In the spirit of the holiday season, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season passes the one-quarter mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the New York Islanders.

Yes, part of their success is due to Barry Trotz’s system, but the Islanders boast a group of blueliners that is still relatively unheralded.  Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech are both quality rearguards locked up on long-term deals that could wind up being team-friendly by the end; Pulock’s extension carries a $6.15M AAV through 2030 that kicks in next season while Pelech checks in at $5.75M through 2029.  That’s a quality duo on the back end to build around for a long time.  Noah Dobson will also be part of that long-term future, while Scott Mayfield’s contract continues to be one of the better bargains in the league for at least one more year after this one.

Individually, none of these players brings a "wow" factor to the table but as a group, it’s a good enough unit to help keep them close most nights even when the offense struggles.  If they’re going to claw their way back into the playoff picture, this group will be a big part of it (especially with Pulock set to return soon).

For years, Sorokin has been touted as their goalie of the future.  After finally coming to North America and playing last season, he was the backup to Semyon Varlamov.  It’s time to consider the torch as passed.  This season, the 26-year-old has been one of the better goalies in the league, posting a .926 save percentage, which puts him in the top 10 leaguewide in that category.  He also has made more than 70% of the starts this season.  Part of that is due to an early injury to Semyon Varlamov, but Sorokin has also outplayed Varlamov considerably as well.  There was some risk to Sorokin’s three-year, $12M contract considering he had played all of 22 regular-season games heading into this season, but all of a sudden, he’s one of the better bargains for goaltenders around the league.

What would the Islanders be even more thankful for?

Offense.  Not just depth scoring or secondary scoring, or offense from the defense.  The Islanders need production, period.  Mathew Barzal is their star center, but he has only five goals this season (which still puts him in a tie for fourth on the team).  Kyle Palmieri, Josh Bailey and Zach Parise are all capable veteran players, and they’re all stuck at a single goal.  Casey Cizikas and Matt Martin are big pieces of their fourth line on above-market contracts, and they’ve failed to light the lamp in 39 combined games.  The defense as a whole has just five tallies on the season.  You get the point.

With even an average offense and some better luck on the COVID front, this is a team that could be right in the playoff mix as things stand.  If they’re going to get back into postseason contention with the struggles they’ve had early on, the Islanders will need a lot of players to rediscover their scoring touch over the holiday break.

What should be on the Islanders’ Holiday Wish List?

Beyond adding scoring, more defensive depth would go a long way toward helping their chances of climbing back into the race in terms of giving them some injury insurance (and we know GM Lou Lamoriello isn’t throwing in the towel just yet).

But the biggest thing on their wish list both now and in the future is cap space.  They don’t have it, and they need it in a big way.  The Isles were forced to bridge their young stars to merely stay cap-compliant now, so it’s a longer-term concern.  If they want to add now, they need to free up cap room first, and if they want to keep their core intact, they need to free up cap room.  Accordingly, that is going to be the biggest wish in the coming weeks, months and years for the Isles.

What the New York Islanders are thankful for in 2021

he Saints are facing a make-or-break game against the Dolphins in Week 16, but they are going to have to rely on their fourth different starting quarterback, rookie Ian Book, to carry them to victory.

New Orleans found itself in dire straits after Taysom Hill and Trevor Siemian both landed on the COVID list. Normal starter Jameis Winston was already out for the season with a torn ACL, so that meant that the Saints were down their top three quarterbacks and had no backup to Book.

Because of this, the Saints tied to pull out a last-minute Hail Mary and bring in a more experienced option to start ahead of Book. According to Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com, the Saints reached out to two long-time NFL starters, Drew Brees and Philip Rivers, to see if they would have any interest in providing the team with quarterback depth.

NFL PLAYOFF PICTURE: Where the Saints stand in the NFC race

Ultimately, both players declined and the Saints signed another veteran, Blake Bortles, to backup Book.

It's not a huge surprise that Rivers, who has never played for the Saints, opted not to unretire, but what about Brees? Here's why he decided not to come out of retirement.

SAINTS QB DEPTH CHART: Ian Book set to start for Saints

Why Drew Brees turned down the offer to return to the Saints

There were a couple of reasons that Brees didn't want to return to the Saints. But above all else, Brees wasn't confident that he would be able to make the throws needed to lead the Saints to victory, as Duncan noted in his report.

There was a caveat. Brees, like Rivers, was not interested in returning as a backup, which makes sense given his long, storied career. If he was going to come out of retirement and make a triumphant return, it would have to be as the starter. And Brees would have been the only player who could have pulled it off because of his experience and intimate knowledge of the offense.

Ultimately, Brees nixed the idea, in part, because on such short notice, he wasn’t 100% confident he would be able to make the throws necessary to successfully lead the offense. He didn’t want to short-change the Saints in such a critical game at such a critical time in their playoff run.

MORE: Why Tom Brady always struggles against the Saints

Brees showed signs of decline in 2020 and averaged 7.5 yards per attempt. That's a respectable number for an NFL quarterback, but it marked Brees' lowest YPA since 2014.

Still, Brees led the Saints to a 9-3 record in his 12 regular-season starts last season, so he would have given the Saints a chance to win even if he's lacking a bit of confidence. At the very least, he would provide the team with an experienced starting option. Brees has started 286 NFL games. Book has started none.

But Brees' decision is made and he will remain in the NBC booth for another week. And as a result, Book, who is the all-time leader in wins at Notre Dame with 30, will get a chance to prove himself as an NFL starter.

Why Drew Brees turned down Saints' reported offer to come out of retirement for Week 16

Two more college football bowl games were canceled Sunday and another’s status remained uncertain due to COVID-19 outbreaks.

University of Miami's team on Sunday announced it would not travel to El Paso, Texas, to play in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl against Washington State on Friday. The New Year's Eve game, played annually since 1935, is one the nation's four oldest bowl games.

Earlier Sunday, the Military Bowl and Wasabi Fenway Bowl were canceled due to coronavirus issues, NBC News reported.

The Sun Bowl wasn't immediately canceled, though Executive Director Bernie Olivas told NBC affiliate KTSM: "As far as a backup plan, because we are where we are, we don’t have one right now."

"It is very disappointing that COVID is taking a toll on so many college football teams and bowl games," Olivas said in a statement, ESPN reported. "As of this moment, the 2021 Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl game has not been canceled, although the University of Miami has withdrawn from the game. We are currently looking for a possible replacement team, in the hopes of having one to compete against Washington State."

Boston College was unable to field enough players to play against East Carolina in the Military Bowl, and an outbreak prevented Virginia from traveling to play Southern Methodist University in the Fenway Bowl at Boston.

The Military Bowl had been scheduled for Monday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland, and the Fenway Bowl had been set for Wednesday in Fenway Park.

Last Thursday, the Hawaii Bowl was canceled a day before the scheduled kickoff after the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors backed out of their game against Memphis due to COVID-19 and injuries.

Texas A&M last week pulled out of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl due to injuries and players placed in COVID-19 protocol. However, game organizers replaced A&M with Rutgers University as Wake Forest's opponent.

The College Football Playoff semifinals — No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Cincinnati in the Cotton Bowl at Dallas; No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 3 Georgia in the Orange Bowl at Miami — are scheduled for Friday, with the championships game set for Jan. 10 in Indianapolis.

With the omicron variant causing a spike in COVID-19 cases, officials said last week that teams could advance to the championship game, or one even declared champion, due to COVID forfeits.

COVID Outbreaks Force Cancellations of More College Football Bowl Games

Recent research demonstrates that existing COVID-19 vaccines offer less defense against the surging omicron variant and that booster shots increase that protection. A Lancet study in early December found that the Moderna booster protected best -- raising antibodies 32 times in those previously vaccinated with Oxford/AstraZeneca -- though it also had the most adverse effects.

However, a report from the UK on Friday indicates that booster effectiveness starts to decrease notably after 10 weeks. And as countries like Germany and South Korea have shortened the wait time for booster shots, US experts are considering a similar approach.

In a briefing released Friday, the UK Health Security Agency announced that the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines all protect against omicron less than they did against delta and that protection from boosters wanes in time. Booster effectiveness generally decreased to between about 60% and 70% protection at two to four weeks after the shot, down to between about 35% and 45% at 10 weeks, depending on the combination of vaccines administered.

The UK report also adds weight to the hope that omicron infections are less severe than with the delta variant, noting that the risk of hospitalization from omicron is about three-fifths of that from delta. 

On ABC's This Week on Sunday, Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, discussed the possibility of shortening the wait time for boosters. He noted, "The data suggests both from Moderna and Pfizer vaccines that shortening it to as little as three months, but probably more in the sort of four to five months range, because we do see a waning of the immunity of the antibodies by four to five months."

In a report published Wednesday on the preprint site Medrxiv, scientists at Copenhagen's Statens Serum Institut examined health records of 3 million Danes taken between Nov. 20 and Dec. 12. They found vaccine effectiveness among seniors 60 and older who had received a booster dose 14 to 44 days earlier averaged 54.6%, according to Reuters. (That's comparable to the rate found shortly after receiving one shot of the Pfizer vaccine, which quickly wanes.) 

Their research hasn't been peer-reviewed yet, but it follows preliminary data from last week indicating Moderna's half-dose COVID booster shot can raise antibody levels against omicron 37-fold. Moderna President Stephen Hoge said during a conference call that the lab results were "reassuring" and put booster recipients "comfortably" above the level of a breakthrough risk.

Moderna also indicated a potential double dose of the booster, 100 micrograms versus 50 micrograms, would increase omicron-neutralizing antibodies "approximately 83-fold higher than pre-boost levels."

Omicron has quickly become the dominant strain in the US, accounting for nearly 75% of new COVID-19 cases. While it appears able to evade some of the defenses offered by two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, boosters offer some protection against infection and are highly effective in preventing serious illness. President Biden recently announced new plans -- including "free" at-home COVID-19 test kits and stricter rules for international travelers -- to protect Americans from the surging omicron variant.

The CDC urges anyone 18 years or older to get a booster six months after their second dose of Moderna or Pfizer (and anyone 16 or 17 years old to get a booster six months after their second dose of Pfizer). On Dec. 16, a CDC advisory committee recommended Moderna's Spikevax and Pfizer-BioNTECH's Comirnaty, both mRNA vaccines, over Johnson & Johnson's one-jab carrier, or virus vector, vaccine.

According to Our World in Data, the US averaged about 838,000 booster shots per day for the week ending Dec. 21. More than 64 million Americans have been boosted since Aug. 13. The increased focus on boosters comes as the omicron variant forces the CDC, health officials and organizations to reconsider what it means to be "fully vaccinated." 

So far, the vaccines have proven highly effective in preventing serious reactions and death from COVID-19. People who are unvaccinated are 10 times more likely to be hospitalized if infected. With the federal vaccine mandate expected to start next month, the Biden administration expects even more Americans to get the jab. The government has also ordered 13 million courses of antiviral drugs in anticipation of higher caseloads this winter.

Here's what you need to know about the Moderna booster, including doses, side effects and how to get a free ride. to your vaccination appointment. For even more details, here's the latest on COVID-19 vaccines for kids, how you can soon get a free COVID-19 test kit and what to know about breakthrough infections. 

Now playing: COVID-19 boosters and the delta variant: What you need...

How effective is the Moderna booster against the omicron variant?


On Monday, Moderna's Hoge said early lab research shows the pharmaceutical company's COVID-19 vaccine booster provides "good protection against the omicron variant" by raising antibody levels approximately 37 fold. For comparison, Pfizer said earlier this month its booster raises antibody levels 25 fold, creating "robust protection" and offering "a sufficient level of protection" against omicron.

Studies of omicron variant infections in the US appear to support the concern about weakened protection for those who are fully vaccinated with two doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines or one of Johnson & Johnson's, but did not get a booster yet. Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, CDC director, said Dec. 10 that 80% of the first confirmed US cases with the mutated strain had been in patients who were fully vaccinated. 

Is Moderna working on additional COVID vaccine boosters?


On Monday, Moderna president Stephen Hoge said the company's current 50-microgram COVID booster gives "quite respectable" protection. The company is continuing to study an omicron-specific vaccine and a multivalent one that could protect against other variants, including the alpha and delta strains, in case either is needed. 

The company said it is also studying a 100-microgram version of its current vaccine booster, which appears to raise antibody protection 83 fold. Hoge said Moderna could have new versions of its vaccine ready early in 2022 but is not planning to ask the CDC and FDA to amend its booster authorization for the 100-microgram trial version of its booster.

Will we need an annual COVID booster shot?


With vaccines appearing to offer waning protection and a continuing evolution of COVID variants, Hoge said we will most likely need seasonal boosters, much like we do with the flu, at least to protect those at high risk of infection. The new research from UKHSA strongly indicates reduced protection from vaccine boosters after 10 weeks.

The CDC updated its guidance to indicate that, starting in 2022, some immunocompromised people will be able to get a fourth COVID-19 booster shot.

When is it time to get a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot?

If you got Moderna or Pfizer jab, you're eligible for a booster six months after the date of the second shot listed on your vaccination card. Two months after the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is the time for a booster (more below).

The CDC and other health authorities are now urging people to get boosters as soon as they're eligible, to keep the immune response against omicron, delta and other coronavirus variants of concern as strong as possible. 

On Dec. 2, President Biden outlined a plan for Medicare to contact the 64 million people it serves and for AARP to reach out to its 38 million members about getting a booster shot. Pharmacies like Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid are contacting customers who got a vaccine at their stores when it's time to schedule a booster.

Should people who are pregnant get a booster shot?

The COVID-19 booster recommendations apply to all people 18 years and older, including those who are pregnant. The CDC urges pregnant people to get a COVID-19 vaccine, a booster is half a full vaccine dose.

"People who are pregnant or recently pregnant are more likely to get severely ill with COVID-19 compared with people who are not pregnant," the CDC says on its website.

While there is no evidence that getting vaccinated decreases fertility in women or men, a recent study also linked COVID-19 infection in pregnant people to a higher risk of stillbirth. 

Is the Moderna booster shot a third dose of the vaccine?

Booster shots of COVID-19 vaccines are currently half doses of the same vaccine used in the first two full shots. The goal is to top up the formula and reinforce the body's immune response against the virus and its variants. While the first two shots of the Moderna vaccine were each 100 micrograms, the booster is a 50-microgram dose.

Moderna is also working on a combination shot that contains this year's flu vaccine and its COVID-19 booster vaccine, but that's not available right now.

Moderna COVID booster: How well does it work against omicron?

Director and producer Jean-Marc Vallée, who won an Emmy for directing the hit HBO series “Big Little Lies” and whose 2013 drama “Dallas Buyers Club” earned multiple Oscar nominations, has died. He was 58.

His representative Bumble Ward said Sunday that Vallée died suddenly in his cabin outside Quebec City, Canada, over the weekend.

Vallée was acclaimed for his naturalistic approach to filmmaking, directing stars including Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal over the past decade.

He directed Emily Blunt in 2009′s “The Young Victoria” and became a sought-after name in Hollywood after “Dallas Buyers Club,” featuring Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, earned six Academy Awards nominations, including best picture.

He often shot with natural light and hand-held cameras and gave actors freedom to improvise the script and move around within a scene’s location. The crew roamed up and down the Pacific Coast Trail to shoot Witherspoon in 2014′s “Wild.”

“They can move anywhere they want,” the Canadian filmmaker said of his actors in a 2014 interview with The Associated Press. “It’s giving the importance to storytelling, emotion, characters. I try not to interfere too much. I don’t need to cut performances. Often, the cinematographer and I were like, ‘This location sucks. It’s not very nice. But, hey, that’s life.’”

He re-teamed with Witherspoon to direct the first season of “Big Little Lies” in 2017, and directed Adams in 2018′s “Sharp Objects,” also for HBO. Vallée won DGA awards for both.

‘Dallas Buyers Club’ director Jean-Marc Vallée dead at 58

While the world was fighting an increase in Covid cases, Northern Ireland had another increase to worry about — UFO sightings.

Northern Ireland’s police department reported that they received reports of eight 'weird' sightings in the country in past year. This year has seen an increase in such sightings from 2020 when there were six such reports and from 2019 when there were four recorded complaints.

On January 17, in the Downpatrick area, locals reported sighting a spaceship and flashing lights. After that, in May the local police was called for one spotting of white lights after a helicopter in the Maghaberry area, and a disc-type structure in the sky in the Slemish area of County Antrim.

After that, police saw 'strange images' on CCTV of a house in the Newtownabbey area. The department also reported a sighting of a dome-shaped objected with eight bright lights from the Saintfield area.

In the second half of the year, locals called the police about 'aliens in bedroom', but no further reporting was revealed in international news. In October, however, the police department detained a local who had claimed to have been abducted by aliens.

Last month, locals reported spotting 'unusual bright lights in the sky', which could have been something else, but were reported as 'strange sightings'.

A spokesperson from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) clarified that no investigation had been launched or carried out in relation to any of these reported sightings. PSNI maintains a database about unidentified flying objects (UFOs), aerial phenomena, unidentified aerial phenomena, lights in the sky, and aliens and extraterrestrial.

Experts also believe that people spending too much time at home, owing to Covid lockdowns, may have contributed to the increased number of reports. "It's difficult to say what lies behind the small increase in sightings." Nick Pope, who used to investigate reports of UFO sightings for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said. "COVID-19 and lockdowns may have played a role, with people having more time on their hands during the pandemic, and perhaps spotting things that previously may have gone unnoticed.

"Another possibility is that people are following the situation in the United States, where Congress is taking the issue seriously and the Pentagon has launched a new UFO initiative," he added. "This may make people more likely to report something unusual that they’ve seen because it sends the message that the authorities take the matter seriously."

However, he also added that he believes the sightings are highly underreported due to the stigma around it, and "if the MoD restart investigations and ask the public to report anything unusual, I’m sure they'll receive lots of reports."

Aliens in bedroom? Northern Ireland reports increase in UFO sightings

A bond is a fixed-income security. Bonds allow governments and companies to sell some of their debt to investors. Bonds that offer a fixed interest rate are exposed to interest rate risk. If you buy bonds, it's best to know how interest rates could affect your investment.

Inflation is the rising level of prices for goods and services. It can have two negative impacts on those who invest in bonds. One is obvious, while the other is more subtle. To invest wisely, you should learn about both.

In short, inflation makes interest rates go up. This, in turn, makes bond values go down, but the full picture is more complex.

Bond interest rates are also called "bond coupons." A bond with a fixed coupon rate will hold the same interest rate, no matter what happens in the market.

Inflation is the rise of prices for goods and services across all sectors in an economy. The effect of inflation is to decrease the value of money. When inflation rises, you are able to buy less with your money.1

Inflation is measured using the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The CPI tracks the change over time in the price of goods and services.2

The Federal Reserve (the Fed) is the United States' central bank. It sets the country's monetary policy and manages inflation. When inflation rises, the Fed may choose to raise short-term interest rates. The goal is to reduce the demand for credit and help prevent the economy from overheating.3

When the Fed raises short-term rates—or when it is expected to do so in the future—intermediate and longer-term rates also tend to go up. Since bond prices and yields move in opposite directions, rising yields mean falling prices. That means a lower value for your fixed-income investment.

The second impact of inflation is less obvious. But, it can take a major bite out of your portfolio returns. This effect is the difference between the “nominal” return and the "real" return. The nominal return is what a bond or bond fund provides on paper. The real return is adjusted for inflation.

To understand this concept, think of a shopping cart of food that you buy at the supermarket. If the items in the cart cost $100 this year, inflation of 3% means that the same group of items cost $103 a year later.

Suppose that during that same year, you have a short-term bond fund with a yield of 1%. Over the year, the value of a $100 investment rises to $101 before taxes. On paper, you made 1%, but in real-world money, they actually lost $2 worth of purchasing power. The “real” return was –2%.

The average rate of inflation in the United States since 1913 has been 3.2%. It is skewed somewhat by the high-inflation periods of World War I, World War II, and the 1970s, but it still means that investors needed to earn an average annual return of 3.2% just to stay even with inflation.4 However, with the pandemic's impact, the annual inflation rate for the United States jumped to 5.4% for the 12 months ended June 2021. That rate has not occurred since 1932.

Keep in mind that inflation compounds each year, just like investment returns. But with inflation, the result is negative. From 1982 through the present, inflation has risen nearly 100% on a cumulative basis due to this compounding effect. As a result, you would have needed to see the value of your investments double during that time, just to keep up with inflation.

In some cases, investors are willing to trade a negative real return in exchange for safety. You may decide that preserving your principal is more important.

If safety isn’t your top priority, be mindful of the impact of inflation. If your goal is to build a nest egg for the future, a bond or bond fund that pays 2% won't be enough. (Remember, your total return should be over 3.2%.)

Instead, consider a diversified approach. Add medium- to higher-risk investments such as investment-grade corporate bonds, high-yield bonds, and equities.

Many mutual fund companies offer real return funds that are designed to stay ahead of gradual inflation. One drawback to these bond funds is that their costs tend to be high. Both Vanguard and Fidelity offer products with lower fees than the industry average.

Inflation will always be a silent thief eating away at the value of your long-term investments. With some planning, you will be able to stay a step ahead of it.

To hedge, or protect, yourself against inflation, choose investment vehicles that are likely to outpace inflation. For example, Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) are a type of bond that adjusts the principal value of the bond based on inflation. Stocks typically keep pace with inflation, but they're also more volatile. Real estate is another investment that typically keeps pace with inflation. A good financial advisor can help you develop a strategy that meets your needs.


Savings bonds typically have an interest rate that's in line with other safe savings vehicles like bank savings accounts. That means the interest rate is relatively low, but so is the default risk. They're a good investment if your goal is preserving your principal. Other options like CDs or fixed-interest annuities can also meet that goal, however, and they may pay a higher interest rate. If your goal is growth, other investment vehicles may be a better fit.

Stay Informed

What the New York Islanders are thankful for in 2021

Why Drew Brees turned down Saints' reported offer to come out of retirement for Week 16

COVID Outbreaks Force Cancellations of More College Football Bowl Games

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