The Final Score

I was hoping for an analysis of the Madden Curse and Brett Favre.

Good morning folks. I find myself reading this morning my favorite reminders of Statler & Waldorf from the muppetshow, Rieber and Baumbach.

http://www.boredplanet.com/img/theislesbalcony.jpg

You guys make a cute couple on that balcony. You must keep one another warm by the flames you fan from the hockey core that comment and post here. ;) You crazy baseball numbskulls you.

There is merit to the blogged point, but I'll leave discussion of that to a blogged response forthcoming.

Your pal,
BD

Mr. Rieber, you might be right in calling the Islanders a laughingstock, but how you can defend not using that same term for the team at m$g that does not play on ice (or the one that does for that matter) IS a joke. You want to call it objective, fine, but you blow away your own argument by doing so. Neither team at m$g has had any real success, yet they have had the advantage of stable ownership and financial resources. How has Glen Sather worked out? You know the guy that always claimed that if he had the Ranger$ money in Edmonton, he could have won many more cups. As for the Knicks, how are Marbury & Thomas doing? Call the Isles what you will, but don't say you are being "objective" when you clearly are not, and heck, I am not even sure yet that you have been visited by the Dolan's truth squad.

Mr. Rieber, you might be right in calling the Islanders a laughingstock, but how you can defend not using that same term for the team at m$g that does not play on ice (or the one that does for that matter) IS a joke. You want to call it objective, fine, but you blow away your own argument by doing so. Neither team at m$g has had any real success, yet they have had the advantage of stable ownership and financial resources. How has Glen Sather worked out? You know the guy that always claimed that if he had the Ranger$ money in Edmonton, he could have won many more cups. As for the Knicks, how are Marbury & Thomas doing? Call the Isles what you will, but don't say you are being "objective" when you clearly are not, and heck, I am not even sure yet that you have been visited by the Dolan's truth squad.

It's true Islanders fans. The team is a joke, a laughingstock. It's just the way it is. They haven't won a playoff series (in a league where half the teams make the playoffs) in 15 years. Further, they are last in attendance year in and year out. The fan base has pretty much shunned them away. Unless the Isles are giving away tickets or the Rangers are in town, the building is a Ghostown. To call the Isles a laughingstock is being generous in my opinion. A disgrace is a better word. THis may tick off BillyIsles, but it doesn't matter. How's your basement?

So, Neil Smith is a brilliant GM who can do no wrong, but the Rangers were a laughingstock when Glen Sather came aboard and had to clean up the mess left by Neil Smith himself? Which is it?

The Isles fired Neil Smith because he wanted the control of a GM, but the Isles believed in a structure.

Then they fired Ted NOlan because he believed in that structure the Isles established, but a year after firing Smith for not believing in it, they fired Nolan for believing in it.

Makes sense? Didn't think so.

Anonymous,

Nolan was fired because he didn't want to put up with a "youth movement". Idiot, no wonder you don't use a name.

I have to comment on this and i'm not gonna bash any other organization, just comment on my team. First the long term contract as crazy as it first sounded is now becoming the thing to do with franchise players around the league. Let's get real with Neil Smith, although it was unfortunate to lose him at that point it's not like they let Torrey walk. Hiring Snow? nuts. I wanted Lombardi or even Steve Tambellini. But Snow hasn't been as bad as I thought. I'm even starting to think he may be onto something. Let's hope the lighthouse project goes through. It's not like Wang isn't trying there. The attendence will come up when the team wins. I only get to about 6 to10 a year but I do live about 3 hours away. you can't compare it to the rangers because they've been around longer so they have a bigger fan base and being in the city they have alot of companies going to and taking clients. As far as the owner goes I always believed you hire people you trust and let them do their jobs. Anyone that needed to read hockey for dummies shouldn't have an input in to the team. And finally youth movement. How do you, Mr. Reimer, know how good the prospects are? Are you a scout? Personally I like Okposo, Comeau, Tambelli and Bergeinheim. Are the prospects good? Don't know. Don't claim to know either. Only time will tell. But I do know this: I would rather see these kids out there and possibly the start of something rather then a bunch of 1 to 2 year contracts to aging players no one wanted trying to grab the 8 seed and an extra week of hockey. But that's just me.

Uninformed blowhards like "Wow" certainly don't help with the pro-Isles argument. His information & ignorance of the facts seems right out of the McCain campaign. What have the Isle "prospects" noted contributed when compared to Dubinsky, Dawes Callahan, Staal & Girardi, not to mention Lundqvist? All of the Rangers younger players got regular shifts & contributed to the team's making the palyoffs. If you're going to note prospects as in Josh Bailey, at least note Alexei Cherepanov, Bob Sanguinetti & Artem Anisimov & Micael Del Zotto, as they like Josh Bailey are just prospects. The 7 young Islanders he mentions combined for 72 points last year as compared to the 123 points contributed by Dubinsky, Dawes, Callahan, Staal & Girardi. Franz Neilsen 3 points & Jeff Tambellini with 4 points in 31 games are definitely difference makers. How come no mention of the great signing of Doug Weight. Re Jagr: no NHL team was willing to offer more than a one year contract. If JJ would have agreed to a one year contract, he'd still be in NY- & you'd criticize that signing. Don't think with the Isles management track record, you should zero in Glen Sather. Sather apparently has learned from his initial years in NY as the Rangers have made the playoffs each year since the lock-out & have improved. Can the same be said of the Islanders? Sather's team actually got results from their young players. The same can't be said about the Islanders. Finally, if you weren't aware, the NHL has a salary cap & a team's payroll come the start of the season cannot be above the Cap, which the Rangers will be. By the way, what's the justification of giving Franz Neisen of 3 points in 16 games fame a 4 year contract? Next post, stick to the facts & subordinate the emotion.

WTH is it with these stupid whining complaining articles? This is "news"? Sorry Anthony Rieber, this is ****. Worthless, stupid ****. I DONT call the Islanders a "laughingstock," you ***hole. And here is an answer to every one of your whiny little "points":

-- Rick is a fine goalie- and is being paid practically half of what goalies of his caliber will get in another 2-3 years. I am proud he is on the Islanders, stick to The_Suntanned_One and STHU about Rick.

-- Im GLAD Neil Smith isnt our GM. Hes a schmuck.

-- And Im fine with Snow as our GM. The fact that he was a player, like other GMs were, is NOT a problem. Why idiots keep trying to make it an issue I have no idea. Nothing better you can come up with?

-- The Lighthouse project is in the works, so STHU about the arena already. We know its bad, why the hell do the dimmer of the lights among us all feel the need to harp on it OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER?

-- For your information, the ONLY reason that the Islanders have the lowest "AVERAGE" attendance is because they have thousands fewer seats than every other arena... when they sell out games- and they DO- it does not bring the average up the way all the other arenas do when they sell out games. Mathemetically, if the Isles sold out EVERY SINGLE HOME GAME, they would still be near the bottom of the average attentance- because they can fit barely more than 16K in NVMC. Why does simple math confuse people like you so much? Go grab a calculator and figure it out yourself if you dont believe me.

-- Charles Wang knows plenty about hockey. He used to not know ****, but that was 8 years ago- he does now. People do not become self-made billionaires if they cant learn about whats around them, pick things up, and figure things out.
But even if he didnt know a lot about hockey, why is that an issue with you? Who gives a crap? He cares about the team, he cares about Long Island, and is doing everything he can to make things better. Thats good enough for me and it sure as hell should be good enough for the likes of you.

-- The Islanders have a farm system that is likely to be within the top 10 of the NHL. Chew on that, because it is true.

-- And I dont give a CRAP about the "previous regimes"- its OVER, get over it already.

You can shove this piece of crap article up your fivehole.

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Posted by Ron | August 1, 2008 07:30 So, Neil Smith is a brilliant GM who can do no wrong, but the Rangers were a laughingstock when Glen Sather came aboard and had to clean up the mess left by Neil Smith himself? Which is it?
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Ron speaks the truth. Anthony Rieber however, speaks from his ***.

Thanks for writing this wonderfully informative Blog. It is a great example to future writers what will happen to them if they don't get their dream job. Please going forward, leave all Hockey Related Articles to informed Hockey Writers. Why don't you guys head to Jones Beach and write about the weather or check out how citifield is coming along. You wont to exhaust yourselves too much with getting informed, you just need to look!!

baumbach isn't happy unless he's insulting the islanders.. the only true laughingstock is the ny rangers organization. here's a team thats been around for 80 years, played 40 or so years in a league with only FIVE other teams in it and only managed to muster 3 stanley cups... pretty pathetic.. then it takes em FIFTY FOUR years to win another cup.. thats a JOKE if you ask me!! one stanley cup in 68 years? soon to be seventy..

and lets not mention that if the rangers pulled all the suits out of their stadium their attendance figure would be a lot less than the islanders.. all the scum and filth of nyc that occupies the 400s section cant amount to much more than the 12000 real fans that show up at the nvmc on a nightly basis.

speaking of msg, i find it amusing that you two knock wang yet JAMES DOLAN is the biggest bafoon this side of the mason dixon line.. you want to talk about clueless, heres a guy who can't run an organization without a sexual harassment suit every year, highest payrolls in his respective leagues yet the knicks and rangers can't get it done...

what does it take to write for newsday anyway?? an associates degree from a community college?????

I don't get why everyone bashes the 15 year contract the Isles gave DP. 15 years may sound "crazy," but if you look at the contract as a whole, it is actually a FANTASTIC deal for the Isles.

Fact 1: The contract the Isles gave DP was a trend setter (see Mike Richards, Vinny Lecavlier, Alex Ovechkin, and every other player that got "career contracts" in the past 2 years after the DP deal. If the concept of a "career contract" was so insane, why would all these "model organizations" follow the Isles?

Fact 2: The Isles got GREAT value on the DP contract. The contract is for 15 years at $4.5M per year or $67.5M total. Consider that Henrik Lundquist just signed a 6 year deal worth about $42M. So, the Isles have Dipietro for 9 more years for only $25M more (under $3M per season). DP will make about $70M over his entire career, while Lundquist will make well over $100M.

Fact 3: $4.5M is a steal for a #1 goaltender, not to mention an All-Star. DP was the starting goaltender in the eastern conference last year (yes I know Brodeur dropped out and DP was an all-star because someone had to represent the Isles)... but he will be an all-star again in his career. Consider these starting goalie contracts for 2008-2009... is $4.5M still ridiculous?
Lundquist - $6.875M
Khabibulin - $6.75M
Kiprussof - $5.83M
Vokoun - $5.7M
Huet - $5.625
Fleury - $5M
Dipietro - $4.5M
Theodore - $4.5M
Fernandez - $4.33M
Bryzgalov - $4.25M

Fact 4: Despite the lockout and the new NHL, salaries continue to rise. In the 4 years since the lockout, the cap has risen from about $44M to $56M, a little over 25%. I understand that this is largely driven by the relative strength of the canadien doller compared to the U.S. dollar and this pace cannot be sustained. But, in 5 years from now, the cap will almost certainly be higher than it is right now. So, DPs $4.5M against the cap in 2013 and beyond will be a smaller drop in the bucket. When DP is in his late 30s and his 15 year deal is nearing its end, it won't be ridiculous to be paying him $4.5M to be splitting time with a younger goalie or to even be a backup.

Feel free to debate my points if you feel DPs contract is truly "ridiculous." But, don't rip the Isles because they gave their All-Star goaltender a career contract.

Can I ask Fishstickes fans 1 Question???
Why is it that your ONLY arguments are filled with
bashing the Rangers??? I guess it really does suck
to follow a Team, NO ONE cares about anymore.
Have fun 1-2 more years following your "Laughing
Stock" organization because it will not be in LI after
that and then you can try a get Tix to watch a Real
team play @ MSG. Too bad you won't be able to afford
it, fianlly the Only thing More pathetic than the Islander
"Organization" are the Losers who follow them!!
BTW "Wow" GROW UP, or better yet turn back on
Nickelodeon your Mommy will be home Real soon!!

you guys are clowns. Do yourself a favor and stay away from a sport you have absolutely no clue on.

Islanders finally doing what probably should of been done for year. Don't be so quick to criticize actions taken.

Rebuilding is just that. Rebuilding. Name me one team you know that went signed free agents and won a championship.

If isles can finally stick to plan, maybe in 3-4 yrs we go ourselves a contender.

For more evidence on how Islanders fans love Anthony, see:

http://forums.newyorkislanders.com/index.php?showtopic=18562

PS: I don't always agree with Anthony, either, but there are ways to express disagreement.

Sports Illustrated (or Sporting News...one of them) had a segment entitled "Islander Follies" which detailed, well, the Islanders follies over the last 20 years. Islander fans of course complaied that this was written by a Ranger fan, just like they are doing now. Turns out the guys was a diehard Islander fan. Point being, Islander fans have no other recourse but to blame the Rangers, LOL. They know they are a laughingstock, they have no other defense.

NYI-NYR comparision thesis.

The NY Rangers have been in the league since 1926. Let us take a look at some facts.

From 1926-1967- the NYR missed the Playoffs 19 out of 40 times while there
were no more than 10 teams at a given time in the league and 6 make the
playoffs. This was where they won 3 of their league championships
however they only needed to win 2 short playoff series to do so
because of the few number of teams.

From 1942 to 1967 while there were no more than 6 teams in this
league, they did not qualify for the playoffs 18 times in those
25 years. Of the 7 times that they did qualify in those 25 years,
they lost in the 1st round of the playoffs 6 times.

From 1968 through the 2007-08 season (expansion era), they did much better as far as their playoff missing percentage. Only

failed to qualify 11 times. 7 of those
times in a row from 1998-2004 despite having THE highest payroll in
the league.

The NY Islanders entered the league during the 1972-73 season. Since 1972, with at least 21 teams in the league and a 4 round

playoff setup, they have missed the playoffs 14 times. Of those 14, 7 in a row from 1994-2001. 4 of those years with the

LOWEST league payroll and 1 of those with an owner who bought the team under fraudulent pretenses for not having any money.

Of the 20 times that they
have qualified for the playoffs in a 4 playoff round system, they have won 4 championships, been to a finals and lost, and

lost in the 3rd round 5 times. If you are keeping count, thats 10 out of 30 years that they have went to the 3rd round or

further. Now since there were 4 rounds and not 2 since their inception, they own the record for most series victories in a

ROW in ANY sport at 19 series wins in a row.

Here are the Rangers and Islanders records from the 1972-73 season to the 2007-08 season.

NY Rangers 2796 GP 1257-1158-326-37-18 2895 points
NY Islanders 2796 GP 1223-1170-357-35-11 2849 points

The Rangers hold the lead by a measly 46 points but keep in mind that the Isles were an expansion team and needed 2 seasons

to get accustomed to the league while the Rangers were an established team for 45 years at that point coming off of a Stanley

Cup Finals appearance the season before the Isles entered the league.

Not counting the 1972-73 season for both teams since the Isles were new, here is the breakdown.

NY Islanders 2718 GP 1211-1110-351-35-11 2819 points
NY Rangers 2718 GP 1210-1135-318-37-18 2793 points

The Rangers have been the better team for the past 3 seasons. No question about it. However, this thesis is to illustrate to

the young ones and people not familiar with history the pure facts. It is amazing how a team that has been around for nearly

a century accomplished so little compared to a team that has only been
around for a quarter of the former team's existence. Heck, forget comparing the two. It is just purely amazing how little the

Rangers have accomplished. It is more astonishing to see their many failures.

Speaking of failures, here is the NY Rangers playoff record since 1973.

235 GP 116-119

Lets compare it to the Islanders' playoff record over that same time period.

240 GP 134-106

In summary, one can only conclude that just by looking at the facts and putting your team allegiances aside that the NY

Islanders, despite their problems throughout the 1990's, have been historically a more succesful product than the NY Rangers.

Wow, TRUTH hit it out of the park! Don't let those pesky facts get in the way of a good argument!

It's hilarious how arrogant most Rangers fans are. They have the arrogance of Yankee fans except with the history of the Chicago Cubs! Comedy at it's purest!

If anyone missed the Sports Illustrated classic piece entitled "Islander Follies" here is the link. Before Islander fans start crying again that this was writtne by a Ranger fan, like they always do, this was submitted by a diehard Islander fan.

Cracks me, the Isles get ripped apart in Canada, and some how, the Rangers will take the blame, LOL.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0807/nhl.islanders.follies/content.1.html

Jake, this has nothing to do with Canada. Has everything to do with taking a cheap shot by a journalist where the facts do not justify the shot. I am the first one to criticize my teams when they are deserved. The Isles have been a total source of frustration, but to call them a laughingstock, when the teams to the west, are as much if not more so, angered some folks. Funny, most Isles stuff gets more comments it seems than just about anything in these Newsday sports blogs.

Why dont you work like professionals and worry about your own laughingstock of a sport, where the all time home run hitter and all time great pitcher are caught cheating at the sport, then lied about it? About the owners of the sport looking the other way for over a decade? Worry about what you know. ARE YOU QUALIFIED TO JUDGE OKPOSO, FIGREN, PETROV, BAILEY? The pressures that the Islanders face in the current mega dollar sports business are difficult, they are a small market team, no mass transit or foot traffic near its arena, and they must compete with the largest of large market, NYC, and its wealthiest teams in the world. It makes perfect sense for them to try to rebuild from within. Thats how they won four cups in a row. You ever watch any of your own teams that you root for accomplish that? THEY ALSO MADE THE PLAYOFFS FOUR OF THE LAST SIX SEASONS!

Please stick within your limits and knowledge of the sporting world, there is certainly enough lack of integrity in your own sport to keep you occupied.

The Islanders are a small market team???? BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! IThere are more people within 20 square miles of the Nasaau Coliseum than there is anywhere else in the country, but the Islanders small market? LOL!

Not a small market team, but the onerus lease that they have with SMG does not allow them to be a profitable organization. At the time they signed they were able to make money just off of their cable TV deal...Doubt they would get that kind of money now, but it would be nice to see what would happen with two additional netweorks that really struggle for winter sports programming.

There are more people on Long Island than anywhere else in the country? The LOL is on YOU! There is mass transit to their arena? There is daily foot traffic to the area in which they play? They want to build a large building there, and its taking nealy a decade to get it approved. Are you aware of this? Do you follow the news? Are people walking by the arena on a daily basis? I live fifteen miles from the coliseum, and have not been anywhere near there since last winter, when i attended a game. Therin lies the problem... Surely you are not counting New York City, which is clearly the market of a different NHL team, perhaps you have not heard of them, they wear blue shirts. If you remove NYC from your count, the Isles play in a small market, which in fact they share that small market with that blue shirted team... they are a Long Island team. Minimal if no support from NYC fans.

As far as cable goes, with SNY in the mix now, that could drive up bidding in the future.