Top Shelf : Islanders Daily 7/23/2013

Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Stop the presses……hold the phone…..hold on to your hats……Don’t put the butter away just yet……

Wait, where the heck did that last one come from? I have been known to have vomit of the mouth but never of the fingers. Just another thing to add to the list of topics to discuss with my therapist I guess.

There was actual hockey news yesterday. Seriously…I know you are in disbelief right now and probably think I have absolutely no idea what I am talking about but I am as serious as a broken air conditioner on a sticky, humid day. (oh man…)

Ok, enough fooling around and back to business at hand. The New Jersey Devils began their roster reconstruction in the wake of the abrupt retirement of Ilya Kovalchuk by signing  forward Jaromir Jagr, formally of the Boston Bruins, to a one year contract yesterday. And in typical Lou Lamoriello style, terms of the deal will not be announced until today at the earliest. Can’t say I ever heard of that before but that’s good old Lou for you. Always keeps you guessing.

This does add a playmaking dimension back to New Jersey but don’t discount the fact that Jagr had physical issues and at age 41, cannot be counted on to last an entire 82 game campaign. It also makes the Devils officially the slowest group of forwards in the entire Eastern conference when you factor in the free agent signings of Ryane Clowe and Michael Ryder. In my mind, this signing is really nothing that Isles fans have to worry about. If Lamoriello was to go out and grab Damien Brunner as well, then I might be a little concerned, especially with Cory Schneider now manning the cage for the Devils.

Also making news were invitations being sent out to prospective Olympians for the 2014 Sochi winter Olympics, as countries try to field their most competitive team of superstars to bring home the gold. We will take a look specifically at the Canadian and United States invite list in separate posts coming up right here at Eyes and I will be on the SND Podcast Wednesday night to discuss also with Steve and Dan.

At the end of this week, I will announce plans for our first fan mail Q&A where you will be able to submit your questions to the staff of Eyes and have them answered right here in a post on the website. We would like to make this a monthly feature depending on the results of our initial attempt.

Shane Blackburn continues to burn the midnight oil and get us up and running with our own podcast feature which I am sure you will all enjoy. It’s a chance to put voices to the faces and hear us bicker and argue at times like old married couples. We will of course provide serious discussions on the topics of the day but you will be entertained at times, that I can guarantee. Stay tuned for further news on this exciting new feature to Eyes.

In Case You Missed It

• Our own Shane Blackburn takes on the Sochi particpation in his 2nd Eyes feature (EOI)
• Travis Betts with his look at the Isles olympic participation (NY Islanders)
• Paul Grant with a quick little hit on John Tavares (ESPN)
• Where does Cal fit in? On the wing with Tavares perhaps? (Isles Optimism)
• Pretty dumb idea to allow a former NHL star to punch you in the face (Winnipeg)

Two Minutes For Tweeting

• What an outstanding find. Digging up old relics like this is what the off-season is truly about. Great stuff!!

• That it is Anthony, that it is. With the steroid scandle still taking front stage, I have watched maybe 2 innings all season. After the 2013 season and the Isles success, I just cannot bring myself to that level of boredom.

• Stabile points out the fact that some are still ignoring. Snow is a top 10, possibly top 5, general manager in this league now. 

• At least someone got the blame right for this mess. It has nothing to do with the Islanders organization or Charles Wang. The departure of the franchise to Brooklyn is all on Nassau County and nobody else.

• Double your network TV exposure in one off-season? Thank you very much for noticing NHL.

-AG (@tazman19)