First reported by Chris Botta of New York Islanders Point Blank via his twitter feed, the Islanders have agreed to terms with fifth overall selection from the 2010 NHL Entry Draft Nino Niederreiter.

The team agreed to an entry- level contract with the 2010 first-round pick on Tuesday, but financial terms were not disclosed.

It did not take long for the young forward to earn the respect of the organization. He was one of the stand out players during the Blue vs. Orange scrimmage back in July. Since, he has been one of the players gauging value over the course of the rookie scrimmages and training camp process as well.

As the pre-season is prepared to embark around the NHL starting today, the Islanders wasted no time getting Niederreiter to add pen to paper and sign on the dotted line.

In what will be his first season outside of the WHL, many feel that Niederreiter will be able to crack the Islanders roster and be part of the big club come October.

Jeff Angus of DobberHockey.com stated on twitter, as we exchanged tweets about El Nino, that if Nino indeed proves to be ready for the spotlight on the big stage within the NHL, it would not be “rushing” him into the big dance.

I think that for Niederreiter to truly get a proper feel for the NHL, starting him with the Bridgeport SoundTigers of the American Hockey League (AHL) would be ideal.  However, due to age restrictions, it would be back to juniors for Nino – which, at this point in his career, makes little sense.

If simply to adapt to the speed of the game as you progress through the ranks, the AHL would be the best scenario, at least to start.  However, rules are usually not broken at this stage of the game, and it’s likely that Niederreiter sticks out with the Islanders or goes back to juniors.

Last year with the Portland Winterhawks (WHL) Niederreiter scored 36 goals, added 24 assists and ended the year, after appearing in 65 games, with 60 points.

The 6’2″, 203 lbs. forward out of Chur, Switzerland has plenty of promise from within his game and will look to provide a scoring touch at the NHL level. Though, as mentioned above, I still feel the smart route would be a stint within the AHL.

At this point, only time will tell as to where Niederreiter will start the season.

Isles fans, do you find it appropriate to have Nino start the year with the big club?

Quick hits:

From the New York Islanders press conference during media day at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Chris Botta and Katie Strang have tweeted that Charles Wang states the Islanders will stay with their lease at the NVMC through 2015, which is when the lease expires, even with no progress on the Lighthouse Project.

Rick DiPietro says he feels great, and is healthy.  Will this be the bounce back year, finally, for Rick?

Anthony Curatolo
NHLHS New York Islanders Correspondent
acuratolo@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter: @HockeyGuy_AC

Chris Botta of Islanders Point Blank runs down the Islanders need for a new defenseman in his latest entry.  A few main points from the article:

• Injuries: Radek Martinek out for the season.  Andy Sutton out at least two more games.
• Depth: Rookie Andrew MacDonald already plays 12 minutes a game.  Brendan Witt is a team worst minus 15.  Dustin Kohn is the only option to be called up.
• A few players that Botta thinks would make sense: Aaron Ward, Garnett Exelby, Brent Sopel or Joe Corvo.  Botta prefers Corvo or Ward.

A move could easily be made for all these rumored available defensemen.  As I wrote earlier, I don’t think Carolina is purely in “sell-mode” yet, moving Ward will make the team younger and may even be a bit of addition by subtraction.  Getting rid of a vet not necessarily working out may wake up some other underachieving players.  I still feel Carolina will need a young defenseman coming back or will have to wait for Corvo to return from injury to replace Ward’s minutes.

Interesting to see what will happen on the Island.   They are willing to spend, which is a welcome change to a very promising young team.

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-Alexander Monaghan
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Just a couple of trade rumors going around the league.

• The Columbus Blue Jackets are not looking to make a move at the moment according to Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch.  As of this writing only two teams have less wins than the Blue Jackets in the last ten games, the Oilers and Hurricanes.
  GM Scott Howson believes the team as it is currently constructed needs to and should improve.  If we profile Howson a bit we can see he tends to bring in younger players via trade, picking up Fedor Tyutin and Antoine Vermette in separate deals last season.  If he was to make a move like this, it would likely have to be later in the year when more teams fall out of the race.  It could also involve moving a valuable young player who has fallen out of favor such as he did with Pascal Leclaire and Nikolai Zherdev.  Nikolai Filatov anybody?
• Chris Botta’s Islanders Point Blank reports that the Islanders will spend cap room to make the playoffs.  As Botta mentions, the Isles need two top six forwards preferably a center and left wing.  With their salary cap situation the way it is, GM Garth Snow can make a salary dump type move and acquire a good player without giving up a high draft pick or solid prospect.  A quick look around the League renders very few clear-cut sellers.  Pure speculation but Paul Kariya or Matt Cullen would make sense if their teams decide to sell.
• Chip Alexander’s Canes Now says the Hurricanes have no easy way out of their current situation.  Mired by injuries, they sit in dead last in the Eastern Conference and have won only three out of their last ten games.  So what is GM Jim Rutherford to do?  Bob Harwood of Canes Country lists his speculated options in his recent discussion.  Tough call on what is the best way out of the team’s funk, it certainly feels like the calm before the storm, or in this case Hurricane.