Training Camp: Isles Make First Cuts; Assign 19 To Bridgeport

Arthur Staple announced today the Isles made their first cuts, as they sent 18 players to Bridgeport. Those players are:

Fs: Sean Backman, Casey Cizikas, Justin DiBenedetto, Micheal Haley, Tomas Marcinko, Tyler McNeely, Tony Romano, David Ullstrom, Tim Wallace

Ds: Calvin de Haan, Matt Donovan, Anton Klementyev, Aaron Ness, Benn Olson, Ty Wishart

Gs: Mikko Koskinen, Anders Nilsson, Kevin Poulin

The Isles have 28 players remaining in camp, plus three players currently on IR. They will have to cut five more players to get down to the NHL mandated 23.

Fs: Josh Bailey, Blake Comeau, Trevor Frischmon, Trevor Gillies, Michael Grabner, Kirill Kabanov, Matt Martin, Matt Moulson, Nino Niederreiter, Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo, Jay Pandolfo, P.A. Parenteau, Marty Reasoner, Brian Rolston, Ryan Strome, John Tavares

Ds: Mark Eaton, Travis Hamonic, Milan Jurcina, Andrew MacDonald, Mike Mottau, Dylan Reese, Steve Staios, Mark Streit

Gs: Rick DiPietro, Al Montoya, Evgeni Nabokov

IR: Jeremy Colliton, Mark Katic, Rhett Rakhshani

CH: The big surprise here is Haley. Many assumed he would be in the opening night roster, but that doesn't seem to be the case at this point. It will be interesting to see which five players end up getting cut, and how the Isles shape the rest of their roster up. Expect more cuts tomorrow or Tuesday. The Isles must be down to the NHL mandated 23 roster spots by October 5.

AT: Very surprised by the Haley move. It does look like Pandolfo may be earning a roster spot on the 4th line, although I still prefer Haley's skills to Pandolfo's grittiness and leadership. I'm also very disappointed that it does indeed look like the Isles are going with a 3 goalie rotation, which in my opinion is going to create a mess. We'll see who makes the final cut by opening night.