Commish backs Brooklyn owners over Barclays ice
LOS ANGELES — This was not encouraging. Not at all. The Islanders have ongoing issues with Barclays Center — most notably the continuing bad ice conditions — and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman made it clear that first-year majority owners Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin are doing their due diligence in looking to create a better facility — even if that facility is not in Brooklyn. “The owners are committed to the franchise, they’re committed to New York and the great fan base that has followed the Islanders,” Bettman said. “There are some issues about playing at Barclays, it may be fundamental to the ice system. That’s not something that can be fixed in the short term. “I think, as is prudent, Scott Malkin and Jon Ledecky are reviewing the situation and looking very seriously at what their options are.” The ice system at Barclays is made with plastic pipes, and to replace them with metal would require the arena to close for a few months. That would lose a lot of revenue for the owners, revenue they are unlikely to forfeit willingly.
The Islanders’ old home, Nassau Coliseum, is set to reopen in April after a $130 million renovation. It’s projected to have about 13,000 seats for hockey, which would be the smallest in the NHL — another revenue killer, one the league likely wouldn’t sign off on. Barclays Center holds 15,813, the second-smallest rink in the league behind Winnipeg.
Islanders captain John Tavares couldn’t defend his title in the accuracy shooting event during the skills competition on Saturday, losing his head-to-head matchup to former teammate Kyle Okposo.
The Atlantic Division team “won” the dreadfully boring skills competition and chose to play the Metropoli- tan Division in the “first round” of the 3-on-3 tournament on Sunday. They also chose to play in the second 20minute game. That leaves the Central to play the Pacific in the first game. The winners will play each other in the final.
With the NBA dipping its toe into advertising on jerseys, Bettman shot down the idea the NHL might do it — even though there was advertising on the jerseys at the World Cup of Hockey, an event run by the NHL and the NHLPA.
“It would take an unusual circumstance — which I would define as a lot of money that I’m having trouble comprehending right now — for us to even be thinking about it,” Bettman said.
The NHL’s participation in next year’s Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, is still an unresolved issue, and Bettman said it received “10 seconds” of consideration at the Board of Governors meeting on Saturday. He said there is no timetable for a decision.