Sorokin supposedly set to sign with the Isles when his current contract expires on April 30. https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2020/04/12/new-york-islanders-ilya-sorokin-sign-contract-goalie-khl/ That would make letting Lehner go less egregious, but (1) I'll believe it when I see it, and (2) he had better turn out to be as good as advertised once he gets to the NHL.
The way this guy has been hyped up he better be the Isles version of Jeter. Better yet do for the Isles what Brady did for the Pats.
Forty years ago today I was sitting in the seats at the Nassau Coliseum, experiencing the greatest thrill of my sports life. Starting at 2 PM today MSG+ will be showing the four 1980 Finals wins against the Flyers, with the clincher on from 8 - 10 PM. They're showing stuff about the 1975 season (first time in the playoffs) right now. NHL Network is also going all-Islanders starting at noon today and going through 6 AM tomorrow. By the way, it's after May 1 and Sorokin hasn't signed. Supposedly he is waiting to see what the 2020-2021 season will look like, which is reasonable. There is also supposedly a possibility that he could come over for this season and the playoffs, which would be strange, to say the least. If he could play 10 games this year he would become a restricted free agent and could negotiate a contract for next year, instead of being locked into a $925,000 contract.
Supposedly everyone will be back - Pelech, Cizikis, Boychuk. Of course, Florida will presumably have back any of their banged-up players. The real point is that if they don't score (hello, Jean-Gabriel Pageau) it will be over very quickly anyway. More importantly they're back to work on the arena at Belmont, and all legal impediments have been removed.
I'm reading "We Want Fish Sticks" which is a blind spot of Islanders history for me, being that I was in the Navy, in Guam, at that pre-internet time so Islanders news was scarce for me. I remember hearing about the logo change, then seeing the logo, and obviously catching scores and how bad they were, but that's it. The idea that Brett Lindros was being sold as some star is news to me, and I always wondered how Millbury could have managed to get a promotion to run the team after such a terrible season as coach, but now it all makes sense. He had a contract you had to pay for, you may as well get some work out of him. What a dark time, I'm glad I missed it.
https://www.nhl.com/islanders/arena...j28zEO0G-IfJB9GroJZ_YdcPVUKhM2CGIdTM#live-cam Belmont coming along nicely. Here is a live look-in at the progress.
Ha, yep. Going to college in a small town in NE FL, and having a job.... That part of the Isles is almost non-existent to me too. It was pretty easy to ignore them and the mid 90s JETS.
It's striking how work proceeds along, stops on March 27th, and then suddenly it's June 1st. Very weird.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...orov-to-shutter-long-island-s-nassau-coliseum I wonder if this means Nassau Coliseum has closed its doors for good. Might have to stay the BC until Belmont is ready. Just by the live look-in on the Belmont cam they are progressing very nicely on the new arena.
https://arenadigest.com/2020/06/22/islanders-release-new-belmont-park-arena-renderings-details/ Some new details of the arena when its all done. Looks nice.
Nice overhead shot of the Belmont arena. They have gotten a lot built pretty fast considering things were on shutdown with the virus.
Islanders will have a 53 hour window to sign Sorokin starting noon on Monday, although he can’t play either way. It will burn off a year on his entry level contract, so it’s a favor they can do for him to encourage him to sign.
https://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islanders/ilya-sorokin-signs-islanders-1.46825064 Sorokin signs
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michae...ers-new-home-belmont-park-arena/#57e462b74cdb The Isles arena has a name UBS Arena.
July 29th and we finally have a real game. Preseason tonight vs the Rangers. 8:00 start on MSG and MSG+. First "play in round' vs Florida is this Saturday August 1st a 4:00 start.
