With the Islanders returning to the ice tomorrow to take on fellow lottery team the Florida Panthers; the big news on the Island continues to surround Islanders’ owner Charles Wang and the discussions over a sale of the franchise. There have been rumors stretching from Syracuse to Philadelphia about the possible suitors to acquire the team. Knowing how the NHL operates though; news on the clear front runner will not surface until it is pretty much a done deal.
There have been numerous reports about the value of the move to Brooklyn. The New York Post reported that the Barclays Center guarantees that the Islanders will gross 50 million dollars a year in profit. I would imagine that a large majority of this will come from corporate sponsors and luxury suite sales. I was told a while back that the luxury boxes for the Islanders inaugural season in Brooklyn have been all sold already.
My question is this; If Brooklyn is going to make money for whomever owns the franchise; why would Wang want to sell now? That doesn’t seem to make much sense. Wang has been losing money for years and I would think a couple of seasons in the new Barclays Center would help recoup those losses. Perhaps this was Wang's plan all along, secure the safety of the franchise by getting the Brooklyn deal then Wang could sell and get out of the business. Right now though it appears that there are far more questions than answers. Until we get solid, tangible news from the league or Wang himself we are all left playing a wild guessing game.
As for the team on the ice they have eight games left on the season starting tomorrow night at home against Florida. While this is clearly a team playing out the stretch there are still eight games left for these young kids to separate themselves and make a strong case for a roster spot next season. I see many on social media wanting this team to lose to improve their draft position. The roster is made up of ten rookies; what more do you want? I never bought into the whole “I want my team to lose… notion. You simply cannot ask a team of young kids to not go out and give their best effort. I find that extremely counterproductive.
With that being said if the Isles finish outside of the top three in this year’s draft I would send that pick to Buffalo and be done with it. I was told by an NHL scout that there is more value at picks 15-20 of the 2015 NHL draft than there is at 4-10 in the 2014 entry draft. However all this will be cleared up in a couple of weeks once the season is over and the draft lottery has occurred.
Finally the hockey charity auction I am running ends on Friday. I REALLY need your help! I am raising money to help my friend Lisa Berlinski who will be running in the 2014 Boston Marathon in support of the Boston Bruins Foundation. The Boston Bruins Foundation is an amazing charity and for those interested in learning more on what they do I have provided a link to their site.
This is an all hockey auction with many amazing pieces generously donated. There are auction items from such hockey legends as Mike Bossy, Martin Brodeur, Guy Lafleur, Ray Bourque and much more. Please copy this link below into your browser window and press enter. These items are all reasonably priced but if they are too much for you please consider making a donation to this great cause. I appreciate the support of the hockey community and I really need your help for this great cause. Any donation would go so far in reaching our goal
http://www.32auctions.com/berlinski
Here is a link that provides information on what exactly the Bruins foundation is. http://bruins.nhl.com/club/microhome.htm?location=/foundation