Yormark: "Islanders Fans Will Be Happy"

Recently, more speculation has grown around the idea of the Nets/Barclays Center people having a desire to re brand the Islanders upon the teams move to Barclays Center like they did to the Nets before the start of this NBA season.

Such speculation has caused great angst in Islander land with one fan actually starting an online petition against the idea and amassing over 1,000 signatures.  (You can find a link to the petition below.)

Yesterday, Nets/Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark spoke out on this topic in response to a couple Islander fans and had this to say, "I promise you we will do the right thing.  Islanders fans will be happy.  I am listening."

If you are unaware, there has been reported desire that Barclays/Nets people want to incorporate black and white into the Islanders color scheme like they did for the Nets.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/sticktoyourroots/

https://twitter.com/brettyormark/status/343420717666295810

Draft Party Set For June 30

According to Newsday, the Islanders will hold their annual draft party on June 30th at the Coliseum.  Free tickets will be available on the teams site to reserve soon and Matt Martin as well as Matt Carkner will be in attendance.

Being that the draft is all one day this year rather than split, I am unaware if this will impact how things work with the draft party.  Once we have more details we will be sure to fill you all in.

https://twitter.com/StapeNewsday/status/342010861705129986

Isles Likely To Stand Pat This Summer?

With all the talk recently of the Islanders making a play for Roberto Luongo Arthur Staple of Newsday has said that is all it is, talk.  With the contract Luongo has he doesn't think the Islanders would give up assets for him.

He believes that the Islanders will go into next season with Nabokov/Poulin/Nilsson as the teams goalies and Matt Donovan being the likely defenseman to take Mark Streits spot on the blue line.

While anything is possible which Garth showed as recently as last season with the acquisition of Lubomir Visnovsky at the draft, this scenario Staple points out wouldn't surprise me to much.  Now that we have a team that has attracted positive attention around the league and is seen as a team to look out for and have the building all ironed out, people will be able to see the real excuses for having trouble attracting talent and in my opinion it starts at the top.  I hope they are able to surprise me, but I won't get my hopes up.

Updates On Boyes/Nabokov

According to Arthur Staple, forward Brad Boyes will likely not be back next season.

Talks are reportedly still ongoing but Boyes is looking for a more longer term deal than the 1 year 1 million dollar contract he signed last summer so he will likely hit the market.

Meanwhile, goalie Evgeni Nabokov will likely be back next season.  It is reported that both he and the team are willing to sign a one year contract and money isn't an issue so look for an announcement sometime before the start of free agency on July 5th.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islanders/mark-streit-won-t-return-to-islanders-1.5405742?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Mark Streit Will Not Return

According to Newsday, Islanders captain Mark Streit will not return to the team next season.

Streit who is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 5th has turned down the Islanders best contract offer believed to be 3 years at 4.75 million per season.  If you remember back around the trade deadline TSN reported that Streit was looking for anywhere between 5.5-6 million per season on a three year contract.

It is being speculated that John Tavares will likely be named the team captain replacing Streit with Visnovsky, Hamonic, or Frans Nielsen taking the vacant assistant captain role.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islanders/mark-streit-won-t-return-to-islanders-1.5405742?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter