Olympic roster freeze comes and goes for Islanders

The Olympic roster freeze deadline came and went Friday without any action by the Islanders, who will have the same roster in the consecutive weekend home games against the Lightning and Senators that they had the rest of this week.

They'll likely be minus Rick DiPietro, though; he missed Friday's practice because of illness. DiPietro was never in any danger of being shipped out by general manager Garth Snow before the roster freeze went into effect at 3 p.m. Friday, but the other Islanders who were - goaltender Martin Biron, defenseman Andy Sutton and center Richard Park - will be around for these two games and the next two weeks off.

Snow declined to comment on his trade talks, particularly given that the actual trade deadline is March 3, three days after the rosters are unfrozen.

One Islander who has elevated his game of late but isn't garnering much interest is Freddy Meyer, who has a goal and is a plus-2 in the last seven games. Most important for the 29-year-old, who was a healthy scratch for a couple of long stretches this season, is his physical play, always a bit of a surprise from a guy who gets a generous listing of 5-10.

"He doesn't have the size, obviously, so the most important thing for him is to try and shrink the ice so he can close guys off," coach Scott Gordon said. "He's been doing that well."

Not necessarily well enough to draw deadline interest, but well enough to allow Snow to make another move and keep Meyer getting regular minutes.