Preseason Wednesday October 1

The NHL preseason chugged along on Wednesday as 18 teams faced off in 9 games. Former Islanders made contributions in 5 of those matchups and continue to flex their talent. For some players, like Ryan Smyth, the preseason has been a sign of possible good things to come in 2008-09. Here is a look at the FI efforts:

It is a good time to be Chris Osgood. The goaltender is flanked but what is unanimously being hailed as the best team in hockey in the Detroit Red Wings. The Wings continued to show off their talent,even without Marian Hossa, by beating up on the little guy as they thumped and dumped the host Atlanta Thrashers 4-1. Osgood faced a relatively high 26 shots but only surrendered 1 goal. He has given up 2 goals this preseason over roughly 2 and a half games of play... Do the math and that's about a 0.80 goals against average.

First he climbs mountains in Africa then he returns to the cool crispness of the hockey rink. On Wednesday Zdeno Chara started up his offensive engine again by notching the only Boston goal, a powerplay tally, as the Bruins fell to the host Montreal Canadiens 3-1. Chara is looking to carry his career season momentum in to the 2008-09 campaign.


St. Louis defenseman Eric Brewer is alive and seemingly well. The d-man, who struggled through a lackluster 2007-08 season, is looking to have a bounceback year. Brewer got involved with the offense by assisting on the 2nd of 4 insurance goals as the Blues trounced the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs 7-3. At only 29 years of age, Brewer is only a year younger than the 2 oldest defenseman on the team (Mike Weaver and Jay McKee). It will be expected of Brewer to be a leader on and off the ice to a ragamuffin squad with an average player age of only 28.2.

Ryan Smyth is on fire. We have lost count of his preseason point total since it is completely inane but Smyth has been a whirling dirvish of offense for the Avalanche in what he is hoping will be a full and healthy season. (Odds that Smyth will be injured at some point during the actual season are currently running at 1.5:1) Smyth opened the scoring with only 1:22 remaining in the first period on a powerplay goal with assists from the yin and yang of the Colorado youth spectrum: Paul Stastny and Joe Sakic. In the end, the Avs whisked by the visiting Dallas Stars 3-1.

Taylor Pyatt, yes he still plays in the NHL!, assisted on the opening goal only 21 seconds in to play as the Vancouver Canucks whomped the visting Calgary Flames 6-1. Vancouver, who is expected to be among the worst teams in the Western Conference this season, is a surprising 5-0-0 in the preseason. But since it is all exhibition there is no point reading too deeply in to this. Backstopping the Canucks to the win was new captain Roberto Luongo. Luongo stopped 35 of 36 shots for the victory. Luongo becomes the 2nd FI to captain the Canucks albeit Trevor Linden was captain before being traded to the Islanders and becoming captain there. For the record, the Islanders never considered making Luongo the team captain during his time on the Island.

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Preseason Tuesday September 30

The month of September wrapped up with 5 NHL preseason games. As we are now on the verge of the start of the 2008-09 season, teams have pretty much solidified their lineups. There was only 1 major Former Islander event of note on Tuesday so let us take a look:

Coyotes' number 1 center Olli Jokinen continued his strong play with his new team recording a pair of points as Phoenix fell to the host San Jose Sharks 4-3 in OT. O-Jok helped the team mount a 2-0 lead by assisting on the opening goal 5:41 in to play and then adding his own with only 3:01 left in the first period. The tally was Jokinen's first with his new squad. Jokinen is looking to return to the point-a-game form he had before last season's dropoff. Jokinen had 91 points during the 2006-07 season but managed only 71 last year, a 20 point fall. Jokinen is looking to return to the 90 point range.

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Captain: Roberto Luongo

The Vancouver Canucks stunned the hockey world on Tuesday by anointing goaltender Roberto Luongo the new captain of the team. Luongo becomes the first backstopping captain in the NHL in over 60 years. Rules forbid Luongo from wearing the "C" on his jersey so his on ice team leading responsibilities fall to defenseman Willie Mitchell. How great is that? You do not get the captaincy but you still have to do most of the bureacratic stuff that comes with it. Poor Mitchell is getting the short end of the goalie stick there.

Luongo, whose contract with the Canucks expires after the 2009-10 season, has now been tapped as the centerpiece of Vancouver's lineup, a fact that should come as little surpise to those who have followed this team. What the announcement does mean, though, is that the Canucks' brass is very serious about keeping him in the fold after 2010. Time will tell what Luongo thinks. In 2 seasons with Vancouver, Luongo has compiled an 82-51-15 record with a save percentage right around .919 and a goals against average at about 2.31. He just missed out on the Vezina Trophy 2 seasons ago, his first with the team. Currently, Luongo is only 3 wins away from career number 200.

Injured: Raffi Torres

As reported in our last post, Columbus Blue Jackets' winger Raffi Torres will miss the next 6 weeks after separating his shoulder in a fight with Chicago Blackhawks' enforcer Ben Eager. The King of Bad Luck, Torres missed most of last season battling injury while still with the Edmonton Oilers and did not want to start the new year on the IR. He separated the shoulder after being dragged down in the fight. Sadly, Torres had netted a goal earlier in the game but alas all is a wash for now. We wish Raffi a quick recovery because we really want to see him back, healthy and playing again.

Preseason Monday September 29

Monday night featured 4 more NHL exhibition games. Now is the time of year that coaching staffs league-wide try to find the chemistry that could define their entire season. Former Islanders are almost everywhere in the NHL. FIs were major players in 3 of the night's competitions. Here is a look at what they accomplished:

Columbus forward Michael Peca assisted on his team's 3rd goal as the Blue Jackets thumped the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 7-1. The helper was Peca's first point of the preseason and came on Raffi Torres' lone goal. Torres, a fellow FI, will miss the next 6 weeks or so after separating his shoulder in a scrap with Chicago enforcer Ben Eager.


New Jersey backup Kevin Weekes fell to 1-2-0 on the preseason after stopping 23 of 26 shots in the Devils' 3-2 loss to the visiting Washington Capitals. Weekes played the entire game but did not get enough goal support to secure a win. Weekes definitely looks like he has the edge in the battle for backup between himself and born-again Devils goaltender Scott Clemmensen. The sad part is that the 4 games Weekes has already played in this preseason is probably more than he will play in during the entire 2008-09 campaign.

Center Olli Jokinen has made his first offensive impact as a Phoenix Coyote by assisting on sophomore winger Peter Mueller's 3rd goal of the game. The Coyotes thrashed the visiting San Jose Sharks 5-1. Many expect O-Jok to be centering a top line in which he will be flanked by heart-and-soul of the franchise right wing Shane Doan and the potential super-soph Mueller. We look forward to seeing this potentially dynamic unit play.

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Preseason Sunday September 28

Some of the NHL will be starting the NHL in Europe to kickoff the season. While we will not be reporting the results of these Euro-North American matchups we wish all those foreign squads the best as they faceoff against the New York Rangers. You have to love Europeans because even they have a place for Ranger hatred. Otherwise, there were 6 games on tap on Sunday. Former Islanders offered their services in 2 of those games. Let us take a look:

There are times when Detroit's defense is so good it makes be a goaltender easy. Sunday was one of those days. Chris Osgood faced only 14 shots and stopped them all as the Detroit Red Wings blanked the visiting Atlanta Thrashers 4-0. The blanking was an example of a rare exhibition shutout but with Atlanta's paltry offense, Detroit's stellar defense and the Chris "Ozzie" Osgood in net things were aligned perfectly for a goose egg. Ozzie is 1-0-0 on the preseason and has surrendered on 1 goal in 1 and a half game's worth of minutes.

Jason Krog missed his shootout attempt in the 3rd of 5 rounds but all was okay as the Vancouver Canucks slipped by the host Anaheim Ducks for a 5-4 SO win. If we were the betting type we would be announcing Krog a lock to make the lineup for the start of the season but will be cautious and wait with everyone else to see what happens.



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Preseason Saturday September 27

As we catch up here at FIW on the weekend we now take a look at Saturday. There were 12 matchups with 24 teams getting their kinks out before the season starts. Former Islanders were involved in 4 of those games. Three of the competitions had incomplete boxscores so reports on those yielded no FI news. Here is a look at the FI contributions from Saturday:

Two FI goaltenders got some playing time in as the New Jersey Devils were hosted by the New York Rangers. Backstopping New Jersey to the 4-2 win was backup goalie Kevin Weekes who played half the game before giving way to Scott Clemmensen. Weekes stopped all 10 shots he faced as the Devils built a 4-0 lead around his strong performance. On the other side of the benches Blueshirts' backup Stephen Valiquette filled in the last half the game after starter Henrik Lundqvist surrendered those 4 tallies. Vali stopped all 11 shots he faced. Weekes improved to 1-1-0 on the preseason while Valiquette fell to an ominous 0-3-0 in his exhibition time.

Boston Bruins' forward Petteri Nokelainen is working hard to show he should be with the big club when the season starts. Nokelainen does have competition though. He helped his cause bgy scoring a game tying goal only 5:30 in to the 3rd period but all was for naught as the Bruins fell to the visiting Washington Capitals 4-3. This was first offensive impact Nokelainen has made in the preseason for the Bs.

New St. Louis winger Steve Regier assisted on the Blues' opening goal as they were edged by the host Dallas Stars 4-3. Regier is trying to make an impact on his new team after playing in 18 games over the last 3 season with the Isles without a scoring a point. Regier is hoping there will be an NHL spot available for him on a youthful Blues squad.


And finally, a pair of Vancouver FIs made some noise as the Canucks skittered by the host San Jose Sharks 3-2. Roberto Luongo got his first win of the preseason stopping all 14 shots he faced while playing the first 2 periods of the game. Luongo is 1-0-0 in exhibition this year. Last year's AHL scoring leader, forward Jason Krog helped the Canucks' cause with a shorthanded goal 5:31 in the 2nd period to lift Vancouver to a 2-0 lead. Krog has a real good shot to make the lineup especially in light of his recent contributions in the preseason.

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