The Dish on Bailey's Dishing

Every time I see Josh Bailey display his natural offensive abilities while scoring a goal, I'm encouraged that he will reach his full potential as an offensive threat in the NHL. His power play goal in the third period of last night's win over the Lightning is certainly a prime example of the full stable of talents that Bailey can bring to the Islanders' offense.



On the goal, which you can watch above, Bailey used speed, instincts, and hands to get behind the Lightning penalty kill, receive a fine pass from Blake Comeau, and beat Mike McKenna from in close.

It is this type of effort that makes me hope that Bailey is not too pre-programmed to always think pass first.

Sure, playmaker is the role he has grown up with and it is the role he is expected to fill for the Islanders. But we have seen convincing glimpses of what Bailey can do with the puck on his own stick.

So does Bailey have to be aware of his mindset on the ice so that he doesn't always defer to his playmaking abilities when a goalscoring opportunity arises? Here's what he told me:

"I'm always going to think that I'm more of a playmaker than a goalscorer. Since I was little I've always been like that, so I always think pass before I shoot. I'm just trying to open my eyes a little more, to shoot a little more. It'll open passes up when I do that. I think that's something I've been working on this year."

At this stage of his career, I'm glad that he's conscious of defaulting to a single role when he's capable of developing into so much more. That is to say (and forgive the ridiculously lofty comparisons), I hope he's thinking more Bryan Trottier or Steve Yzerman than Adam Oates.

Of course, if he achieves even two-thirds of any of their career point totals, he'll have had a fantastic career. But you get the point. Bailey is too young to settle for being a 15-20 goal guy when the sky is still the limit.

By the way, I'm fairly convinced that by this time next season no one will be wondering if Bailey would have been better served by playing an extra year in juniors in 2008-09. He is well positioned for an Okposo-like progression.

In other news, Yann Danis doesn't know what the coaching staff has in store for him and Joey MacDonald for the final week of the season, nor does he think knowing necessarily helps him.

"I don't know if they have planned it out or not. They haven't told us, so I don't know. You just have to stay ready, no matter what happens."

Danis also told reporters that he hates losing and hates not playing at his best. He said it was huge for him to have the opportunity to bounce back and get in a rhythm again. Danis seems to have just the right balance of fire and cool these days.

Finally, I have been referring to Joel Rechlicz as "Wrecker" for some time now. I now have unmitigated reason to believe that the proper nickname is "Recker." So from here on, we drop the W.

(This article was originally published at http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=20468.)

Saturday's Leftovers

What's the rule of thumb for how long you should keep leftovers before you throw them out? In my family it was always three days. Let's see...Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Yup, better use these now or they'll be no good tomorrow.

Saturday night's leftovers...(*New fresh ingredients below!)

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The integrity of the game is paramount in competitive sports, particularly at the collegiate and professional levels. So I'm surprised there hasn't been more criticism of Scott Gordon for using Brendan Witt in the shootout against the Flyers.

Sure, it was a topic of conversation. In fact, before Gordon entered the press room, it was pretty much all that was being talked about. And, if you watched the press conference, the very first question from Stan Fischler was about Witt in the shootout. Gordon treated the subject lightly, and went on to back up his choice by saying that his defensemen had performed well in practice shootouts. If I'm the Penguins or the Avalanche, or anyone else jockeying for any kind of position in the NHL standings, that's not good enough for me.

You can do things to reward players in concert with the game's integrity. Putting a big guy in front of the net on the power play is established practice. I can stomach that reward for a player like Witt, though I never believed it would bring about any long term power play success. I can't get on board with this one, though. Islanders fans would be none too happy if the Avs threw Adam Foote out there for a shootout at this stage of the season, and he has 66 career goals.

It's nice to be able to play things a little loose, to have some fun, when wins and losses are secondary to competing and developing. But I think you have to take a closer look when it impacts the rest of the league.

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Rob McGowan, who writes his Islanders blog on HockeyBuzz and is also a member of the Blog Box, made an interesting observation during the course of Saturday night's physical mayhem. He said that for all the talk of Ted Nolan's teams being tough and physical, they never hit the way this Islanders team does.

So, does Kyle Okposo think that his team's physical style is providing an advantage against teams that aren't expecting it from a team that is challenged in the size department? I wish I could tell you that he took the bait, but here's what Okposo actually had to say:

"I don't think so. Everybody watches video in the league and they know that we're gonna come hard. I'm sure that they're expecting a hard game when we play them."

Ah, yes, the boring reality of the video age, where everyone knows what's coming all the time. The Islanders opponents can probably play Scott Gordon's system better than the Islanders can. John Stevens probably has clips of Tim Jackman's hitting technique on his iPhone. (I have no idea if John Stevens has an iPhone.)

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After Doug Weight had been interviewed, after Yann Danis, and after Okposo had walked in, a very large, bearded man appeared on the carpet inside the Islanders' dressing room. He proceeded to ask blogger Dee Karl how she liked the game in soft, sweet, caring tones. You know the stereotype of the hockey pugilist who's actually a gentle giant off the ice? Meet Joel Rechlicz.

Of course, Wrecker is happy to be in the NHL, and at this stage of an NHL career, most would go out of their way to be accommodating. But watching him hold court with reporters and bloggers alike, there is no mistaking that he is the genuine article—a guy who gets, and embraces, his role with the team, appreciates the opportunity, will do whatever it takes to be a fixture, and understands that the people surrounding him after a game find him very interesting.

Did I mention that he's huge? Put him in a superhero outfit and you've got yourself a movie franchise. Off-ice character and demeanor aside, maybe referring to him as soft, sweet, and caring wasn't such a good idea.

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If you missed the interview that HNLI Steve and I did with Greg Logan on Saturday, you can still listen to the archived show on the Hockey Night on Long Island show site. Greg did a really great spot with us, and I may add some quotes if I have time to transcribe them. You may have read the story he told about Mark Streit and Bruno Gervais in Greg's most recent Islanders Insider column in Newsday.

*Logan has more on Gordon's use of Witt in the shootout. He also reports that Streit is day-to-day with a strained groin and did not make the trip to Washington. Let's hope he didn't injure it in the shootout! (Kidding.)