John Tavares has officially played his first NHL game and, despite losing, I’d say he had a heck of a night.  Unfortunately, he had to make his debut against the reigning Stanley Cup champions.
This year’s first draft pick scored his first goal and picked up an assist and was actually chosen to go second in the shootout (he missed his shot).  Pretty good for his first game with the New York Islanders.  “We were in their face for most of the game,” Tavares said. “We played true Islander hockey. The result was disappointing, but we’re playing the Stanley Cup champs …read more

I got an email yesterday that I thought some of your New York Islanders fans might be interested in (as well as people wondering what the team, and rookie John Tavares, are up to).

So far, 57 players (7 goalies, 17 defensemen and 31 forwards) have reported to the Isles’ training camp in hopes of being impressive enough to be put on the roster for the 2009-2010 roster.
I know there is a lot of training news floating around but if you want to know more about the Islanders, make sure you check out the day-to-day recaps on the official blog.
image used …read more

After much speculation over who the New York Islanders would choose as their number #1 draft pick, they have selected John Tavares!!!  Right up until the very last second, people weren’t sure if the Isles would choose Victor Hedman.

I think the Islanders really have struggled to create an identity and presence on the ice and I think that Tavares is the right player at the right time for them.  I think he’s an incredible player (this year he had 58 goals in 56 games) and I’m really looking forward to watching the Islanders next season.
image: TSN

Two of the biggest stars at the 2009 IIHF World Junior Championship, Canada’s, John Tavares, and Sweden’s, Victor Hedman, sat down and talked with NHL.com.

It’s going to be really interesting to see where these two end up at the upcoming NHL Entry Draft.  They’re atop the NHL Central Scouting’s Midterm Rankings so I’m sure they will be battling for the #1 draft spot in just a few months.

In our nation’s capital, Canada’s junior hockey team took home their fifth consecutive gold medal by beating Sweden 5-1 today at the 2009 IIHF World Junior Championships.  It was an interesting and intense game as Team Canada kept their “drive for five” alive!

These are juniors we are talking about so I try to be nice and fair but Sweden’s goaltender, Markstrom, is a real drama queen.  I think that the Canadians definitely had some questionable plays but his reactions to getting bumped, hit or even shot at were nothing short of ridiculous, at times. 

Moving on… P.K. Subban opened …read more