It was a quiet night in twitter land. The Isles had come off a hard fought 13 round shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Many in Islander nation had shut it down for the night and those still up were talking about the impressive play of the likes of Isles’ rookie Ryan Strome. Then at about 1AM a tweet was sent out that sent shock waves through Long Island. Like the lighthouses that the area is known for a beacon of hope was cast over the region by hockey reporter Bob McKenzie.
McKenzie tweeted the following “NYI owner Charles Wang in talks to sell majority stake in NHL franchise. Nothing done yet, no telling if it gets done, but talks underway.… I almost fell out of my bed. I couldn’t believe what I had just read. I had to make sure this was not a fake Bobby Mac twitter account that was retweet by an unsuspecting fan. It was all legit; I found that blue check mark!
Now I felt like a kid on the night before Christmas. This needs to happen and for the sake of the franchise it HAS to happen and occur over this offseason. Come draft day this team needs a new owner. You would also expect a new owner would completely clean house with the top of the organization and while I don’t root for people to lose their jobs; there is a need for a new General Manager and an entire new coaching staff.
Many are wary that Wang will sell to someone that will move them out of New York. Here is my theory on why that won’t happen. If Charles Wang didn’t care where this team played its games this team would have been in Seattle, Kansas City or Quebec years ago. Say what you want about Wang; and we all have; Charles wants this team to stay in New York. This is why he secured Brooklyn first. I keep reading that “leases can be broken" however its one thing to break a one year lease and it’s entirely different to get out of a twenty year lease.
My gut feeling is the Barclays group. Three weeks ago Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark tweeted this “Isles in Brooklyn will be big time. Trust me on that. We will make you proud.… It sure seems that there is interest from the folks in Brooklyn.
Regardless of who buys the team they need stability starting from the top. No more gimmicks; no more “outside the box… thinking. They need a passionate owner who is going to bring in competent NHL personnel from the General Manager and coaching staff all the way down to the players themselves. No more corner cutting, no more dumpster diving or coupon clipping. This fan base has lived in the outhouse for too long; it’s now time to get cleaned up and move into the penthouse.
There are only 7 days remaining and I don't often beg but I need the help and support of the Hockey Buzz family. 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