Duffrie hits Yankee Stadium; Comrie faces uncertainty with Isles

Yahoo! Sports

Wed Sep 17 08:35am EDT

Duffrie hits Yankee Stadium; Comrie faces uncertainty with Isles

Hockey's sweethearts Hilary Duff and Mike Comrie were spotted at Yankee Stadium last night, witnesses to yet another depressing defeat in the Bronx for the home team. (Meanwhile, my Mets can't figure out the Nationals' pitching staff. Must be September.) Mike wore his best LL Bean vest, and the Duffer wore what appears to be the curtains from a Hampton Inn around her neck.

Comrie's back on the ice after off-season hip surgery. The New York Islanders kept that procedure on the down-low, so fans had to rely on paparazzi shots of the center on crutches for evidence. Combine that with Mike Sillinger's own hip surgery, and two of the team's top three centers are on the mend.

Comrie enters training camp with some questions surrounding his role. He tallied 21 goals and 49 points playing with Bill Guerin on the top line last season. With Doug Weight in town, Guerin's former linemate in St. Louis, Comrie could find himself skating with some of the Islanders' younger offensive players. That's Greg Logan's take, and the Newsday scribe asked Comrie for his thoughts on this year's Islanders:

"We have some young guys who are going to come in and work, and we have some guys who have been around and are going to have to carry a heavy load," Comrie said. "We know that if we get everything out of everybody, we're competitive.
"We've got good leadership the young kids can look up to, a great captain and guys who have been through a lot as players. You can read things and hear things that people might say we're young and we don't have the star power or the depth. But we believe in ourselves, and we've got a goalie [Rick DiPietro] that can keep us in every game."

The two stars of our hockey rumors live chat at 1 p.m. (EDT) today differ on Comrie. Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period thinks the Islanders could try and sign him long-term. Meanwhile, Spector believes that with UFA status looming after his one-year, $4 million contract is up, Comrie is trade bait come February.