PHILADELPHIA – This just in. Charles Wang has announced that tickets will be free for the first two rounds of the playoffs in Buffalo.
Listen, giving away playoff tickets is a nice perk for Islander season subscribers, no doubt about that, but perhaps the owner wouldn’t have found it necessary to offer such an incentive had he not previously smacked this same most loyal of fan bases with outrageous price hikes to begin with. Beyond that, it’s impossible for us to understand how Gary Bettman could have endorsed this scheme, given its ultimate devaluation of the sport’s alleged most valuable properties – tickets to playoff games.
But what makes least sense of all is Wang’s willingness to lose a sum of between $4.5 and $5 million for a potential six-game home run instead of investing that much extra money in payroll through either a trade or a free-agent signing. Wouldn’t it make far more sense to have spent even $6M on a player if such an outlay would have improved the team and thus created the potential returns of enhanced interest, higher attendance and increased revenues for the organization?
If the Islanders do hold off the Sabres, they’ll be in the playoffs three straight years for the first time since their run of 14 annual invitations to the ball came to an end in 1988. That’s something, especially when measured against the disrepair and ownership disrespect that preceded Wang’s purchase of the club. But it isn’t a lot, except, that is, when measured against the ongoing failure in Manhattan. The Islanders aren’t closer to winning the Cup than they were three years ago; indeed, they are farther away.
It’s hard to argue that they wouldn’t have had a better shot at progress if the owner had invested extra money in his team instead of inviting the fans to keep it in their pockets.
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Maybe Joel Quenneville isn’t the right man to coach the Rangers next season and maybe he wouldn’t have the slightest bit of interest in taking the job. But there is no acceptable explanation, no excuse whatsoever, for Glen Sather‘s failure to have already sought permission from the Blues to talk to Quenneville, unaccountably dismissed last month after going seven-for-seven in getting St. Louis into the playoffs.
If Sather’s waiting until the season ends out of a sense of loyalty to interim man Tom Renney, his priorities are out of whack. Loyalty is owed to the best interests of the organization, not to the sensibilities of any individual employee, isn’t that right, Brian Leetch?
Fact is, Slap Shots has learned that the Coyotes, who dismissed Bobby Francis last month – another fellow surely worthy of an interview – have already received permission from the Blues to chat up Quenneville, the 46-year-old who’s good with kids and veterans alike, and who well might have a ring on his finger had Larry Pleau made acquiring Dominik Hasek rather than Doug Weight his priority three summers ago. This, by the way, while interim man Rick Bowness runs the Phoenix bench.
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Ottawa GM John Muckler might say that he’s confident going into the playoffs with Patrick Lalime as his No. 1, but then why do you suppose that the Senators tried to get Curtis Joseph from the Red Wings at the deadline, offering as they did, a worthy informant testifies, defenseman Karel Rachunek and backup netminder Martin Prusek?
The Red Wings, we’re also told, were given the opportunity at the deadline to re-acquire Igor Larionov from the Devils but after seeking input from some of the veteran playing personnel, GM Ken Holland declined the invitation . . . Columbus was desperate to move Todd Marchant at the deadline given that his no-trade clause kicks in with his 31st birthday on Aug. 12. It apparently wasn’t enough to give Marchant, who had eight goals and 24 assists with a minus-18 into the weekend, a six-year, $19.5M contract to woo him as a free agent over the summer. No; a no-trade was necessary, too . . . Dallas tried hard to move young goaltender Jason Bacashihua, with him having slipped below both fellow youths Mike Smith and Dan Ellis on the organizational depth chart. The Rangers, we hear, were offered Bacashihua at different times for both Martin Rucinsky and Greg de Vries.
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Rangers were in on the bidding for Brown free-agent goaltender Yann Danis, but did not come close to matching the near-cap numbers the Hobey Baker candidate received from Montreal. We’re told that the Blueshirts do not regard Danis to be as promising a prospect as Henrik Lundqvist, their 22-year-old seventh-round selection in the 2000 Entry Draft who is having an outstanding year for Frolundia of the Swedish Elite League. We’ll see. The Rangers, who hope to sign Lundqvist and then get him over to Hartford next season, had better be right. Because the organization that can afford almost anything cannot afford mistakes on personnel.
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Finally, the Rangers’ situation is so bad, Isiah Thomas declined an invitation to scream at the team.