Sunday Islander/NHL notables

New York Islander Fan Central | 6/22/2008 03:57:00 PM | | | | | | | | | |
Islanders website: Report New York drafted five of the International Scouting Services' top 30 prospects which have analysis of Josh Bailey, Kirill Petrov, Corey Trivino, David Towes & Aaron Ness.

Moose Jaw Time Herald:
Reports Travis Hamonic is the first Moose Jaw Warrio to be picked by the four-time Stanley Cup champion Islanders since Masi Marijmaki.

Pioneer Press: John Shipley has Garth Snow, Don Lucia's comments about the situation regarding Kyle Okposo from December with Aaron Ness's comments as it applies to his future if he should decide to leave the Gophers sooner than later.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Not to come off like an Islander homer here but Don Lucia took a shot at the Islanders the day Okposo announced he would not be returning to school after the WJC. Snow defended Okposo as is he supposed to and now we hope things work out better with Aaron Ness for both sides. Obviously if the Isles did have a major problem with the Gophers program they would not be selecting from their prospect pool which speaks to what Garth Snow thinks of Mr Lucia's program.

Lets just hope Don Lucia uses Aaron Ness where he should be playing but by this prospects own words in the article he is already looking ahead to the NHL and if the Islanders want to sign him he has the right to leave according to the rules.

Edmonton Journal: Jim Matheson has a few words about the reaction from Tyler Ennis who was drafted by Buffalo in round one about his friend Jared Spurgeon being drafted by New York in the sixth round and how they have been playing hockey together since childhood. Tyler Spurgeon plays on the Oilers farm team.

Point Blank: Mr Botta gave his take on the draft picks, the clubs strategy along with telling the fans he spoke to Garth Snow Saturday as he had some advice for the Isles on how the media should have been done surrounding the picks.

In a quick recap of the weekends trades involving players:
Florida traded C Olli Jokinen to Phoenix for D Keith Ballard, D Nick Boynton and Ottawa’s second-round pick in the 2008 Entry Draft (49th overall, previously acquired).

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Olli would have been here forever at 2m per year with five cup rings by now if we kept him. Second team he unofficially had to be traded from or requested out of as he now plays for his fourth club and when his contract ends will be moving on to a fifth when he refuses to sign in Phoenix. What did Florida win again in that Islander trade besides a rebuild that never ends? I guess all those defenseman could mean Redden is not signing with Jacques Martin?

Columbus traded Colorado’s first-round pick in the 2008 Entry Draft (19th overall, previously acquired) and the Blue Jackets’ third-round pick in 2008 (67th overall) to Philadelphia for C R.J. Umberger and the Flyers’ fourth-round pick in 2008 (118th overall).

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Flyers free up cash for Jeff Carter and Eminger, Ken Hitchcock gets a former player for a pick that another club gave them. Not a bad deal for Howson to get R.J Hamburglar.

Calgary traded LW Alex Tanguay and its fifth-round pick in the 2008 Entry Draft (138th overall) to Montreal for the Canadiens’ first-round pick in 2008 (25th overall) and second-round pick in 2009.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Alex Tanguay, moves to a new conference with a lot of mileage on him. I would rather have had the picks in this quality draft if I were Montreal.

From the I'm too lazy to post the link department, the comedy club at the
NY Post that forgot day two of the NHL draft:


Larry Brooks did his usual Cablevision Rangers are the league's American Flagship Franchise dance (after John Dellapina) and that Cablevision out of Msg control would leave New York without a hockey team as he did the impossible and actually took James Dolan's side over Gary Bettman.

Mr Brooks also claimed the Rangers lead American teams in revenue generated but of course fails to mention the same overhead it cost to generate that revenue had his favorite team 25m in the red according to his own New York Post before the lockout as it keeps raising ticket prices.

This was the low-end number folks with reports claiming they a league high forty million at the time.
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Old link no longer works:
Courtesy of Islanders-SoundTigers mailing list:

http://www.nypost.com/business/28740.htm
CABLEVISION CUTS ITS LOSSES

By PAUL THARP
September 17, 2004 -- The owners of the perennially money-losing
Rangers hockey team are going to plug up a big red-ink hole with the
National Hockey League shutdown of the season.

The Rangers haven't made the playoffs in seven years or any profits
in years.

In fact, industry sources say the team loses between $25 million and
$30 million a year with its highly paid players and steep overhead in
Madison Square Garden arena.

With the team now on ice, owner Cablevision, controlled by media
mogul Chuck Dolan, won't have to write that many big checks for
hockey players.

It'll lose revenue, of course, from the 41 home games at the Garden,
but analysts say the typical $45 per seat for Ranger games is hardly
a drop in the bucket in Cablevision's fortunes.
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For those who will respond and correctly point out this is not 2004 and we have a new cba according to this article a month ago Msg's sports teams lost 19m for the first quarter of 2008:

Newsday no longer has this link available:
http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/ny-spberger0511x,0,7646249.column

Money continues to burn hole in Garden's pockets

Ken Berger
9:13 PM EDT, May 10, 2008

So James Dolan must be thrilled with the early returns on his investment in Walsh. Attaboy, Donnie, you got your guy. The Knicks always get their guy. The problem has been that they keep getting the wrong ones.

When you add up the money given to these coaches and GMs -- not to mention the $11.5-million settlement to Anucha Browne Sanders and the hundreds of millions in bad player contracts doled out by Thomas and his predecessors -- it is not hard to fathom why MSG Sports (aka Cablevision's toy department) is bleeding red ink. According to the quarterly earnings statement furnished this week by the Garden's parent company, MSG and its sports teams lost a staggering $19.7 million in the first quarter.
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NYI Fan Central Comments:

Wonder if the Ranger lawsuits are included in that number between the one they settled on and the one they already lost to Gary Bettman?

Flagship American franchises for leagues are not completely ignored in their own town come playoff time nor do they go without any back pages during the regular season/playoffs or lose out by a three to one ratio for out of town basketball
games in their own market when they play head to head against another sport.

Flagship American franchise for a sport do not finish 24th and 36th for a Stanley Cup Final involving real American hockey marquee markets that consistently draw impressive ratings along with Buffalo and Minnesota.

Cablevision on ice had their stage without Knicks, Nets, Islanders or Tiger Woods after they eliminated New Jersey and had problems even competing with poker repeats in New York and did marginal at best nationally even with nothing but Crosby as the opposition. The media barely gave it any additional coverage.

Even the Islanders got Newsday back pages last season. Rangers did not see a full back page all winter again for an actual game, even Brian Leetch retirement night did not generate a full backpage over big market baseball rumors and the Giants super bowl.

As for Mr Brooks, wake me when Gary Bettman pulls the same stunts James Dolan has on New York City, Jets, Giants, Yankees, Mets, Islanders, and Devils and the general public with how many clubs he pulled off the air over the years?

You could sell a lot more actual tickets for James Dolan's expulsion hearing than the attendance Cablevison for Ranger home games when that day arrives.

Cheer up Mr Brooks, New York will still have a hockey team for you to cover if Dolan is removed and refuses to let the Rangers play in his basketball arena, keeping the naming rights, uniform and territorial rights.

That would be America's Flagship Hockey Dynasty and arguably hockey's greatest
all-time dynasty.

The New York Islanders.