Advertisement

Are New York Islanders crawling back to Nassau?

There are a few things about the New York Islanders’ alleged eviction from Barclays Center we believe wholeheartedly:

1 – The Barclays Center is never going to be an ideal place to watch a hockey game, unless they dig up the concrete and rearrange the seats and create a fan experience that allows everyone to see the action in all three zones. And that a combination of bad seats, new routines, unwelcoming marketing and game-operations decisions – a white SUV to offset the odd spacing between the boards and seats, combative ushers – as well as rubbish hockey have turned off many Islanders fans on Brooklyn, even if time could heal those ills.

2 – That Monday’s report from Bloomberg that the Islanders aren’t included in Barclays Center financial projections for 2019-20 seems dire, but could also be the opening to some rather contentious talks as Barclays is all like ‘we don’t even need you.’

3 – That neither the arena nor the Islanders can opt out of their deal until Jan. 1, 2018. And that the two sides have to work on an agreement, contractually, and simply can’t walk away from the deal without that good faith negotiation.

[Follow Puck Daddy on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tumblr]

4 – That Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin aren’t, at last check, idiots. They knew about the issues with the arena. They knew about the potential that this relationship could fall apart. They were already making contingency plans last summer, talking about an arena near Citi Field in Queens. They might want out as much as Barclays wants them out.

5 – They didn’t buy the team to move it out of New York. And Gary Bettman isn’t going to allow the Islanders, his favorite team as a civilian, to relocate without it being the absolute last option.

So what, exactly, are we dealing with here in the smoldering aftermath of this report?

Arthur Staple hears that it’s a big-ol’ “non-story” and that there’s been no material change in their relationship. So there’s that.

Meanwhile, Staple’s newspaper Newsday reports that Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano said he’s spoken with the team about a return to the Coliseum:

In a statement, Mangano said “there is a path for the Islanders to return to the new Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum where the best sight lines in NHL remain, improved attractive facilities for fans and athletes and room to add seats to accommodate the Islanders. While the decision remains with the Islanders we believe Long Island fans will make the Islanders successful in the new Coliseum.”

Management of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn — where the Islanders have played the past two seasons — also would “cooperate” if the team wanted to opt out of its 25-year license agreement with the arena, according to sources familiar with the conversations.

What’s weird about this, among other things, is that the developers of Barclays Center are also the ones renovating Nassau; and that after that renovation, it will have a capacity for just 13,000 fans for hockey games, although Newsday reports that the Coliseum can be “retrofitted at any time” to add nearly 2,000 seats.

In theory, it could have a smaller capacity than Barclays (15,795), which is the second-smallest arena in the NHL.

The Islanders’ return to Nassau has become a Big Issue for local politicians, such as:

And …

Are the Islanders bound to head back to Nassau? Is this all just posturing to stay in Brooklyn? Could the Islanders stay in Brooklyn while building a new arena near Citi Field or Belmont Park? Could the Islanders play at MSG while building a competing arena in Queens, that MSG would eventually run?

Ah, who knows?

All we know is that this stuff is doing wonders for the cottage industry of John Tavares speculation.

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

MORE FROM YAHOO SPORTS