For JT, PPGs Come in Pairs

Despite coming out on the short end of their last two contests, it appears that the Isles have figured out how to use John Tavares to his fullest potential on the powerplay. Both Tuesday's contest in Philadelphia and Wednesday's contest in Toronto featured John Tavares potting a pair of goals on the man advantage. It's incredibly striking just how similar the four goals are. In all four situations, Tavares had himself positioned on the back post. Tuesday, it was Tavares hammering home rebounds from point blank range, while Wednesday night it was burying a pass from just outside the crease. Check it out:









As I wrote yesterday, the Isles return home Saturday for their most important stretch of the season. While clearly the Islanders need a lot to change for this home stand to be a successful one, hopefully JT can keep the powerplay magic alive.

HNLI Deadline Coverage: The Aftermath

Despite it being a lighter trade deadline than in past years, this year's NHL Trade Deadline was an absolute blast. Hockey Night on Long Island covered a lot of the news as it broke for 90 minutes and it was an extremely fun episode for both hosts and listeners alike. If you missed it and still need to satisfy your fix for trade deadline analysis and commentary, feel free to check out the archive.

More analysis to come...but the highlight of deadline day hands down for me was Brian Burke's reaction when pressed for details on the Leafs' last unconfirmed trade of the day. I hope I can get a clip of that posted on this site very soon. Stay tuned.

THE GUERIN TRADE:
I received a comment on my facebook wall from a long-time HNLI listener asking my opinion on the Guerin trade and I thought it summed everything up pretty well:

Michael wrote at 4:02pm
Alex, don't you think you guys should've gotten a little more for Guerin? Maybe one more draft pick or even a prospect?

Alex wrote at 5:26pm
Well, considering all of the hype around Guerin being traded over the past few days I would've hoped for more, but quite frankly I think the Islanders got around fair market value. There was no way the Isles could take Guerin back after this saga and the relationship he has had with Gordon and his contract is soon to expire anyway. While it was a letdown compared to some of the other deals of the day and certainly compared to the hype that was surrounding Guerin over the weekend, I think Garth did what he had to do and got what could potentially become a third rounder.

Don't get me wrong...at first wind of this trade I was pretty frustrated, but after looking it over and seeing the climate of this year's deadline, it puts things into perspective.

Of course, all of us in Islander country now have added incentive to keep rooting for Bill Guerin as every win his new team gets brings the Isles one step closer to a Third Round draft pick.

Best Deadline Day:
In this salary cap era, teams generally tend to fall into one of two categories at the trade deadline. First, there are the buyers. These teams are trying to stock up for the playoff run by picking up the pieces that will put them in the league's upper strata. Then, there are the sellers. These teams, of course, are out of playoff contention or close to it and are stocking up on assets for the future (younger players, prospects, and draft picks). With that said, here are HNLI's deadline day standouts.

Best Buyer:
Alex's Pick: Calgary
Steve's Pick: Calgary

-Acquired Olli Jokinen
-Acquired Jordan Leopold

Best Seller:
Alex's Pick: Phoenix
-Sent Derek Morris to the Rangers for Kalinin, Dawes, and Prucha
-Sent Dennis Carcillo to Philadelphia for Upshall, 2nd Round Draft Pick

Steve's Pick: Colorado
-Sent Leopold to Calgary for Nycholat, Wilson, 2nd Round Draft Pick

Post-Game HNLI This Saturday

Be sure to tune into this Saturday's episode of Hockey Night on Long Island at 3:30 PM EST immediately following the Islanders' matinee game against the Philadelphia Flyers.

FYI:The Islanders take the ice at the Wachovia Center at 1 PM.

While regular host Steve will be absent this weekend, HNLI Host Alex will be joined by a special guest co-host, Mike Schuerlein of islesblogger.com, for post-game analysis and the latest in Isles news and buzz. Also joining in on the banter will be Mike from the Flyers Fan Central blog for a Philly perspective on the afternoon affair. All throughout the show, the HNLI panel will be taking your phone calls and instant messages so you can jump into the conversation. And like always, the HNLI chatroom will be buzzing with ongoing Isles banter. So, be sure to make an afternoon of this Saturday's Isles game and join HNLI for a post-game extravaganza!