The Butler Did Do It.

(sorry, I had to go there.)

Finally some news comes in as we get ever closer to fall (but not close enough for me…go away humidity!), as earlier today a story running rampant on my Twitter feed just became official a couple of hours ago. New Jersey has signed forward Bobby Butler to a 1 year, 2 way deal. He spent the last two seasons with Ottawa, putting up 16 points (6 G, 10 A) in 56 games before being bought out on July 27th. He was a key member of Binghamton’s 2010-11 Calder Cup Championship squad, scoring 27 points (13 G, 14 A) in 23 playoff games, and putting up another 22 goals in 47 regular season AHL games. He also scored 10 goals in 36 games with Ottawa. Before signing with Ottawa in March 2010, he spent four years at the University of New Hampshire, where he put up some steady offensive numbers, including a breakout senior season with 29 goals in 39 games. He will be reunited in Devils camp with former Wildcats Mike Sislo and Phil DeSimone. He does have a shot at cracking the lineup in New Jersey, but if he were to come to Albany…this could be a big boost for the offense.

And now from the In Case You Missed It Department:

-We do know at least one Albany preseason game date: the Devils will travel to Binghamton on Saturday, October 6th to take on the Senators. Still waiting for the obligatory Phantom slugfest in Glens Falls to be announced.

-While I was stuck at work Tuesday night, the AHL put on a #AskTheAHL Twitter chat with fans. The biggest piece of news to come out of that? The 2012-13 schedule is due to be out within the next two weeks. And no schedule matrices (translation: list of opponents) will be released before then. There’s one extra breakdown of the schedule I’ll have to figure out.

-Earlier this week, Tom from In Lou We Trust took a look at how Albany’s offense may look this season with the loss of several key players.