Andrew Gross of Newsday is reporting that the New York Islanders will be without the services of forward Matt Martin for game 5 tomorrow night. Martin missed game 4 and didn’t practice today with the team. Martin has dressed in three games this postseason going scoreless while registering seven hits, 16 PIM and three blocked shots. Martin’s lower-body issue is the fourth time he’s dealt with injury this season and the fifth time this season he’s missed time due to a health issue.
Islanders head coach Patrick Roy told reporters that Martin is still day-to-day and will travel with the team for game 5 but won’t play. He added that he has not decided on who will skate in Martin’s place. The Islanders have a couple of options to replace the 34-year-old Martin as one of Simon Holmstrom or Ruslan Iskhakov could replace him in the lineup for game 5.
In other evening notes:
- Mile High Sports reporter Aarif Deen tweeted that Colorado Avalanche forward Joel Kiviranta will travel with the club to Winnipeg ahead of game 5 against the Jets. The 28-year-old missed game 4 yesterday because of a lower-body injury but could make his return tomorrow night. Kiviranta has a single assist through the first three games of the Jets series after posting three goals and six assists in 56 regular season games. The Avalanche called up Chris Wagner earlier today as a precaution in case Kiviranta is unable to play tomorrow night.
- On today’s edition of 32 Thoughts, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman discussed the San Jose Sharks’ search for a new head coach. Friedman believes that general manager Mike Grier is looking at potentially bringing people back who had a previous connection to the Sharks. Friedman went through a list of four potential candidates for the Sharks head coaching vacancy, beginning with former Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft who was an assistant in San Jose for seven seasons. The second name Friedman discussed was former Sharks player Marco Sturm who spent eight seasons with the team. Jay Leach was another name Friedman believes could be on the shortlist, Leach was a runner-up for the Sharks head coaching job previously when David Quinn was hired. The final name was Jeff Halpern who was a teammate of Grier’s back in their playing days, Friedman couldn’t find Halpern’s connection to the Sharks but believes that he is ready to be an NHL coach.
Oh please God no, not Jay Woodcroft. He is a TERRIBLE coach. Sturm could be interesting though. I think he coached in Germany after retiring?
Sturm is in his 2nd season as head coach of the Ontario Reign of the AHL. The Reign are still in the playoffs as of now.
@PyramidHeadcrab — Marco did coach in Germany from 2015 through 2018, but has been in the Kings’ organization since 2018-2019. And, I don’t think Jay is a terrible coach (upper or lower case), but rather got caught up in the thought of having to reinvent the wheel in EDM. What he was doing reeked of stupidity, influenced from Hitch and his zero-to-minus-one philosophy. Scoring by accident, not by design, even though he had just finished a season where minor tweaks in the defensive mentality and structure would have been enough.
I’m not even necessarily referring to his time in Edmonton, where I’m not convinced he was NHL calibur. He used to be an assistant on the Sharks, and was really not impressive. I believe he was the video coach, but he would frequently miss calls that could have been reviewed. Had a very negative impression of him when he was let go.
@PyramidHeadcrab — Many assistants look unimpressive on teams that aren’t good or even early in their coaching careers. Some grow and improve, and might look like they belong in one situation, but not another. In Bakersfield, he was seen as a really good communicator with the kids, which helped his stock after Tipp was let go.
As a Sharks fan, I don’t get the organizational love of people affiliated with the Sharks or Boston area.
@CaptKirk — It’s still called the OBC (Old Boys’ Club) for a reason. It’s worse than nepotism or cronyism. “Familiarity breeds contempt” comes to mind, too.
Grier went to Boston University. That’s where the Boston connection comes from