Islanders, Coliseum can't attract star players

So what wrote:

What do LI and the barn have to do with incompetent team management?
Teams and players gladly cash checks in lots of less desirable locales.

...like Madison Square Garden

What a depressing week for the Isles! Whatever happened to the link on the Isles website that gave us updates on "The Lighthouse at Long Island Sound"? I thought that was the future of our beat down arena. Truth is, I think it is a bunch of crap that players won't stay or come to the island because of the arena. Long Island is still a helluva lot nicer place to live than say...Columbus, Detroit or Minnesota. Do you think the players really care about the arena? How much time do you see them wandering the halls looking for a bite to eat? The team needs a big signing to get the fan base motivated, and a concrete plan to renovate the arena just to stir up some interest. Us die hard fans will make the trip from wherever, regardless of the condition of the team or the staium, but it would be nice to travel 7 hours to catch a game that we actually win and be able to hang out before and after the game in an Islanders friendly bar or restaurant, rather than that hole in the bottom of the arena. Bring back Peca!

snow, are you seriously going to try and get articles printed about players not wanting to come to the isles because of the coliseum? perhaps you, wang, and the rest of the "committee" should take a good long look in the mirror. smyth took 1 MILLION dollars LESS to go play somewhere else. you had 5 top notch players high tail it out of there. NOT ONE other free agent could be lured to the island despite supposed higher bids. oh sorry, john sim. do you honestly think that these guys didnt want to play in a delapitaed building, so they left? good god come on garth. year upon year of mismanagement and riduculousness have scared them all away. just be a man and say it out loud for yourself. all the isles have left is a back up goalie as a gm. its sad for long island, and embarrassing for the game of hockey.

Jim Dolan wrote:

<quoted text>
...like Madison Square Garden

There you go!

SNOW JOB!
You have to be kidding me. The building has nothing to do with what's going on here. Players don't care about where they skate' it's the money. Blake 10 million for three years or twenty for five, do the math!
Ryan $mith left because he wanted to win now. Lets see how this one pans out (O'Mara, Neilson and Edmonton's pick Plante or that Russian the Rangers picked up!)
Don't get me wrong I thought Snow did a good job getting Witt, Hill, and Kozlof last year. But when he had to swim with the big fish, he sank.
A history screwed up ownership, and even worst trades is my karma. Think about Luongo 1st round pick (#5) traded for Parish, Kavasha and a bag of pucks, all gone. DePietro #1 overall, we all ready had a goalie! Bertuzzi for Trevor Linden, both gone. The list goes on. Just put a winner on the ice,THEY WILL COME! Stop making excuses! We went from a lockout to a walkout! My 13 yearold is thinking about not watching this year.
So Mr. Wang and his puppet snowman, get your act together. Can someone tell me what happen to Neil Smith?
A SUFFERING ISLE FAN

Mr. Herrman. If you think trading three number ones for one playoff victory for a team that was hopelessly outclassed from a talent standpoint(Thank you Mike Millbury)you must either be on the islander payroll or you are surprisingly literate for someone incapable of coherent thought.And with respect to Garth Snow who talks of arenas and patience, while the walls of a once proud franchise are crumbling I say please don't lie to my face.You remind me of Bagdad Bob. You must think I and my fellow Islander fans are as intelligent hockey wise as your boss.

Derek Thurber wrote:

Last July we were also slated to end up 15th in the conference and were a joke but we did ok and we will do even better this year. It is writers like Hermie here that make me love my Isles even more. It is actually quite fun being an Islander fan - I will always bleed the Blue, white and Orange. We have the best 1-2 tandem in the NHL and I have faith in Snow, Nolan and company that we will spend the 50 million this year - in other words we still have 20 million left to spend - What do the Rangers have left???

Just because you are a fan of a team does not mean that you mindlessly believe in its management after ten years of mediocrity.You don't understand what just happened. This team has been gutted. There is nothing on the farm beyond okposo and only seven players are under contact. Dream on.Its comatose fans like you that buy tickets to see a minor league team masquerading as an NHL franchise

Charlie wrote:

Very subtle article. Well done! It shows that an inept management "team" can do as much to hinder an organization as help it. It couldn't have happened to a more clueless, egotistical owner than Wang..who hired an inept and obviously clueless "GM" in Snow. What a joke! I don't blame good talent for leaving and not coming here, despite the presence of Nolan, who is the only credible one in the bunch.

Just to add a thought. The only reason Ted Nolan would sign onto this ship of fools is because he was still being blackballed by the rest of the NHL and had no options.

its a shame that such a great organization has gone this bad ,,,, all of the excuses about the building being old which is tru but long island is a great place to live , its the owner mr wang and gart snow who maybe should try and sign himself as a free agent , but they need to sign a big free agent before its to late, islander fans are passionater but ther last 10 years have been so bad with ownership its hard to rot for a team who brings players in and let them go ,,,, hope u are happy mr wang , you never cared aboutr winning its all about a new buliding and real estate not bringing the cup back to long island,,,, please sell the team and maybe an owner who cares will buy a team that might leave a great place to play and a better place to live........

Remember, when Wang first bought the Isles, he wanted to bring basketball to the Coleseum. Wang is a basketball nut, it's his favorite sport. He is tinkering and putting his nose in too far into the hockey operations that are supposed to be controlled by the GM. Wang has to step back, let Garth and Nolan handle the situation. When the GM can do what he wants to do, without owner governance, that's when the team will get better.

The Coleseum would still be filled if they put a good product on the ice.

With this team going the wrong direction and not even close to any new arena, Thanks to the great County of Nassau with all the fighting over what to do with the land. If the Isles have a horrible season next year and only 5000 a game all the talk will be about moving this team. I say with Mr. Wang loving basketball so much, please put the team in Brooklyn with the Nets in their new building which opens in 2009. Maybe then we can attract high price free agents. This new Nassau Coliseum is a pipe dream, and if or when it does happen this team will be sold and maybe moved much further away. Brooklyn has mass transit to accomodate Long Islanders to take the LIRR. Lets face it the Nassau Coliseum is a dump.

It has been so much fun to read the Ranger hatred and Ranger jealous coming from the asslander fans on this board. It is going to be a laugh riot to watch that disaster of a team take the ice. I believe that 120 goals left the team in the last couple of weeks. Well at least Neilsen, O'mara and your #1 pick in the 2007 draft will be able to lend a hand. ROTFLMFAO!

1983 NOW, 1983 FOREVER!

HA!HA! to bad 4 the Islanders!

HA!HA! to bad 4 the Islanders

The Man wrote:

It has been so much fun to read the Ranger hatred and Ranger jealous coming from the asslander fans on this board. It is going to be a laugh riot to watch that disaster of a team take the ice. I believe that 120 goals left the team in the last couple of weeks. Well at least Neilsen, O'mara and your #1 pick in the 2007 draft will be able to lend a hand. ROTFLMFAO!
1983 NOW, 1983 FOREVER!

Funny......you act as if the season starts tomorrow.
Typical of a Rag fan....talking out of his patoose.

What a stupid argument. Pay the right players the right price, win some big games and see how many will care about the building. It will look great with another Stanley Cup banner.

Ask the players if they rather have a cup or a new dressing room.

I agree they cant get any good players to play in there coliseum.
I guess people hate that place and that team.
I think Islanders to get rid of there team.
There team isn't doing any thing in the past couple of years.

what does patoose mean?