Monthly Archives: May 2009
If you happen to come across an 18-year old, 6-6 Swede at the airport, on the beach, at the mall or around the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in the near future, chances are he’s Victor Hedman.
Point Blank has learned from a league source that Hedman has accepted an invitation to visit with Islanders management during the first week in June.
Last week, we reported that Matt Duchene is coming to New York to meet the Islanders, and now he’s available since his Brampton team lost to Windsor in the OHL Final. A trip to Long Island from John Tavares, after Charles Wang and Garth Snow met with him briefly after an OHL playoff game, would complete the trifecta of the top 3 prospects available in the draft.
Hedman is the top-ranked player among European skaters and is the consensus best defenseman available in the draft. If the Islanders do not trade the first overall pick, the decision is expected to come down to Hedman and Tavares. A source close to Hedman tells Point Blank, “He’d love to be drafted by the Islanders – and we know they love his potential.”
Hedman was a member of Team Sweden at the World Junior Championships and played a regular shift this season in the Swedish Elite League. Although a teenager playing against men, Hedman was heralded for his poise and brilliance at both ends of the rink.
The Islanders will get an up-close-and-personal look at the potential franchise defenseman during the first week in June. The big question is whether Hedman will be at the team’s prospect camp after the draft – as their top pick.
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A black-and-white look at the status of recent Islanders draft picks. Something worth noting: NHL teams can only have 50 players under contract.
2008 NHL DRAFT
1. (9) Josh Bailey: Signed by the Islanders to a standard three-year entry-level contract. Was not eligible for the American Hockey League this past season, but technically eligible to play for Bridgeport next season. Expect him to be a full-time Islander in 2009-10.
2. (36) Corey Trivino: Will play sophomore season at defending NCAA champion Boston University. As a college player, the Islanders retain his exclusive rights for three more years. If he stays in school all four years, Islanders have until August 15 after his final season to sign him.
2. (40) Aaron Ness: Enters second year on the blue line at the University of MInnesota. His signing rights fall under the same rules as Trivino.
2. (53) Travis Hamonic: Headed for another season with Moose Jaw of the Western Hockey League. Will receive, as per the CBA, a “Bona Fide” offer by June 1. This locks in his exclusive rights for the Islanders until next June 1. Expect the Islanders to sign the defenseman next summer.
3. (66) David Toews: Enters sophomore season at the University of North Dakota. Same rights status as aforementioned college players.
3. (72) Jyri Niemi: Islanders will extend a Bona Fide offer before June 1, retaining his rights for another year. Enters third season with Saskatoon of the Western Hockey League in 2009-10.
3. (73) Kirill Petrov: As a draft pick playing in Russia while there is no transfer agreement between the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation, Petrov has “defected player” status. This means, for now, that the Islanders have Petrov’s exclusive NHL negotiating rights until he signs with them. As we reported this week, Petrov enters the second year of a four-year contract with Ak Bars in the Kontinental Hockey League.
4. (96) Matt Donovan: Freshman season at the University of Denver begins this fall. Islanders hold the rights to the defenseman for the next four years.
4. (102) David Ullstrom: Same “defected player” status as Petrov. Forward likely to play another season in the Swedish Elite League.
5. (126) Kevin Poulin: Goaltender will receive a Bona Fide offer by June 1 and play another season in the Quebec League.
5. (148) Matt Martin: As of this weekend, the Islanders have not reached a contract agreement with Martin’s agent. He does not have to be signed until June 1, 2010. If he is signed this summer, he could begin his pro development in Bridgeport. Without a deal, he’ll be back in Sarnia of the Ontario League for one more season.
6. (156) Jared Spurgeon: Will receive a Bona Fide offer from the Islanders and play one final season with Spokane of the Western League.
6. (175) Justin DiBenedetto: Signed three-year Entry Level contract with Islanders in April and likely ticketed for a full season in Bridgeport in 2009-10.
2007 DRAFT
3. (62) Mark Katic: Signed to three-year Entry Level contract in April. Will most likely play in Bridgeport next season.
3. (76) Jason Gregoire: Entering sophomore season at the University of North Dakota. The Islanders hold his rights until August 15 after the left wing’s senior year.
4. (106) Max Gratchev: The 20-year old left wing completed his final season in the Quebec League and would need to be signed by June 1. Expect the Islanders to decline to sign him.
6. (166) Blake Kessel: Defenseman entering sophomore year at the University of New Hampshire. As a college player, Islanders retain his rights just like Gregoire.
7. (196) Simon Lacroix: 20-year old defenseman played his third year in the Quebec League and would need to be signed by June 1. Expect the Islanders to decline to sign him.
2006 UPDATE: The Islanders have signed 5 players from the successful draft of 2006: Kyle Okposo (first round), Jesse Joensuu (2nd), Robin Figren (3rd), Tomas Marcinko (4th) and Andrew MacDonald (6th). Still high on the club’s radar is Rhett Rakhshani (4th), playing his senior season as the captain at the University of Denver.
The team is still monitoring the development of goaltender Stefan Ridderwall (6th), playing in the Swedish Elite League. As a defected player, the Islanders retain Ridderwall’s rights. Also worth a look but long-shots: Jase Weslosky (4th), Doug Rogers (4th) and Brian Day (6th). Rogers is entering his senior year at Harvard and needs to have a great one.
2005 UPDATE: The Islanders need to make decisions this summer on two players who just played their fourth years at Clarkson University: forward Shea Guthrie (3rd) and defenseman Tyrell Mason (6th). Guthrie is the more difficult call. He needs to be signed by August 15, or the Islanders could trade his rights.
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Around the three-hour mark of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play August: Osage County, the matriarch of the dysfunctional family decides to cut through all the BS. “It’s time for some truth-tellin’,” she says.
Same here at Point Blank. I’ve always tried to have an open dialogue with our readers, but I feel like it’s been a while. The time is now because it’s been a few weeks since the end of the season and the rhetoric in the Comments space and in the emails has intensified to the point where I want to address some issues.
This is going to be long, long-winded, blunt, defensive and maybe at times offensive to a few of you. Just putting it all out there, folks. I will cover a whole range of topics, so pull up a chair and bear with me. Thanks.
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Sponsors: You may see some ads on the site over the next few days. Our hope is to prove the value of the blog to potential sponsors. I would be indebted if you would please click on these ads from every computer you have access to, patronize the sponsors and spread the word. It could go a long way in keeping us running longer.
Support Drive: There’s a likelihood that if the blog continues into next hockey season, I will run a support drive in the form of a deal on tickets to one or two Islanders games during the season. Consider it (hopefully) one giant Point Blank group sales night. Perhaps it’s an opportunity for many of you to meet up at a game. I understand some readers may be season ticketholders and many are not from New York, but I certainly would appreciate the support of anyone in position to get involved.
PB Night III: If we’re back for another season, it’s a lock that the next Point Blank Night will be at R.C. Dugan’s on Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow. Thank you, Jay, for your dedication to the cause.
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“Conflicts”: I realize some of you missed this when I wrote about it in the early days of the blog, or did not see when I spoke about it with C.J. Papa on the Islanders telecast. So that there’s no misunderstanding, let me make a few things perfectly clear.
The idea for Point Blank came from Islanders President Chris Dey about a month or so after I left the organization last May 5. The team and the sport was in need of more coverage. Fans hungered for non-stop reporting on the Islanders and Dey wanted to deliver it to them. I was available! It was Dey who understood that it would only work if the blog was run independently of the team. For the record, Dey has stood by his end of the bargain, and I applaud him and am thankful to him for it.
The New York Islanders are the primary sponsor of Point Blank. Newsday refers to PB as the “team-sponsored blog” – as opposed to the Rangers-sponsored newspaper – and I’ve never hid from that.
Some facts: the Islanders have never asked me to write a story or not write a story. The first time Islanders management sees a post is the same as you: when it’s published on the site. I’ve never been asked to take down a reader Comment about members of the organization, and there have been plenty of vicious ones.
In 2009, more than three-quarters of sports journalism is touched by some conflict of interest. Leagues are in bed with networks. Writers from major magazines and newspapers serve as paid talking heads on league-owned networks. Two of New York’s top sports radio voices receive checks from the companies that own major league sports teams. Sportswriters have publishing deals with the coaches and athletes they are supposed to cover.
Long Island’s newspaper is owned by the company that owns the Knicks, Rangers, Madison Square Garden and MSG Network. Neil Best, one of the finest media columnists in the U.S. and a man of impeccable honor, covers one of the major holdings of his boss. So do the Newsday writers on the Knicks and Rangers. Wally Matthews blistered Charles Wang last summer, has plenty of tough opinions on the Steinbrenners and at times has been vicious toward Jeff Wilpon. As for the Dolans, Wally doesn’t seem to have much to say.
I stand by the facts I’ve written, and the opinions that have come from the heart and the mind.
Town of Hempstead: Before I ever wrote my first critical word of Kate Murray’s handling of the Lighthouse Project, I called Town spokesman Mike Deery three times and left him three voicemails. I attempted to start a professional relationship, but the Town did not have the time nor the interest for this blogger and resident. I don’t expect them to ever want to deal with me now. Should the Town of Hempstead ever make its first right move – like maybe Murray showing up at a meeting – I’ll be the first to praise it.
For now, that Islanders Fan First website and mailer fiasco – the project they aborted after three days – remains the Town’s signature moment. To those of you who believe I just get my kicks bashing the Republican side of this issue, you don’t know anything about me or my other projects. By writing the facts, and writing what I feel, in this brutal economy I’m potentially costing myself income from some of the PR consultant jobs I’ve been up for. That’s about as far as I can take it.
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My Background: Other than knowing I worked for the team for a while, understandably most of you don’t know my background and how it relates to the blog. So here’s a bit about my career in the game.
In my senior year in college, I worked full-time for the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1986-87 season, the year they went to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Along the way, the Flyers defeated the Rangers, Islanders (right after the Easter Epic) and Montreal before Wayne Gretzky took over in the final period of the deciding game in the Final. I did not get a Cup ring, but I made countless friends and contacts with the Flyers and around the league, most of them still in the business.
Six months later, I was hired by the Islanders to edit a monthly newspaper, Islander News. Among those on my first Islanders team: Trottier, Bossy, Denis Potvin, LaFontaine, Brent Sutter, Morrow, Flatley, Billy Smith and Kelly Hrudey. Along the way, I managed the team’s publications, sold group tickets and even served as radio color commentator for a year and a half after Bob Nystrom left the job (yup, it was a major step down in the booth, but I tried). I went into PR fulltime in the mid-90s, was named VP in 1999 and stayed in that position for 9 years.
So many of the players and coaches on those early Islanders teams are spread out around the league as scouts, coaches and broadcasters and remain good friends and invaluable contacts. On the 1992-93 team alone, former players are now near the top of directories with NHL teams and the Players Association. My favorite time was working for Al Arbour and the ’92-93 team, the second was the mini-revival in 2001-02 under Peter Laviolette and watching the Coliseum come alive again.
For more than a decade, I managed a press box that hosted scouts from every team in the league and elsewhere. Most of those relationships are still in place today. Naturally, I’m still in contact with many of my former colleagues in the Islanders front office.
So when I rank prospects, I may not always be bang-on, but understand I’m not throwing paper darts into the wind. When I write that the majority of scouts I’ve spoken with say Drew Doughty will have a better NHL career than Victor Hedman, it could ultimately be wrong, but I’m not listening to the voices inside my head. I’m a reporter who listens to dozens of men who do this for a living. Turns out the amateur scouts on the Point Blank speed dial knew almost all season Matt Duchene was 2 or 3, even when The Hockey News had him at 6.
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Blog Stats: With each month, the Page Views and Visits for Point Blank grew in leaps and bounds, peaking (of course) in March with Gueringate. The drama got so big, the numbers on Sunday – when everyone thought Bill was going to be traded – actually were better than the day of the Trade Deadline.
The really good news is that the stats in April barely dropped off. Lottery day was a good one, but it was so gratifying to see all the new readers we picked up in March seem to be sticking around.
When you consider the Islanders did not play an important game for the purposes of playoff contention since the holidays, the numbers have been remarkable. The credit goes to you for your dedication to this team and for spreading the word about the blog.
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Comments: One of the reasons why the Page Views of Point Blank have grown beyond my expectations is because of your efforts in the Comments space. I spoke with a top guy at NHL Security the other day who told me he is as interested in reading all the Comments as my blog entries. I wasn’t offended. That’s the way it should be on a good blog.
If many of you believe I’m a nut about moderating the Comments space, I take the hit but also have no regrets. We have all seen how the blogs of many talented writers have been almost destroyed by the nonsense that goes on in the Comments. I refuse to let that happen. For everyone I’ve ticked off, I still believe the Comment Guidelines are a vital reason why the site tends to get at least 100 legitimate, passionate, insightful Comments (and often a lot more) after each story. I want as many readers as possible to feel like they can share their opinions.
On criticism of my work, I have no problem when a reader disagrees with me, tears me apart or even plays the ever-popular shill card. (The son of a friend of mine posted from his college dorm a while ago that I was still Garth’s boy). I love that stuff.
To be candid, the only ones I find personally annoying are the ones that say something like, “I don’t care about this subject” or “Don’t you have anything better to write about”? One of my favorites was when I broke the news the Islanders had signed third round pick Mark Katic and a regular reader of an Islanders blog said he didn’t care and it was just “fodder.”
If you are the kind of person who actually takes the time to post on an Islanders blog that you don’t care about stories on Mike Bossy, Kirill Petrov, Denis Potvin, the Lighthouse – after all, it only determines the team’s future – prospects and small anecdotes from behind-the-scenes, I encourage you to go somewhere else for your daily Islanders reading.
Now that we’ve been at this seven months and I have regularly asked readers to review the Comment Guidelines, I’m done with warnings. If you go off-topic, write not a comment but a full-blown blog entry, post more than 3 per thread, are profane, call your fellow readers “idiots” and “morons” and the ever-popular “___ clowns” or give me other reasons to be cautious, your Comment posts are going to moderation. If you’d like to address this issue, please send me an email so we can work it out one-on-one.
Effective today, while some readers may have their Comments go to moderation, no one is on permanent block any longer.
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The Year in Review: After working for the team for so long, I was more comfortable transitioning to the media side than I expected. It probably helped that there was a new head coach and some key players (including Doug Weight) that I had never worked with.
Scott Gordon and I didn’t have much to do with each other for about two months mid-season. He didn’t like some stuff I wrote. I didn’t like the way he handled it, so I passed on many of his media scrums because he wasn’t saying much. In the final 4-6 weeks of the season, the working relationship improved. I stubbornly believe Scott has a few things he needs to work on. He stubbornly thinks I’m wrong and everything is okay. Scott works his tail off, is extremely bright and is a very talented coach. Time will tell how it works out.
Garth Snow was irritated with me for a few weeks, primarily because I wrote my 8-year old twins did a better job of staying on the same page as the Islanders were on the Rick DiPietro injury stuff. The Islanders stood by their version of the story. Over time, we moved on. As I wrote when I was in timeout, I do not need complete access to write the blog. When you shut out the media, it usually hurts the team more – especially when that team does not boast bountiful coverage. Felt the same way when I was the PR director.
I especially want to mention youngsters Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo for their professionalism during a difficult season. Think about Bailey. He knew about the immediate fan and press reaction when the team went from 5 to 7 to 9 and drafted him. I wrote that he should go to juniors, and then to the World Junior Championships. Yet through it all, he answered the questions and handled himself like a 15-year pro. My experience tells me that’s a good sign.
All of the veterans were very good with the press, most notably for me Weight, Brendan Witt and Richard Park. The team’s PR staff – Seth Sylvan, Corey Witt and young Josh Bernstein – are good men and made me feel comfortable in my new gig. I thank them for that.
Other than a few hours one Sunday early on when we battled over the “team-sponsored” thing, Greg Logan and I got along really well. He is a friend, and I have learned a lot from him. The days when Dan Martin of the Post and Peter Botte of the Daily News attend practice are always good days.
I also want to thank the MSG Network crew for putting me on the pre-game show and Howie Rose and Billy Jaffe for mentioning Point Blank more than a few times. Same to Steve Mears and Chris King for their support on the radio side and their assistance. Thank you to Lisa and the moderators at Islandermania for always linking to my stories. That’s a huge help, and especially was early on when the blog was trying to get off the ground. Thank you to Roseanne and the crew at Gabrielle’s for their amazing generosity as our unofficial watering hole.
In the world outside the Islanders, thank you to Don La Greca for guiding this novice on ESPN Radio. Thank you to Hofstra University for the opportunity to see if I can teach. Thank you to Stan Bratskeir for his PR guru-ness.
Thank you to Kevin Schultz of Barry Melrose Rocks for getting behind the Gran Torino when I had to step away. Thank you to B.D. Gallof for his help in the early days and best of luck with his new venture. Whatever happened in between, I wish him well in doing his best to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
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Future: As of this date, there’s a commitment to write this blog until the NHL Draft in late June. After that, I do not have any guarantees. It is my sincere wish to run Point Blank for at least another year and hopefully a lot more beyond that. I hope to know in the next few weeks if I’ll be around past June. For now, please click the heck out of any sponsor ads you may see.
One thing is certain: the only way I will ever do this blog is if I’m provided the opportunity to cover the Islanders 24/7/365. From time to time readers suggest that if I move into another full-time career that I pop in and write once or twice a week. This franchise has been my life’s work and a bit of an obsession now for 21 years. When I worked for the Islanders, I thought about my responsibilities every hour for two decades. It’s impossible for me to picture doing this blog half-way. In fact, I’m sure I will never do it that way.
One more time, thank you to all of the Point Blank readers for checking out the site, sharing your insight, passing along your knowledge and keeping me in line. Here’s hoping we can keep this going for a long time.
Since I went long, the 100-word limit is waived for this Comments section – as long as you stay on topic!
I need to take a personal day, maybe two, so I will miss the U.S.-Russia game on Friday morning. Unless there is any breaking Islanders news, I’ll be off the laptop. I’m sure Greg and the Times blog, among other sites, will be on the Worlds.
Please feel free to submit any questions you may have related to this post and I will address as many as I can as soon as I return. Thanks…CB
Denis Potvin doesn’t, but losing your job this way certainly sucks.
The legendary Islanders defenseman was told yesterday by the Florida Panthers that his services as color commentator on their television broadcasts were no longer needed. Potvin was with the Panthers for 16 years, since their first season in the NHL. Reasons given by the franchise were economics, wanting to put Bill Lindsay into the position and their desire to have Potvin live year-round in Florida so he could do appearances for the team.
Denis has yet to return a voicemail I left him this morning. I’m told he’s likely out fishing, trying to clear his head.
To be clear, Denis Potvin is not going to become the Islanders’ television analyst on MSG Network. Billy Jaffe has the job and is one of the best in the league. As I’m certain both Howie Rose and Jiggs McDonald will attest, there are few if any commentators more dialed in to the league, its players and the current state of the game than Jaffe. There are none who know more about the Islanders or are as passionate about the team. Despite Denny’s iconic connection to the franchise, side-by-side viewings of Jaffe’s work and Potvin’s work in the booth would illustrate that MSG and the Islanders have the best person in the position. Should Jaffe ever depart, four-time Cup winner Butch Goring – outstanding in the studio – seems to be next in line.
That said, strong families are there when one of its members takes a hit. Denis Potvin, like millions in this economic climate, got his heart ripped out yesterday. Denis is right at the top of this family’s tree.
Perhaps they have already reached out. Denis has homes in Ottawa and Florida and, I don’t believe, is yearning to move his family to New York. But just as the Islanders have found a home for Bryan Trottier (player development, time split between here, the road and his home in Pittsburgh) and Mike Bossy (corporate development, here and Quebec), there could be a role for the captain of the Islanders dynasty. He has a close connection to the team’s current management, made even stronger when he took part in meetings and attended the events for the 25th anniversary of the dynasty.
Most obviously, Denis can teach. For all of his remarkable skills, it is said that his greatness came from his ability to read the game like no other defenseman of his era. Around his schedule, in a situation the Islanders are comfortable with, Denis Potvin could show Aaron Ness, Jack Hillen, Travis Hamonic, Bruno Gervais (in two languages) and the rest of the organization’s defensemen a thing or 5.
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There’s a reason Kirill Petrov, the No. 2-rated European skater by Central Scouting in last year’s draft class, was not selected until the third round.
There’s a reason the Islanders felt they could gamble the third of their three third-round selections on Petrov only after acquiring extra picks in the 5-7-9 maneuver last June.
As confirmed by multiple sources to Point Blank, Petrov just completed the first season of a four-year contract with Ak Bars of the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia. Without an agreement between the NHL and the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, the chances of Petrov getting out of the contract are slim.
The 6-4, 205-pound right wing played in only six games in the KHL and spent the rest of the season with the Ak Bars equivalent of the Islanders’ minor league affiliate in Bridgeport. But the Russian is so gifted, he was still picked to represent his country at the World Junior Championships in Ottawa in December despite recovering from a broken collarbone. While not even close to game shape as he was still rehabbing the injury, Petrov was ineffective.
A high-ranking official with Team Russia tells us, “Kirill is incredibly talented, but he has a lot to learn. He’s a good young man, so it is not a question of his character. He has some maturing to do, but to be fair, he was coming back from an injury at the tournament. He will continue to get better.”
Although Petrov will not be coming to North America soon for a full hockey season, the Islanders could have a hands-on impact on his development if they can convince him to attend the club’s offseason prospect camp. A source close to Petrov told us today that the player intends to take every step possible to be part of the camp or, at the very least, visit with the Islanders this summer.
In contrast to Petrov’s first post-draft season in Russia, New York Rangers prospect Evgeny Grachev was selected last summer and immediately began his schooling in the North American game with the Brampton Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League. To the shock of many NHL teams, scouting services and the media, Grachev was 40-40-80 in 60 games and finished first among league rookies in scoring. The 6-3 center/left wing was drafted by the Rangers two picks after the Islanders selected Petrov.
A year later, Grachev is one of the top 50 prospects in the game. Petrov is exactly what he was a year ago: a project with huge upside.
There’s also the question of motivation to come to North America. Petrov’s four-year contract with Ak Bars is considered especially lucrative for a 19-year old player in the KHL. It is estimated that he makes the equivalent of $1 million tax-free U.S. dollars annually.
Ironically, perhaps the best chance of the Islanders seeing Petrov in their system within three years would be if he has another poor season in Russia. There’s always the chance of Ak Bars attempting to walk away from his contract, or buying him out. Even if his KHL team went to those lengths, the Islanders would gladly welcome the highly-skilled forward with open arms. Despite his setback season, the 19-year old Petrov maintains the potential to be a first-line player in the NHL.
It is crucial that Petrov shows his commitment to the Islanders by appearing at their prospect camp this summer.
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Team USA in Semis: Kyle Okposo had an assist as Team USA beat Finland 3-2 today to advance to the final four at the World Championships in Switzerland. The U.S. plays Russia on Friday at 10:15 EST.
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On the morning after the Phoenix Coyotes file for bankruptcy, we present yet another unabashed attempt at a reality check for anyone concerned about the New York Islanders.
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Frederick P. Clark Associates gives money to Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray’s election campaign. The Town of Hempstead – in Nassau County – chooses the Westchester County planning company as its consultants on the Lighthouse Project. While their work is far from completed, to this date F. P. Clark Associates has rung up bills to the tune of $300,000.
And who is paying Clark’s invoices? Charles Wang and the Lighthouse Development Corporation.
This is the way it works in these development deals. Wang’s group puts money in an escrow account. The Town gets to hire its own consultants, even those who contribute money to the Town Supervisor’s campaign. The developers pay for the consultants out of the escrow. Each time the Town’s consultants declare more work has to be done – without a second opinion, without any accountability – Wang pays.
Of course in this economy, it behooves Frederick P. Clark Associates to take their time.
When the Islanders’ owner has his cranky moments and unloads to Newsday and Boomer and Carton about having regrets, perhaps it is all this Lighthouse check-writing that has brought him to his knees.
Point Blank has learned that Wang has spent more than $16 million this decade on the development of the Coliseum property, a plan Tom Suozzi and the County insisted on. Nine years after Wang purchased the Islanders, he has no promise of a ground-breaking any time soon.
As reported on Sunday by Jim Baumbach of Newsday, Wang has spent about $300 million keeping the Islanders afloat. This number does not include the millions of dollars spent on architects, economists, parking and environmental experts, Lighthouse staff and Frederick P. Clark Associates – the Westchester-based, cash-contributing consultants to the Town of Hempstead.
When Wang says he’s had it and he wants an answer by October 1, this could be at the top of the list of his reasons why.
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As for the situation in Phoenix, the question has been asked repeatedly: what does this mean for the Islanders? My take: very little. The Islanders are not for sale. The Islanders are not declaring bankruptcy. The Islanders do not have any plans to move in the near future. Unlike the Coyotes, the Islanders do not have a new arena. Jim Balsillie has not made an offer to buy the Islanders and move them to Southern Ontario.
Above all else, I see nothing in Wang’s commitment to keeping the Islanders on Long Island the last 9 years that tells me he will file for bankruptcy in an attempt to leave Nassau County or sell the team to someone who will move the team.
Yes, the Islanders have the Original Lease From Hell. Yes, they need to see their arena development deal finalized. Yes, the Islanders have their challenges. But what’s going on in Phoenix does not have much to do with what’s going on in New York.
Until Wang gets his answer on the Lighthouse Project, he honors his obligation to just spend, spend, spend.
As always, I want to know your take. Comment Guidelines.
All the talk about Alex Rodriguez allegedly tipping pitches to opposing teams reminds me of something I witnessed in my early days as an Islanders staffer.
Word around the team was that the three Islanders goalies at the time had become enemies. They were so competitive towards each other that they took the personal battles to extremes. The buzz was that during warmups, the Islanders’ backup goalie that night would tell the other team where to shoot on the Islanders’ starter.
“You gotta shoot low-blocker. Whiffs all the time”!
I was still relatively young and could not believe that teammates would turn on each other to the level of disrespecting the game and their team. I had become friendly with the goalies and was astounded they could stoop so low. I was never able to confirm if the allegations were true, however.
A few years later, I was talking to one of my PR colleagues with an opposing team. He told me about how much his goalies hated each other and would do anything to get an edge.
“I don’t know if this is true, but supposedly ____________ actually tells the other team where to shoot on ___________ when he doesn’t get the start. Can you frickin’ believe that?!”
No, I couldn’t. Don’t know if that’s the case with A-Rod, but in hockey, urban legends like this are created all the time.
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