Viva Las Vegas?

I don't know much about life. But there is one thing of which I'm absolutely certain. There is no such thing as a coincidence. Everything happens for a reason. And in the sports world, everything outside of the games themselves are done for a reason.

After reporting that the Islanders were a little too aggressive in promoting their Lighthouse Project last Thursday, I just assumed it was the Islanders shoving this thing down our throats. After all, that's what they've always done. But the next day at work, additional pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place. A co-worker said that fans were chanting "Go To Vegas!" at the Islanders, with the backstory being that Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer was interested in moving an NHL team to Las Vegas. Apparently, Bruckheimer's interest in Vegas has cooled, but that's a city that's dying for a pro franchise; hockey could be the sport to get it done. After hearing that, I thought back to last Thursday's episode of NHL Live. E.J. Hradek was talking about the Islanders and mentioned how the Lighthouse Project was taking forever and that Charles Wang couldn't lose money on the Islanders forever. Then, to top it all off, Mike Milbury was on Hockey Night in Canada on Sirius on Friday. While talking about the Islanders, he intimated that hockey on Long Island could be a thing of the past, not just because nobody goes to the games, but because hockey isn't a big enough of a youth sport on Long Island to sustain interest in the Islanders.

That's when I got really worried. And that's when I made a prediction for which I'll hate myself should it come true: Within the next five years, the Islanders will be playing in a different city.

Don't believe me? Scroll up to two paragraphs ago. That should be all the proof you need. Why would the Islanders suddenly start shilling the Lighthouse Project on MSG Plus unless there was a reason for it? It's not like C.J. Papa came in on Thursday and said, "You know what? I don't have much to talk about in my intermission report. Why don't I constantly bring up the Lighthouse Project?" It doesn't work that way. My theory is that Charles Wang instructed MSG Plus to prominently feature the Lighthouse Project in Thursday's broadcast in order to put pressure on the Nassau County legislators, who have done a remarkable job in delaying this thing, to finally approve the project.

And if that's not enough for you, this one should erase any doubt in your mind. Just for fun, I went to the Lighthouse's website earlier today, just to see if it said anything particularly notable - as in, anything that would validate my blackest fears. I was greeted by a cheesy rock song and a wonderful graphic of the entire project as it's currently drawn up. However, I wasn't satisfied, and so I dug deeper. And sure enough, buried in the FAQ section of the website, came this nugget...

Q: Will the approval of the Lighthouse project ensure that the Islanders will not move?
A: As part of the proposal submitted by Nassau County Legislature, the New York Islanders would extend their current lease agreement at the Coliseum until 2025. The Islanders are Long Island's only major league professional sports team.

You can interpret this question in one of two ways. You can either see it as Charles Wang and company preying on the fears of Islander fans in order to get them more involved in seeing this thing through. Or, you can see it as Wang being as bluntly honest as he's always been. And when it comes to these big companies and big PR firms, you have to look for what they're not saying. As in, by saying that the Lighthouse will ensure that the Islanders don't move, what they're really saying is that if the Lighthouse Project is rejected, the Islanders will be forced to move to another city.

Now, before you get upset with me for saying this or for Charles Wang for thinking of cutting his losses, ask yourself this question: Can you really blame him?

Look at the situation Charles Wang finds himself in. He's stuck in a bad building with a horrible lease. He's got a team that many have earmarked for the bottom of the league. He's got a fanbase that would rather stay home than come out and support what they feel is a losing product. And that last one is key. It's hard to fight the good fight and convince Charles Wang to keep the Islanders on Long Island when last Saturday, with no significant competition and a 2-for-1 ticket promotion, they drew 11,219 fans. Even the Rangers' visit to the Coliseum on Monday didn't sell the building out. At the same time, pretty much everyone on Long Island is broke; even a great team wouldn't guarantee the sellouts that are needed to pump revenue into the organization.

It's a total Catch-22. But it sort of explains a lot. It helps to explain why the Islanders have been so hesitant to embrace a youth movement, as much as the Islanders have desperately needed one. If you want to take it back a little bit, you could even make the argument that the Ryan Smyth trade was made in order to make a Cup run, which would then make this whole Lighthouse Project a lot easier to sell to the politicians. After all, it'd be a sold-out building they'd be upgrading, and that's a lot easier to stomach than one that's half-full. Now that the Islanders have committed to youth for the foreseeable future, it's very possible that this is the last chance the Islanders, as they currently exist, will have to rebuild. If this current crop of youngsters doesn't work out and the Islanders are still getting killed on their current lease, with no Lighthouse in sight and no fans in the current seats, Wang might have to move on.

It's a tough thing to think about. And I'd love to be wrong about all of this. But I definitely think there's reason to worry. I also think there's a lot that we, as Islanders fans, can do about this. We can make our voices heard. Maybe we can try to get to some more games. Maybe we can wear our Islanders gear with a little more pride. We all know that no matter how bad Ranger fans give it to us, it's nothing compared to the pain we'd feel if the Islanders went off to some other city. Especially because you know that's when they'd finally start to get good.

Let's do our part to avoid such a scenario. I don't want the Islanders to be some franchise that moves because the fans don't care enough. That would be a shame. Let's do our best to give Charles Wang a reason to stay, Lighthouse or no Lighthouse.

Just Throwing It Out There...

We all know the double standard that the media has when it comes to the Islanders. Just about everything the Islanders do is roundly bashed by the media. I know, I know, a lot of teams get bashed by the media. But when it comes to the Islanders, it's almost done with contempt. Like the Islanders can't just do something wrong without being called the laughingstock of the NHL, an organization in disarray, or whatever clever nicknames are out there. For example, when the Blackhawks fired Denis Savard last week, people were surprised, but nobody went out of their way to bash the organization the way they did when Ted Nolan was fired. Just the same, the Canucks named Roberto Luongo as their captain and people sort of shrugged their shoulders. Had that been Rick DiPietro, we'd never hear the end of it.

It's another controversial issue with DiPietro that I've been thinking about. Of course, that'd be his fifteen-year contract. Now, I've defended it for the most part, mainly because I think it's a good idea to lock up a player at below-market value for the prime of his career. But the other day, I heard a viewpoint I'd never considered.

Those of us who have Sirius Satellite Radio have access to a show called Hockey Night in Canada. It's not quite NHL Live, but it's good. They always have players and hockey personalities on the air. So last week, they had Craig Simpson on the show. Simpson, of course, is a former Oiler, the host of Hockey Academy on the NHL Network, and is also the color commentator for Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. The topic of the Islanders came up, and Simpson brought up perhaps the best point yet on the DiPietro contract issue.

This is what he said. Rick DiPietro has proven himself to be, at least on some level, injury prone. He's going to need a capable backup in case of injury. However, if you're a young goalie in the Islanders organization, what's your motivation to go to the next level? With DiPietro's contract, you have no chance of ever starting over him. In other words, if you're Joey MacDonald, what's your motivation to prove your worth to the Islanders? And if you're the Islanders, do you really want to bring in twelve backup goalies over the next twelve years?

I know it's not really relevant at this point. But it certainly intrigued me. And from either perspective, when looked at in this way, the deal is hard to defend.

Discuss.