The Quickie Report

Not much happening on Tuesday and while normally there would be a "Player of the Week" here; last week was full of single game performances but no prospect on the New York Rangers or New York Islanders earned the weekly nod.

Cristoval Nieves (NYR 2012 2nd) came close as he scored his first 2 NCAA goals but one of them came in a blowout loss. Ryan Strome (NYI 2011 1st) had a huge game the night after he was ejected for a major penalty so there goes that.

Still Wednesday night I really got to stress that if you have not seen Michael St. Croix (NYR 2011 4th) and Griffin Reinhart (NYI 2012 1st) play before then make sure you set the DVRs for the NHL Network USA at 10 PM EDT/7 PM PDT. Both players will be playing for Team WHL in game 5 of the Subway Super Series.

Reinhart will be wearing an "A" on his jersey which says a lot about the kind of player and person he is especially given his very young age. If you are an Islander fan you will feel much better about his selection after you watch him play.

Reinhart is a lock for Team Canada's roster for the 2013 World Under-20 Championship but Michael St. Croix is a huge long-shot. In the case of St. Croix; too many hold his past against him thinking he is just a one-way player but that no longer is the case.

St. Croix is a sniper/playmaker and he is lucky that his coach with the Edmonton Oil Kings Derek Laxdal is one of the assistant coaches for Team WHL. Laxdal will get St. Croix some time on the power play and if he does then you will see why I call him the "Predator".

One other Islander tidbit for you guys courtesy of Sportsnet's Sam Cosentino and that is this bit about Jesse Graham (NYI 2012 6th).

Jesse Graham giving it a go at forward for the Niagara IceDogs. He's definitely got the skating ability, but it will be interesting to see how he adjusts to a new position.

I got to agree that is a very good idea to try as Graham is just 5'11 so his chances at the NHL as a defenseman aren't that good these days. The only thing I think will hold Graham back will be his decision making speed as well as his eye to hand coordination.

But as a skater, Graham can fly and him out there skating with Ryan Strome sounds scary for the other team.

Stop reading this and go watch some hockey.