Moving right along today in an afternoon filled with jubilant Islanders news, RFA Defensive prospect Jack Hillen has been signed to a two year contract after refusing to sign his qualifying offer early last week. Chris Botta reports it is as a one-way contract.

In his first year pro last season, Jack Hillen showed a great amount of poise and patience in his position. He has an effortless skating stride and had come a long way from his brief stint with the team the end of the season prior to last. He is one of those players that Snow obviously saw something in and took a chance on, I am excited he has been locked up and cannot wait to see him continue to grow with the team. With Hillen locked up, the team can focus on Blake Comeau, another player whom opted to not sign their qualifying deal.

Here is the official release:

The New York Islanders today announced that they have signed defenseman, Jack Hillen to a two-year contract.

Hillen was originally signed by the Islanders on April 1, 2008, at the completion of his senior year at Colorado College. He played in two games at the end of the Islanders’ 2007-08 season and recorded an assist, his first National Hockey League point. Last season, Hillen played in 40 games for the Islanders, registering a goal and five assists for six points. The tally was his first in the NHL and it came on March 5 against Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers.

“We are happy to have Jack signed,” said Garth Snow, General Manager, New York Islanders. “He proved to be a reliable defenseman and should continue to be a productive player for our team.”

The Minnetonka, MN native had an illustrious career at Colorado College, winning the Defenseman of the Year Award and being named First Team All WCHA. In 151 games played for the Colorado College Tigers, Hillen totaled 19 goals and 57 assists for 76 points.

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If you weren’t planning on attending the Public Comment session at Hofstra University the morning of August 4th to support the Lighthouse Project, you may want to change your mind now. Not only will there be free “Just Build It” t-shirts for the first 2000 attendees, but I am hearing rumblings about special Islanders guests who will walk the distance from the Coliseum to Adams Playhouse amongst the fans.

Here is the press release that came across my inbox earlier today from the Lighthouse Development Group:

Starting at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, August 4, 2009, at the Nassau Coliseum, leaders from the surrounding communities, labor, as well as fans and supporters of the project will rally and march to the Lighthouse project public hearing at the Adams Playhouse on the campus of Hofstra University.

The rally will be held in Lot 8 of the Nassau Coliseum and feature special guest speakers which will include Islanders owner Charles Wang, Islanders Alumni players and local elected officials. Islanders forwards Josh Bailey and Joel Rechlicz will be on site meeting and greeting fans and supporting the Lighthouse project.

At 8:45 the rally will conclude and everyone will march from Lot 8 to the Adams Playhouse for the 9:30 a.m. start of the public hearing.

“Just Build It!” T-shirts will be available for the first 2,000 people in attendance. Parking at the Coliseum will be free of charge.

If you have a website and you would like to promote the public hearing and the rally, please click the following link to downloadable buttons for your site. http://www.lighthouseli.com/media/download#logos

For further questions, please visit www.lighthouseli.com or the Official Blog of the Lighthouse Development Group, The Light Post at lighthouseliblog.blogspot.com. You can follow the Lighthouse project on Twitter at @Lighthouse_LI or join the “I support the Lighthouse at Long Island” on Facebook.

I know I plan on attending, you should all think about showing up in support of the Lighthouse Project too – the more the merrier. You never know, you could be part of something historic!

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In other Lighthouse Project news, New York State Governor David A. Patterson will hold a press conference at Nassau Coliseum TODAY at 11am giving his full support and backing of the Lighthouse Project. A little over a month ago, Patterson assigned his top people to the project so the State could help out in any way possible.

At 11 a.m. on Monday, July 27, New York State Governor David A. Paterson will hold a press conference at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum to address the significance of the Lighthouse Project. Principals Charles B. Wang and Scott Rechler, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, and Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray will join the Governor at the event.

The Governor’s press conference is the first time he is publicly sharing his stance on the project. It comes at a critical time for the Lighthouse, as a public hearing on the project is going to be held on August 4.

The conference will be held outside the box office at the Coliseum.

If you can make it out to the Coliseum today to show support for the Lighthouse Project and the New York Islanders, please do! Unfortunately I am working up in Huntington this morning and cannot get down to Uniondale.

For more information head on over to The Light Post a blog run by Katrina Doell – the Lighthouse Development Groups PR woman.

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As we draw closer and closer to the very important August 4th public hearing on the Lighthouse Project, the project continues to make headlines in the local papers. Opening Newsday this morning, Eden Laikin has an article on Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray. Apparently, the town has it’s own YouTube channel and recently uploaded a two part video showing Kate Murray talking about the review process and for the most part almost gives her support for the project.

The video, produced in a talk-show format with Murray being interviewed by her spokesman, Michael Deery, has been uploaded to YouTube.

It provides a brief overview of the Lighthouse proposal and outlines the town’s state-mandated environmental review. It also invites Long Islanders to attend an Aug. 4 public hearing on concerns about how the project may impact the area and the environment.

You can watch both parts on YouTube or in the embedded clips below:

If anything, this video proves that the Town of Hempstead is conitnuously working dillgently on the review process, even though they have kept quiet on it more than anyone would have hoped. Over the last few months, little, albeit positive signs have been emerging – giving supporters of the Lighthouse Project and Islanders fans hope that a shovel can make it into the ground before Charles Wang is forced to explore “other options” after his self imposed October 3rd deadline. Only time (unfortunately) will tell, but I have a good feeling about the momentum that has been underway and I am excited for August 4th, I will be there – will YOU?

For more information head on over to The Light Post a blog run by Katrina Doell – the Lighthouse Development Groups PR woman.

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Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that Islanders owner Charles Wang will be appearing on WFAN with Mike Francesca today at 4PM to talk about The Lighthouse Project!

You can stream the show online via The Fan website (click on Listen Live) and I know for a fact you can listen on your iPhone by downloading the Flycast application and adding WFAN to your favorites (this is how I will likely be listening from work).

If your old fashioned, you can listen by tuning your radio to 660AM.

For more information head on over to The Light Post a blog run by Katrina Doell – the Lighthouse Development Groups PR woman.

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Breaking news folks, the Islanders have signed free agent goaltender Martin Biron to a one year contract worth $1.4 million dollars. This is all according to the New York Post.

There was speculation that on-the-mend all star netminder Rick DiPietro was going to be allowed plenty of time to heal, it’s pretty much a given now with Roloson and now Biron that he can take his sweet time returning.

I can hear it now though, an entire hockey fan base just either laughed or sighed about the true status of DiPietro. After all the gaffes last season with Ricky’s knees and hips, is this just a play-it-safe move or insurance JUST IN CASE he cannot make it back another season? In either case, Biron made $3.5 million dollars last season, so for Garth Snow to go out and sign TWO well known goaltenders for under $5 million, I would say he got himself a few steals.

Now that goaltending has been addressed, it’s time to move on to two other areas – Scoring and Toughness.

Just to calm the initial fears of some of the “oh the sky is falling Islanders fans” – Please read the following quote from the NY Post story:

“If DiPietro is healthy enough to become part of the Islanders’ early-season rotation, Snow will have a comparably cheap asset (Biron) to move for players or draft picks. If DiPietro needs more time, however, the Islanders will be able to sleep well at night.”

I now ask you this question; Would you rather have TWO, count them TWO – fully capable goaltenders whom can keep the Islanders at least entertaining, should DiPietro not make it back at some point? Do you want DiPietro to rush back into action, again? Do you want this team to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again?

Come on, this move is a necessary evil regardless of what it means. Why cant we all just relax and enjoy the summer and take each and every day of DiPietro’s recovery and rehabilitation, one small step at a time?

Updated 6:24pm with Team Release:

The New York Islanders today announced that they have agreed to terms on a one-year contract with goaltender, Martin Biron.

Biron appeared in 55 games with the Philadelphia Flyers last season, posting a 29-19-5 record and a 2.76 goals against average. The Lac St. Charles, QC native led the Flyers to the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs, recording a 9-8 record and a 2.97 goals against average.

“Adding Marty gives us three bona-fide number one goalies,” said Garth Snow, General Manager, New York Islanders. “We learned about the importance of stability in our line-up from last year and he now allows us to have another quality starter.”

Biron has played a total of 433 games in the NHL and comes to the Islanders with a career record of 199-162-25-20-25 (W-L-T-OT-SO), a goals against average of 2.59 and a save percentage of .912. The 6’3, 180 pound net-minder began his career with the Buffalo Sabres where he played parts of seven seasons with both the Sabres and the team’s American Hockey League affiliate at the time, the Rochester Americans. He currently ranks second on Buffalo’s All-Time List in shutouts (18) and third in game played (300) and wins (134).

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