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Date |
June Transactions |
| 6/27/01 | Lost in the excitement of the weekend, the Islanders have announced that they have resigned C Oleg Kvasha to a new three year deal. Kvasha, who the team is hoping will benefit from the draft day deals, went 11-9-20 in 62 games. The deal is believed to be for an average of $800,000 a year. |
| - | The Isles have announced that Assistant GM Gordie Clark will take on the additional role of Director of Hockey Operations for their AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. |
| 6/24/01 | Following the finish of the 2001 NHL Draft, the Islanders pulled off yet another big deal in acquiring C Michael Peca. Destined to be the teams next captain, Peca sat out last season from Buffalo because of a contract squabble. He is seeking $3.5 million a season. He recently went 1-3-4 in 3 games for Canada at the World Championships before sustaining an injury. Peca can score but brings much needed grit and leadership to the Islanders. Off to Buffalo are C Tim Connolly and LW Taylor Pyatt. |
| - | The Isles acquired the Florida Panthers 4th round pick(101st overall) and a 2002 third round draft pick in exchange for the Islanders 2001 third round choice(64th overall). With that 4th round pick the Islanders made their first selection in the draft by taking Kingston Frontenacs(OHL) C Cory Stillman. Stillman surprised the scouting staff by still being available at that point since he was slated to go in the second round. He is a project but at 6'2" and 204lbs he has good size. He'll be looking to improve on his offensive numbers next season as he went 29-27-56 in 68 games played in 2000-01. |
| 6/23/01 | The Islanders pulled off a blockbuster deal before the 2001 NHL Draft got underway as they acquired C Alexei Yashin from Ottawa in exchange for 6'9" D Zdeno Chara, RW Bill Muckalt and the 2nd overall pick. Ottawa Selected C Jason Spezza. Yashin, who will be seeking an $8 million/yr salary, went 40-48-80 in 82 games last season, had 13 powerplay goals and finished 11th in NHL scoring. |
| 6/22/01 | A pre draft day trade is made as the Islanders acquire right handed shooting D Adrian Aucoin and LW Alexander Kharitonov from Tampa Bay in exchange for D Mathieu Biron and the Isles 2002 second round draft pick. Aucoin, who will certainly improve the Isles powerplay, went 4-24-28 in 74 games last year between Tampa Bay and Vancouver. Kharitonov was a rookie last year and is only listed as 5'9" 169lbs, but is scrappy. He went 7-15-22 in 66 games. |
| 6/14/01 | C Mats Lindgren has been signed to a new deal. He has missed most of the last two seasons with a nagging shoulder. He has once again rehabbed it and is ready to go next season, all be it at a cheap cost. Lindgren did lead the Islanders in shorthanded goals last season with two, despite only playing in 20 games before his injury. He went 3-4-7 on the season and was a +4. |
| - | The Islanders have announced that D Ray Giroux will be returning to the team for 2001-02. In 1999-00 Ray went an impressive 0-9-9 in 14 games with the Isles. He spent last season playing with three different teams in Europe, due to the logjam on the Islanders blueline. |
| - | The Islanders added to their depth with 3 signings. 1999 8th round draft pick D Radek Martinek could be the better of the three and may even challenge for a spot on the team in 2001-02. He recently played for the Czech team in the World Championships. He was the only non-NHL defenseman, but held his own as he led the tournament with a +12 rating. Could be a steal. He'll be 25 in the end of August. |
| - | The Isles have signed D Dick Tarnstrom to a 2 year contract worth $1 million. At 6-1 180lbs, Tarnstrom went 10-18-28 in 50 games last season with AIK Sweden. Originally a longshot 9th round draft pick in 1994. He is 26 years old. |
| - | D Marko Kiprusoff has signed a free agent contract. The older brother of San Jose Sharks goaltending prospect Miikka Kiprusoff, Marko has been playing in his home country of Finland. He does have one prior season of NHL experience when he played for the Montreal Canadiens in 1995-96. During that season he went 0-4-4 in 24 games played. He is 6' 195lbs, 29 years old. |
| 6/10/01 | Former New York Islander G John Vanbiesbrouck announced his retirement after the completion of the Stanley Cup Finals. He spent most of last season as the Isles number one goaltender before being traded to the New Jersey Devils at the trade deadline. In 44 games with the Islanders he went 10-25-5 with a 3.01 GAA. |
| 6/1/01 | The Islanders have agreed to a 3 year contract with 2000-01 WHL MVP C Justin Mapletoft. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the signing came shortly before a 5:00 PM deadline. If the Isles had not come to a deal with the scrappy center, who won the WHL scoring title with 43-77-120 last season, Mapletoft would have re-entered the 2001 Entry Draft on June 23-24. |
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While agreeing to terms on a contract with Mapletoft, the Isles decided not to sign D Adam Johnson. Though he had some size at 6'7" 220 pounds, he did not play his way into the Isles plans. Last season he played for Lethbridge of the WHL and went 6-9-15 in 57 games with 120 PIM's. The Islanders other 5th round selection in 1999(besides Mapletoft), the selection was acquired from the Florida Panthers in exchange for C Jiri Dopita. |