New York Islanders Daily: Frans Nielsen Returns To New York

Frans Nielsen is set to make his return to the Barclays Center for the first time as an opponent after leaving for Detroit this past summer.

It’s going to be weird to watch Frans Nielsen come onto the ice in Brooklyn sporting a white and red jersey. Nielsen spent the first ten years of his career with the New York Islanders organization. His departure was a bit of a surprise.

“I didn’t think I was going to leave, to be honest,” said Nielsen, who was drafted by the Islanders in 2002. “I always thought we would get a deal done. But I don’t have one bad thing to say about the Islanders organization.”

Nielsen went on to say that he pushed for a new contract to remain with the organization but when negotiations dragged on he began to talk to other teams and that’s when he decided to leave.

I have no problem with Frans leaving, he has every right to and he will be remembered as a great part of the Islanders organization. My beef is with Garth Snow on this one. It seems like his negotiation tactics turned off Nielsen which eventually sent him packing.

Granted, I’m not too sure how I feel about 6-year contract for Nielsen, which is what Detroit gave him, but it’s tough to argue that the Isles don’t miss him.

In his Islander career he played 606 games and was just one point shy of 350 points over a ten year span with the team.

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