Bits: A pause for breath before the storm

We'll have new content up this weekend and on the U.S. Labor Day holiday Monday, but for now a quick reset: This is my periodic thank you to all the readers, commenters and lurkers of Lighthouse Hockey. Whether you've been here from the beginning or are just coming around, I hope you adore Frans find the tone of content and discussion rooted in a common cause: We love hockey, we live the Islanders, and -- most importantly -- we're here in the name of fun. You all certainly make following this team more fun for me.

On that note, some recent Isles stuff from outside includes TSN's 30 in 30 profile of the Islanders, as well as their fantasy preview, which predictably mentions Roloson's age, in accordance with WebBard's prophecy. The official site covers the project to build a stronger de Haan. Also, if you missed it, Doug Weight's post-signing interview with nhl.com was pretty insightful.

And around here, if you're not a commenting regular you may have missed some worthwhile discussions down the page or in the right-hand margin (or, in our feed of external Isles news on the left margin): Your favorite post-dynasty Islander, a hockey "what-if?" realignment discussion, and several FanPosts including a current favorite: the Lighthouse Hockey user map where we see just how spread our sector of the Isles fanbase is.

I never tell anyone to sign up to this site, because everybody uses the Web to their own tastes. But I will tell you that if you like lurking and occasionally reading comments, creating a login here makes it 100 times easier to see which comments (and posts) are new since you last logged in, even if you prefer to lurk.

Training camp is just around the bend. We'll do just what we did here last season -- plus more, as we'll have some new coverage opportunities this year and more contributions from our team of writers and FanPost regulars. Saddle up, enjoy your weekend, and y'all come back now.