Point Blank: Mr Botta had an interview with Gary Bettman Saturday on Espn1050 and blogged on it with the commissioner's comments ground must be broken next summer.
NYI Fan Central Comments:
Great of Mr Botta to have Mr Bettman on the Espn Ranger/NY Hockey show and he did a good job trying to get information but I'm afraid all Mr Bettman's comments will do is stir up Islander fans/sportswriters who will only kick a team when it's down about poor attendance who play the usual speculation game on the club moving.
How many of these articles do our fans have to endure which is the end result?
Are the Devils going to be doing any better if the club starts losing for a few years in Newark after drawing flies to the Meadowlands for years on weeknights?
Anyone take a good look at the Msg stands on weeknights or look beyond the announced sellout and look at the empty seats in soon to be oldest building in the NHL once the Pens open their new arena? This is a tough weeknight market for hockey and the Islanders moves have tuned out some fans who would normally go along with an avalanche of negative coverage.
Outside of football all New York teams play in front of a lot of empty seats sooner or later. Mets in the seventies and early eighties, and for a good part of the nineties pre Piazza. Yankees in the eighties, nineties and late sixties. Msg was empty for a good part of the eighties for the Knicks and Rangers and the Nets have had attendance problems almost all of their history.
Those no-shows during football season when the Jets and Giants struggle are noticeable too.
Already some of the things I read after Monday's Newsday article were worthless as some accused Wang of not spending to the cap, ignored the roster spots needed for the prospects to get an opportunity while other media decided to look at Forbes for information that is simply guess work, meanwhile Witt, Streit received contracts/ extensions.
I understand what Gary Bettman is trying to do here and that's lobby for one of his owners and put on some long-overdue pressure but this is not how you solve anything or go about it. Maybe he is not aware but it seems most Islander fans support approval of the project so he telling the wrong people.
Mr Bettman can go meet with the Town of Hempstead, Monday he did not even know Mr Wang's financing for the project when asked.
Bottom line Mr Wang is going to do what he does but no Lighthouse approval does not mean the club leaves. Mr Bettman lobbying in the media solves nothing.
The Islanders have an out in the lease if the project is not approved but still have a Cable-Smg lease that runs until 2030/2014.
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Next up the Josh Bailey will he or won't he soap opera in Newsday's Islander blog Saturday by Mr Logan here where Scott Gordon gave some background and Mr Logan did a good job going back to comments from camp with game circumstances Thursday but it seems very premature to make any determination until he plays more hockey at this level.
Bailey just played his first game Monday, he has shown some good passing/faceoff skills and some maturity when he is not taking penalties but the Islander roster likely will determine the final call if Sillinger is as close as the announcers speculated in the pregame Saturday and Comrie or Nate Thompson returns sooner than later.
Robert Nilsson was one of the best playmakers too for a while, it did not earn him a roster spot here as he kept bouncing up and down before Ted Nolan was hired.
Tim Connolly had a very tough first year here when he was not demoted. Sticking around did Taylor Pyatt no favors long-term when he played seventy eight games here and had four goals before he was traded.
For the next week or so let's just watch.
