New York Islanders Ranked No. 26 In Forbes NHL Franchise Valuation

Forbes released its NHL team valuations this week, and the New York Islanders ranked 26th of the 30 teams in the NHL. This comes as no surprise to Islander fans, as they have complained time and time again that the franchise is crumbling.

The statistics come from the 2009-2010 season, and surprisingly the Islanders value went up one percent from the year before, although this may be caused by the rescission and unstable economy.

Forbes highlights in its little blurb that the Islanders are one of only three teams where an owner sold the franchise for less than that owner paid for it. What is even more shocking and depressing for Islander fans is that if Charles Wang were to sell the Islanders now he would also sell it for less than he bought the franchise for.

The belief that the reason that the Islanders have such little value is that they play in the second-oldest stadium in the NHL and can not fill it up. Age of the building really has little to do with the lack of attendance—it may be more the fact that the Islanders can't seem to put a winning and exciting team on the ice.

The Islanders have little time left on Long Island if they don't start winning soon. Little movement has been made on a new building.

It is surprising that there are somehow four teams in a worse financial situation than the Islanders. These teams are: Nashville, Tampa Bay, Atlanta and Phoenix. All four of these teams play in warm weather climates, giving them a fair excuse.

Therefore, the Islanders are in the worst financial situation of teams playing in potential hockey markets.

See the entire rankings here.

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