The New York Islanders appear to have started a new effort to find a buyer, The Post has learned.
Owner Charles Wang has been in talks with The Raine Group, a Manhattan investment bank, regarding the sale of the money-losing team, two sources said.
Talks between Wang and Raine are said to be preliminary and the team owner hasn’t hired Raine — so the effort could lose steam.
An Islanders spokesman said there is no truth to the story. Raine could not be reached for comment.
Over the last few years, sources said, Wang has quietly let it be known that he is open to selling the National Hockey League team — although no formal sales process was established.
Wang was hoping to sell the team for around $300 million, which some, sources added, thought was unrealistically high.
Recently, the team’s fortunes have changed as Wang, in October, inked a long-term deal to move the team from Nassau County to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center beginning in 2015.
The move is likely to improve attendance. The Islanders now draw the second-fewest fans in the NHL, averaging just 12,766 per game.
“The team is salable now,” a source said. “Now it is a legitimate process.”
Plus, Wang might be feeling more pressure to sell. His NHL team lost more than $10 million last year, a source with direct knowledge of its finances said, more than in any recent year.
The team has a roughly $75 million loan that comes due at the end of next season.
The NHL did not return calls.