More Thomas Vanek

Deutsch: Alex Kotalik&Thomas Vanek beim Spiel Rangers Vs. Sabres (Madison Square Garden) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I thought this was a funny article, no really, it's me not you... Why doesn't Vanek just tell the Islanders, really it's you, and I don't want to play for you guys after the season is over.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Vanek is going to test the free agent market and he's set to make boatloads of money. 

Arthur Staple, Newsday - Thomas Vanek knows how it looks, turning down a seven-year contract believed to be around $50 million from the Islanders.

"I'm sure people will look at it and say, 'Wow, that's crazy by him,' or whatever," Vanek told Newsday Tuesday morning, a day after news broke that he had indeed rejected such a deal and will now almost certainly be traded before the March 5 deadline.

But it's not about the Islanders, he said.

"As I've told [general manager] Garth [Snow] before . . . It's like a breakup: It's not you, it's me. And it really is me wanting to explore this."

Vanek knows that his decision to head to July 1 free agency means the Islanders, a team that has been the punchline to plenty of hockey jokes over the past two decades, will get the short end once again. Big-time player says "no thanks" to struggling team, and so on.

In reading the news, it doesn't appear that Thomas Vanek is going to sign with the Islanders and it doesn't sound like he's going to be an Islander after the trade deadline either. I would imagine, the Islanders will trade Vanek to a team that needs a rental player for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  I would say, don't count on the Wild trading away prospects for Vanek. Maybe the Wild can entice the Islanders to take Dany Heatley? They will wait and sign him after July 1st, if he's still available. Just a hunch. 

Pierre LeBrun, ESPN.com --- Once news got out Monday via Arthur Staple of Newsday that Vanek had rejected a contract offer from the Islanders -- and Vanek's agent, Stephen Bartlett, confirmed to ESPN.com that his client was very likely going to the July 1 UFA market -- Isles GM Garth Snow's phone began to light up.

The early word around the league is that the cost to snag Vanek would be a three-asset haul, whether those assets are first-round picks or prospects or a player. It could be any combination. And if one of the assets is high-end enough, perhaps a two-asset package could do it.

Reached by ESPN.com Tuesday, all Snow would say is that he valued Vanek's presence on Long Island.

"I hope Thomas Vanek retires an Islander," Snow said. "I still hope to re-sign him."

List of NHL 2013 Compliance Buyouts so far

Player	Team	Length	Total Amount	Yearly Breakdown
Vincent Lecavalier	Tampa Bay	14	$32,666,667	$1,761,905*
Rick DiPietro	NY Islanders	16	$24,000,000	$1,500,000
Ilya Bryzgalov	Philadelphia	14	$23,000,000	$1,642,857
Keith Ballard	Vancouver	4	$5,600,000	$1,400,000
Danny Briere	Philadelphia	4	$3,333,333	$833,333
Tomas Kaberle	Montreal	2	$3,000,000	$1,500,000
Rostislav Olesz	Chicago	2	$2,833,333	$1,416,667
Steve Montador	Chicago	4	$2,733,333	$683,333
Jeff Schultz	Washington	2	$2,000,000	$1,000,000
Mike Komisarek	Toronto	2	$4,500,000	$2,250,000
Tom Gilbert	Minnesota	2	$2,000,000	$1,000,000
Carlo Colaiacovo	Detroit	2	$1,900,000	$950,000
Nathan Gerbe	Buffalo	2	$1,450,000	$308,333

Here are the Compliance buyouts so far. s/t to TSN.CA. There are a few names on this list surprise me. Also, this is a perfect example of why NHL teams shouldn't over pay players or sign them to obnoxious contracts. The Minnesota Wild say bon achat to their over priced defenseman former Badger Tom Gilbert.

Brian Skrudland not concerned with Bjudstads development at Minnesota

Miami Herald photo

Guy Flaming co-host of the Pipeline show 1260 A.M. out of Edmonton, Alberta interviewed Brian Skrudland the Director of Player Development for the Florida Panthers. Guy asked Skrudland  if Bjugstad staying in Minnesota for another year would hurt his development as a hockey player. Here is what Skrudland had to say about the matter.

I'm not sure so I asked Brian Skrudland the question to see if the Panthers organization shared the same concern.

"Well... that is a concern," Skrudland admitted, "But when you've got such a quality organization as [the University of] Minnesota has provided there... the off ice strength and conditioning coach, Cal Dietz, has done a fabulous job with Nick. There are a lot of positive things about him going back. The only negative is that he won't be wearing a Panthers jersey and helping us score some goals next year."

"It's an opportunity for him to finish something that he started and we love that as far as the character of the person," continued Skrudland, "And it's an opportunity to go back and maybe win the Hobey Baker and hopefully a national championship as well."

It would appear that the Florida Panther don’t have the same concerns about Minnesota like Garth Snow of the New York Islanders had. That being said, it would appear that the Panthers wanted Nick Bjudstad to sign a professional contract.

Just for the record Guy Flaming and Dean Millard are very fair hosts and are by no shape of the imagination anti-NCAA hockey but in this case I also think that Guy might have a point…

Flaming posed this question Bjugstad… “Could his progress stagnate, or even regress, playing at a level that in many ways, he is already a dominant player?”

I think that is a good question and only time will tell – I think the Gophers will definitely benefit from another season of having Nick Bjugstad on their roster and his presence will make them one of the top teams to beat in the WCHA this season if the Gophers can figure out who is going to be the man between the pipes for the Gophers.

[click to listen to podcast]

Terry Frei on the Matt Donovan signing.

I saw this newspaper article when perusing the Lets Go DU Blog and the Denver Post beat writer brings up some valid points. The first question that comes to mind is what is the rush to get these players into the AHL? It's not like they're throwing millions of dollars at these kids. As a Sioux fan you have to worry because forward Jason Gregoire is also part of the Islanders system as well and he had a bigger impact on his team than Donovan… As an NHL fan I have never been a fan of Garth Snow and this antics anyways, I always that thought he had a hair trigger guy but was also a cheater because he wore over sized pad and looked like the Marshmellow Staypuft Man.

Islanders D Matt Donovan

Donovan had just finished his sophomore season with the University of Denver Pioneers last week when he signed an entry-level deal and reported to the Islanders' American Hockey League affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

Officially, he'll be playing the stretch run of this season under an Amateur Tryout deal before the entry-level contract kicks in next season. That delays until fall the start of the clock on his progress toward such things as restricted free agency and gets him a few games under his belt for the Tigers, who aren't going to make the playoffs.

Donovan was a fourth-round Islanders choice in 2008, and if and when he makes it to the NHL, it will be historic: As it stands now, he would be the first player in the league who was born and raised in Oklahoma.

High-powered NCAA programs bill themselves as vehicles to reach the NHL and accept early signings as part of the process. But Donovan would have been better off to play through his junior season at DU before signing. That's what Matt Carle, a more highly regarded defenseman at the time and the winner of the Hobey Baker Award, did before signing with San Jose in 2006 and jumping straight to the Sharks.

Although Islanders GM Garth Snow is a product of NCAA hockey himself — he had a full four-season career at Maine as a goaltender — his regime has been impatient at times about the development of their prospects at the college level. This isn't some guy who was raised in Moose Jaw, came up through major junior himself and is conditioned to completely buy into the argument that the pro-style schedule and rules of major junior are better for NHL prospects.

You have to wonder if Garth Snow has forgotten his roots, he was a college guy and he didn’t grow up playing hockey in the CHL so he has to know the benefits of staying in college playing against stronger older players.