Islanders Crown Kings, Add Pop

The Islanders remained undefeated through 3 games, as backup goaltender Tim Thomas played just good enough to give his team a 5-4 victory. The win continued an alarming trend, as the Isles were outshot again, this time with a 32-26 edge going to the Kings.

However Marian Hossa got his first goal of the year late in the game, when New York was able to capitalise on a Chris Kunitz penalty. Mike Peca and Joe Sakic each had a goal and an assist, and Patrick Poulin had a pair of helpers.

Andy Delmore had his 3^rd disappointing game of the year, and found out after the game that it was his last as an Islander. Both Delmore and defenseman Scott Heffernan were shipped off to the Calgary Flames, with young gun Mark Popovic and journeyman Jason Crain. Islander GM Ryan Long discussed the deal post game.

”Andy has been solid for us the past 3 seasons, and even though he’s had a rough start, I have no doubt he remains among the games elite in terms of blue-liners. However we’re getting long in the tooth with our key Dmen (Chara, Lidstrom, Numminen, Carney and Delmore were 5 of the Islanders top 6 Dmen, and all over the age of 30). So we were aggressively looking to ship an older guy for a young guy who can jump right in, and we feel Mark Popovic is just that type of guy. We’ll slot him in right away on the top pairing with Chara, and see how that pans out.’’

Mark Popovic is 6’2 and 190 lbs, but plays much bitter than his size. Last year with the Flames, he had 16 goals and 19 assists, for 35 points (tops in D for Calgary). He also had 166hits, 2^nd for all Flames.

With the addition of Popovic, the Islanders know have a pair of 24 yr old blueliners to continue to groom for the future. Christian Ehroff did wonders in his first year for the Islanders last year (12goals, 33 assists and a +44), and together with Popovic should develop into elite defensemen to eventually replace Chara and Lidstrom.