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It's a game day (a particularly torturous one for my long-held dual loyalties), but the preview will wait until after we know more about how the Islanders will deal with the Rob Schremp injury.

In the meantime, the NHL GMs agreed on language for a proposed head hit rule:

"A lateral, back pressure or blind-side hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or is the principal point of contact is not permitted. A violation of the above will result in a minor or major penalty and shall be reviewed for possible supplemental discipline."

Oh Rob Schremp Hockey, say it ain't so.

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New York Islanders (26-31-8, 28th) at Philadelphia Flyers (34-26-4, 6th/E)
The [it's like a bank or something] Center
7:30 p.m. on VERSUS [a.k.a. "All Flyers-Pens, all the time"], radio

This is something that is probably best done after (or rather before?) the season, but timing and planning has never been the way of things here -- no sense starting now.

A sampling of Islanders fodder for a Sunday...

... A nice New York Hockey Talk is lined up by Rob Kowal tonight at 9 p.m. on WGBB 1240, with Al Arbour and Kyle Okposo among the guests. Brendan Shanahan, too (okay, so he was a Ranger/Devil, but he's always good for a quote and a yarn).

Everybody's still trying, there's "a lot of hockey left to play" and all that. But I admit I'm in the mode where I just want to see the young guys progress, evaluate those two pups on defense, and I'll take my joy in the moments when the Islanders can deliver a damaging blow to a playoff hopeful. Like Boston this afternoon. That'd be just dandy.

I still get the print version of The Hockey News. I don't know why -- for a decade, I've periodically received issues three weeks late and/or two consecutive issues at a time. It's just nostalgia and tradition, I guess, tracing back to when THN was my main print source for league news, Ken Campbell still had dark hair, and I knew how Bob McKenzie wrote but not how he spoke.

Anyway, ruffling through a recent issue (well, recent for my mailbox), I came across a bit they had about former Thrashers goalie Michael Garnett, who is playing for MVD Balashikha in the KHL. Read this excerpt and then just imagine the fun if an NHL team were sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security:

A source also said that the team's performance has been hindered by the undesirable dynamic with three goaltenders in play.

"Look at where we were at, we had a playoff spot," said a player who requested anonymity. "Then we went on a losing streak and now we're on the outside looking in."

>>Newsday [sub.], quoting some Quixote who thought five shootout wins means you're a playoff team

Let it never be said that carrying three goalies doesn't pose problems, both logistical and psychological. From practice to game time to the delicate rhythm of crazy goalies, it certainly does. Yet let it also never be said that a player seeking excuses will have any trouble finding them -- and anonymously venting them when things go bad.

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You're Blake Comeau. You're 24, you were a 2nd-round pick (hey, that's Andy Sutton value right there), and you were one of the select few young Islanders to shine under Ted Nolan. That brief 2007-08 splash got Islanders fans dreaming, but then you returned after the summer to find Nolan's successor believed you needed more AHL seasoning.