Tavaresilla on kyllä tekemisen meininki, minkä johdosta hän löytää itsensä taas niiltä tonteilta maalin edessä jonne kiekko ajautuu, ja jos ei ajaudu, niin hän tekee itsensä pelattavaksi ja toimittaa sen maalille. Moulson-Tavares-Parenteau on pysynyt yhdessä ja löytänyt melko hyvän yhteisen sävelen. Mielenkiintoista nähdä miten Okposon paluu toteutetaan. Häntä voidaan käyttää aivan alkuun tosin Bridgessäkin, mutta täydessä kunnossa KO on tietenkin avainhahmoja. Huono idea ei välttämättä olisi yrittää herätellä Baileyta Okposon rinnalla, mutta samaa voi tehdä Moulsonkin. Paluuseen on vieläkin kai aikaa jokunen viikko, joten katsotaan sitten.
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Pierre LeBrun huhuilee Moulsonin haluavan jatkoa saarella, joten tuolloin uuden sopparin pitäisi olla selviö. "... I'm told the plan is to try to sign him, but if that fails, they have to listen to offers. He wants to stay so hopefully a contract can be worked out."
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Newsday vihjaili tulevalla Islanders-artikkelillaan jo hetken ja sitä siirrettiin muiden uutisten tieltä aikansa kunnes nyt julkaisivat. Tietenkin maksullinen, enkä sitä luonnollisesti kokonaan tänne kopioi, mutta löytyy ainakin Islandermaniasta. Käytännössä edes mitään uutta ei nykytilasta tai tulevasta ole löydettävissä, mutta poimitaan nyt jotain edes:
"In April 2009, Wang allowed a Newsday reporter to view the Islanders' audited financial reports, which showed that he had spent $208.8 million to keep the Islanders afloat during his first nine years of ownership. That was after he spent $74.2 million to buy the team and assumed $97 million in liabilities. (Wang purchased the team in 2000 with a partner, Sanjay Kumar, whom he bought out in 2004.)... Ja Kumarhan istuu nykyään 12 vuoden tuomiota linnassa, mutta Milbury saa olla vapaana??
Forbes magazine values the Islanders at $151 million, and estimates that the team is running a yearly $4.5-million operating loss. If Wang were to sell at that price, he would not come close to covering his purchase price and investments in the team...
"It seems pretty apparent from the outside that what he's trying to do, given that he doesn't have much of a revenue-generating machine, is to live at the bottom of the NHL heap and try not to invest money in the club," said Andrew Zimbalist, a sports economics professor at Smith College in Massachusetts....
"Team executives say Wang spent $250,000 last summer renovating the home locker room, adding amenities such as a player lounge with leather couches, a flat-screen television, a kitchen and a sauna. Although the Islanders consider such upgrades long overdue, Snow likened them to "putting lipstick on a pig."
Snow said Wang has been willing to pay top free agents to play for the Islanders, to no avail. Persuading established players to commit long term to a team with an aging home and no set future beyond 2015 has proved to be difficult, he said.
Last July, for example, free-agent defenseman Paul Martin signed with Pittsburgh for $25 million over five years, declining an Islanders offer worth about $1 million more a year - with another year guaranteed.
"He didn't see the Nassau Coliseum as a great place to play," agent Ben Hankinson said, explaining his client's decision.
Fans see the Coliseum as a symbol of their problems.
"The team is about the future," said season-ticket holder Dominick Regina. "But we don't know where they are going to be in the future"...
"Given the circumstances, given the constraints, we're still doing the best we can," Wang said. "I love the sport. I'm identified with the team. I poured a lot of resources into it, and I will continue to do that to make it the best I can. Am I going to get it right every time? No. But do we have a plan? Yes."
While he said in a radio interview late last month that the team is not for sale, Wang hasn't ruled out moving the team, several sources familiar with the team say. Both Suffolk County officials and Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon, who has discussed Citi Field's parking lot as a potential site for a new home for the team, have expressed interest.
Merrick resident and Islanders season-ticket holder Steve Lester, an attorney for the Hempstead Town Board's Democratic caucus, said he'll renew his tickets but has little hope for an Islanders future in Nassau County.
"My instinct," he said, "is that they'll leave."
For Art Feeney and his son, Kevin, 37, who have been going to games since Kevin was a child, deciding to give up their tickets is the end of an era.
"The thought of it is sad," said Kevin Feeney. "It's almost like losing a family member. This is going to sound bad, but these last few years, it's been like watching a family member die."
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Tuossa hiljattain Hempstead kielsi White Castle-ravintolaa avaamasta drive-in-puljua seudulle, sillä se olisi saattanut tuoda liikaa norkoilijoita tuonne betonisen vanhainkodin rauhaan. Kunnon keskustaahan kaupungissa ei ole ja koulutettu nuoriso virtaa muualle. Pari vuotta sitten julkaistiin tilasto, jossa Uniondalen kaupunginosan kohdalta näkyi kuinka käytännössä ainoa syy turistivierailulle tuolla oli Islanders, mikä kertoo oleellisen seudun vetovoimasta. Tietenkin pienen matkan päässä olevat rannat, luonnonpuistot sekä golf-kentät vetävät populaa miljoonittain. Osittain tästäkin syystä luulisi nykyaikaisen toimintakeskuksenkin vain täydentävän tarjontaa, mutta ei.
Vain ihme pitää Islandersin Uniondalessa/Hempsteadissa/Nassaussa jatkossa ja jotenkin pikkuhiljaa jopa toivoo kodin vaihtuvan, ainakin niin, että osat New York sekä Islanders vielä käyvät organisaation kuvaamiseen.
