I've said before that it boggles my mind that there are Islanders fans old enough to have their own children who cannot remember when the Isles last won a Stanley Cup.
Some of that is just the cyclical nature of sports—even the Yankees have had their down years. Much of that has to do with the ownership struggles the team had to endure prior to Charles Wang purchasing the club, trying times that set the organization back at least a decade.
John Spano, the Gang of Four, the fishsticks logo, Mike Milbury, years of losing—all conspired to drag down the once-sterling Islanders image.
And while Wang has brought stability to the owner's box, he has been criticized for the "team approach" he favors and for giving Rick DiPietro a 15-year deal.
So when the news broke that Ted Nolan was fired by Garth Snow—in what both sides claim was a mutual parting of the ways—you knew that it would be labeled as yet another example of how bad things are on Long Island.
And sure enough, Scott Burnside of ESPN has weighed in, calling the team a "laughingstock." Newsday columnist Wallace Matthews—who probably wouldn't recognize Bill Guerin if he bumped into him—slapped together some nameless quotes from former employees and player agents to paint the picture of Wang as clueless, and claiming his hobby "happens to be the systematic screwing-up of a once-great hockey team."
Never mind that Wang more or less saved the team from leaving the Island, that he has been fighting tooth and nail to upgrade the Islanders' arena—which besides being hopelessly outdated is saddled with the worst lease agreement known to man—and has put a good deal of focus on community events to strengthen the ties between the team and its fans.
That DiPietro contract? Call it a trend, as NHL teams are locking up their top, young (amd most marketable) players long-term. Wang has also embraced new media in a way no one else has, from Islanders TV to my personal favorite, the Blog Box.
And yet, you wonder if the Nolan news is received by players around the league the way Burnside portrayed it—another reason why not to play for the Islanders. Another example of instability from a team that plays in a dump.
But look closer at the move and you see that, given the direction the team is headed, it was inevitable and probably best for everyone—including Nolan.
Snow did a terrific job of compiling extra picks at the draft and generally got good reviews (although not from fans who wanted Nikita Filatov). The Islanders have a number of promising young players on the roster who need playing time to develop.
So it's all about the future, and that's fine—pick a plan and stick with it. Nolan, with one year left on his deal, felt the team was close enough to win now with the addition of better, more experienced talent. Hence the philosophical differences.
You can't blame him, he's a coach. Now he'll get a chance to coach somewhere else. As a fan, you hate to see a quality coach leave, but there are plenty of candidates out there—we'll see who Snow selects.
The Nolan move also seems to indicate that this really is Snow's team and not so much directed by committee, which would be a step in the right direction—a team needs its GM to be the one to make the final call.
Hopefully, the rebuilding process won't be painfully long—there's precious little juice in the arena these days and the on-ice product hasn't been terribly exciting. But when you talk to fans, you know that they are genuinely excitied about players like Okposo and Campoli and Tambellini and Comeau and Gervais and want to see them play and succeed.
Maybe this is the core of a team that will contend on an annual basis. The team that will one day play in the Lighthouse, a state-of-the-art arena. The team that will bring a Stanley Cup back to Long Island.
Nolan's firing was a step forward. We'll see if it's a step on the right path.
11 comments Last one added 11 months ago — Leave a Comment
jojo jojo 11 months ago
A+. I am happy to read an article that doesn't come on the band wagon, and bash the Isles. Those people who do that are more quiet than a bag of feathers when something good comes out of it.
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Chris Pope 11 months ago
Nolan is a cancer wherever he goes. Im sorry, any coach that tries to sleep with a players wife has no spot coaching at all, let along the NHL.
Good for Snow for telling him to skip town.
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Kevin Terlesky 11 months ago
I can't think of a team I have had more fun following than the Islanders. I am a sucker for the underdog. Add to that the dirt that Greg Logan digs up on Newsday, and you're in Sport Soap Opera Heaven!
I don't blame either side on this one. I hope Nolan finds work again, he should be a good fit for some team out there.
As for Garth Snow, the GM has to be in charge of the team direction. So I don't think Garth Snow had a choice.
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Kevin McRae 11 months ago
Now I'm not saying this as a Rangers fan to rub it in. But lets just look at the facts. Charles Wang took over the Islanders in 2000. In the eight years since the team will now be looking for its seventh head coach. Butch Goring, Lorne Henning, Peter Laviolette, Steve Stirling, Brad Shaw, Ted Nolan and his replacement. That's not any sort of stability.
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Joseph DiDominica 11 months ago
Hey Kevin,
The rangers are not far off from the Islanders. Since 2000 they have had John Muckler, Ron Low, Bryan Trottier, Glen Sather, and Tom Renney. I am also sure that if the Rangers don't get past the second round this year, they will be looking for another coach as well. You know Renney will be on the hot seat this year.
Joe
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Mike Burns 11 months ago
As a Islander season ticket holder I couldn't agree with you more. Mr. Gasparino is obviously drinking the Kool Aid. Wang's only rival for the most absurd stupid professional sports franchise owner is Jim Dolan of the Knicks. He has owned the team for 8 seasons and what have they accomplished? NOTHING-A few playoff berths (in the last spot to qualify) and then an immediate departure from the playoffs in the very first round. If Mr. Gasparino looked around-it doesn't take this long with no end in sight for a franchise to become competitive. For example when the Islanders entered the league in 1972 they were pitiful and the worst team in the league. Within 3 years they made the playoffs, elimited the Rangers and Penguins coming from behind 3-0 to win the series 4-3 and then lost to the Flyers 4-3 in the semi-final round after being down 3-0. Thus they came within one game of the Cup final. They went on to make the playoffs every year thereafter until the 1990's. Of course they won the historic 4 Stanley Cups in a row which will probably never be matched again. So, Mr. Gasparino, wake up and smell the coffee-Wang is a loser, will always be a loser and the only people he employs are those who do whatever he says blindly-even though he doesn't have the first clue about hockey or how to run a successful sports franchise.
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Michael Gasparino 11 months ago
First of all, Mike, I don't drink Islanders Kool-Aid. My favorite flavor is actually Wild Cherry. Second, what the Islanders did in their first years was unprecedented in pro sports history and was the result of a perfect storm of superior management (Bill Torrey), coaching (Al Arbour) and players (Potvin, Trottier, Bossy, et al). To compare what any sports franchise is doing now to what the Isles did then is simply foolish. Yes, Wang has owned the team for eight seasons and has made some mistakes, but you can't just discount the times the team made the playoffs. And I can name plenty of other owners off the top of my head who are far worse -- Donald Sterling of the LA Clippers, the late Bill Wirtz of the Black Hawks, Jeremy Jacobs of the Bruins, Bill Bidwill of the Arizona Cardinals, Mike Brown of the Bengals, Peter Angelos of the Orioles. And there is an end in sight with the focus on building through youth. To ignore what Wang inherited is equally foolish. The Isles were perhaps in the worst situation of almost any pro sports franchise in terms of the building and the lease agreement, and had he not stepped in to keep the team on Long Island, you could be sure that the NHL would have found an owner to take the franchise elsewhere. Look at what happened to the the Seattle Sonics. If the Lighthouse falls through, no one would be surprised if Wang -- a businessman -- cut bait. And if that happened and the team ended up in Hamilton, or Winnipeg, or Salt Lake City, you'd look back on Wang and understand that at least he did his best to keep the team here. But I can see where you're coming from. If I was a season-ticket holder and shelled out that kind of cash to see a team struggle for as long as it has, and put up with the dump that is the Coliseum as often as you do, I'd be pretty upset, too.
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Mike Burns 11 months ago
Michael-I am sure you can always find someone worse than Wang-but what is the point in that? So what if is there is someone worse or another team that is in worse shape? What has Wang accomplished as the owner of the Isanders? All the team has done is BARELY make the playoffs only 4 out of 8 years and then get bounced out of the playoffs in the first round-is that what you call accomplishing anything? And this youth movement is the biggest joke of all. Unlike what you conveniently characterize as the lucky "perfect storm" years-with the advent of free agency-you simply cannot successfully build a championship team solely on draft picks and farm system like the Islanders did back in the good old days because when or shortly before the players fully mature and come into their own, they historically have either been traded or opted to leave the Islanders (in no small part due to Wang's refusal to pay the really big salaries to those who actually deserve them). All Wang is really interested in and has ever been interested in is making a profit on the real estate in connection with the redevelopment plans he has. As soon as he accomplishes that, I am sure he will sell the team. And the reason the Coliseum is empty is NOT because it is a dump. It actually has the BEST sight lines of almost any arena in the NHL although the common corridors and refreshment/lavatory facilities are a disgrace and grossly inadedequate. The reason why the Coliseum is empty is because Wang has failed for over 8 years to have a STABLE organization of competent EXPERIENCED hockey executives that can put a competitive team on the ice. There is simply no hope while Wang is the owner. As another disgusted fan aplty put it, to call the Islander Organization a Mickey Mouse operation is an insult to Mickey Mouse!
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Michael Gasparino 11 months ago
Mike,
I agree with you about the sight lines -- the interior of the Coliseum is just fine. Everything else about it sucks.
As far as Wang's motives for buying the team, I'm sure the real estate was a big factor. But the bottom line is he stepped into an absolute quagmire and saved the team, and while he held on to Milbury too long, the team he has around him now -- Snow, Trottier, Morrow, Jankowski -- seems pretty strong to me, and they are all solid hockey people. Snow's grade is incomplete, though I'm obviously willing to give him a chance.
Would it be wonderful if Wang spent his personal millions on the team and risk losing money every year? Sure, but he'd be the first owner in history to do that. It's a business, and the Islanders as a business are a money-losing operation in large part because of the heinous lease agreement that denies them revenue streams that other clubs enjoy. Throw in an outdated building and the Isles bring in (and keep) less money than everyone else in the league. So unfortunately, they operate on a budget.
I've said on Still Drivin' that I would love to see the team at least approach the cap -- would $48 million kill them? But they're going with youth and will operate on a budget until either the Lighthouse is in place or -- and hopefully this happens quickly -- the team develops and becomes competitive enough where they're willing to take the risk and bring in top talent, regardless of the price tag.
In any case, your point is taken -- Wang has had plenty of time, and I agree that we need to see some real progress in the next few seasons.
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NYI Fan Central 11 months ago
Two of the coaches were interim coaches and Butch Goring was here when he bought the team.
You also have to give him credit for hiring Laviolette when Boston would not give him a chance as an assistant.
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B.D. Gallof 11 months ago
Awesome piece, Mike.
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