(No More) Mr. Brightside

With apologies to Brandon Flowers and the Killers.

I am a fan who tries not to get too high or too low. I cannot live game by game in baseball or hockey, the season is too long for a short bad streak to spell ruin. Football of course is different, given the 16 game season, but then again, as a Jet fan, I never expect much to begin with. My Mets this year have given my joy, not seen really since 1988 (yes, 2000 was nice, but they were the WC, 1988 is the last time they won the division outright).
For my Islanders, I had a nice early run, hit a terrible patch in the mid 90's, and then had a shot lived resurgence in the beginning of this decade. I've seen 4 Stanley Cups, numerous owners, god-awful jerseys, terrible teams, and a GM that could draft real well, but gives Isiah Thomas a run for worst trader ever. Last season started with mild expectations, which were quickly dashed. Then, the offseason started, and boy, did things get silly.

I was pleased with the hiring of Ted Nolan. Granted, he had been out of the NHL for a while, but here was a guy who was a winner in Buffalo. He is a taskmaster, the type of coach the team needed. At around the same time, it was announced Bryan Trottier would be joining the organization, as well as Pat LaFontaine as a special advisor, and Neil Smith as nominal GM. Not totally please with Smith, but at least Mike Milbury was gone.

Then, 40 days after he was hired, Smith was fired. Islander Goalie Garth Snow was announced as the replacement GM. Patty quit as well. I gave Wang the benefit of the doubt. After all, he had built CA into a huge company, and had settled down the ownership situation on the Island. He had approved trades for Alexi Yashin and Michael Peca. His only black mark as it were was keeping Milbury on board and firing Peter Laviolette. I still thought things were going to be OK. I was annoyed at those in the media who based Wang for his committee type set up for the front office, using the occasion to take cheap shots at my team. How dare they treat my team like that, only I can treat my team like that.

After yesterday though, my doubts have overtaken my hopes. I tried to look on the brightside of things with the signing of Rick DiPietro to a 15 year $67.5 million contract. Really, I have. I like Rick a lot, so my problem is not with him. Had he not been signed, and traded instead as was rumored, I would have been mightily pissed. He is only 25, $4.5 million will be cheap if he turns out to be as good as hoped. They don't have to overpay him in a couple of years. I don't buy the BS that he is going to coast and not play hard with his new deal. By all accounts, this kid is cocky, and has a great work ethic. The last thing he is going to do is tank it on purpose. He knows the bar is raised, and he is going to do everything he can to pass it. People who compare this to the Yashin deal are stupid, because Rick is not Yashin. I believe he has the talent to be a top 5 goalie. You can say, well, he did not win a medal in the Olympics. True, but Team USA scored fewer than 2 goals in most of its games. He had a 2.28 GAA, which is quite good. I would, as would most hockey fans, take that over an entire season. Heck, other players may be willing to come to the Island now, sine the owner likes to throw money around so freely.

No, the problem I have is with Wang. It feels sometimes that he is Gov. LePetomaine and Milbury is Hedley Lamarr. I could see him calling his Crack Hockey committee together and saying "I didn't get harrumph out of Ted", followed by Mike saying "Give Charles harrumph". Milbury tried to do a deal like this with Rick last year, and the NHL squashed it. No such luck this time around. A couple of stories today noted that this may be why Smith was fired, that he wanted no part of this deal. Wang has succeeded in making this franchise a laughingstock for the second time this offseason. Fans are surely upset as a result. As you can see from the comments on yesterdays post, Ranger fans are eating this up. Isles fans are going to have to deal with this for 15 more years. Boards on hockeybuzz.com are filled with similar and worse comments.

If Gary Bettman had an testicular fortitude, he would have stopped this deal. He helped bring Wang in as owner (along with former Senator Al Damato, who I hate for myriad other reasons, I am close to adding this as well. Al is no longer close with Wang apparently). Bowie Kuhn stepped in to stop the A's from trading various players for cash in the mid 70's, as it was harmful to the game. Bettman should have done the same here.

I cannot look on the brightside any longer when it comes to the Islanders. I will still be a fan, support them, and hope that they succeed, but I am afraid that this team is going to be in trouble for a long time. My expectations for the coming season will be moderate, hoping for a playoff berth at best. I will try not to expect more, and be prepared for less.

With any luck, the Mets will play deep into the postseason, and I can avoid the Isles until November. Maybe in a couple of years, the Mets can do the same, and the Jets can play into January, further easing my pain.