It appears the New York Islanders will be spending another season in the palatial digs of the Nassau Coliseum. The Islanders are hoping to move out of the Coliseum, consistently ranked as the worst arena in Professional Sports.
Tuesday night, there was a proposal for Nassau County to agree to spend $400 million building the Islanders a new home. It failed. Some 57% of the 89,000 people who turned out to vote--said "No".
The owner of the team is looking at options to move, though the team is obligated via contract to play at the dump/Coliseum until 2015.
Really, this isn't a huge surprise. Given the current economic times, getting any kind of public financing for a Sports arena is going to be virtually impossible. And it should be.
Yeah, we, like everyone else realizes the Islanders are playing in a crappy arena. But it is just bad luck or bad timing or whatever else you want to call it that they can't get funding. Because even if they were the Detroit Red Wings, it would be tough to get the funding.
Sure, we saw in the article the County's projection of what it would cost them to lose the team and he's got a valid point. The big problem is not the revenue projection in the future, it's convincing people that making the outlay now, when they don't have it, would be worth it.
Looks like the New York Islanders are one step closer to not moving to Kansas City.
A lot of Nassau County ((NY)) muckety-mucks gathered together for a photo op and press opportunity, joining Islanders owner Charles Wang, to announce a proposed US$400-million bond issue for a new facility- with the help of the Shinnecock Indian Nation.
Think casino, arena, and development that's not the Lighthouse Project...
Islanders forward Trevor Gillies gets a 10-game ban for hitting the Minnesota Wild's Cal Clutterbuck from behind in his first game back from a nine-game suspension.
Here's the hit... again... ((HT: KSTC/MSG+/NHL/youtube))
Gillies drilled Clutterbuck and was given a major penalty for checking from behind and ejected.
"By targeting his opponent's head, [four] shifts into his first game back from a suspension for a very similar action, Mr. Gillies has forfeited his privilege of playing in the league for 10 games," NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell said in a statement. "While it is fortunate there was no injury on the play, there can be no justification for a player delivering a dangerous check to an opponent in this manner."
Gillies earned the nine-game suspension for charging Pittsburgh forward Eric Tangradi last month in the brawl-fest from February 11th...
Here's that classy move...again... ((HT: NHL/FSPittsburgh/youtube))
As a repeat offender, Gillies loses just under $61,000.
New York Islanders Trevor Gillies has an in-person hearing with the NHL in Toronto tomorrow.
Gillies was ejected from Wednesday night's game against Minnesota for a hit from behind on Wild winger Cal Clutterbuck. The hit came just a few shifts into his first game back after serving a nine-game suspension for his head hit to Pittsburgh's Eric Tangradi last month.
It was in the blowout game where the Isles won 8-3... ((HT: FSPittsburgh/NHL/youtube))
The league requests an "in-person" hearing so the league can suspend a player longer than five games if they're so inclined.
Here's the incident in full... ((HT: Wild TV/NHL/Fel0096))
Here's analysis from the Versus guys... Bill, Jonesy, and Milbury... ((HT: Versus/PuckDaddy))
Hockey analyst Matthew Barnaby thinks Gillies should be gone for ten games... ((HT: ESPN))
The HQ is inclined to agree...they should be so inclined... "Get back in your cage..."
We would like to know the inherent redeeming value of Trevor Gillies at present...
The NHL suspended Islanders forward Trevor Gillies for nine games, Matt Martin for four and handed the club a $100,000 fine for the brawl against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Eric Godard was punished on the Penguins side by the league as he received an automatic 10-game suspension for leaving the bench to join a third-period brawl.
Gillies' ban was for delivering a blow to the head of Penguins forward Eric Tangradi and punching him several times, leaving him with concussion-like symptoms that will keep him out for at least Sunday's game against the New York Rangers.
Here's everything that went down, for those of you who have lived under a rock... ((HT: NHL/FSNPittsburgh/youtube))
When was the last time the Penguins lost 9-3 after being down 6-nothing...???
No idea...
It completely degraded with the Isles up 6-0 in the second... Understandably so...
Here's all the fighting... and everything... ((HT: NHL/FSN/youtube))
Remember... nine days ago, Pens goalie Brent Johnson beat up Rick DiPietro with a one-punch goalie fight in a Pens win.
The teams combined for 65 penalties that totaled 346 minutes with 10 player ejections. You had 15 fighting majors and 20 misconducts in a game that set records for both teams for most combined penalty minutes.
Howyalikemenow...??? Where are we...? The 1970's all of a sudden...???
New York Islanders' goaltender Rick DiPietro will be out for four-to-six weeks with facial fractures and knee swelling resulting from his fight with Pittsburgh Penguins' goaltender Brent Johnson on Wednesday night.
If you want to call it a fight... Here it is again... ((HT: MSG+/NHL/Hockeyfightsdotcom))
Well, that didn't last very long. The New York Islanders, kings of last place hockey and stuck in a morgue to play their games, have apparently parted ways with head coach Scott Gordon. His replacement will be Bridgeport (Minor Leagues) coach Jack Capuano.
And Newsday.com confirms it too RIGHT HERE...though you can't read more without a subscription.
However Gordon apparently keeps his job as an assistant to GM Garth Snow? That we don't get. The Isles are off to a rousing 4-10-3 start this season and have lost their last 10 games.
You all know that the Oakland A's have been trying to get out of the Alameda County Coliseum ever since, well, the Civil War. It's old. They're trying to squeeze as much revenue out of the place as they can, and no one is coming to see the games in Oakland.
So, while the 49'ers are chasing a new home in Santa Clara, the A's were looking in San Jose.
Doesn't seem like that idea is going to work now... Sydnie Kohara has your introductions on the "why"... ((HT: KPIX-TV/CBS5))
For the other story, we go to the other coast...
New York Islanders owner Charles Wang has invested, and lost, a boatload of money in a rat pit in Uniondale, Long Island. Yes, the HQ is talking about the Nassau County Coliseum. Everyone and their mother knows the place is a rat hole- even the commissioner of the National Hockey League agrees with the majority of us for a change.
He's even gone as far as encouraging a change- and soon...
But the pols on the Island aren't green-lighting Wang's multi-billion Lighthouse development project to the specs he would like.
Hazel Sanchez went chasing out on the Island... ((HT: WCBS-TV))
Wang has even gone as far as saying he'll look elsewhere if Lighthouse isn't approved. The HQ has heard Brooklyn (with the Nets) and Kansas City- where AEG has scheduled an Islanders game for exhibition season.
((Rub chin back and forth here))
Yeah, like the HQ doesn't know where this is headed...
You've seen the promotion before... and, probably, been a part of it... "Chuck-A-Puck"
Throw a rubber puck onto a bull's eye from your seat... closest to the center gets "something." In Islander fan Michael Mann's case, it was a shot at putting a puck into a very small hole from center ice to win "something."
That "something," Don Pardo, was a brand new car...
Here's Michael's winning wrister from the center circle... Guess what, though...??? We bet he has to pay the taxes on it...
New York Islanders forward Pascal Morency has been suspended for the remainder of the preseason and five regular-season games after leaving the bench to start a fight in a game against the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.
The NHL announced the suspension Monday. Morency has sat out two games and will miss New York's final three preseason games.
Morency jumped off the bench after Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf knocked out Islanders forward Kyle Okposo with a hit in the second period of the Flames' victory Thursday.
He started a brawl that included New York goalie Martin Biron. Okposo was immobilized and removed from the ice on a stretcher.
Morency was assessed a game misconduct penalty.
((HT: Hockeyfightsdotcom))
Clean hit from the HQ point-of-view... Morency needs to calm down...
The Hempstead Town Board hosted a public hearing Tuesday on environmental issues associated with the plan to refurbish the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the development of 150 acres surrounding the arena.
At times, the hearing seemed more like a pep rally for the New York Islanders, who are seeking a new arena in order to stay on Long Island. The hockey commissioner has called the coliseum the worst facility in North America.
"This project represents the concept of new suburbia, what we can be once again for America," said Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi.
Government agencies, elected officials and the general public weighed in on the Lighthouse Group's state-mandated environmental report. They addressed concerns about traffic, air quality, sewage, drinking water, garbage disposal, and more.
Although support for the project appeared to be strong, some local residents did come to talk about their concerns about the size and scope of the project.
Here's the update from WPIX-TV about Charles Wang's Lighthouse Project...
New York Islanders owner Charles Wang ((pictured, thanks Mike Stobe/Getty)) says he regrets buying the money-losing NHL team nine years ago.
"If I had the chance I wouldn't do it again," Wang told Newsday.
Citing the team's annual audited financial reports, Newsday reported Saturday on its Web site that Wang has spent US$208.8 million -- an average of $23 million per year -- to keep the team operating. He also spent $74.2 million when he and Sanjay Kumar bought the club and assumed $97 million in liabilities.
"His numbers are real," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told Newsday. "Yes, we're aware the Islanders lose money, a significant amount of money. And it goes back to the team's need for a new arena."
Wang said he initially assumed Nassau Coliseum would either be refurbished or replaced within a few years, but his proposed $3.7 billion Lighthouse Project has been held up and is still under review by the Town of Hempstead.
"Never in my life, would I have anticipated this thing could be dragged out for seven, eight years," said Wang, the founder of Computer Associates.
An NHL-worst 26-47-9 this season, the Islanders will play a pre-season game in September in Kansas City, Mo., prompting speculation about a move. Officials in Willets Point in Queens also have expressed interest in the team.
"I'm not saying I'll move," Wang said. "I'm saying I'll explore all my options." Wang and Kumar, the former Computer Associates chief executive, bought the Islanders in 2000 for about $190 million. Wang bought out Kumar -- serving a 12-year prison term for a $400 million accounting fraud scandal -- in 2004.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman Friday said that Long Island politicians can't afford to ignore the pleas of Islanders owner Charles Wang for approval of the Lighthouse Project to renovate Nassau Coliseum and develop the surrounding area in the hope that the problem will go away. Describing the Coliseum, Bettman said, "It's antiquated; it's outdated, and it's unrealistic to expect the Islanders to play there a second longer than they have to." Bettman made his remarks during the course of an interview lasting nearly two hours with representatives of the Associated Press Sports Editors organization. He covered a wide variety of economic issues but none more important to Islanders fans than the fate of the Lighthouse Project and its impact on whether Wang eventually might be forced to consider moving the team.
The commissioner praised Wang's commitment to Long Island and the investment he's made to keep the team in place. But Town of Hempstead supervisor Kate Murray recently has expressed her opposition to the size of the project, which includes a luxury hotel, convention center, sports training facility, retail outlets, restaurants, sprawling housing development and minor-league baseball park. Peter Schmitt, minority leader in the Nassau County legislature, also has expressed reservations about the project and an air of indifference toward keeping the Islanders.
Bettman seemed to aim his comments at that target when considering Wang's timetable and his alternatives if it is not met. "If the people running Nassau County or the Town of Hempstead think this is a problem that's going to go away and therefore, they don't have to deal with it, I think that's a misguided notion," Bettman said. "This problem will get worse and worse.
"I think Charles, if this timetable is not satisfied, will be looking at his options. That doesn't preclude other options on Long Island . Nobody in their right mind is going to stay in that building a moment longer than they have to. To me, what's crazy is what a great project this is for Nassau County . Here you have an opportunity in an economic downturn to create a hub with jobs and everything else that a hub for Long Island would have. As part of that, you get a newly renovated building, which can serve as a home for Long Island 's only [major] professional team. Why has it taken this long? I don't know the answer to that.
"So, at some point, he's going to look at his options because he has no choice." At the moment, Bettman said the league has no plans to relocate a franchise or expand. "I like all my 30 clubs where they are," he said. "I know there's interest in other places, but I like where we are. It doesn't mean, at some point in the future, in a vastly different economic climate we might not be looking at other opportunities." Bettman also was asked about the possibility of the NBA's New Jersey Nets moving from the Izod Center at the Meadowlands to join the Devils at the Prudential Center in downtown Newark . NBA commissioner David Stern told APSE the nets are fine where they are, but Bettman had a different view.
"I don't understand why the Nets aren't playing at Prudential Center now," the NHL commissioner said. "The Devils are drawing, and the atmosphere is great. It has to be costing the State of new Jersey a boatload of money to keep [ Izod Center ] open. I hope, at some point, the Nets decide to go there."
With a 48.2-percent chance of being awarded the No. 1 pick (250 number combinations were assigned to New York), the Isles won the Scotiabank/NHL Draft Lottery on Tuesday night. The Islanders, who suffered more than 500 man-games lost to injury in 2008-09, had just 61 points (26-47-9), the fewest in the League.
The first round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft will be held on June 26 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
Because the Islanders won the lottery, the draft order remains intact with the League's regular-season standings. The Tampa Bay Lightning (66 points) will draft second, followed by the Colorado Avalanche (69), Atlanta Thrashers (76) and Los Angeles Kings (79), respectively. All five teams had a crack at the No. 1 pick.
"It was obviously something that was very well-publicized and something people were looking forward to, but being a goalie as long as I was, there's a lot of things you can't control," Islanders General Manager Garth Snow told NHL.com. "We hoped for the best and probably didn't sweat it out, knowing that I really didn't have any control over the situation."
"It would obviously be a great opportunity," Tavares said of being drafted by the Islanders. "It's a very historic franchise. There's a great tradition there, so it would be a great honor and a special feeling. I'd be glad to be a part of the organization. Hopefully to win a Stanley Cup would be amazing."
Certainly, Tavares ((pictured, thanks Claus Andersen/Getty)) would bring the Islanders some much-needed publicity and a shot in the arm in the ticket sales department. While Snow could have come out minutes after the lottery winner was announced and proclaimed his desire for Tavares, the Isles' GM isn't ready to do that just yet.
"It's too early in the process to even comment on that," Snow said. "My responsibility to our fans and for this organization is to build a consistent contender that's going to win a Stanley Cup. We're going to do whatever it takes to bring a Stanley Cup back to Long Island. All those other pressures really don't mean a lot to me. It's about getting the best hockey players."
But there's one guy who wants Tavares badly- Toronto GM Brian Burke. He's what we would refer to as "damn serious."
"We'll immediately attempt to move up," Burke said during a morning news conference. "We're going to talk to everyone between us and the first pick and see what the landscape is.
"We're going to see what it costs and we're going to try and move up."
Anybody on his roster, with the exception of standout rookie defenceman Luke Schenn, might go in a package that would be required to get a higher position.
"No player is untradeable," said Burke. "Wayne Gretzky got traded."
Burke has a history of draft coups, most notably the ones that landed him Chris Pronger when he managed the Hartford Whalers and maneuverings that procured the services of the Sedin twins for the Vancouver Canucks. So, teams will be ready for his spiel this time.
"I don't think we're going to sneak up on anyone," he said. "They've seen that movie."
He wouldn't necessarily need the No. 1 spot to draft Tavares, he said. "I'm not confident every team has John Tavares as No. 1," said Burke.
Here's Pierre McGuire, wearing his NBC toque, explaining the impact he thinks Tavares will have on the National Hockey League. ((HT: NBC Sports))
And here's the 2009 NHL Draft Lottery for those of you who missed the Islanders giving Bill Daly the frozen envelope to secure the Number 1 selection... ((HT: TSN/NHL))
New York Islanders owner Charles Wang is getting serious about moving his franchise. And that can be good news for Kansas City in its attempts to land an NHL team.
Wang has let it be known that if he doesn’t get approval for a $3 billion project on Long Island that would include a renovated Nassau Coliseum, he will move or sell the franchise.
As part of a 6,000-page draft environmental impact statement the developers of the Lighthouse Project delivered to the Town of Hempstead on February 24, is this statement, as reported by Newsday:
“The transformation of the Coliseum, including the sports complex and associated parking,” the developers’ report states, “is … essential if the New York Islanders are to remain. In order to absorb the cost of this transformation, it is necessary to develop the remainder of the components of the Lighthouse. Thus, if the Lighthouse is not approved and developed in a manner that can financially support the transformation of the Coliseum, the New York Islanders will leave this venue.”
The Islanders’ lease at antiquated Nassau Coliseum, the third-oldest — and smallest — arena in the NHL, expires in 2015. But Wang last week said that an agreement he made with the county in 2007 to renovate the arena and develop the area around it includes language that gives the team an out.
Wang has received offers from politicians in Queens and Brooklyn to facilitate a move to those boroughs, and the Islanders are scheduled to play preseason games next September in Kansas City’s Sprint Center and in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where they will be spending part of their training camp.
Wang, in an interview with Newsday last week, said: “If we don’t build this, shame on us. This is something that has to be done. If we can’t, you tell me no. It’s OK. I mean, really, we’ll go where we’re loved.” Nassau County loses between $1 million and $2 million a year on the upkeep of the Coliseum, and Wang has said he loses about $20 million a year operating the Islanders.
