Ziggy Stardust

I saw a great note earlier by @cyclelikesedins on former Islander star Ziggy Palffy.

Leads me to this:

Palffy, now 40 years old, last played in the NHL in 2005-06 with Pittsburgh.  He has since retired a couple of times, only to come back and play for HK 36 Skalica.  After going 26-57-83 in 48 games last year, Palffy is 11-26-37 in 19 games this season.

Palffy made his NHL debut in the 1993-94 (Al Arbour's final season).

His first NHL goals came in the same game the following season--he scored twice 2:04 apart in the third period as the Islanders rallied for a 2-1 win over Florida at the Coliseum.  The date was January 21, 1995 -- the first game after the lockout.

Palffy scored 329 games in the NHL and has added 273 more in the Czech (before his NHL career) and Slovak leagues.

Ziggy has also appeared in three Olympics (1994, 2002 and 2010) -- might an appearance in Ufa in 2014 make it four?

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Time to end this "hill" of a lockout: NHL makes offer

It's been three weeks since Bill Daly described the difference between the NHL and its PA on term limits (and other contractual issues) as a "hill to die on".

However, this morning, it appears that that hill may soon be flattened:

from TSN:

<<The NHL has made a new CBA proposal to the NHL Players' Association, an NHL player told TSN on Friday.

The player, who requested anonymity, said the NHL made a new offer to the NHLPA on Thursday, one which moved on term limit for player contracts, salary variance and buyouts.

According to TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger, the NHL adjusted its maximum contract length from five to six years (seven years if a team is re-signing its own player) and boosted the variance from five to 10 per cent.

TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun adds that the new offer includes the 'Make Whole' provision that stays at $300 million and allows each team one compliance buyout prior to the 2013-14 season. The buyout would not count against the cap, but it would against the players' share.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly would not confirm what the player said when reached by TSN. There is no scheduled meeting between both sides for Friday, as the NHLPA needs time to review the offer from the league.

More to follow.

<<
 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Big day for Strome in Canada win

From TSN.ca:
<<Ryan Strome scored twice and defenceman Morgan Rielly had a goal and two assists as Canada overcame two game misconducts and a pair of two-goal deficits to rally past Slovakia 6-3 at the World Junior Hockey Championship.>>

Strome scored on both of his shots, and also was Canada's best face-off man, winning 11 of 14.

Griffin Reinhart had an assist, and was +2 for Canada, who improves to 2-0-0-0 in the tourney.

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Following Mr. Marginal

About a year ago,an ESPN contributor named Neil Greenberg raised quite a stir around these parts when he failed to named John Tavares to his "Top 25 under 25" list.

Howie picked up on it, and noted: "You could make the case that John Tavares is among the best 25 players in the league, period, never mind under 25 years of age."   It helped that Tavares would then go score both goals in the game, including the overtime winner, earning him the tag "Mr. Marginal".   (You can enjoy Howie's rant here: http://islanderspointblank.com/news/video-howie-rose-trolls-neil-greenberg-for-not-including-john-tavares-in-top-25-list/ )

As the lockout drags on and on....apparently Neil has taken to being Tavares' social director, retweeting the following:

Mackenzie Tout ‏@Tout23

Funny, my ex gf is at the Spengler Cup cause she's now dating John Tavares #dagger

Mr. Tavares' current girlfriend's former boyfriend is a collegiate golfer in Canada.

Somehow Canada lost their Spengler Cup opener today, 2-1 to a German club team (Adler Mannheim) on an OT goal by locked-out Jason Pominville. apparently the poultation of
Pominville continues to grow --even in the lockout (classic clip : www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmB-_XK5i1Q )   Tyler Seguin had Canada's only goal.

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

EA Sports NHL 13 simulation

Of all the silly ideas in this silly lockout, apparently EA Sports has been simulating the entire NHL season.

EA has the Bruins with the worst record in the entire NHL --maybe that's why Jacobs won't let anybody play?

Their Christmas week Atlantic Division leaders -- the NY Islanders.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/8780403/2012-2013-nhl-season-week-12-simulation#standings

Apparently Evgeni Nabokov simulates well -- he's been credited with 9 shutouts (When they actually play on the ice, the Isles as a team have reached only 9 shutouts in a season once in their history --they had 10 in 1975-76.) and a league-fake-best 94.11 save percentage.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/8780404/2012-2013-nhl-season-week-12-statistics

Today -- Boxing Day (12/26) is a traditional day for the Isles to play -- having played on this date in every season between the lockouts.Had they hosted New Jersey tonight as originally scheduled, they would have been looking for points 35/36 on games played on Boxing Day. (34 points on 12/26 second only to 35 points on 12/17 --which would have been an off-day this season.)

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Hey, the NHL made Time Magazine (.com)

Of course, the league is not going to want you to read what they have to say.

I, on the other hand, do.

http://business.time.com/2012/12/19/hockeys-wealth-redistribution-problem-whats-really-behind-the-nhl-lockout/

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Mears/EJ to voice Team USA's run for gold

Former Islander radio voice Steve Mears will have the play-by-play of all Team USA games in the World Junior Tourney, which begins next week in Ufa, Russia.  Mears will be paired with NHL Network/NHL.com's EJ Hradek.  Rob Simpson will be the rink side reporter.

More details from Ken Schott (Daily Gazette, Schenectady NY) here: http://www.dailygazette.com/weblogs/schott/2012/dec/17/nhl-network-to-televise-all-usa-games-from-world-j/

and from NHL Network here: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=647851

There are no Islander prospects on the Team USA preliminary roster, but there are some familiar names to New York fans, including Stefan Matteau (1st round pick of NJ and son of Stephan), as well as Ranger first round picks JT MIller and Brady Skjei.  Steve Zipay noted today that Miller may end up being the team's captain, while Skjei, a defenseman, may not make the final roster (which also includes Union College [ Let's go U!] defenseman Shayne Gotisbehere).

Two pre-tourney games will also be shown on NHL Network  (Thursday at 12:30pm and Saturday at 6 AM, both with repeats in prime-time).

Islander prospects Griffin Reinhart and Ryan Strome (the OHL's leading scorer) are both on the Canadian squad-- all Canadian preliminary games will also be on NHL Network in the US; the US faces Canada on Sunday December 30th.  The game will air live at 4:30 AM, with a repeat in prime-time.

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick