HOW DARE THEY....Wang, Snow & Dolan Employee Jim Cerny

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Today's blog entry simply as the question, how dare they do this to us?

Charles Wang:
How dare this man raise ticket prices to pay to offset his massive losses running this franchise (not only the last decade) but gave us ticket prices only four dollars above the league average which took a nineteen percent increase to go that high since last year.

Note-Despite countless discounted tickets offered for most games/loud-ville/whatever.

How dare Wang (with or without Scott Rechler) paid seventeen million dollars to get back some of his revenue in the Smg lease, which was only given so if a renovation did happen, Smg would have a guaranteed income with the building closed in the summer, which some selectively seem to think Wang (and or Rechler) got as a gift?

How dare Wang say he is going to honor that lease until 2015 he can now get out of with Nassau approval.

How dare Charles Wang put up his own money to renovate parts of a building he does not own, with no agreement from Nassau County/TOH on anything, not only last summer, but over the last decade, with new scoreboards, the first local facility to have wrap-around boards, and redo glass/boards, despite the 17-19m Wang-Rechler invested in the LH preparation.

How dare Charles Wang allow his general manager to offer the most money for Paul Martin, and perhaps other free agents, or add Wisniewski's contract. How dare Charles Wang put out money for Mike Mottau's contract when he could have simply let Dylan Reese play here.

How dare Charles Wang only speak at the beginning of the season, and not talk to us when James Dolan did not speak for three years while Cablevision's laughingstock franchises on the ice matched the Islanders, and on the court set standards for poor performance.

The true judgment of Wang's future commitment will come based upon how he pays the players who are part of Garth Snow's long-term plan.

Until we get that answer, how dare some peripheral media who don't cover this team daily because their editors are too cheap to do anything but write bi-yearly articles slamming Wang and not cover the games claim anything about his commitment.

Garth Snow:
How dare this gm after years of leading the NHL in man games lost to injury have the conviction to make a plan and stick to it, despite another year where injuries have hurt this roster, which few will mention.

How dare Garth Snow make the anti Milbury like decision last summer to continue with Blake Comeau, Frans Nielsen, Trent Hunter, or qualify Rob Schremp after his strong finish (while not qualifying Tambellini, Bergenheim) and instead not open Wang's checkbook to sign franchise (sarcasm) stars like Zherdev, Frolov, Jokinen, Tanguay, Satan, Fedotenko, Guerin, Torres, Nystrom or Comrie in an UFA class that was frankly terrible outside of Kovalchuk among forwards while offering the most to some UFA defenders per their agents.

How dare Snow not speak to the media every single week, when he engages everyone in the professional media several times a year, while Sather and other local general managers in this town are in witness protection for all the times they make themselves available to anyone.

How dare Snow to this point stick to his plan, which in the past did include trading former Milbury picks and could well go that way again.

You want to blame Snow for bringing back Doug Weight and not trading Trent Hunter, it's fair to ask, but other teams see what Hunter has failed to do, and if Weight was helping Tavares, Moulson, of course it's something you have to strongly consider.

All I ask of Snow is if you have something to say to the fans on ITV, don't waste our time Friday on generic items/stock answers about your job when your team is whatever points out of eighth place with Scott Gordon working along side of you, no longer behind the bench.

Jim Cerny:
Mr Cerny after formerly serving as a play-by-play voice of the Islanders long ago, now feels the damage done to the franchise is at a point where he suggests it should finally be the end. Never mind his employers franchise has one Stanley Cup since 1940, and is irrelevant themselves inside baseball's year round market, with their own padded attendance at Knick and Ranger games which has gone on for years.

How dare Cerny, who is currently employed by James Dolan, and would have been thrown out of Msg by their security if he wrote that about any of their teams, pile on as an employee of another NHL local team.

As I previously wrote the Rangers made same four playoffs as the New York Islanders the last decade, both scored the same 222 goals last season, with both missing the playoffs.

Both these teams were separated by three points when the played their final games last March, a little fact lost on the Cablevision/Msg employee.

The Knicks for a decade have been a flat out disgrace on every level, with Dolan's media having countless issues with publications, writers that continue today with their own paper behind a paywall. Wallace Matthews quit because he did not wish to work for Dolan, or put up with the sports editor Hank Winnicki/lead editor Debbie Kranck coverage standards, in a long list of people who have quit or been fired by Newsday.

How dare Jim Cerny not call out James Dolan's coverage of the New York Islanders, on his network, and in his publication which has badly hurt the franchise ability to market to the public on every possible level and contributed to driving down attendance. This is the network that ignored the teams first home camp in thirteen years, would not put a single preseason game on television (while spamming their own all over North America) and are so restrictive of competition, own the Devils tv rights, but would not air Kovalchuk's press conference.

A few years ago Msg pulled this teams pregame, withheld money from the Metro Ice Challenge in a dispute, and would not even allow live web-casted games during the preseason be released on the teams website until days afterward.

These are the standards some will claim is a partnership with the Islanders, Devils and Sabres (webcasted games/no radio last year also) when all it boils down to is restricting and limiting competition to control perception and media.

This is also the company that transferred Butch Goring's Msg contract to the Islanders broadcast booth while Msg saved money not resigning Billy Jaffe, and outside of two Pat Flately cameo's have not hired anyone to represent the Islanders on their studio show.

Nassau County/TOH did not give Charles Wang, John Pickett or any owner in between the Dolan's tax exemptions, free electricity for life that Msg received in 1981, which for many years covered the entire Msg payroll of the Rangers.

How dare Mr Cerny, an employee of another NHL team that regulates this teams television and newspaper coverage kick them when they are down like this or blindly ignore the media and coverage double-standards. The Devils are not getting hit like this in the Star-Ledger, the Leaf media, or Panther media does not pull this.

How dare Jim Cerny not call out his current boss, as he did Charles Wang on all these items.
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Side Note: Cablevision is allowing the unwashed masses free access for a month to see the latest redesign.

NYIFC Comments:
Debbie Kranek designed the first failed model, and was promoted to editor for the design which met with nothing but criticism to be kind.

Are they trying to improve from the thirty five subscribers?

The twitter box returns Wednesday, updates are being made.

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A Little Good News...Hamonic, Joensuu, Martin.....And Some Media

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It may well be a lost season, however there are some good individual things taking place here with the development of Jesse Joensuu, Travis Hamonic and Matt Martin.

Joensuu has more speed than I expected, and a nice ability to cut to the net, he has the scoring hands as he displayed against the Devils, and I love what he did against the Rangers to stick up for Nielsen. Win or lose was nice seeing an Islander have a size advantage in a fight/scrum for once.

Travis Hamonic may look like he is fourteen but apparently the Islanders liked what they saw in him so much, the very reliable Dylan Reese went back to Bridgeport Monday who are overstocked with depth again on defense. Cannot say he looks out of place or over matched to this point.

I know Matt Martin has not put up the numbers or do I see him driving the net as he did a year ago, but he hits a lot and is a noticeable player.

Rhett Rakshani/Robin Figren absolutely need to come up and get a look on this teams wings. I'm very impressed with Rakshani and feel he brings a scoring element lacking on this team.

I know Andrew MacDonald has had three puck go off him for goals the last two games, I'm not worried about his play one bit. He will settle in, get the rust off his game and at some point contribute on offense.
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I know folks don't want to read this and may get the impression I'm trying to spin how poorly this teams record and season has been, however this team has played competitive hockey all season.

So far this group is not going out and losing games 6-0 every night, to portray the club in those terms would contradict how games have been played.

For those who have followed NYIFC, I saw the signs of problems when they were winning, and wrote a free-fall could happen. Scott Gordon was talking about his offensive problems after the Tampa win, which I highlighted and agreed with.

And sure two years ago they lost a ton of one goal games also, it's nothing to celebrate at all, but does have to be written this team does not go out most nights and mail it in.
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You read this non-sense from a few over the top vindictive folks in the media, who go above and beyond to bury this franchise, most facts do get lost along the way because they need their page views and really don't watch the team play.

New York has twenty losses at 5-15-5.
Eleven were one goal games, five overtime/shootout. Three two goal losses via empty net.

The last six games New York could have easily won and absolutely were competitive, if their even strength scoring and pp gave them any timely goals/or anything.

I don't think that can improve this season, twenty five games is enough to see there are offensive issues not going away.

I do see some poor efforts and big losses coming, all teams have clunkers, this team has had about three or four this season, and are again due.

Plus Boston, and some upcoming teams can fill the net and embarrass anyone, I saw what they did to Tampa, winning 8-1.
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Good time to see how many friends this team has in NHL media circles, these days, the kind answer is not many.

I don't like to write about other teams, however for the very limited Ranger fans in the local media who love to kick the New York Islanders (for their personal enjoyment/past success, lack of money to cover them full time, or to satisfy some former employee's personal agenda/grudge) whether they are up or down, spare us.

The New York Islanders, Rangers both made four playoffs last decade, both scored same 222 goals last season (as did Devils) and both missed the playoffs, both play in dumps for home facilities.

I did/do not see articles from the same shock jock crews calling for the NHL/NBA to step in and remove James Dolan.

No doubt it's a very tough time for the New York Islanders and our fans, knock off the vindictive attacks or hold all local teams to the exact same standard or kick all teams when they are down. Charles Wang even paid out of pocket to upgrade a building he does not own nor was obligated to do, why don't you write about that?

Maybe the league should step in and have former Ranger beatwriters, Frank Brown and John Dellapina, never shy about bashing the Islanders, who currently occupy top media positions in the NHL, have a few meetings and request these money losing publications have their editors at the Post, Times and Daily News give this team full time coverage and blogs or demand the Dolan's open their pay wall and hire a full time, experienced professional beatwriter.

Writers that actually cover the team, all games, that interviews the players?

Coverage that went in the tank under past media relations coordinators that worked for the New York Islanders, and set them up for the lack of credible coverage they receive now in newspapers.
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When I twittered Ranger Newsday beatwriter, Steve Zipay why his article said New York was 1-13-1 at Msg recently, I asked if the Dolan's wrote that for him? He replied the Islanders media gave him the notes for a game in his own building?

I guess Mr Zipay does not proof-read his work or Sports editor, Hank Winnicki has a very short memory given the Islander were around 9-4-2 at Cablevision Garden going back to 2005-06. Most of those games Mr Zipay personally covered.

Msg does not provide the media notes in their own building about the teams record at home against the opposition?
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Have been a bit behind on WJC, however will have a few updates. Usual suspects like deHaan will play for Canada, of course Niederreiter, others.

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57 Game Pre-season All That's Left For 2010-11 New York Islanders

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Very tough time to be a New York Islanders Fan right now, sure a lot of people are staying home and that's very disappointing but the nature of NY market when teams lose.

Having written that you stick by your team, and support them as best you can. I'm not going to pretend to insult anyone's intelligence by writing that's easy, however that is what loyal fans do.

Four playoffs in a decade is not acceptable, not here, not in Florida or with countless franchises in NHL/sports, who have performed the same or worse.

The 2010-11 New York Islanders have dropped to sixteen points out of eighth place in the Eastern Conference race, with a team decimated by injuries at the NHL/AHL level, that has not demonstrated this season they can score at even strength (even with minimal injures) plus have road trips coming up where Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Vancouver are on the upcoming menu, you cannot pull punches.

The competitive part of the season in terms of playoff contention is likely over, the next important game in terms of standings October 2011.

This is also looking like a different Eastern Conference from last year, with the one year anomaly of three seeds under ninety points over.

Blame?
All that's left is plenty of time for this, but frankly speaking Comeau, Nielsen, Hunter did not give them the even strength production they had to have at a point in their careers they needed to pull their offensive weight. The decisions to go with Doug Weight/Parenteau or not trade Hunter have not brought the speed/skills/offensive creativity that gives other players room at five on five. Bailey/Comeau were shifted around too much by Scott Gordon.

Bailey and John Tavares are very young players.

No, the injuries don't mean an automatic pass when you have a flaw exposed from day one of the season, but they are part of this teams story. The loss of an Okposo/Streit would hurt any roster going into camp, the additional losses of Schremp, MacDonald, Weight, Hillen, Hunter, Jurcina, with others playing hurt would effect any team.

Moving Forward:
The head coach has been removed, the general manager, who said everyone has to be better this season is still here. An interim coach on a struggling offensive team is likely not going to be retained, or sent back to the AHL, playing a system that he was not teaching the last two seasons.

Unless Michael Grabner, Schremp and others step up at even strength it's going to be a very trying second half to even stay within distance of 29th. That losing streak was no bad stretch, it was a flaw exposed in the roster from game one.

The very tough questions of Moulson, Martinek, Wisniewski and Roloson's future all come into play as the trade deadline approachs, the loss of any of them may not be replaceable.

Jesse Joensuu, Matt Martin are likely going to stay, who's coming back at forward from the injured list to replace them when Jon Sim is now on a third line? How much more bouncing from center to wing helps Josh Bailey's career to recall him when he is healthy and producing at his natural position in Bridgeport.

Rhett Rahkshani, Robin Figren will likely be here very soon. Outside of the three goaltenders for one job in Bridgeport, the depth has taken a beating at the AHL level.

Expect a few ugly moments like Mark Parrish's comments a decade ago when he called out the fans, there are no doubt a lot of frustrated players already. Mark Eaton did not sign on for this, many saw the improvement last year and how tough this team was to play against.

Media:
There will be an avalanche of negative coverage, some fair, others very unfair, and a few will display a level of vindictive reporting that even the Knicks have not seen the last decade.

The ones who have agenda's/vendetta's will kick the franchise the hardest, and they are not interested in man games lost to injury. The media in Florida does not go that negative to it's fanbase, it's not what the Knick media does to it's fans to drive people away.

Of course the biggest joke of all is Cablevision, Msg, Newsday, and it mistreatment of the New York Islander Franchise on every level as more games will be hidden on Msg+2 and Butch Goring/Howie Rose will jump as high as James Dolan demands to remain employed by Msg.

The New York Islanders will do exactly what they need to do, continue the business of hockey in a very long-tough season, same as New Jersey, Edmonton, Toronto and many other losing markets so far this year must do.

Bottom line:
The fans who hated the Milbury plan around 2000, who stayed away long ago are forcing Snow into a position where he may have to act like Milbury to bring fans back to the building sooner rather than later. Snow if he goes that route he will deal with far more problems than Milbury had.

In a front-loaded contract league packed with NTC/NMC this owner with most cannot afford front-loaded contracts, a decade ago there were holdouts all over the NHL which led to Milbury landing Peca/Yashin.

The climate is different now, unless you want to play Toronto's way and give up picks for a Kessel, which has been a disaster.

In short like last summer the UFA classes are not there like they used to be, and as we have seen in New Jersey sometimes that kind of spending backfires badly, at least for now. Front-loaded contracts, NTC/MVC have made this a very tough league to improve strictly through free agency.

You want to blame Charles Wang for not losing/spending more money, and his losses are not your problem that is your choice. I do not see that as fair because he inherited an impossible arena situation and county government. Just because he (along with Scott Rechler) are likely very disappointed a LH project has stalled/stopped, the answer cannot be Wang should throw away money and drive up his payroll toward 50m+, when at some point he will need to pay the players his general manager drafted players the last few summers.

There is no easy out, this owner intends to honor his lease by his comments and is firmly vested in running the Hotel and the Coliseum at this time, if the owner don't care he has a funny way of showing it renovating Nassau County's building for them out of pocket.

Unlike the money losing Caps, he does not receive revenue sharing, unlike many corporate teams bleeding red ink, he cannot call up Comcast or Cablevision and add another 100m to the teams debt.

About twenty other NHL teams have the same problem as Charles Wang.

As for this season, the playoff competitive part is likely over, it's going to be a rough four plus months, the Islanders have played six one goal/EN games in a row, they are due to start struggling.


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