INSIDE HOCKEY

There is a resemblance between hockey’s best and worst team. It was not too long ago that the Pittsburgh Penguins were in the same situation as the New York Islanders. Similarities exist between that version of the Penguins and the current version of the Islanders.

Only a few years ago, the future of the Penguins looked bleak. The prosperity of a Stanley Cup victory against the Detroit Red Wings seemed impossible. Far removed from a championship, and the financially troubled team having no new arena in sight, the Penguins were ready to uproot from Pittsburgh.

Sounds awfully familiar to the Islanders. Then the Penguins drafted Sidney Crosby and everything changed. With Crosby on board, the Penguins were an entity.

Not only should the Islanders draft John Tavares – the game’s next generational talent – because of his pure skill level, but simply for his marketability. With Crosby, the Penguins went from poverty to the pinnacle.

Can Tavares do the same with the Islanders? What Islanders fan would not want Tavares' name stitched to their jersey’s back, or stamped upon any sort of team paraphernalia? Crosby’s own success translated to Pittsburgh. Tavares can do that on the Island.

Just last month, Islanders’ owner Charles Wang admitted his regret in purchasing the team. Wang has spent more than US$200 million to keep the club operating since buying the franchise in 2000. Islanders’ general manager Garth Snow referred to Nassau Coliseum, the home rink to the Islanders since 1972, as “a dump.” The Lighthouse Project, a group with the initiative of bringing a new arena to Long Island, has been unsuccessful thus far.

Fortunately for the Penguins, the team will begin play in a new arena for the 2010-11 season, leaving the league’s oldest arena (the Mellon Arena), built in 1967. An agreement for the new arena ceased speculation that the Penguins could relocate to Kansas City. The new arena will serve as the cog for the Penguins financial stability, after years of attempting to maintain stable ownership. Under the ownership of former player Mario Lemieux, the Penguins have stability to succeed.

Like the Penguins, the Islanders could return to their former glory, a dynasty during the 1980s, with stable ownership, a new arena, and a strong complementary core surrounding their generational talent in John Tavares.

The Islanders must forget the philosophy of drafting the best player available.
It has been long-debated who is the best player in this year’s draft – Tavares or Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman.

Arguably, Hedman is the better of the two in that there is less hype surrounding him than Tavares. Tavares has the greater potential but, with that, also greater potential to be a bust.

But the effect Tavares will have on the Islanders – not just his play, and not just on the team’s bottom line – only adds to his value. When Crosby joined Pittsburgh, free agents saw an opportunity to be a part of something special. Sergei Gonchar, the team’s best defenseman, was one free agent Pittsburgh recruited that off-season.

To say the future feasibility of the Islanders depends on Tavares may be an overstatement. But, the club needs some sort of financial leg to stand on, and a generational talent like Tavares provides that.

Not drafting Tavares could be what ultimately leads to a relocation of the Islanders.