Guerin Situation Is Anyone's Guess

If you haven't been by your computer or television this weekend -- probably a good thing -- then you may not be aware of the situation that is currently unfolding on Long Island. For approximately the last 24 hours, Islander fans have been held hostage by the thought of their captain Bill Guerin being traded. They're not upset though, in fact it's more likely sugarplums are dancing in their heads at the thought of what kind of return the Islanders could get for the captain.

Still not sure what's going on? Well, you came to the right place. Let's get you up to speed.

The Islanders were all set to play the Buffalo Sabres at Nassau Coliseum last night and the Islanders' captain Bill Guerin took part in warm ups with the team. However, Guerin never returned to the ice for the game, leaving the Islanders with 11 forwards. From there, things pretty much went haywire.

On the MSG Plus telecast of the game and throughout the blogosphere, word spread like wildfire that Guerin was out of the game. Could it be an injury? That would be typical bad luck for the Islanders. Was he being traded? Maybe, but no one knew for sure.

By the time the game ended -- the Islanders put a dent in the Sabres' playoff hopes with a 2-0 victory -- the general consensus seemed to be that the team had held Guerin out due to a trade. Guerin has a no move clause in his contract so not only was the team trying to prevent injury to him in the event of a trade, but GM Garth Snow may have been having discussions with him about said clause. But truth be told, what was really going on was -- and still is -- anyone's guess.

So now that we're about 24 hours removed from the yesterday's pre-game warm ups what do we know?

Nothing. Nothing at all.

Not one person in the hockey blogosphere or main stream media has been able to pin anything on the Islanders, or their mystery counterpart. The general consensus is that Guerin is going to a team in the Eastern Conference, but even that we knew before yesterday. It's pretty much been a given that due to familial concerns Guerin doesn't want to go very far. So, we've learned nothing new. Every Eastern Conference GM has denied that they are working on a trade with Guerin (I'm not kidding). The Islanders, who have a tendency to be very tight-lipped, haven't budged.

A large media contingent came to the team's practice this morning at Iceworks in Syosset, NY expecting to get a scoop. They got nothing except a front row seat of Guerin skating with the team and not saying a word.

From Darren Dreger at TSN to Chris Botta at Islanders Point Blank and every interested party in between, no one seems to know anything solid about this potential trade. Right now, the Islanders are proving they can keep a secret and so is another team. Or maybe another two teams. That's how little we know right now.

Tomorrow night the Islanders will face off against the Colorado Avalanche at the Nassau Coliseum. Will Guerin still be on the roster or possibly in uniform? Your guess is as good as mine. Either way, Versus couldn't be happier to be broadcasting a March matchup of two teams that are last in their respective conferences. It will surely make for good television.

UPDATE (8:00PM): And the Islanders have alerted the media that there will be no news tonight. Versus is looking at quite a storyline for tomorrow night's game.