Matt Martin, Micheal Haley, rewarding good play and breeding Confidence

This morning I read a post on SB Nation from Garik16 (@Garik16 on Twitter) describing Matt Martin as a terrible hockey player and using some advanced stats to explain why. Now I'm not a "sabermetrics" type guy (easier in baseball, hockey I don't get the advanced stats at all), but the post does bring up one point I do agree with: Matt Martin shouldn't be in the NHL.

The 6'2 192 lb hitting machine is a great energy line player, I love that he's scrappy, will fight, sticks up for his teammates and will hit anyone and everyone. What I also love about him is the fact that his last season at juniors two years ago was a revelation that Matt can also score and do so without a superstar talent to help him along. Below are Matt's lifetime stats via HockeyDB:





This 65 point campaign made Martin the third leading goal scorer for Sarnia just two seasons ago and the year Steve Stamkos was struggling in the NHL. now, am I arguing that Matt is a 35 goal scorer in the NHL, no, but he could become a better forward with more time at the AHL. In my post about Sarnia teammate and current Sound Tiger Justin DiBenedetto, I hypothesized that "DiBo" was finally catching up to the AHL after 100 games played, maybe Martin needs some more time there as he had some early season success (yes he has out produced his Bridgeport stats in the NHL this year, but he's also played 5 times as many games), but the thing he was getting more of at Bridgeport was ice time. Matt averages about 9 minutes a game, far more than fellow fighter Trevor Gillies, but Gillies has a set role (one he's probably not entirely happy with, but he does it well, and he should be rewarded some more ice time from time to time especially when the 4th line is the only line doing anything), where as Matt, 11 years younger than Gillies, can expand upon his role with confidence and seasoning. Matt's a bottom six forward right now not getting 10 minutes of ice time, but at Bridgeport he'd likely be in the top 6 and getting much more ice time and opportunity to play, develop and maybe go from "energy guy" to full fledged power forward, something the Isles desperately lack.


Enter Michael Haley, Haley's put together his best season thus far at Bridgeport collecting 22 points in 48 games and 134 PIM to boot. Last year he got his first two NHL games late in the season and didn't do much (small sample size, was on the fourth line and it was "garbage time" in the schedule). Haley has more goals this year (12) than almost his last three seasons combined (13). Haley at 5'11 and 198 provides basically the same size as Martin and the same feisty play and can likely handle Martin's role. Haley may also be able to provide some PK time with Colliton or Konopka or Comeau as well, which Matt currently doesn't. Haley's lifetime Stats:





While Haley's an abysmal -17 at Bridgeport, Martin's not much better on LI at -13 and was even in 7 games at Bridgeport (the Sound Tigers and Islanders have had their defenses absolutely eaten ALIVE this year with injuries, inconsistent play, and for B-Port callups). I think swapping Martin for Haley will be beneficial for Matt and a nice reward for Haley's good play this year at Bridgeport. More importantly, Martin needs ice time and Capuano has an idea how best to utilize Haley (I hope, he's left me wanting as an NHL coach, did well at the Bridge, but he's baffled me at best in Uniondale). Finally putting Martin in a top 6 configuration with two good playmaking Centers (either Hisey or Ullstrom) and possibly lining up with Rhaskshani will benefit him and the team in the long term better than having him toil with only 9 minutes a game and not developing as a player.

So the Isles should reward good play and breed confidence NOW to pay dividends in the future. At least that's my line of thinking there.

Quick Recalls today as Actual hockey is BACK (YES!)

So with the return of the NHL from the All-Star Break the Isles announced the recalls of Dylan Reese and Kevin Poulin (sent down before the break to get in 2 games of action before the AHL All-Star Break began. Also new to the recall list is Ty Wishart. Reese is what he is and having a bad season at the NHL level (however, he's a replacement level player, but Bruno some nights plays better, it sort of sucks).


This will be Ty's second go in the NHL, in 12 games since being acquired for Dwayne Roloson, Ty's gone 0/5/5 for points and only picked up 4 PIM and a -2. So he's an even handed D man that appears to play smart. However I feel that the Isles are just getting a sense of what Ty can do at the big level as in those 12 games he hasn't been the best scoring D man for Bridgeport (that distinction goes to Marc Katic who now holds a 3/16/19 line to go with 18 PIM and a -6 for the season, those 3 goals and a good number of assists in the last 5 or 6 games). This may be an expose him to life in the big leagues while the AHL is on a break until Thursday, so it may be a one game cameo for Ty. my fear in playing Wishart is he'll play on the third pairing with Gervais (which is scary) or he'll be a possible 7th man with sitting Gillies tomorrow in Atlanta.


Poulin's back, which makes me happy, he picked up a loss in his one game back with Bridgeport (giving up 3 goals on 48(!) shots). I've started the hashtag #KevinPoulinFacts making Chuck Norris type jokes concerning Kevin Poulin and hockey, I think they're sort of funny, but search the hashtag and add your own folks, I like starting Isles Twitter hashtags and need to get back on it.


In other news Kalamazoo has returned from its All-Star Break and played a few games (will write up a post on that in a bit) and Odessa plays 4 games in 5 days this week, So I will try to keep an eye on that for the week.

"DiBo" to me: Can it bro

So, last week I lamented about Bridgeport's recent struggles. In that time the Sound Tigers have played 3 games going 1-2-0, but the Offense has picked up a bit, scoring 12 goals. Responsible for 1/3 of that output is Justin DiBenedetto who I called out in "Bridgeport We have a Problem" (or scroll down).

DiBenedetto or "DiBo" for short, is a former Sarnia Sting teammate of Matt Martin, Mark Katic and some guy named Steven Stamkos, whoever he is (if you can't get that that's a joke...). DiBo was second on the team in points under Stamkos before Steven went number 1 overall and onto what's become a hell of a career already (Stamkos had 105 points to DiBenedetto's 93, a 39/54 breakdown). DiBo came back the next year in '08-'09 at 20 and totaled another 93 points (45 goals and 48 assists) in 62 games and was a +14 that year; the third place scorer on that team: Matt Martin. So Justin has a history of being able to score and set up evenly, but his time in the Minors as I mentioned has been a struggle to a point. I mentioned in the last post about DiBo's 14 points last year and his collective 5 through 23 games.

Well, since that time DiBo's put up an exact doubling of his totals in the last three games including a two goal night against the Albany Devils. DiBo's simply on fire right now, maybe the return of Jesse Joensuu (who's also collected a 2 goal night and 3 goals in his return to Bridgeport), or maybe Dibo's picking up his game and has figured out the AHL by his upcoming 100th games at the level (just 7 shy), or maybe he's just on a hot streak.

However, I will gladly have a slice of humble pie after calling DiBenedetto out just last week. Just a heads up on DiBo's sizzling play as the Isles head into the all-star break in a bad way. However, I am not saying that DiBo should get a look right now, Rahkshani and Ullstrom or even Figren deserve long looks before DiBo. Unless DiBo continues this little run into something that demands a call-up, I'm not going to say he should get a look. This little run looks pretty impressive though.

Now if you'll excuse me, that Humble Pie is waiting.

To quote Commander Lovell: Bridgeport...We have a problem...

I've been thinking about this post since Tuesday nights Bridgeport loss and watching the game tweeted by the Sound Tiger's great Twitter feed. The 3-2 Shoot-out loss to the Providence Bruins continued an alarming trend I've noticed over the last few weeks: Bridgeport's offense has vaporized. Right now, no player on the Bridgeport roster has 25 points; though on the season Rhett Rhakshani has 32 points (he currently is with the Islanders out with a concussion, likely knocking him out of the AHL All-star Game, not to self: check on that) so it can't be all bad right; well no.

Bridgeport's current top scoring trio are Robin Figren, David Ullstrom and Micheal Haley. First the good news: Haley and Figren are having their best years in the AHL, Figren and Ullstrom are picks that are showing promise to be able to help the big squad at some point, and Ullstrom is making his '08 4th round selection look really nice. Now, the bad news (and it's a lot): Figren and Haley are the only two active double digit goal scorers (11 and 12, respectively), The Sound Tigers aren't shooting the puck, no other lines are really clicking, and the team is wasting HUGE Goaltending performances. It's a shame since the organization needs to focus on making winning a priority at every affiliate during this rebuild.

My biggest issue: the team isn't shooting the puck. Tuesday night the team had 17 shots against Providence, against Norfolk over the weekend: 28 on Saturday, 17 on Sunday. In their last three games Bridgeport has only scored 6 goals (losing 5-2, Koskinen's 6th straight loss, 3-2 and 3-2, respectively). Bridgeport's on a nasty 8 game slide where just about everything's gone wrong, but if you cant get shots on net, you're not going to score a lot of goals. It hasn't help that no one has stepped up for Bridgeport during this streak to carry the offense. Since a 3-2 win over Portland on New Years Eve (Kevin Poulin's last start for the team), the team has only scored 3 goals twice. for the most part the goalies have kept Bridgeport in every game except for a 5-3 loss on 1/5 and the 5-2 loss last Friday in Norwalk.

GM Garth Snow (why is the team's GM also the GM at Bridgeport; tough to get a feel for the day to day from Uniondale...the Isles need to hire a GM solely for Bridgeport to handle personnel moves) has been hard pressed to find offense for his struggling Bridgeport team from anywhere. Having recalled Josh Bailey, Jeremy Colliton and Rhett Rahkshani in recent weeks, Bridgeport has to rely heavily on two guys (Figren and Haley) who've never produced this much at the level and a Rookie. Now, I'm all for giving guys opportunities, but with the team struggling the way it is, it's tough to observe.

I'm reading post game reports, so being subjective about a select game is impossible, but the problem seems to be that the Sound Tigers do not have enough talent to overcome the lack of capable scoring up front. Draftees Tomas Marcinko and Justin DiBenedetto have put up bad numbers so far this year. In his second full season "DiBo" has 5 points in 23 games, 4 goals and only one helper, last year DiBo put up six goals and 8 assists in 67 games, so he's not on the best of paces. Marcinko has been better with 9 points including 7 assists, he now trails his rookie output by two points in 18 fewer games (he's played 40 games so far this year). Draftees fizzling doesn't bode well. Even players added through PTOs have had a rough go: Olivier LaBelle has 5 points in 27 games (on his second PTO) as an energy type forward; Jason Pitton, in his third go in the AHL THIS season has picked up a goal in 3 games, but I am not expecting much from him; C/D Dustin Friesen has 3 points in 17 for the Sound Tigers and lined up with D Brett Motherwell and F Jean Bourbeau as a line against Wilkes-Barre last week; the best PTO signing for the Sound Tigers has been Brandon Svendsen who has notched 12 points in 32 games; finally PTO signee and affiliate climber Brady Leisenring has no points through 4 matches this year (but has a total of 14 points through 18 games for Odessa, 4 games, and Kalamazoo, 14, this season.

Bridgeport BADLY needs a scorer, maybe giving C Justin Taylor (21 Points in 22 games including 14 goals) another look as he's responded well to his ice time with Kalamazoo. They could also look at K-Zoo vet Kory Karlander (38 Points) or any of the K-Wings top Scorers. They could also look to Odessa, but the current Roster isn't up to snuff and Bridgeport needs a GM of it's own to handle these decisions.

I know this sounds repetitive, but if you're building through the draft and can't easily rely on Free Agents, you NEED your affiliates to be strong and have your prospects confident that they can win just about anywhere.

Very Quickly

So just a quick post before I start letting this degrade like earlier blogs.

Anyway Tonight the Islanders three affiliates are all in action with the Sound Tigers playing the Norfolk Admirals at 7:30 in Norfolk; the Kalamazoo K-Wings will play in Greenville at 7:05 and Odessa will play the Colorado Eagles tonight.

The Sound Tigers made a number of PTO signings over the last couple of days resigning Olivier LaBelle and Wes O'Neill to PTOs and adding Brady Leisenring to his second PTO of the week and adding Jason Pitton on a PTO from Stockton, it will be his third go in the AHL for his THIRD team this season. I could lament about the fact that Bridgeport almost refuses to use the K-Wings and Odessa, though it's not entirely true.

Best of luck to all three teams and hopes for a organization wide sweep tonight.

Also, last night's UND-Minnestoa game featured a few Isles draftees in action. Aaron Ness (Minnesota) added an assist on the GWG and Jason Gregorie added a goal for the Fighting Sioux, more on them in a later post.

Will attempt to give run downs tomorrow, and will likely start a weekly rundown of the weeks happenings around the affiliates and prospects.

You want All-Stars? I got 'em right here! (UPDATE: Thinel helps set the lamp on Fire for CHL All-Stars)

Just a quick post for the Isles after tonight's loss to Vancouver (who should feel ashamed with the way they played tonight) and in light of the fact that the Islanders will have zero players in this years All-Star game, which I can agree with (When you lose 21 of 22 games IN A ROW, hard to find an all-star) as two other teams had snubs as well. Alas, this is a Blog devoted to the farm and prospects and we have all-stars down there!

Bridgeport:

The Sound Tigers offer us two all-star selections in the Eastern Conference of the AHL. the first is Today's call-up Rhett Rahkshani. Rahkshani, the 22 year old Rookie from Huntington Beach, CA had been leading Rookies in scoring at the AHL. I like Rahkshani and hopefully his look with the Isles this time around will be extended (read: I expect him to be sent down next week for Jon Sim because that's what we do!). there's been plenty of ink about Rhakshani from other blogs and fans know him. He's an exciting player, and have no idea what to expect of him going forward. a more detailed post on Rhett later. The Sound Tigers Captain, Defenseman Mark Wotton will also play for the East and will Captain their squad. Wotton's in his late 30s and no mean a prospect, but he plays the role of Doug Weight for the Sound Tigers with the HUGE exception of being on the ice more often than not this year (Wotton missed time with an injury, but is back for the Tigers).

Kalamazoo (ECHL)

Kalamazoo will be represented in the ECHL all-star game by rookie defensemen Steve Tarasuk. For more on Tarasuk see my post "In Rebuilds I trust....Begrudgingly." Congratulations to the rookie! (and lady killer, or soon to be)

Odessa (CHL)

This Guy. Enough said there. The CHL does an interesting format of one team taking on a team of All-Stars from the rest of the league, they announce 6 starters (Our man at Odessa is one of the starters) and 12 reserves and a few goalies. Congratulations Mr. Thinel on your 5th all-star selection and here's to hoping a PTO is on the way at some point, Bridgeport or LI CAN'T keep skipping over you....

Update (1/15):

The CHL All-Star game was played the Rapid Rush in typical all-star defense optional affair as the All-Stars beat the Rush 11-6. the game featured two hat tricks and a pair of players notching 5 helpers, one of those players was Sebastien Thinel. My growing (nearly full blown) obsession with Thinel continues as he just continues to produce at the CHL...Dear Bridgeport: Give this guy a PTO all ready!

Will investigate on the SEL and KHL for a potential all-star selection for Kirill Petrov or Anders Nilsson, but I don't know if those leagues use an All-Star game.

Also the Junior leagues and Isles prospects there have no All-star games this season, as for College prospects, you'll have to wait until All-American selections are made.

Fairly lazy post, but just a quick highlighting and congratulations to the Isles prospects involved in their respective all-star games!

Goalies Goalies Everywhere: Part 2

Part One focused on Goalies with the most immediate impact for the Islanders highlighting Kevin Poulin, Nathan Lawson and Mikko Koskinen, for this post I'll highlight other netminders and goaltending options for the New York Islanders both in their affiliate system and the international spotlight being turned to Anders Nilsson.

So, first up: Nilsson.

Anders Nilsson:


The Islanders stocked up on goalies in 2009 taking Koskinen in the 2nd round and using their 3rd round selection on Anders Nilsson, the 6'5 Swede currently plays for Lulea of the Swedish Elite League. At 20 he serves mainly as a backup to David Rautio, Rautio's played 22 games to Anders' 15 (stats as of this morning, not sure when Lulea's last match was, but the stats haven't been updated in a while). Nilsson's numbers however are impressive: a 1.92 GAA and .920 SV% allowing 29 goals on 358 Shots (unfortunately as of right now I can not find his Elitserien Win-Loss record). Last year Anders broke into the Elite league and posted a 2.65 GAA and .857 SV%. The hometown boy also played Juniors for Lulea in '08-'09 posting a 2.07 GAA and .927 SV%. he also played for the Bronze medal Swedish team in last years World Juniors in Canada (one of about 5 Islanders Prospects in that Tournament with Calvin de Haan, Travis Hamonic, Mikko Koskinen, Matt Donovan, Kirill Petrov and eventual Isles draftee Nino Niederrietter). I can't remember if I saw Nilsson play but remember seeing Tweets that he was mostly a backup (for Florida farmhand Jacob Markstrom). Considering the depth in front of him, Anders may be afforded another season in the SEL before he comes States side as the numbers right now seem way too inconclusive as he's only played 32 games at the top Swedish league. However if the clip below is any indication he's certainly going to be one to watch. (photo from Anders' Lulea Bio Page)

A Quick Nilsson Clip:


Possibly jumps over Koskinen at some point; who knows. All I know is it's certainly nice to know we have some international talent to bring aboard and one who's improving. Fun Fact: Oiler's Winger Linus Omark was a teammate last year and Lulea is the home of fun Finnish D-man, Former Islander and PP annoyance extraordinaire Janne Niinimaa!!

Joel Martin (Bridgeport/Odessa):

Fort Wort, Texas isn't the first place you'd think about in producing a hockey goalie but low and behold Bridgeport's new Netminder hails from and generally plays in the Lone-Star State. Martin was called up (signed to a Professional Tryout Offer, a 25 game contract) by Bridgeport from Odessa with the recall of Kevin Poulin to the big squad on an emergency basis, and like his departed counterpart relieved the starter of his first game on the job. Starter Mikko Koskinen gave up 5 goals to Portland and coach Pat Bingham pulled him in favor of Martin in the third. Martin would face no shots in his Bridgeport debut (he broke camp with the squad but didn't get into a game early in the season and the return of Nate Lawson to Bridgeport saw Martin sent back to Odessa) and his first spell in the AHL since '06-'07 where he played a combined three games for Syracuse and Norfolk. Martin went undrafted but started his hockey playing at the WHL and has seen his way around the minors. Martin's numbers this year are down from last year's stellar pairing with Juha Tovoinen at Odessa (no idea what happened to Tovoinen or where he went). he's currently 10-9-0 with a 3.21 GAA and a .888 SV% through 20 games. He has added 2 assists for the Jackalopes this year. Last year with Odessa Martin was 27-6-2 including 2 shut outs with a .917 SV% and 2.50 GAA, he allowed 91 goals on over 1000 shots so he can stop a puck. At 25 he's not a shining prospect like Poulin or Nilsson or Koskinen, but he's a steady young guy you want to have in your organization to use when you need pucks stopped and a chance to win. I don't think he'll ever make it to the NHL as a "steal, but with the Islanders carrying one un-drafted Netminder and having traded another, you never know...(photo via Bridgeport Press Release)

Career Totals:


Minute long fight between Martin and Cedrick Desjardin:


Not that Martin will see the NHL like Cedrick has, and if he does something went horribly horribly wrong, but just a fun clip from '07-'08. The only other Youtube video of Martin I can find is him getting absolutely OWNED in a shootout.

Ryan Nie (Kalamazoo):


I like the Youngsters at at Kalamazoo in the ECHL, and Nie is certainly putting up good, not great numbers this year. So far for Kalamazoo (his first with the team in the ECHL, he was a member of the team back in their UHL days before they were allowed to join the ECHL I believe last year, minor league hockey below the AHL is sometimes hard to follow). Nie currently sports a 3.35 GAA and a .893 SV% with his career numbers on more a slide over the years he's still a winning goalie on a losing Kalamazoo team this year going 9-8-3. None the less he's been around the ECHL and AHL and still stops the puck at a good clip and for the most part is keeping Kalamazoo in games unlike his backups Riley Gill (4-5-0; 3.68 GAA, .886 SV%; Riley began the year with the Victoria Salmon Kings and played one game with the Worcester Sharks) and Garret Zemlak (A name I WANT to root for, come on it's awesome; anyway he's played one game and it was bad: 6 G on 32 shot, a .813 SV%. Garrett was then sent to the Stockton Thunder, where he's played 12 games and is 2-6-3, 2.53, .903). Nie has likely hit his ceiling and will probably nothing more than an organizational body with little future with the Islanders. (photo from Ryan's Bio page)

Career Stats; Warning: Ugly



And now a crappy red toned video of Nie making a save on a penalty shot while with Cincinnati:


Marc-Antoine Gelinas

Gelinas was brought into Bridgeport camp on a contract with the Jackalopes this year, a former QMJHL Goalie we was brought in as a body to fill in while the higher ranked prospects were with the Islanders (Poulin and Koskinen and Lawson). Gelinas put up solid numbers in his last year in the "Q" and didn't get much of a chance with the Jackalopes (after being re-assigned to camp after the 3 man tandem returned to Bridgeport: Koskinen, Poulin and Martin), playing in only two games before being shipped out to the Wichita Thunder where he's 11-5-1, 2 SHO with a .900 SV% and 2.72 GAA. If something happens to Martin or Koskinen right now Bridgeport could give Gelinas a look or go with Ryan Nie or bring in another goalie. No idea what to think of Gelinas, have never seen his play and it's his first year out of the Q, if he improves his numbers with Wichita I'll give it a glance. Included him because of the connection to Bridgeport this pre-season.

Career:



Others:

The Islanders prospect site mentions Cody Rosen (a 2010 7th rounder and third String G at Colgate, pass), and Jase Weslosky (a 2006 4th rounder, who's re-emerged and playing well for the Idaho Steelheads, but with no likelihood of a PTO with Bridgeport right now, not worth writing). There's also David McKee and Michel Robinson at Odessa playing in tandem until Joel Martin's return, but again, don't see them becoming fixtures in the depth chart any time soon, and will pass. If Bridgeport or Kalamazoo suffer injuries to the Goaltending depth I will investigate replacements, but until then, Nilsson, Martin, Nie and Gelinas make for a good second batch of Goalies to investigate, only one of which will make the NHL with any potential to start.

Feel free to comment if I'm missing anyone.