Corey Bryant

I guess I should enjoy trashing the New York Islanders,
but to me there's a sadness about the Islanders decline
and fall. After four straight Stanley Cups, the decline
began. It began because Bill Torrey, the architect behind
those four straight Cups, became attached to those players
he built the team with. I would have traded Ken Morrow,
for example, to the St. Louis Blues for, say, Jim Pavese
and a draft choice. Paul Boutilier could have been trade
bait, as well as some others, such as Gord Lane. The idea
behind trading these players is getting young, hungry
players in return. Look at Montreal's five straight Cups
from 1956 to 1960. Frank Selke didn't hold onto veterans.
He traded Doug Harvey and Junior Langlois for Lou Fontinato.
He then began to rebuild the team around more youthful
forwards and defensemen. Anyway, that said, we get back to
the Islanders. Not a one player was sacrificed until the
Islanders were already in decline and by 1988-89, it was
too late. There was one revival of sorts in 1992-93, but
the Islanders fell to the Canadiens. From there, the Isles
declined. Now the team is on the brink of everlasting
farewell, due in part to mismanagement, lack of a suitable
arena and people who haven't yet found the advantages of
playing an outdoors game like Edmonton or other teams.
It has been found that outdoors games rake in money. But,
nobody has realized that. So, all an Islander fan can do
is put up with whatever his team will do. I feel for
Islander fans and sympathize with them. No one has to put
up with all this.

Bless_D_Mess

You're leaving out the number one factor in the decline of the islanders: the Rangers. Most islander fans during their brief success were front runners. They weren't real fans. There are still more Ranger fans on Long Island than islander fans and virtually no islander fans elsewhere. Despite all of the cries to the contrary here's nothing wrong with their arena except that it's empty. If the Rangers didn't have the MSG cable network that the islanders piggyback on they may not even be on TV at all.

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HEY SATHER - NO MORE HAS BEENS, EH?

Token

Typical Ranger Fan. First of all, when the Islanders were taking those cups, more people lived in Long Island. Everywhere the Isles play you will see Isles fans.

I do give it to you that during our dark years we did not obtain many fans but we also never had to buy players either.

What have the rangers accomplished? Please tell me.

Take a look when the rangers didn't make the playoffs 7 Years in row and how many people were at the games. No offense I see more games at MSG than most of your fans.

What about having an 80 million dollar payroll and not making the playoffs. i am content on the Isles rebuilding, i have no problem with it. Are you going to have problem when the rangers sign another great contract like lets say redden.

The rangers have done nothing for NY and have no HIstory. Unless you call one cup in 69 years. Your team could not win a cup with 6 teams in the league. My team could not win a cup for another 40 years and we still have more history than yours.

So take your talk back to the Rangers board.

Bless_D_Mess

The Rangers have accomplished one of the largest and most loyal fan bases in sports. In a poll in the New York metropolitan area (including Long Island and New Jersey) the Rangers came in second to the Giants in number of fans beating even the Mets and Yankees. Being that the NY metropolitan area has vastly more people than any other, the Rangers have more fans that almost any team in sports.

Your team is a pitiful blip in hockey. They don't buy players because they can't. They can't even keep an owner, let alone fans. In fact, the islanders have more owners than fans. There is a very good chance that your team is leaving on a jet plane. Even taking all their fans with them there will be plenty of empty seats on the plane.

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HEY SATHER - NO MORE HAS BEENS, EH?

Token

A poll and who was doing that poll and voting and they were picked past the yankees. Was this poll in a rangers mag. Your fanbase is not most loyal and for the most part uneducated about hockey

Well we see what happens when you buy players...they just don't play.

I quoted you to prove a point. Stop posting in the Isles forum if you nothing to contribute.

Maybe you should pay more attention to your team. Is so funny that you would think the Isles will be leaving. This also shows you are not a hockey fan because lets say for example the rangers were going to get moved . I would be one of the first people to try to do something to stop .

So go post a thread on your board that you signed Del Zotto.

Bless_D_Mess

I don't know who commissioned the poll but the results were in all the major newspapers and on TV and radio. The question was "What is your favorite sports team?". The Giants came in first, the Rangers second, the Yankees third and the Mets fourth. After that came the Jets and Knicks although I don't remember the order. The islanders and shmevils came in somewhere behind girl's field hockey.

This is a hockey discussion board and I can post wherever I feel like. You joined here 2 days ago and as of today you have all of 4 posts. Who are you to tell me where I can post and where I can't? I was responding to someone else's post.

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HEY SATHER - NO MORE HAS BEENS, EH?

halifas

Thanks for giving me a good laugh. New Yorkers, and Rangers fans in particular, are notorious for turning on their team(s) the moment something begins to go wrong. I hear more boos directed at the Rangers from MSG than I do cheers. Rangers fans have no respect and appreciation for their own players, and the fact that they can not play well sometimes. No loyalty there. Its results or nothing for NY, but in a bad way.

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New Jersey: More trap than you or your grandmother can handle, oh, and 3 Stanley Cups.

superislesfan7

The problem, as was first stated, was the mismanagement of the team for the last 15 years. Frequent change in ownership and an idiot of a GM in Milbury will kill any franchise. To think that the rangers are the reason the Islanders were in decline is absurd. And don't think that the ranger fanbase is this incredibly loyal bunch who sticks with their team through thick and thin. I went to a few games at MSG this year, your fans booed your own team more than the other team. At least as Islander fans we can handle a terrible year because we understand what rebuilding is. In a few years when the Islanders are one of the better teams in the league, and the rags are floundering because glen sather is so great, we'll see who's fans are showing up to games.