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!
Okay, first off, these titles will need some serious help, but I will explain out this one easily: going into this season Garth Snow made a ton of long term moves that may help the team out in a few short seasons. Obviously drafting Nino Niederreiter, Brock Nelson and Kirill Kabanov added three very talented Forwards to a growing cache of prospects, but Garth added a skilled Defenseman in Tony DeHart (a 5th year exemption player for the OHL Oshowa Generals with first round pick and currently re-injured-at-the-WJHC Calvin de Haan), Forward Jason Clark and goalie Cody Rosen (more on Islanders netminding another time).
Garth had a good draft, as usual, he's drafted incredibly well since taking over as GM. If Kabanov gets his head screwed on right, Garth instantly looks like a genius, more so than Bob Murray does for grabbing Cam Fowler 12th overall. However, it's not the draft that Garth put together that's most impressive, it was the additions to the overall talent pool that are most striking.
Yes, Bridgeport is a very young squad this year and playing only slightly better than their major league affiliate, but the focus of this piece is a level lower and the East Coast Hockey League and the depth and talent pool brought in to the Kalamazoo K-Wings that has a chance to shine on Long Island in a few seasons with proper development. A few of these last names will sound familiar due to more famous older brothers (the Islanders have a habit of grabbing younger brothers, yet never got a Staal, sad, missed out on Marc by three picks in 2005).
A look at the Defensemen, in order: Wes O'Neill, Mitch Versteeg, Steve Tarasuk, Corey Syvret
First up is Wes O'Neill: (photo used from Swedish Islanders Wordpress blog) O'Neill was actually an Islanders 4th round draft pick in 2004, the 6'4 215lb D man spent college at Notre Dame and found his way into the Avalanche system making 5 NHL appearances in the past two seasons. O'Neill began the year at Kalamazoo, but is now at Bridgeport having scored 5 points in 17 games while playing to a +6 rating. O'Neill fits a shutdown D sort of profile throughout his career never taking too many penalties, and not being an all out offensive D-Man. In the wake of yesterday's James Wisniewski trade, O'Neill looks like a candidate for a call up if Dustin Kohn or Dylan Reese are felled by injury and someone is needed from Bridgeport.
Not to be confused with older brother Kris, Mitch is a physical D Man who knows what he's doing with the Puck, his point totals are meager this year (his second in the ECHL, but first as an Islanders farm hand, was brought in in July with other undrafted/"minor League" free agents along with team mates Tarasuk, Syvret, and Justin Taylor) with 6 points in 22 games for the K-Wings, last year Versteeg collected 20 in 68 games while also appearing in three games for the Worcester Sharks in the AHL. Mitch just turned 22, so plenty of time to round into form, he's only a -4 so far, so it's not like he's clueless on D.
Typically age 20 D men in the Major Junior leagues are expected to produce and Tarasuk did way more than that in his age 20 for the London Knights in '09-'10, Tarasuk only tripled his point production jumping from 20 in 08-09 to 67 (19 goals, 48 assists after previously recording no more than 3 goals in any season). Playing with Nazem Kadri certainly helped. Tarasuk picked up another 10 points in the playoffs for London. Unlike many of his London team-mates however, Tarasuk went un-drafted, though did appear in a few playoff games for former Islanders ECHL affiliate the Utah Grizzlies for their play off run producing no points in 2 games played. This year in his first year of pro hockey and he's put up 11 points, 2 goals and 9 assists, in 24 games to go with 15 PIM and a -7...but if he can become the puck moving D-Man that he was last season at London, Garth has found an un-drafted STEAL.
If the adage is that Defensemen develop slower than Forwards then Corey Syvret's going to need all the Time the Islanders will give him. The 21 year old Syvret (who rooms with former OHL rival Tarasuk) is pointless through 20 games this year, collecting 14 PIM and is a -8 on the season. Syvret tallied 30 points last year for Geulph and got into 4 games with the Rochester Americans picking up an assist. However, Florida GM Dave Tallon didn't want to roll the dice on the former 6th rounder and let him go allowing Garth to pounce on the 6'2 195 lb Defenseman. While he's yet to score any points, in a story about Tarasuk and Syvret a few weeks ago in Kalamazoo mentioned coach Nick Bootland's praise for Syvret in learning the system and adjusting to the league.
I have to admit, I started looking at Taylor's numbers in rookie camp and was absolutely FLOORED by the production I saw. Now, it's entirely possible that the Washington Capitals and Taylor couldn't come to an agreement after the 2007 6th rounders production went through the roof (18 points in his draft year shot up to 55 in '07-'08, somewhat like Matt Martin) but Taylor kept improving adding 67 and 62 point campaigns to a resume; I can only assume his agent demanded first round money/bonuses and George McPhee laughed him out of his office or hung up immediately. Taylor never signed with the Capitals and was considering going to college before he got a call from the Islanders to come to Rookie camp with a shot at opening the season at Bridgeport (I will find and post the link later); Taylor won a roster spot with the Sound Tigers and got into 6 games, sensing he needed ice time for his development he was sent down to Kalamazoo and has more or less set the place ablaze. in 13 games Taylor has racked up 7 goals, 5 assists, 41 PIM, and a -3 rating. Taylor plays Center which is stacked with the Isles AND Bridgeport, but at 21 and producing, his time will surely come.
And now a fight including a number of Islanders prospects! (a Sarnia Sting-London Knights game from a few years ago, more on DiBo and Katic later)
While Garth Snow never made the BIG trade or signed the BIG guys this past summer, he added 5 guys to his minor league depth who will likely help in the long term more than one Paul Martin could have (still would have LIKED to get Martin or Anton Volchenkov or Zbynek Michalek, etc) but if these guys pan out, they'll certainly make us realize Garth's plan.
