Ahh, Thanksgiving. A holiday reserved for family, football, turkey and if you’re Blake Comeau, news that you’ve been waived by the New York Islanders.
Comeau, 25, has struggled through a nightmarish season with the Isles. He’s pointless through 15 games (with a minus-11 rating), been a healthy scratch several times and played just 6:45 is last night’s loss to Philly, which was clear a message from head coach Jack Capuano.
That message? Probably something along the lines of “stop being bad at hockey.” Maybe a tad more specific, but you get the gist.
This is a significant fall from grace for Comeau. He was drafted by the Isles in the second round of the 2004 Draft and gradually developed into a good goalscorer (24 last year, a career-high) -- as such, New York rewarded with a one-year, $2.5 million deal back in August.
Comeau had been the subject of recent trade rumors, but it seems the Isles were unwilling to find a partner.
So, three things to watch moving forward:
1) The Isles are getting carved on Twitter for waiving a guy on Thanksgiving. This probably won’t help Garth Snow’s already-dicey reputation for handling players (see: Nabokov, Evgeni) or his ability to lure quality players to Long Island.
2) Early speculation suggests Calgary (in the market for any kind of goalscoring up front), Nashville (needs forward depth) and the Rangers (just to screw with the Islanders) as potential suitors.
3) This could be a precursor to a larger move...or just a huge wake-up call for Comeau. It’s possible he’ll clear waivers and end up in AHL Bridgeport, a place he hasn’t been since 2008.