Sutter Resigns, Devilish Problems, and Wiz Trade Shows Isles Colors

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Written on 12/29/2010 by Jim Cerny

With much news in hockey land of late, here is a smorgasbord of the most important doings the past few days, and my quick take on each.

Daryl Sutter Resigns as GM of the Flames

This was not a shock, and probably could have/should have happened this past summer. The Flames are a midling team at present---one stuck with 11 no-trade/no-movement contracts---with a weak farm system after one poor draft after another.

That falls on the general manager. And as such, with the Flames sitting in 14th place in the Western Conference, it was no suprise that team president Ken King asked for--and received---Sutter's resignation.

But all that said, I don't understand the level of vitriol that has been sent Sutter's way, in general, by the hockey media, not to mention the glee with which Sutter's resignation has been reported.

Sutter is no bouyant personality, never looking to be quick with a joke or to banter with media folk. I get that. But I also understand that he made a series of bold moves earlier in the decade to turn Calgary back into a relevant franchise again, one that was within a controversial call of winning the Stanley Cup.

Under his stewardship---both as general manager and head coach---the Flames became a profitable organization once again, not to mention a contender on a regular basis. That needs to be recognized as part of Daryl Sutter's record as much as his recent head-scratching moves and lack of on-ice success the past couple of years.

As for the bottom line, the Flames are in good hands with interim GM Jay Feaster, a solid hockey man, in charge for now. But it will take time to clean up this mess, what with untradeable veterans and less-than high-end prospects in the organization.

Devil of  a Time in New Jersey

John Maclean finally got the boot as coach of the Devils, with Lou Lamoriello dropping the axe right before Christmas on one of the organization's most popular and devoted all-time individuals. The move was as justified---the Devils are shockingly last overall in the 30-team National Hockey League---as it was disrespectfully timed.

That Jacques Lemaire was brought back in by Lamoriello to coach this mess of a team, mere months after an exhausted Lemaire retired as bench boss in Jersey following a first-round playoff pasting at the hands of the Flyers, is either a desperate move, a convenient move, or a move of a man who could think of no other move.

Nonetheless Lamoriello now has to figure out how to purge salary from his Cap-stressed roster and begin to look towards how to fix things in time for next season. He is all but begging some other team to claim Brian Rolston on re-entry waivers by noon tomorrow---a move that would save the Devils half of Rolston's $5 million salary this year and next.

That is the only beginning, though. Lamoriello has a helluva' lot more work to do than that. And while purging salary, he needs to find a way to be creative and get Zach Parise---the injured, yet soon-to-be-star-free-agent---signed this summer, and then attempt to rebuild his awful defense corps while getting Parise, Ilya Kovalchuk, Travis Zajac and the like to score like they used to.

I spoke with a Devils staffer today at the Prudential Center and he wore the blank look of someone shellshocked by what has happened this season. As that Devils employee and I said to one another, seasons like this always have seemed to happen to other teams---pretty much every other team in the NHL, actually---just not to the Devils.

Now that it has happened to the Devils, Lamoriello and the organization do not seem to know how to slow down the snowball that has swiftly descended the negative slope.

And thus they are buried in an avalanche of a mess.

Islanders Trade Wisniewski to Canadiens

On the surface the Islanders trade of defenseman James Wisniewski to the Montreal Canadiens for two draft picks, including a second rounder, seems like a win-win for both clubs.

The Islanders are not in playoff contention and they turned the servicable Wisniewski into a pair of draft picks.

The Canadiens are in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, battling for their playoff lives with a string of other teams, and could use veteran help on the blueline, especially now that the club has seemed to decide that rookie PK Subban is not quite ready for a regular role among the top six defensemen.

But what irks me about this trade is that I get a nagging feeling that the Islanders just wanted to drop more salary from their payroll. That Charles Wang is in Garth Snow's ear telling him to drop even closer to the Cap floor, though I don't know how much further down they can go before falling through that floor.

I spoke with a respected veteran NHL person "in the know" today and he said exactly what I was thinking, "At some point you have to stop selling this notion of the future, the future, and start showing something in the present. This guy (Wisniewski) is no star, but he was vital to that team. In my opinion this was all about shedding more salary and continuing to sell the idea that stockpiling draft picks and prospects is the way to go."

Couldn't agree more. It's almost like a street-card game of Three Card Monty. Keep shuffling in a fast deceiving way, keep offering hope, but never deliver the goods.

And so it goes on The Island...

Follow Me On Twitter: @jimcerny

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Dead on the Island

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Written on 12/06/2010 by Jim Cerny

When I served as the play-by-play voice of the Islanders during the predictably unpredictable dark days of multiple bad ownerships, Mike Milbury's reign of error as General Manager, the revolving door of head coaches, and one last place finish after another there was always one positive thing that could be counted on.

Whenever the Islanders hosted the Rangers at Nassau Coliseum, the old barn on Hempstead Turnpike would be sold out and rocking.

Though attendance at the Coliseum  was always fairly lousy in those days, and season ticket holders were few and far between, the joint would be jumping and tickets were impossible to find when the arch rival Rangers paid a visit.

Sadly, not even appearances by the Rangers can fill the old building in Nassau any more. The Rangers have visited the Nassau Coliseum twice already this season, and the arena has not been close to sold out either time.

Back on Columbus Day---keep in mind a Monday day game on a holiday not everyone gets off from work for---the announced crowd was a bit over 11,000, some five thousand short of capacity. And to be honest, it really looked that afternoon that perhaps there were fewer than 10,000 actual bodies in the Coliseum as huge swaths of sections were empty.

Then last Thursday night the Rangers skated on Long Island again and there was good news/bad news for the Islanders. The Good News: the team had its largest single-game attendance of the season. The Bad News: less than 14,000 showed up for the New York-New York "rivalry", still 3,000 short of a sell out.

And I guess I'm piling on here, but only 7,773 were announced in attendance for yesterday afternoon's Sunday matinee with another long-standing rival, the Philadelphia Flyers.

Larry Brooks, the excellent hockey writer for The New York Post, wrote yesterday that the league should intervene and save the Islanders from an owner who has done everything within his power the past several years to gut this franchise of any sense that it belongs in the major leagues. Everything about the Islanders now reaks of minor league---from front office to sales & marketing to public relations to the building to the on-ice product. Owner Charles Wang is spending the minimum amount possible to keep this team alive until its lease expires at the Nassau Coliseum in four years and, presumably, he can move it somewhere else.

While I agree, in part, with Brooks that the league should step in, I would argue that enough is enough and perhaps Gary Bettman et al could help broker an early termination of the lease and end the misery sooner rather than later. Let Wang take his team elsewhere, or sell it to someone who wishes to do the same. Because I do not believe there is anyone in their right mind who would buy the Islanders now and keep them on Long Island. Wang has killed the market, and four more years of this painful slow death is just so cruel to the Islanders Faithful.

Wang's Lighthouse Project for a time made him the people's champion as he tried to get a new arena and bustling entertainment and shopping area built. But without any political support to speak of, the project is dead in the water, and with that, Wang has pulled back on dumping his resources into the team---certainly his business perogative---and the fans have responded to that---as well as the rich ticket prices---by simply not attending Islanders games any more.

I thought I had seen and lived through the worst of it for the Isles back in the '90's and the early part of this decade.

I was wrong. This is worse. Much worse. And it feels like it should finally be the end.

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Gordon Had No Chance on the Island

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Written on 11/17/2010 by Jim Cerny

Does it seem logical and make sense that a National Hockey League coach is fired after two straight last-place finishes and in the midst of a ten-game losing streak in Year No. 3?

Absolutely. It makes perfect sense. And for that I believe Islanders GM Garth Snow was certainly justified in sacking head coach Scott Gordon on Monday morning.

However Gordon was not the problem on Long Island. Just as interim coach Jack Capuano will not be the problem beginning with this evening's home tilt against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Islanders' issues start much further up the food chain than the head coach. And higher up than the general manager for that matter, as well.

For all of their good young talent---and make no mistake, the Isles do have a good group of talented youngsters both on their current roster and in the organizational pipeline---the Islanders are headed nowhere under the petty and penny-pinching ownership of Charles Wang.

Once hailed as the savior of the franchise---and rightfully so---at the start of his ownership tenure earlier this decade, Wang has now become a mirror image of some of the disasterous ownerships that preceded him, ones that I was more than well-acquainted with when I served as the club's play-by-play broadcaster.

There was the unfortunate end of the John Pickett regime. There was the embarrassing tenure of the Howard Milstein group, led by clueless hatchet man David Seldin. The "Gang of Four", whose names I can't even remember they were in and out so fast. And of course Gary Bettman's personal black eye, John Spano, a fraud with hardly a dime in his pocket who was personally endorsed by the commisioner of the NHL.

It was embarrassing to be an Islander for all of those years---whether being an Islander meant as a player, a coach, an employee, or more importantly, a fan. The team was mismanaged, a last-place guarantee year after year on the ice, and played to an empty house on a regular basis at the Nassau Coliseum.

Sound familiar?

Sure it does because history is repeating itself these past several years under Wang's stewardship.

Listen, he helped build this franchise back up, and it wasn't too long ago that under his guidance the Islanders were back in the playoffs and the old barn in Hempstead was rocking again. But those days are gone, and I can't envision them coming back.

Wang either wants his Lighthouse real estate project---which includes a new arena, retail, and hotels---to be approved by the Town of Hempstead or he wants out, spending the absolute bare minimum on his team until his lease is up at the Coliseum.

It's his money, so it's his decision. But in the meantime he is holding Islanders fans---what few of them actually still care---captive.

And a good man, and solid coach, like Gordon is given absolutely no chance to win with the roster he is handed. Then he is fired when the team doesn't win. Same will hold true for Capuano for as long as he is here. And the next coach, probably another minor league guy because they are the least expensive to pay, will face the same the situation down the road.

It's going to get worse before it get's better, too. Wang is committed to not spending much more in player salary than what the CBA mandates as the bare minimum. Heck, the Islanders only reach the salary cap floor because they still have Alexei Yashin's buyout on the books.

And what of John Tavares? Remember him? First overall pick in 2009. The player the Islanders craved to build around and center all of their off-ice marketing strategies around?

What of Tavares today? He has a respectable 10 points in 14 games, but his relevance on the National Hockey League landscape has just vanished. This is a guy, similar to a Steven Stamkos, who should be one of the faces of the new NHL. Instead he is adrift on the Island. There can't be a week that goes by that he doesn't speak to his agent or his family about the day that he can finally become a free agent and quickly flee to another organization.

This story could go on and on. But the bottom line point as it regards to Scott Gordon's firing is that yes, the Islanders were justified in letting their head coach go.

But Scott Gordon never had a chance to succeed in the first place.

Follow Me On Twitter: @jimcerny

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The Kids Start Off Alright

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Written on 10/05/2009 by Jim Cerny


John Tavares (photo left) did not disappoint in his NHL debut on Saturday night. The first overall pick in this past NHL Draft---and annointed savior of the Islanders franchise---notched a pair of points, including his first NHL goal, against Sidney Crosby and the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins at the Nassau Coliseum.

If you haven't yet seen Tavares' goal, check it out here. He displays a quick set of hands, turning a broken play into a big goal. True goal scorers---whether they have played ten years in the NHL or ten minutes---instinctively know where to position themselves to get the prime scoring opportunities.

Rangers coach John Tortorella says that, "the puck just follows these kinds of players...it finds them all of the time."

John Tavares is that kind of player. Right spot, natural instinct, great hands.

Good for the Islanders and their fans to have landed Tavares following years of misery on The Island.

Bad for the Islanders that not long before Tavares and his 'mates took to the ice on Saturday, team owner Charles Wang spoke in bitterly disappointed tones that the Town of Hempstead had not met his October 3rd deadline to resolve whether or not his planned Lighthouse Project---which includes a new arena for the Islanders---would go forth. In grave tones, Wang spoke of options such as selling the team or relocating it to another city.

Veiled threats? Perhaps so. But threats nonetheless as far as the dispirited fans on the Isles are concerned.

Chris Botta over at NYI Point Blank and BD Gallof at The Hockey Independent are the two reporters who have covered this story the best---really for years now---and the best part is they usually offer up very different views on the goings on. That makes for some fun reading, while also providing a wider scope of opinion. Go check them out if you have not already.

Anyway, getting off topic here, it's a shame that Tavares' debut was pretty much overshadowed by arena politics. As Arthur Staple wrote in Newsday, "I went to a hockey game and a press conference broke out."

Good stuff that Tavares scored a goal and an assist in his NHL debut, even if he failed on a couple of other prime scoring chances and muffed his shootout attempt.

And JT was not the only youngster making a positive early impression over the weekend. Both Victor Hedman, the second overall pick right behind Tavares, and Matt Duchene, chosen No. 3 this past June by Colorado, had nice starts, as well.

Though he was a minus-two in Tampa's season-opening 6-3 loss to Atlanta on Saturday night, Hedman played confidently, and he played a lot. Coach Rick Tocchet used Hedman in all game situations, and the kid led the Lightning with nearly 27 minutes worth of ice-time. He also picked up his first NHL point, assisting on the Lightning's first goal of the season, and was second on the team with five shots on goal.

Duchene, one of two 18 year-olds in the Avs lineup along with Ryan O'Reilly, earned an assist in his NHL debut last Thursday, and played 15:29 in Saturday's win over the Canucks. O'Reilly, the Avs second rounder this year, has seen far less of the ice than Duchene, but he also earned an assist in his NHL debut against the Sharks last Thursday.

Another member of the 2009 draft class---Atlanta's Evander Kane, selected fourth overall---made a neat play to also earn an assist in his first NHL contest on Saturday. Kane stole the puck at the Lightning blueline, burst past the defenseman to drive towards the net. Though goaltender Mike Smith poked the puck off Kane's stick, Rich Peverly was there to clean up for the Thrashers and hand Kane a point.

Two other kids have impressed right from the get-go, Philly's James Van Riemsdyk (first round in 2007) and Michael Del Zotto (first round in 2008) of the Rangers. Van Riemsdyk, who is in the perfect situation, I think, surrounded by such a deep and talented group of teammates, has three points already in his first two games. In Saturday's win over the Devils, he notched a pair of assists and was a plus-three.

Del Zotto is clearly still adjusting to the speed and intensity of the pro game, but there is no denying his offensive skills. The 19 year-old defenseman is playing on the Rangers' top power play unit, and looks comfortable doing so. He also picked up his first NHL goal on Saturday in the final minute of the second period against Ottawa. You can check out Del Zotto's first goal here.

Early samplings for sure, but so far, the kids are looking alright at the NHL level.

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Clouds Hang Over Tavares' Home Debut for Isles

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Written on 9/23/2009 by Jim Cerny



This is the night Islanders fans have been waiting for ever since the club selected its next savior, high-scoring forward John Tavares, with the first overall pick in June's NHL Entry Draft. In fact, this is the night the diehards have been salivating over since the Isles won the draft lottery.

Tonight, John Tavares dons the home blue jersey and skates in his first game---albeit a pre-season one---in front of the hometown faithful at the Nassau Coliseum following training camp in Saskatoon.

It should be a happy occasion for these fans, who have been mercilessly beaten down with on-ice foibles and off-ice turmoil the past 15 years or so. Tavares' home debut should signal that there is a bright light at the end of a long dark tunnel.

Unfortunately that bright light, as Islanders fans have been reminded over and over again through the years, could very well be an oncoming locomotive headed the wrong way on the same track.

You see, just 24 hours prior to JT's maiden game at the Coliseum, Islanders owner Charles Wang was taking part in a 12-hour marathon of a public hearing regarding his Lighthouse Project, which calls for a much-needed new arena for his team---along with several billion dollars worth of other devlopment. And by most accounts, including this one from Chris Botta over at Fanhouse, it was a rough go for Mr. Wang and his Lighthouse Project.

After the hearing, Wang reiterated his October 3rd deadline for certainty that the Town of Hempstead would be willing to green light the massive Lighthouse undertaking.

That ain't happening. Too many questions. Too little time. Not enough negotiating from both sides.

"It's time for Lighthouse to push the panic button," BD Gallof, creator of HockeyIndependent.com and longtime blogger on all things Islanders, told me this morning. "Charles Wang's only leverage is that October 3rd date, and really what kind of leverage is that?"

Perhaps Wang would have had more leverage if the Isles pre-season game in Kansas City---which also took place on Tuesday night---did not play to a half-empty house. Had there been a sellout---or at the very least, a good-sized crowd---Wang could have pointed out that if he doesn't get his Lighthouse Project approved, then he'd be willing to move or sell his team to Kansas City, a market with a brand-new arena already in place.

If that was Wang's orginal plan when the pre-season game in Kansas City was scheduled, then let's just say things did not play out the way he wanted.

Pierre LeBrun at espn.com takes a closer look at the failed outing in Kansas City last night, and concludes that KC is not the hockey market Long Island is. Now that's saying something.

So circling back, what exactly are Wang's options? He is holding firm to an "all or nothing"---as Gallof refers to it---non-negotiable take on his enormous development project. It's not just the arena he wants. Wang wants the hotels, retail, etc. to transform the area by Hempstead Turnpike, as well. But without a real threat to leave---OK, perhaps Jim Balsillie could offer to take the team off Wang's hands and move it to Hamilton---Wang lacks the leverage to get the whole enchilada.

There has been talk of the Isles considering a move to Brooklyn, where the New Jersey Nets basketball team plans to move into a still-to-be-built-or-even-approved arena. But in Gallof's opinion, "Brooklyn is not an option. There are so many holes though that, not the least of which is the demographic."

The one thing that could be mutually acceptable to both Wang and the Town of Hempstead is a refurbishing of the antiquated Nassau Coliseum, though who would pay for what would also be hotly debated. There has actually been discussion about refurbishing the old barn in Nassau, one that would add the necessary suites and other popular amenities to suit Wang, though it might take upwards of two or three years to complete.

The bottom line here, though, is that, yet again, Islanders fans can not enjoy the moment without worrying what about is around the corner. Yay, Tavares is here! Ugh, the Islanders may be skipping town!

It has been this way really for the past decade or so, ever since one Islanders owner after another has tried to figure out how to land a new arena to stop the financial bleeding that, reportedly, costs Wang about $20 million annually.

"The past 15 years have been excruciating for the Islander fan," stated Gallof, who does provide some optimism on his blog in that top Town of Hempstead officials have told him they expect a new arena to be built...at some point.

"These fans are just tired of it all. They are damaged by it."

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