Post by kbarbdamnit on Jun 26, 2008 21:43:01 GMT -5
weblogs.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islanders/blog/2008/06/buyout_for_shawn_bates.html
The handwriting has been on the wall for the past couple seasons regarding the demise of Shawn Bates’ Islanders career. The Islanders are expected to make it official Friday morning when they announce their decision to buy out the remaining year of his contract.
Bates was scheduled to make $1.2 million, but under NHL buyout provisions, he will receiver two-thirds of that amount in equal installments of $400,000 spread over the next two seasons. Last season, Bates appeared in only two games, and he was limited to 48 games the previous season by a groin injury and hernia surgery.
Islanders general manager Garth Snow portrayed the move as another step toward a youth movement. “It was a tough decision because Shawn was a great Islander, and he scored some pretty big goals in the past,” Snow said. “It was a decision based primarily on creating a spot on the roster for a younger player.”
Snow said Bates is 100 percent healthy and has been training in Boston. But there’s only so much room on the current roster, and the 33-year-old Bates didn’t fit in. He spent the past six seasons of his 10-year career with the Islanders and will be remembered most of all for the 2001-02 season, when he scored a career-high 17 goals and 52 points and topped it off by scoring the first playoff penalty-shot goal in club history in the Islanders’ Game 4 win over Toronto in their first-round series.
The following season, Bates led the NHL with six short-handed goals, and as recently as the 2005-06 season, he totaled 15 goals, including a team-high four gamewinners. But he slowed noticeably the past two seasons and had trouble staying on the ice with his injuries.
Snow listed veterans Mike Comrie and Mike Sillinger as the top two centers for the coming season and said Richard Park and Andy Hilbert have the flexibility to play center or winger, and youngsters Frans Nielsen and Ben Walter will battle for a regular shift in the middle. There’s also a possibility the coaching staff could try using winger Blake Comeau in the pivot.
Asked if he believes the Isles are strong enough in the middle, Snow said, “All along, our plan has been to go with some younger players, and this creates more playing time for some of our younger players.” Snow followed that same logic when he decided earlier in the week to pass on the chance to acquire injury-prone veteran center Kyle Wellwood on waivers. Wellwood wound up in Vancouver.
Bates was scheduled to make $1.2 million, but under NHL buyout provisions, he will receiver two-thirds of that amount in equal installments of $400,000 spread over the next two seasons. Last season, Bates appeared in only two games, and he was limited to 48 games the previous season by a groin injury and hernia surgery.
Islanders general manager Garth Snow portrayed the move as another step toward a youth movement. “It was a tough decision because Shawn was a great Islander, and he scored some pretty big goals in the past,” Snow said. “It was a decision based primarily on creating a spot on the roster for a younger player.”
Snow said Bates is 100 percent healthy and has been training in Boston. But there’s only so much room on the current roster, and the 33-year-old Bates didn’t fit in. He spent the past six seasons of his 10-year career with the Islanders and will be remembered most of all for the 2001-02 season, when he scored a career-high 17 goals and 52 points and topped it off by scoring the first playoff penalty-shot goal in club history in the Islanders’ Game 4 win over Toronto in their first-round series.
The following season, Bates led the NHL with six short-handed goals, and as recently as the 2005-06 season, he totaled 15 goals, including a team-high four gamewinners. But he slowed noticeably the past two seasons and had trouble staying on the ice with his injuries.
Snow listed veterans Mike Comrie and Mike Sillinger as the top two centers for the coming season and said Richard Park and Andy Hilbert have the flexibility to play center or winger, and youngsters Frans Nielsen and Ben Walter will battle for a regular shift in the middle. There’s also a possibility the coaching staff could try using winger Blake Comeau in the pivot.
Asked if he believes the Isles are strong enough in the middle, Snow said, “All along, our plan has been to go with some younger players, and this creates more playing time for some of our younger players.” Snow followed that same logic when he decided earlier in the week to pass on the chance to acquire injury-prone veteran center Kyle Wellwood on waivers. Wellwood wound up in Vancouver.