You've got to hand it to Islanders' coach Ted Nolan. He's really doing everything he can to remind current players of the franchise's glory days. His most recent idea: Bringing back four-time Cup-winning coach Al Arbour to coach his 1,500th game. Of course, coaching is a strong word. According to the Times, Arbour won't change lines; he'll just kind of give between-period speeches.
Still, it's a classy move by Nolan and a way of legitimizing a franchise that mostly has a reputation for long, bad contracts.
On the business end of things for the Isles, who are basically a small market team trapped in a huge market, Islanders' great (and current executive director of corporate sponsorships) sent signed skates to 75 Long Island businesses in an effort to drum up corporate sponsorship. The Isles have got to be one of the most aggressive teams in terms of boosting their gate and trying to generate revenue. Very few things impress me about the Isles, but their marketing is pretty tight. Sometimes, I wonder why the business side isn't helping the hockey side.

Newsweek had a piece on how ESPN has become more about cheering athletes than dissecting sports. There's an interesting paragraph, though:

And many influential sports bloggers, such as The Big Lead and Deadspin, have accused the network of ignoring sports, especially pro hockey, that ESPN doesn't have deals with. Then again, ESPN has ramped up its coverage of ultimate fighting even though the network has no financial stake in it—and does have a stake in its rival, boxing. And while it's true that ESPN's hockey coverage has declined lately, hockey has also declined lately. Is that ESPN's fault, or the NHL's? (original emphasis)

I don't watch a ton of ESPN but when I do catch SPORTSCENTER, or those kind of surreal ESPN FIRST TAKE updates, I see a fair amount of NHL highlights. Are they covering the offseason as aggressively as TSN is? Not really. But the NHL is on the ticker, and they do give it play. Would I love to see more hockey coverage on ESPN? Honestly, I don't watch enough ESPN for my vote to count. But it probably wouldn't hurt anything. But I don't know if ESPN is downplaying hockey so much as it's playing up its own properties. Like I swear. I think I saw like 10 Arena Football League highlights/teases this morning. Which is crazy. I mean, I played in the AFL. I rushed for 8,000 yards and passed for 5,000 yards over two seasons. And I was a backup. But that's not even the point. ESPN just isn't the place for serious sports fans. You're not going to get the depth you'll get cruising sites, or even reading most newspapers.
Thanks to The Big Lead for the tip, by the way.
Also, the Rangers traded Matt Cullen back to Carolina. Stan Fischler nailed Cullen's one season in New York: the poor guy was snakebitten the entire time. Everyone was constantly waiting for Cullen to explode because he was always so, so, so close to an offensive outbreak. But then it would never quite happen. He'd hit a post. The puck would hop his stick. A bird would swoop in and grab the puck. This went beyond him getting used to playing in New York. It was like something out of LOST. The guy was totally jinxed as a Ranger and now everyone in Rangerland is scared he'll overcome it next season in another uniform. Obviously, everyone in Hurricaneland is hoping he'll overcome it next season in another uniform. Sports fans are funny that way.

Wow. I'm never going to coach the Devils. They're freaking tough. From Larry Brooks:

With [GM Lou] Lamoriello attending to administrative duties and therefore absent from his usual perch at the rink, one of the veterans intentionally shot a puck at [coach Claude] Julien during a drill to test how the coach would respond. The story goes that when Julien refused to confront the athlete or even acknowledge the overt act of disrespect, the players concluded that the head coach would have to go, and essentially fired him.

Good luck, new coach Brent Sutter. Watch your head. Also, I love how the no one on the Devils would assume for one second that Julien would somehow assume the shot puck was an accident.

Also, Joe Watson and Derian Hatcher talking hockey is pretty cool (login info.). My favorite tidbit (and it's all really interesting stuff):

Watson: You know what? The rule book in 1972 was [not very] thick. And when the Flyers came in, the Broad Street Bullies, all of a sudden the book went like that [fingers widening]. In what, 2 years, there were more rules. [President] Clarence Campbell was so confused. They instituted more rules against the Flyers in 2 years than they did the first 60 years of the National Hockey League.

Obviously, Watson, but also Hatcher, are not huge fans of what the NHL has become.