A Night in the Blog Box: The Bill Guerin Sweepstakes

The fact that the Islanders started to play like a team on a mission wasn't even mentioned last night. Nor was the fact that young defenseman Andy McDonald played his first NHL game, and didn't even play half bad. No, the entire buzz surrounded one thing: the potential departure of Bill Guerin.

The night had started off like any other, with light discussions and conversations about the nights game, the big story: Andy McDonald's first game. About five minutes into the game, we could tell that something was wrong up in the blog box. The Islanders were a man short, and when captain Bill Guerin couldn't be found, we all searched the internet and phones frantically to see what had happened. Guerin had taken practice shots in the pre-game skate, yet the fact that he had not come out to play meant only one thing to us: TRADE!

The blog box was abuzz with questions, constant text messaging to fans and friends, and debates about what the trade could be. By the end of the night, we had learned the potential buyers in the "Bill Guerin Sweepstakes" were Montreal, New Jersey, Boston, and Washington (it had been confirmed that the Islanders had not one, but two scouts in Saturday's Boston/Washington game, perhaps one for each team?).

The team and coach were mum about the Guerin situation. Coach Scott Gordon would not comment on Stan Fischler's inquiry to what would happen to the captain beyond a joking "What, you don't want to talk about the hockey game?" Even players such as Kyle Okposo, Sean Bergenheim, and Yann Danis couldn't commit anything of use to reporters, except that the Guerin situation had not affected the game.

We all left the locker room a little disappointed, and very confused, about what the organization would do with a trade. We had more questions than we knew what to do with "Who is the trading partner?", "Will Billy wave his no-trade claus?", "What can the Isles get in return?". However, we left being told that a formal announcement would be given from the team tomorrow (sunday) morning.

Fast forward to today. It is now 6:00 p.m. and we know little more than we did last night.

• 23 hours ago, Bill Guerin was taken off the ice and was a healthy scratch for last nights game against Buffalo.
• Guerin has admitted that if the trade was"right", we would waive his no trade clause.
• The potential buyers for the veteran right wing are (in order of likelihood) The Montreal Canadiens, The Washington Capitols (although The Washington Post denies that the Caps are a contender), and I see the New Jersey Devils and possibly even the Florida Panthers as EXTREME darkhorses (if you heard Howie Rose and Billy Jaffe last night during the game, you understand where I'm going with this).

So what could the Isles get for Guerin? The general consensus is that a draft pick plus a prospect is the likely return for Billy's services. If the trade goes up to Montreal, I'm thinking possibly a second round pick OR defenseman Ryan O'Byrne. If he winds up in Washington, expect the Caps to dump salary and try to push veteran forward Michael Nylander and a conditional draft pick, or as Doug from Isles Official's Outlook is dead set on: the young and talented defenseman Kyle Alzner. However, don't be shocked if it is forward Jay Beagle.

Hopefully we'll know more within the next couple of hours. The Islanders still have yet to formally make a statement, and as soon as there is one, we'll be back to comment and give you the run-down.