Islanders Training Camp To Begin, Berard Attending, Allison Possible

The NY Islanders training camp is soon to begin and attending will be a familiar face, former Calder Trophy winner Bryan Berard. Berard was obtained by the Islanders for Wade Redden in a deal with Ottawa a decade ago.

Berard has put up solid offensive numbers from the blueline over his career, despite facing life altering challenges with his loss of sight in one eye and two back surgeries. He is hoping to make the club because of lack of offers for his services in the UFA market. the new CBA has developed the veteran market to be much like the NFL's veteran market (minus the dog murdering) where vet's have to play hard and compete against the youngsters to get a spot.

This is very good for the NHL. To have the youngsters playing harder and the vets leading it creates a much more competitive market for teams, without the cap getting out of hand.

A lot has been happening in the hockey world over the past few weeks. Many signings that will set the direction of clubs for some time as long contracts seem to be the off season flavor.

The Islanders have been making waves by signing Guerin, Fedetenko, Sim, Comrie, Sutton, and Vasicek. This is a major overhaul for a club that squeezed into the show last year and is looking to go to the next level. It may not be so easy....

With the Atlantic Division gearing up for a Cup run, it is hard to imagine that all the clubs in the Atlantic will make it to the Stanley Cup playoffs. However with the aforementioned players along with Briere, Drury, and Gomez relocated it seems that the competition will be amazing in the division this year. The Devils look like the ones who may be left behind, however with new coaching and Lou in the front office, the Dev's may surprise everyone. It will be interesting!