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Read Charles Wang’s letter to Islanders fans as they leave Nassau

When the New York Islanders begin playing at Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn next season, it marks a new era for the franchise. Not only because they’re saying goodbye to the beloved asbestos hive known as the Nassau Coliseum, but because it’s the beginning of the end of Charles Wang’s ownership of the team.

Wang purchased ad space in Newsday on Friday, and ran this letter to the fans (via Point Blank):

Via Point Blank
Via Point Blank

Wang has been one of the most frustrating owners in recent NHL history. This letter is no different.

Dude, would it have killed you to reference the dynasty? The glory years? The idea that life as Islanders fans know it didn’t begin until 2000 when Wang purchased the team – hence the reference to the Shawn Bates goal, the fourth-best moment in the building’s history – is just insulting.

Hi, Bobby Nystrom called …

But that’s what Wang does: The best of intentions, the most depressing of results, whether it’s in team management or attempting to keep the Islanders from relocating (hey, at least Brooklyn isn’t Kansas City, right?) or any of the other decisions that have made the Islanders their own worst enemy during his tenure.

As Isles Nation once harshly put it: “The fact that there is still one single defender of Charles Wang is utterly insane.”

But again: His heart’s in the right place. The rest of this letter was touching and hopefully the Islanders do bring those traditions to the new barn.

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