Ziggy hangs them up

He hasn't been an Islander this century, but one of the most popular Isles of the late 1990s has announced his retirement at age 41.

Ziggy Pallfy last played in the NHL in 2005-06 with Pittsburgh but he has his place in Isles lore for being the best player on some bad Islander teams in the early years of the Milbury era.

Palffy, who actually played his first five games for Al Arbour in 1993-94, scored two goals in the opener of the abbreviated 1995 season, and despite some troubles his rookie year, never really stopped scoring.

Palffy's NHL totals were 329-384-713 in 684 games, but he also compiled tremendous totals in Europe, including 26-47-73 in 39 games this past season.  Palffy played in three Olympics for Slovakia, and was even the country's flagbearer in 2010 in Vancouver.

Perhaps one of Mike Milbury's best moves as an Islander GM was one that he didn't make.  With ownership pressuring Milbury to cut payroll at any cost, the Rangers wanted to acquire Palffy.   

Larry Brooks reported at the time: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/item_6rWclVX04dP9zLYCOhoPnI

Instead, Palffy was dealt to Los Angeles on June 20, 1999.  The Isles ended up with two players who are still in the NHL (Olli Jokinen and Taylor Pyatt, who they drafted six days later) in the deal but neither did much in an Isles uniform.

Palffy had scored 168 goals by the time the Isles traded him away (just over half of his NHL total); he was 12th in Isles history in goals when he was traded, and perhaps amazingly he is still 12th today.   John Tavares and Matt Moulson are the active leaders with 112 goals for the Isles.

Palffy's career, by the numbers: http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/p/palffzi01.html 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Stockton Thunder, coached by ex-Isles Rich Kromm, is new Isles ECHL affiliate

http://www.stocktonthunder.com/2013/07/31/new-york-state-of-mind/

Rich Kromm:

"It's a great day in landing a tremendous organization like the New York Islanders as a valued NHL affiliate," said Rich Kromm, Thunder head coach and director of hockey operations. "Coming off a great season, they've gained a reputation in the hockey world as a promising organization that values development of young talent. Having played for them brings an exciting familiarity on my end and we're thrilled to begin helping develop their prospects."

Colin MacDonald, who played a key role for the Isles last season played for the Thunder in 2008-09.  Several other Islanders, most notably Andrew McDonald, have played at the ECHL level.

The Sound Tigers remain the Isles AHL affiliate. 

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

The Skinny on the Isles 2013-14 Schedule

Open and Close

 

Isles open in New Jersey on Saturday October 4. Isles are 0-4-0 when opening season vs. Devils. The home opener is Saturday, October 5 vs. Columbus, marking the Isles' first home opener ever against their new (Metropolitan) division mate.

 

There are 2 seasons left on the Coliseum lease, but if the Isles move to Brooklyn early, the final regular season game will be Tuesday, April 8^th vs. Ottawa.

 

For the 2nd straight season (and only 3rd time ever), the Isles will end the regular season in Buffalo (on April 12^th).

 

By the Calendar

 

Isles games by month:

• October 12
  
• November 15
  
• December 14
  
• January 16
  
• February 4 (Olympics)
  
• March 13
  
• April 8  
  

 

Saturday is Hockey Night. Isles will play every Saturday from October-January except January 11. Isles have 16 Saturday home games this season.

                              

Isles have 20 Tuesday games and 13 Thursdays. There are only 3 on Wednesday, including 1/29 against the Rangers at Yankee Stadium.  (Note that the Yankee Stadium game is an Islander home game).

 

Isles play 12 Friday games, including two at the Coliseum, two at The Garden and two in Newark.  The two in Newark are the first weekend and the last weekend of the season.

 

Traditional Dates

 

Isles host a Black Friday matinee (as they did in 2011), but do not play traditional Columbus Day or President Day (Olympics) games. The Isles will once again host a game on Thanksgiving Eve.

 

Traditional Opponents

 

The Isles will play only two opponents five times each this season, the Rangers and the Devils.

 

The Devils, for the second straight season, will be the only team to make three regular season trips to Long Island.

 

The Rangers will be at the Coliseum only once (October 29^th) and will face the Isles at Yankee Stadium on January 29^th. There will be three games at the Garden. Two of the Garden trips, as well as the Yankee Stadium game, are in an 11-day span in late January.

 

Rest of the Schedule

•  4 games vs. the remaining Metropolitan Division opponents (Columbus, Carolina, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington) (30 games, including Devils and Rangers) 
  
• 3 games vs. the eight Atlantic Division opponents (24 games)
  
• 2 games vs. the seven Central Division and seven Pacific opponents (28 games)
  

 

Where Are These Places?

 

With the new schedule, the Isles will visit Anaheim, Phoenix, St. Louis and Columbus for the first time since 2012.

 

The Isles will visit Calgary, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Edmonton, Minnesota and Vancouver for the first time since 2011.

 

The Isles will visit Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville and San Jose for the first time since 2010.

 

Jack Capuano has never coached a game in either Los Angeles or San Jose. The Isles lost November 11, 2010 in San Jose (shootout) and November 13, 2010 in Los Angeles in Scott Gordon's final two games as the Islander head coach.

 

Streaks

 

Eight of the Isles' first 12 games are at home; eight of the next 12 are on the road.

 

Fast start is a must for Isles; seven of first 8 are against teams that missed the playoffs in 2013 (the other game is in Chicago).

 

Isles play in Philly on January 18, and then leave the metro area for only 1 game until March 4.

 

Starting January 20th, Isles play 18 of 29 at home (including Yankee Stadium), with two of their 11 road games at The Garden

 

Besides the Olympic break (Isles play Feb 8 & Feb 27, off for the 18 days in between), Isles have 4 consecutive days off only twice: between games December 23-28 & March 18-23.

 

Back to Back

 

After only playing seven back-to-backs in 48 games last season, Isles will play 18 back-to-back sets this year (compare that to 13 in 2011-12, 20 in 2010-11, and 19 in 2009-10)

 

And Finally…

 

Remember all the noise about a 48 game/99 day NHL schedule in 2013? (The Isles were off on the final Saturday and thus played 48 games in 98 days)

 

From October 25 to January 31, the Isles will play 48 games in 99 days.

 

77 days

Let the countdown begin.  The Isles opener in New Jersey is 11 weeks away.

 

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Isle Pre-Season Sked

It's official - the first (and only pre-season) game at the Coliseum this season will be on Friday, September 27 against long-time (not really) rival Nashville.  That game will come six days after the Isles host New Jersey at Barclays Center in the first hockey game to be played in their future home.

The Isles will play 4 opponents twice this season -- split squad games vs the Flames and vs the Senators account for four of the eight games.  Home/home with New Jersey (home game at Barclays) and Nashville.

The regular season schedule will be announced shortly -- unofficial chatter has the home opener on Saturday, October 5th vs. Columbus.

Pre-season schedule:

TUE Sep 17, 2013* ISLANDERS FLAMES 9:00 PM
SCOTIABANK SADDLEDOME

TUE SEP 17, 2013* FLAMES ISLANDERS 9:00 PM
BRANDT CENTRE (Regina, SK)

THU Sep 19, 2013 Islanders DEVILS 7:00 PM
PRUDENTIAL CENTER

SAT SEP 21, 2013 DEVILS ISLANDERS 7:00 PM
BARCLAYS CENTER

SUN SEP 22, 2013 ISLANDERS PREDATORS 6:00 PM
Bridgestone Arena

FRI SEP 27, 2013 PREDATORS ISLANDERS 7:00 PM
NASSAU COLISEUM

SUN Sep. 29, 2013* SENATORS ISLANDERS 6:00 PM
Barrie Molson Centre (Barrie, ON)

SUN SEP. 29, 2013* ISLANDERS SENATORS 7:00 PM
Canadian Tire Centre (Kanata, ON -- the Sens' home barn has a new name this season, replacing Scotiabank Place)

(It remains to be seen whether the Saddledome will be ready to host a hockey game two months from tomorrow in the wake of the terrible flooding that hit Calgary, and the Saddledome)

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

 

The Skinny on the New Guys' Numbers

The Isles gave out uniform numbers today to three new acquisitions:

Cal Clutterbuck gets #15, which was last worn by P-A Parenteau.  (Clutterbuck wore #22 with the Wild, but that wasn't happening here)

Peter Regin takes #16.  He wore both 43, and in recent years, 13 with Ottawa.  Regin hopes that there are some goals left over in that jersey (Marty Reasoner scored only one in two seasons with the Isles wearing #16).  Ironically, no fewer than four former Islanders wore #16 in Ottawa:  Brad Lauer, Dave McLlwain, Steve Martins, and Mike Sillinger.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard keeps his Wild number, 96.  It becomes the highest uniform number ever issued by the Isles; Ryan Smyth wore #94 for 18 regular season and five playoff games.

Bouchard is one of five NHL players to wear 96.  Tomas Holmstrom wore it for all but his rookie year in Detroit.  Pavel Bure was the first to choose it, wearing it for his final two seasons in Vancouver.  Fabian Brunnstrom wore it for two seasons in Dallas.   The only player before Bouchard to wear 96 for two teams is Phil Housley, who wore it for two seasons in Washington, and for one regular season game and three playoff games (his final games in the NHL) for Toronto in 2003.

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

A Midsummer Night's Skinny

Took my younger son to the Blue and Orange game at the Coliseum tonight-- great crowd for hockey in July!

Couple of quick impressions: Ryan Strome with a goal and two pretty helpers was the best player on the ice.

Big night for a few collegians -- Riley Wetmore (UM-Lowell credited with two goals (although I think one belonged to Jason Clark, which would have given him a hat trick); In an upset, Mike Dalhuisen (Quinnipiac) won the hottest shot (97 mph) over Isles #1 draft pick Ryan Pulock.  Greg Miller (Cornell) had a "throw the glove to the corner and shoot the puck" shootout goal. 

Long Beach's Joey Diamond (Maine) had the game's first call (from Strome) and also added an assist.

Others:  Alan Quine (Belleville -166th overall in 2013) had a pair of goals in shootout-type situations. Call it Quine-Time.

Ken Reiter (Won national champ at UM-Duluth), Joel Rumpel (Wisconsin) and Eamonn McAdam (headed to Penn State after being Isles 3rd round pick) split the time in goal.

Time will tell with Loic Leduc will be a player, but the 19 year old defenseman is every bit the 6'6", 221 pounds that he is advertised. Leduc was the 102nd pick in 2012; he was born on an important day in NY hockey history, but not for the Isles -- June 14, 1994.

A European who could be a popular player down the road, if only just for his name is Victor Crus Rydberg.  The 5th round pick will play with the Plymouth Whalers in the OHL this season.  He scored a goal, but someone needs to teach him how to salsa!

 

Other players who will likely get a look from the Isles in September who played in the game: Anders Lee, Brock Nelson and Grifftin Reinhart.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Jaffe leads Team USA to Maccabiah Games

http://www.theislandnow.com/news/article_207654a0-ea41-11e2-9dab-0019bb2963f4.html

Send-off dinner for Maccabi hockey team

BY RICHARD TEDESCO | Posted: Thursday, July 11, 2013 11:47 am

On Tuesday, the Maccabi USA ice hockey team for players 18 years or older had their one and only

practice before departing for Israel on Wednesday for this month's 19th Maccabiah Games.

But that didn't dampen the spirts of the players gathered together for a send off dinner at Umberto's

Pizzeria and Restaurant in New Hyde Park - or their objectives.

"Winning and seeing the country," said team members Ryan Scall, a Dix Hills native who was a

defenseman at the University of Buffalo.

The dinner at Umberto's was sponsored by New Hyde Park-based Haines Celestial and arranged by

New Hyde Park insurance agent Richard "Big Daddy" Salgado, who counts hockey players and

Umberto's among his clients.

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano attended the dinner to support the team.

"I'm wishing these great athletes well in those games where they're going to represent the U.S.,"

Mangano said.

The Maccabi USA team will compete against squads from Canada, Russian and Israel.

Coach Billy Jaffe said the teams all play each other in the opening round. The teams with the best and

worst records then play each other as the second and third place teams also face off in the semi-final

round. The winners of those games meet in the final round.

The Maccabiah Games, which are held in Israel every four years, also fields teams under-18 and over-

40.

Jaffe said his initial challenge in assembling his team was finding Jewish hockey players for the team.

"You call players. You call coaches. You know who some of the Jewish hockey players are, you find

out and you call them," Jaffe said.

Jaffe, a Williston Park resident who is a hockey broadcaster on hockey telecasts for the NHL

Network and MSG Network, was captain of the USA team at the 1997 Maccabiah games that lost to

Canada in the gold medal game.

He said the Maccabiah Games will be a unique experience for the players.

"You're going to an incredible land with an incredible history but you're going there to play hockey

and be with 8,000 athletes from around the world," Jaffe said.

Woody Levin, a forward who was also a teammate of Jaffe on the 1997 team, said participating in the

hockey tournament - in the country's only Olympic-sized ice rink in Matula - is a "great" experience.

"Even when I was in college, to team up with other Jewish players, it doesn't happen," Levin said.

He said the team would have two practices at Tel Aviv and Metula before the tournament competition

begins.

The cost of transportation and accommodations for team is approximately $5,000 per player,

according to Phil Pulley, chairman of ice hockey for USA Maccabi.

He said the team's sponsors are Five Guys Burgers, the Packer Family Foundation and Ron Friedman,

who is also an investor in the current project to build an ice hockey complex in Eisenhower Park.

Pulley said apart from the hockey, the Maccabiah Games offer the players a chance to forge a link to

their cultural heritage.

"You're bringing kids who otherwise would not be going to Israel," Pulley said. "It gives them an

opportunity to connect with their roots."

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Isles waive DiPietro

After a beginning (and a middle) with a lot of pomp and circumstance, the end came in one line on a transaction list from the team's official website:

"July 2: Islanders place Rick DiPietro on unconditional waivers."

"July 2: Islanders extend qualifying offers to forwards Josh Bailey, Brett Gallant, David Ullstrom, defensemen Travis Hamonic, Thomas Hickey and goaltender Kevin Poulin."

And just like that, the 15 year, 67.5M contract was done.

As it turns out, DiPietro, who will turn 32 in September, was paid $31.5M for the seven years that have passed since he was signed in September 2006.  He will also be paid $1.5M for the next sixteen years under the compliance buyout, which will not count towards the Islanders' cap.  All totaled, the Isles will have paid DiPietro $55.5M under this contract.

DiPietro's contract was the longest in NHL history when it was signed, surpassing the 10-year contract signed by then-teammate Alexei Yashin.  Yashin's contract was also bought out; there are still two years at $2.204M remaining on that buyout.

What's next for DiPietro?  He is certainly still young enough to try and rebuild his career if he is healthy enough and willing to spend time in the AHL (or ECHL) and hope for another chance.  After all,  Tim Thomas turned 32 in April 2006 after splitting the year with Providence and the Bruins.  Thomas did not get his big money deal with Boston until the summer after he turned 35.

DiPietro won only 14 games in his last five seasons with the Isles.  His most recent NHL victory came on December 3, 2011 in Dallas; DiPietro was pulled from that game with a 5-4 lead after two periods.  Al Montoya "saved" the win, which was the 130th for DiPietro as an Islander.

DiPietro finishes his Isles career with:
318 games played (2nd to Billy Smith)
130 wins (3rd behind Smith and Resch)
136 losses (2nd to Smith)
36 ties/OT losses (3rd to Smith and Resch)
16 shutouts (3rd to Smith and Resch)
2.87 GAA (6th among Isles goalies who have played at least 80 games)

The Islanders had five $4m+ players in the organization last season.  DiPietro joins Tim Thomas and Mark Streit as those who will not return in 2013-14; John Tavares and Lubomir Visnovsky are the others.

Based on capgeek, the Isles have committed $32.3M to next year's cap (including Yashin's buyout).

Also on that transaction list today:

"July 2: Islanders extend qualifying offers to forwards Josh Bailey, Brett Gallant, David Ullstrom, defensemen Travis Hamonic, Thomas Hickey and goaltender Kevin Poulin."

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Fortune Magazine on Bryan Berard losing, well, a fortune

http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/tag/phil-kenner/

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick