Top Shelf : Islanders Daily : 8/27/2013

Yesterday, as August draws to a close, there were actual hockey players on a hockey rink talking about, you guessed it……hockey. The fact that everyone was in sneakers and not skates was incidental. I mean, they had gloves and sticks!

It came to a relief to writers and bloggers everywhere as it meant we are drawing ever so close to training camps being officially opened and got us all antsy to start preparing our material to begin covering the 2013-14 season.

For Team Canada, they met on the international sized ice rink of Calgary’s Markin McPhail arena and our future leader, John Tavares, was there front and center. The preliminary lines put together by head coach Mike Babcock had the Islanders superstar skating between Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks and Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

With the Canadians looking deep and down the roster, I still do not have them pegged for a medal. Sure, they will blow some teams out of the water with speed and skill but my gut tells me they will fold under the pressure of a nation and questionable goaltending. But we shall see when the league shuts down for two weeks and the games are played for real.

Let’s take a late summer stroll around the league and see what happened on Monday…..

• Sergei Fedorov, who serves as the GM for CSKA Moscow of the KHL, has left the door open for free agent goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov. (We all figured this would be his most likely destination)
• Jason Pominville wasn’t invited to the orientation camp for the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team. (Should he have been?)
• Andrew Shaw‘s stitches were sold for $6,500 to Harry Caray’s Tavern at Navy Pier. (Showing that indeed, everything in this world, is for sale)
• Daniel Girardi took to the ice Monday for a pre-camp workout and he was wearing a visor on his helmet. (You will see a lot more players going this route in the future after the horrific injury to Marc Staal last season)
• Adam Henrique and the New Jersey Devils have agreed to a six-year contract worth $24 million (This was ALWAYS getting done. Nothing to see here)

Have a great day as we approach Labor Day weekend in the United States, the unofficial end of summer and beginning of hockey season. We truly appreciate all the support and stay tuned as the information and writing is only going to get better!

-Andy (@tazman19)

In Case You Missed It

• Eric Bordin sees the Matt Harvey injury as a door opening for John Tavares (EOI)
• Pete McEntee takes a look at ‘what-if’ Tavares was not the only viable candidate for captain? (EOI)
• Chris Triantafilis continues his X-factor series with a glimpse of PM Bouchard (EOI)
• Matt Solomon likes the chances for Strome and Reinhart to stick in camp (Rant Sports)
• Dominik takes a look at coach tenures (Lighthouse Hockey)
• Dan Petriw previews an Islander with the most to prove (Hockey Buzz)

Two Minutes For Tweeting

• Mike explains why the Islanders are going to be deeper at forward than ever before and a real pain in the rear to play against each and every night. Two points against this team will never come easy.

•  Now that is when you really need to see some hockey. Thankfully, visuals were not included. haha

• Section 329 is the unrivaled sixth man for the Isles and you have heard them before at each and every Isles home game. Plus that poster is pure gold.

•  As a Yankees fan, I wish nothing but the best for Matt Harvey and a speedy recovery. But I see where Vinny is coming from here with respect to karma. And we share the same last name, so this tweet inclusion was a given. ?

•  Awesome find. What would have been even better is if you would have found and purchased Islander shoes! Now that would have been a story! haha