The Future

Look, I will never criticize a fan of the team for being fed up that this franchise has been in the gutter for so long, if it was any other franchise in American sports, I would most likely agree, but as we know, the Islanders are far from any other franchise.

First, seeing "fans" wearing the jersey inside out at the game Saturday was infuriating. Did we watch the last few 24/7 series? Remember all of those times they made a point of not stepping on the team crest/logo in the middle of the locker-room? O, and the "protestors" support the players but are going against management/ownership, ok, but what does disparaging the crest have to do with them? By wearing that jersey like that, you are dumping on everything that was good about the franchise. If you value the "team" above all else, how the hell do you justify such a stupid form of protest? Wear a shirt with Wang or Snow's name crossed off, but wearing a jersey inside out shows you have zero understanding of hockey culture or those players on the ice you claim to support.

Second, as annoying as picking in the top 3 again this year will be (hey Colorado and Tampa picked top 3 three times in 4 years and they're doing OK), I can't get too despondent because the real fact is that this franchise is essentially getting a reboot in about 95 regular season games. Brooklyn is far from perfect, that arena scares me with the seats (i think they'll do some demolition this summer to fix some of the seats), but to act like this will continue with the cap floor, etc, in Brooklyn just isn't logical. I hate it, but based on attendance and revenue, spending and circumventing the cap is at least semi-understandable at the NVMC. That will not be the case in Brooklyn, I don't think the NHL will allow it after a year or two, and in Brooklyn, there will be potential buyers for the team, which is not the case right now, which makes the chants for "wang must sell" so maddeningly stupid. I also think that it is logical and I wouldn't be surprised to see the team make an effort to add about 10-15 million dollars to the payroll this off-season to create some momentum going into Brooklyn. If your response is that "It's Wang, he won't spend", well then look at 10 years ago, fact is that he did spend at one point in time and again, Brooklyn is a radical change to this franchise.

So in summary, I understand being mad, but I can think of 5 points in the last 5 years that would have been more appropriate times for a legitimate protest (DP shenanigans, Tim Thomas, Brian Rolston, Nino cap crap, no goalie last summer), not after the GM actually takes a risk to add significant talent (even though i'm not a Vanek fan, even before his comments made tonight) after fans have been pining about "moving past prospects and adding to the roster". More than happy to hear your thoughts and comments, but again, this is not going to be "same old Islanders" in under 100 games (though I pray to Bossy that the jersey never is touched).