is the link to one of them that has great production quality and a really great host. Take a listen if you have nothing else to do.

I'll post the other one I did as soon as I find it!

Welcome to the Rivalry John Tavares

So this morning I wake up at my usual 6 am hour, (which is indeed ungodly for a Sunday, but tell the 110 lb Dalmatian that he has to wait) and I find out that Mr. John Tavares will already be witness to the Rivalry that lives in New York.

It seems that our newest Islander is getting the distinct honor of throwing out the first pitch at Citi-Field tonight in the third game of this week's subway series between the Mets and the Yankees.

Currently the Mets resemble the Islanders of last season. Completely depleted and playing with their second stringers and minor leaguers and yet giving a good fight. The last two games they have just been over-matched by the Yankees. Last season's Islanders roster can certainly relate.

As ESPN's 8 pm Game of the Week, John Tavares will open up on a National stage for his first NY TV appearance as a NY Islander throwing out the first pitch. Talk about pressure! Don't trip on your way out of the dugout John and go down with a lower body injury that will keep you out 8 - 10 weeks.

John will get a taste of the intensity of New York rivalries, not only between the Yankees and the Mets, but from the Ranger fans who are most certainly to be in attendance. Has this darling of the Canadian Junior leagues ever been booed on national television? I doubt it. I hope he's prepared.

Once again, a really stellar move by the NY Islanders PR Department to capture the spotlight on a summer night in June. Maybe come October David Wright can drop the first puck. Hey, cross-over marketing is always a good idea!

*photo from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Paul Chiasson/Associated Press/Canadian Press & it's a really GOOD one!