THE MORNING SKATE — Kichton on Isles, Fraser on Refs

Kevin Schultz , Islanders Point Blank:

Isles prospect Brenden Kichton spoke out rather cryptically on twitter the other day possibly, but not necessarily, on his contract situation. The Spokesman-Review, the Spokane Chiefs’ local paper caught up with Kichton who is quickly approaching the end of his junior career with the team he spent five seasons playing for.

Kichton said the Islanders’ plans for him are murky.

“We haven’t come to terms with anything on a contract, so we’re kind of in a waiting stage right now, to see what they’re going to do and what my agent wants from them,” Kichton said.

The article also speaks with some of Kichton’s teammates, of which Kichton is the only one who has been drafted by an NHL team.

“Everything he does is to the best of his ability, whether it’s taping his stick, playing video games,” Chiefs winger Carter Proft told the Spokesman-Review. “He’s a competitor.”

The Chiefs have not responded to multiple requests from Point Blank to speak with Kichton.

KERRY FRASER WEIGHS IN ON OTTAWA
There were some controversial calls in the game against the Senators on Tuesday night. There was Keith Aucoin’s disallowed goal, cited to be no good due to a kicking motion, and a missed high sticking call on Mika Zibanejad that led to the Senators fourth goal, the game winner.

On TSN.ca, ex-ref Kerry Fraser chimed in on the calls, agreeing with the decision on the former and against that of the latter. Fraser says that while there wasn’t a distinct soccer-like kicking motion from Aucoin, that’s not the only thing that the rule is looking for:

Through video review it was correctly determined that Keith Aucoin approached the rebounded puck at the crease and turned his right skate to make contact with the puck thereby propelling it into the net even though that right skate threw some snow in a forward stopping motion. This is supported by the fact that Aucoin’s left skate continued in a path on a different angle toward the goal and not in a stopping motion.

As for Zibanejad’s high stick, Fraser doesn’t agree with how it was called on the ice:

The referee on the goal-line made a high stick signal once the puck entered the Islanders zone while the linesman closest to the play did not. The first player to contact the puck is Silfverberg as he stabs at it making contact. Visnovsky used an active stick and made secondary contact which caused the puck to pop up in the air as Silfverberg skated past. No whistle was blown at this point but more importantly no wave off signal at any point resulted from the lead referee or the linesman. (If another official made a washout signal he is not in the camera shot. If he did the other officials should have responded in kind as verification that play was allowed to continue.)

Fraser’s full explanations are here.

THE MARGINAL FLOW ON NBC
In case you missed John Tavares’ interview on NBC with Bruce Beck from the other night:

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