According to Newsday, Isles goalie Rick DiPietro could be facing a two-game suspension for not getting his new pads, which he used to the first period of last night’s 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers, authorized by the league.

However, after the game, DP told reporters he thought the matter was taken care of before the game. 

“I got those pads about a week before I got hurt,” DiPietro said. “I started wearing them and breaking them in, and then started using them in the game. Apparently, they haven’t gone through the NHL. I thought we cleared it. After warmup, we found that we cleared it, but apparently, they weren’t satisfied with that. We just found out after the first period that I had to switch to the old ones.”

“I guess it’s my fault, but I was under the impression that they had been approved. I thought I did the right thing. Once we found out after the warmup that they hadn’t been approved, we called and let them know and measured them and made sure they were legal. Everything measured out fine. It’s their call.”

According to the team’s official site, Rick DiPietro and Radek Martinek are still nursing injures and Isles Assistant Captain Mike Sillinger will also be out to recover from a few bumps and bruises.

Islanders head coach Ted Nolan had this to say on the team’s website about Silly:

“It’s important that we give Mike Sillinger a game off to heal some injuries,” Nolan told newyorkislanders.com. “Fans don’t know this, no one does, but Mike has been banged up for a while and has shown a lot of guts playing through it. By giving him the one game off on Monday, it will give him four days to get a little more healthy until our home game on Thursday.”

Three fights in a period and a half. Can you say old time hockey?

With Rick DiPietro probable for tonight’s game, will the Islanders be able to play sound defense behind Wade Dubielewicz if he gets the start? Will the Islanders give up another shorthanded goal in crunch time and commit costly penalties? Will Radek Martinek be in the Islanders lineup as well? If not, do you give Marc-Andre Bergeron another shot to anchor the powerplay?

On offense, can Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie and Richard Park continue to produce? With Martin Brodeur playing a great game against the Sabres yesterday, the Islanders may have their work cut out for them.

According to the team’s official website, 2006 first round pick Kyle Okposo has been signed to an entry level contract and will join the organization after competing in the World Juniors.

According to the Islanders official website, both Rick DiPietro and Radek Martinek are day to day with injuries. DiPietro injured his left knee during pre-game warmups and Martinek injured his leg against the Capitals on Saturday. However, both could be ready for Saturday’s game against the Devils.
However, Isles winger Shawn Bates, best known for his penalty shot goal in the playoffs against the leafs in 2002, is going to miss the rest of the season after having his second hip surgery in as many years, according to FSNY. After missing over 30 games last season with an injury to his hip, Bates played in two games this season with no shots and a -2 rating.

After injuring his knee during warm-ups last night against the Maple Leafs, Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro will get an MRI to see how serious the injury is. How will backup goaltender Wade Dubielewicz perform tonight against the Senators, if DP can’t go? He stopped 21 of 22 shots over the last two and a half periods, but can “Yoda” return to the same form he had late last season that helped claim the Isles a playoff spot?

This post has been inevitable for a few months now. I just had to wait long enough for the numbers to basically prove the way I felt.

Originally, you can imagine how I felt about this team in the beginning of August, seeing players Ryan Smyth, Tom Poti, Jason Blake, Alexei Yashin, Viktor Kozlov, Arron Asham and Randy Robitaille part ways.

However, looking back, even though Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie and Ruslan Fedotenko haven’t been as consistent as many would have liked, the play of the players from last season has been much worse.

If you don’t believe me, take a look for yourself.

Through 36 games in Russia, Yashin has 26 points and already has 45 minutes in penalties. While I haven’t seen him play this season, those numbers confirm something. Yashin has either lost whatever amount of passion he had left for the game, or had lost a step. For the hardcore Islander fan, seeing Yashin play this way is like a sigh of relief. If this guy was lighting up the Russian league after the Isles paid him to go find a home somewhere else and then couldn’t sign Blake or Smyth, things would be rough for Garth Snow.

However 26 points in 36 games aren’t exactly horrible, as they’re quite comparable to Comrie’s numbers, they weren’t worth what the Isles were paying Yashin. The same thing goes for Jason Blake’s play with the Leafs this season. After scoring 40 goals with the Isles last season, the winger has only lit the lamp five times. Signing with Toronto this offseason because he wanted to play with a legitimate playoff contender every season, [fitting because they didn’t make the playoffs the season before and haven’t won a Stanley Cup in how long?] Blake now finds himself on a team that’s only one game over .500.

The same thing goes for Viktor Kozlov and Tom Poti, who arguably had the best seasons of their careers with the Isles last season. Leaving the Island to become a part of a new-look Washington Capitals team, Kozlov and Poti have a combined three goals and 32 points in 66 games. All of a sudden, it looks like the Islanders made out better with Josef Vasicek and a more responsible Chris Campoli, who have a combined 13 goals and 31 points in 68 games. Either way, the Islanders haven’t been hurt by the loss of Poti and Kozlov.

Continuing the trend of under-performing former Isles, Robitaille only has 10 points in 26 games with the Senators this season and Asham has four goals and seven points in 35 games with the Devils.

Ryan Smyth however, has been a different story. 28 points in 33 games is pretty much right where he should be at this point in the season, but that’s what happens when you play with Joe Sakic every night. If Smyth WAS still on the Island, who would he be playing with?

The only other player who has played reasonably well after leaving the team is Richard Zednik, who has nine goals and seven assists for the Panthers this season, after reveling in mediocrity in 10 games for the Isles last season.

However, nine goals in almost half a season aren’t going to buy you anything in this league. As a matter of fact, it never would.

So the next time you feel the need to complain about the Islanders lack of scoring this season, don’t think for one second that they would have been this Stanley Cup winning team with the players they had.

That couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Seeing as the Islanders offense is still in need of a shake up, seeing a rookie like Blake Comeau score his first goal in a clutch situation like that certainly has to be encouraging. However, it remains to be seen if the rookie can keep up that type of play on a consistent basis.
On that note, where does everyone see Comeau fitting into the Islanders offense as the season rolls on?

First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine has asked for an apology from NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell for suggesting Islanders enforcer Chris Simon has a drug and alcohol problem that he is seeking counseling for.

“I agree with the NHL, and the vast majority of hockey fans, that Mr. Simon must be punished for this unfortunate incident with a Pittsburgh player during last Saturday’s game,” Fontaine told the AP. “However, it was extremely hurtful to Mr. Simon, and his many fans, including those in our First Nations communities, to hear from Mr. Campbell that such behavior is related to drug and or alcohol abuse.”

I’m not sure how many fans Chris Simon has right now, but from the looks of things, he has at least one.