With the Board of Governors convening tomorrow in West Palm Beach, Fla., it is time for Gary Bettman to declare the Islanders are in a State of Emergency and the NHL will simply not allow the current ownership to maintain the franchise as currently neglected.
Charles Wang is not getting his Lighthouse. That does not give him the right to act as the equivalent of a slumlord for the remaining four years of his team’s lease at Nassau Coliseum, an arena that was hockey’s big stage three decades ago but now stands as a living tomb haunted by memories.
The product on the ice is shockingly inferior, through little fault of the players on a roster that has been decimated by a pair of injuries to a good defenseman in Mark Streit and a good forward in Kyle Okposo. The minor-league lineup the club put on the ice in this recent home-and-home sweep by the Rangers accounted for approximately $30 million in payroll, nearly $12 million under the floor, and that total includes $4.3 million in bonuses that may never be achieved.
There is Broadway, there is off Broadway, there is off-off Broadway and then there is Long Island, where the owner, once perceived as a savior (so originally was Spano, so originally were the Gang of Four) has all but disappeared from public view.
It is impossible to determine what the endgame here is for Wang. It can’t be to simply run out the clock over the next four years while further gutting the franchise’s infrastructure. If that truly is the objective, if the owner simply intends to devalue the franchise to the extent no one else would even consider buying it to keep in this area, then it is time for the commissioner to step in, exert his authority and save the Islanders from the crypt-keeper.
Bettman always talks about the league’s commitment to its current markets except when he talks about the Islanders, and then he talks about the commitment to Wang. It’s troubling there is no sense of NHL commitment to Long Island, no sense of NHL commitment to the fan base Bettman himself was once a part of back in the glory days that have passed the franchise by.
The league props up Phoenix, it’ll prop up Dallas and the league will stand behind franchises in Sunrise, Fla.; Tampa and Atlanta, but in this case the league seems to stand behind Wang and not the Islanders. Memo to Bettman: One should not be confused with the other.
What kind of atmosphere is this for John Tavares — once the 16-year-old center of attention across Canada who is hiding in plain sight on Long Island — to develop?
How can the young draft choices of whom the organization always seems so very proud — maybe well selected, maybe not — possibly flourish in an environment that has minor league written on the tenement halls through which the team passes to do its work?
The league is believed to have pumped approximately $200 million into the Phoenix operation, money Bettman must somehow recover and return to the other 29 clubs, so it is not as if he can exactly go to the Board for approval to write checks to the Islanders.
But Bettman can recommend the NHL move to amend the revenue-sharing section of the CBA that currently excludes the Islanders from qualifying for such funds because of — get this — its big market status.
And Bettman can urge Wang to either seek alternatives to Lighthouse on Long Island or in Queens or to immediately put the team up for sale to prospective purchasers who would pledge to keep the team here.
If Wang is simply going to be allowed to run out the clock until the lights are turned off, the Islanders as an entity will be worthless. Is this the owner’s endgame, to remembered as the man who turned the franchise into a blight on the community? Is this the commissioner’s endgame, to be remembered as the man who turned the franchise into a blight on the league?
Wang’s profound neglect is intolerable. The league’s continued indifference toward the market is infuriating. The Islanders are in a state of distress. It is time for Bettman to declare a State of Emergency.
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Can we just make it perfectly clear that despite all the excuses in the world being there for Ilya Kovalchuk
within the Devils’ suddenly dysfunctional operation, there is no excuse in the world for his performance thus far, none whatsoever?
If it’s true Mike Sullivan
was a primary force behind the Rangers’ acquisition of Steve Eminger
, whom he had for a time in Tampa Bay two years ago, then more power to him . . . even though assistant coaches’ recommendations on former players (Perry Pearn/Wade Redden
) haven’t always worked out so well for our Blueshirts.
Finally, how about Bill McCreary
giving Sean Avery
a 10-minute misconduct on Friday at the Garden for telling the referee he wouldn’t be allowed into any of the clubs in the city, either?