There's Hope on Long Island - New York Islanders NHL 12 (BAGM)

[devo22]

ISLANDERS ANNOUNCE TRAINING CAMP ROSTER

September 8, 2012. The New York Islanders have announced their training camp roster today. The roster consists of 55 players: 32 forwards, 17 defensemen and 6 goaltenders.

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NEW YORK ISLANDERS TRAINING CAMP ROSTER 2012

FORWARDS (32):
8 STROME, Ryan
10 BISSONNETTE, Paul
11 STEMPNIAK, Lee
15 BRUNETTE, Andrew
18 HALEY, Micheal
21 OKPOSO, Kyle (A)
25 NIEDERREITER, Nino
26 MOULSON, Matt
28 LEIPSIC, Brendan
40 GRABNER, Michael
43 AUCOIN, Keith
45 MANCARI, Mark
47 MACENAUER, Maxime
49 RAKHSHANI, Rhett
50 EAKIN, Cody
51 LAICH, Brooks
54 BLOODOFF, Evan
55 LATTA, Michael
58 SZWARZ, Jordan
59 DOWLING, Justin
60 CATENACCI, Michael
63 CIZIKAS, Casey
64 MOON, Nathan
68 DEVOS, Philippe-Michael
69 MAGEE, Brandon
70 GAL, Blake
72 ADAM, Luke
74 CROOKS, Jamie
79 FERLAND, Michael
84 MARCANTUONI, Matia
88 LATTA, Nick
91 TAVARES, John

DEFENSEMEN (17):
2 STREIT, Mark (C)
3 HAMONIC, Travis
4 BOUWMEESTER, Jay
12 DE HAAN, Calvin
24 BREWER, Eric
27 NESS, Aaron
29 FAYNE, Mark
42 EBERT, Nick
44 FALK, Justin
52 SPURGEON, Jared
56 CURCURUTO, Gianluca
57 DOORNBOSCH, Jamie
61 DIAZ, Raphael
65 KLUBERTANZ, Kyle
67 MILAN, Daniel
76 RINTOUL, Hayden
78 RISSLING, Jaynen

GOALTENDERS (6):
1 BROSSOIT, Laurent
20 NABOKOV, Evgeni
35 MONTOYA, Al
36 LIEUWEN, Nathan
37 ZATKOFF, Jeff
38 GUHLE, Dawson

[devo22]

REVIEWING THE ISLANDERS OFF-SEASON

September 14, 2012. With training camp starting in a few days, it's time to reflect on a busy couple of months which saw changes to a young and promising team. Quality players were forced to leave the club, while other (hopefully) valuable players have been added. Here's my verdict of how GM Garth Snow has handled his duties during the summer.

FORWARDS
IN	OUT
Brooks Laich	P.A. Parenteau
Luke Adam	Frans Nielsen
Andrew Brunette	Brian Rolston
Lee Stempniak	Blake Comeau
Paul Bissonnette	Marty Reasoner
Cody Eakin	Jesse Joensuu
Maxime Macenauer	Josh Bailey
Mark Mancari	Matt Martin
Keith Aucoin	Trevor Gillies
Michael Latta	Kirill Kabanov
Evan Bloodoff	Trevor Frischmon
Michael Catenacci	Justin diBenedetto
Jordan Szwarz	Tomas Marcinko
Blake Gal	Tony Romano
Michael Ferland	Mitchell Theoret
Justin Dowling	David Ullstrom
Philippe-Michael Devos
Jamie Crooks
Nathan Moon

Snow has been looking to strengthen the squad down the middle, with several centermen coming in. Frans Nielsen and Brian Rolston are the only noteable centermen coming off the roster, while the likes of Brooks Laich, Luke Adam, Cody Eakin and Maxime Macenauer were added to the roster. Lee Stempniak and Andrew Brunette should give the Isles enough flexibility on the wing, with the latter also providing much needed leadership and experience. Brooks Laich should also contribute in this matter. While quality players like P.A. Parenteau, Frans Nielsen, Brian Rolston and Blake Comeau were shown the door, it's highly unlikely to me that the forward group will be any worse than last year. If anything, the attacking corps should be even stronger, since coach Jack Capuano now has enough depth in the squad to spread out the scoring over more lines. Giving up on Kirill Kabanov could turn out to be a mistake if he pans out in Calgary, but it is only understandable that the Isles ran out of patience.

DEFENSEMEN
IN	OUT
Jay Bouwmeester	Milan Jurcina
Eric Brewer	Mark Eaton
Mark Fayne	Andrew MacDonald
Rafael Diaz	Jack Hillen
Justin Falk	Ty Wishart
Jared Spurgeon	Steve Staios
Kyle Klubertanz	Mark Katic
Daniel Milan	Mike Mottau
Hayden Rintoul	Dylan Reese
	Anton Klementyev
	Tony Dehart
	Andrei Pedan

During the last few years, the Isles defense often was the center of attention, as the team lacked quality at the back-end (except for Mark Streit, obviously). GM Snow tried to address the problem and acquired a (potential) zop-defenseman in Jay Bouwmeester. Right now, the value of his addition is difficult to judge - it really comes down to whether Bouwmeester can return to his form in Florida. If he continues his Calgary form, then Snow has thrown away a first-round pick. However, Bouwmeester seems to be more suitable to playing in the East than in the West, so here's hoping that he can prove his critics wrong. Eric Brewer might just be the best defensive addition though, adding leadership and solid play in the defensive end. The likes of Diaz, Fayne, Falk and Spurgeon might find themselves battling for a roster spot against each other - plus prospects like Calvin de Haan, Nick Ebert and Aaron Ness. It's almost impossible to predict who will join the top four (Streit, Bouwmeester, Brewer and Travis Hamonic) at the blueline this fall.

GOALTENDERS
IN	OUT
Jeff Zatkoff	Rick DiPietro
Nathan Lieuwen	Kevin Poulin
Laurent Brossoit	Mikko Koskinen

First Yashin, then diPietro - the Islanders should really stay away from ridiculous long-term contracts. The diPietro fiasco should be a warning to Snow: you just never know what the future brings. In diPietro's case, it brought injuries. With Montoya and Nabokov perfectly being able to handle goaltending duties, Snow was looking to unload diPietro's contract, and he finally found a taker in Calgary. Jeff Zatkoff was acquired to be the starter in Bridgeport, with Nathan Lieuwen learning from him. These changes will definitely not affect the Isles at all - as I said, the tandem on Long Island is very solid and the AHL-proven Zatkoff could at least fill in for a couple of games if necessary.

When only looking at the squad changes, you could get pretty excited for the Islanders. Considering that Snow had to trade away three first-rounders and a bunch of other picks to get his targets, one might argue that these deals could very well come back to haunt the franchise in a few years. Therefore, the current team basically MUST perform this year - otherwise, Mike Bossy won't be the lone critic of the Isles approach during this off-season.

[thedudedominick]

I'll be following.

[bthomp05]

Interesting dealings, hope it works. Will be following.

[BZito75]

sign me up as well. following

[devo22]

TWO PRE-SEASON LOSSES

September 24, 2012. The New York Islanders began their 2012-13 campaign with two pre-season losses to divisional rivals Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers.

PRE-SEASON GAME 1:
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS at NEW YORK ISLANDERS, 1-0


Tyler Kennedy (48) spoiled the Islanders pre-season opener

The Islanders failed to get on the scoreboard in their pre-season opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins, as the star-ladden visitors took a close 1-0 win. Tyler Kennedy got the lone goal late in the second period, beating rookie goaltender Laurent Brossoit with a shot from the slot after exchanging passes with Jordan Staal. Brent Johnson registered 19 saves for a shutout, while Brossoit stopped 28 shots and consequently earned first-star honours.

"I am not concerned", Islanders coach Capuano said after the loss. "We iced a very young team ... AHL players, junior players, draft picks. Those guys deserve to show their abilities at this point of the season. Their effort was fine, especially defensively. The Penguins played a far more experienced team tonight. Crosby played, Staal played, Letang played. Those are great players, and our youngsters will only learn from the experience."

Islanders Line-up:

LEFT WING ............... CENTER ......... .........,, RIGHT WING
Brendan Leipsic ......... Maxime Macenauer .......--.. Cody Eakin
Michael Latta............ Michael Catenacci ....--.... Jordan Szwarz
Jamie Crooks............. Philippe-Michael Devos .--...Blake Gal
Michael Ferland.......... Casey Cizikas .............. Justin Dowling

LEFT DEFENSEMAN ......... RIGHT DEFENSEMAN
Nick Ebert .............. Jaynen Rissling
Rafael Diaz ...----...... Daniel Milan
Kyle Klubertanz ......... Hayden Rintoul

STARTING GOALTENDER ..... BACKUP GOALTENDER
Laurent Brossoit ........ Nathan Lieuwen

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PRE-SEASON GAME 2:
NEW YORK RANGERS at NEW YORK ISLANDERS, 4-3



Mats Zuccarello (36) scored the game-winner for the Rangers

The Islanders managed scoring this time, but Mats Zuccarello's goal late in the game gave the Rangers a close 4-3 win. Blake Gal, Nick Ebert and Cody Eakin scored for the Islanders while Nathan Lieuwen gave up four goals on 26 shots.

Islanders Line-up:

LEFT WING ............... CENTER ......... .........,, RIGHT WING
Brendan Leipsic ......... Maxime Macenauer .......--.. Cody Eakin
Michael Latta............ Michael Catenacci ....--.... Jordan Szwarz
Jamie Crooks............. Philippe-Michael Devos .--...Blake Gal
Michael Ferland.......... Casey Cizikas .............. Justin Dowling

LEFT DEFENSEMAN ......... RIGHT DEFENSEMAN
Nick Ebert .............. Jaynen Rissling
Rafael Diaz ...----...... Daniel Milan
Kyle Klubertanz ......... Hayden Rintoul

STARTING GOALTENDER ..... BACKUP GOALTENDER
Nathan Lieuwen .......... Laurent Brossoit

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ISLANDERS ANNOUNCE ROSTER MOVES

After their second pre-season defeat, the Islanders trimmed their training camp roster by 18 players and announced the following roster moves:

ASSIGNED TO BRIDGEPORT (12):
F Evan Bloodoff
F Michael Catenacci
F Jamie Crooks
F Philippe-Michael Devos
F Justin Dowling
F Michael Ferland
F Nathan Moon
D Jamie Doornbosch
D Kyle Klubertanz
D Daniel Milan
D Hayden Rintoul
G Nathan Lieuwen

ASSIGNED TO JUNIOR TEAMS (6):
F Nick Latta
F Brandon Magee
F Matia Marcantuoni
D Gianluca Curcuruto
G Laurent Brossoit
G Dawson Guhle

The Islanders now have 37 players left on their training camp roster: 22 forwards, 12 defensemen and 3 goaltenders.

[bthomp05]

Great work with the rosters.