Sillinger Announces Retirement

There will be no more trades or new teams for Mike Sillinger. The veteran center has announced his retirement from the NHL after 17 seasons due to an injured left hip. This particular injury allowed Sillinger to play only 7 games for the Islanders and 3 games for their AHL affiliate Bridgeport last season before undergoing surgery in February.

Sillinger played for an NHL-record 12 different teams, and was traded an NHL-record 9 times. He had been most recently a New York Islander, having signed with them during the summer of 2006. The 38 year-old had the best season of his career during his first year on the Island, scoring 26 goals and 33 assists.

If healthy, Sillinger would probably have been welcomed back to Nassau Coliseum for a fourth season with open arms. The Islanders have a ton of cap space (approximately $15 million) and even though they don't want to spend much until the Lighthouse Project picks up speed, Sillinger would have came cheap. New York is also lacking veteran leadership on and off the ice other than Doug Weight to help guide John Tavares and the young, rebuilding Islanders.

Islanders Sign Biron, DP Continues to Slide in the Depth Chart

"Adding Marty gives us three bona fide No. 1 goalies. We learned about the importance of stability in our lineup from last year and he now allows us to have another quality starter." -New York Islanders General Manager Garth Snow

That is the formal way of backing the Islanders signing of Martin Biron (29-19-5, 2.76 GAA for Flyers last year) to a 1 year/$1.4 million deal.

What Snow really meant was:

"Adding Marty gives us three former No. 1 goalies. We learned over the last few years that Rick DiPietro should never be counted on to play more than 5 games in a season. Biron, and the recently signed Dwayne Roloson, should account for the other 77 games in net during the 2009-2010 campaign. Biron and the 40 year-old (in October) Roloson should combine for the best goalie duo out on the island since 2001-2002 when I went 10-7-2 and Chris Osgood went 32-25-6. It won't make a difference anyway, as our team will still come in last in the Atlantic Division during the upcoming season. Hopefully Biron still has a few quality years left in him, and can anchor us in a few years when we may make the playoffs. I hope he likes Kansas City barbecue. Who knows-maybe DP realizes that we are fed up with his injuries and are replacing him with a solid player instead of a random guy from Bridgeport, and will stop getting hurt."

In case you missed it

Islanders owner Charles Wang was in studio with WFAN's Mike Francesa this afternoon. Of course the main topic was The Lighthouse Project, which has been hotly debated out on the Island. Wang said the project will cost an estimated $3.7 billion. There is a big vote coming up on October 3rd, which will decide if this project will get the go-ahead. You can listen to the audio here.

Islanders Bring in Assistant Coach, Dump Radio Team

The New York Islanders have hired longtime minor league coach Scott Allen as an assistant coach. The Islanders move to hire someone with this type of background actually makes a lot of sense. Their head coach has mainly only coached in the minors, most of their players belong in the minors, their arena is fit for the minors, and their games draw like those for the minors. At least the Islanders are being consistent when it comes to mediocrity.

Allen leaves the AHL's Quad City Flames (now Abbotsford Heat) where he spend two seasons as an assistant coach, aiding the team to a 74-63-9-14 record. He has more AAA coaching experience, spending time as both head and assistant coach with the San Antonio Rampage in addition to his tenure as an assistant coach with the Lowell Lock Monsters. He also has been both a head and assistant coach with the AA ECHL's Johnstown Chiefs. Before coaching, Allen played ten years in the minor leagues.

While the doors of the crumbling Nassau Coliseum open for Allen, they close for Chris King and Steve Mears. The Islanders have decided to not renew the contracts of their radio broadcast duo as they will now simulcast the signal of their television broadcast to save some cash.

I can honestly say that I have never listened to King and Mears call games, as I am a huge Howie Rose fan and turn on the television when I want to know whats going on out on the Island. Nevertheless, I cringed when I heard this news. First, as a broadcast journalism student hoping to someday announce hockey games, I became fearful of the fact that those opportunities may be dwindling. Second, as a hockey fan and follower, I realized that the Islander faithful will be getting the short end of the stick. Currently Howie and Billy Jaffe do an amazing job at calling games, but their descriptions of the action on the ice are geared toward television.

If Howie and Billy change their style to make things less difficult for listeners, it will then be less television friendly and will be of a lesser quality for viewers. One way or another, the Islanders will have low quality and confusing broadcasts of their games.

Anyone who has ever watched a hockey game on television and listened to one on the radio knows that the broadcasts are quite different. Apparently the Islanders do not. Or they do, and don't care, as long as it saves a buck or two.

Islanders Sign Top Pick Tavares

The last number one pick in the NHL entry draft for the New York Islanders has spent most of his pro career on the injured reserve. The Islanders pray that John Tavares will have better luck than Rick DiPietro.

New York has signed the top pick of the 2009 draft class to a three-year entry level contract. Tavares had 215 goals and 218 assists over four seasons in the OHL and led the league in both totals last season. The 19 year-old center is the all-time leading goal scorer in OHL history and also broke Wayne Gretzky's record for for most goals in a season with 72 goals during the 2006-2007 campaign.

Tavares will be one of many youngsters on the Islanders trying to rebuild the organization from a dreadful 2008-2009 in which it was the worst team in the NHL. Although he is projected to be a huge star for the league, the Islanders may have been hesitant to sign him to a long deal after a disastrous 15 year/$67.5 million contract given to DiPietro (the longest in NHL history) in 2006 and an even more disastrous 1o year/$87.5 million contract given to Alexei Yashin in 2001. Even after Yashin's contract was reduced by 24% due to the 2005 CBA and the Islanders bought it out in June 2007, they still have to pay him $2.2 million every year for eight years.

Hopefully for fans out on Long Island, Tavares will earn himself a nice contract after he becomes a restricted free agent in three years, and will live up to it. His numbers in the Ontario Hockey League show that he has a chance to become a franchise player, an annual All-Star, and even one of the greatest players in the world.