Ratner Coliseum Plan Approved

According to reports, the redevelopment plan submitted by Bruce Ratner for the Nassau Coliseum and surrounding land has been approved by the Town of Hempstead.

In case you are unfamiliar, the plan calls for the Coliseum to be scaled down from a capacity of 16,197 to 13,000 with the option to bring it back to its original capacity in time.  Additionally, it calls for construction of a movie theater, retail space, office space, and a bowling alley just to name a few buildings.

While it isn't a slam dunk yet as a couple more things still need to be done, this does bode well for the projects future.

For more details on the plan check out this CBS story here.

Isn't it interesting how this plan got to this stage so fast and got the largest approval it will need.  However, due to political ineptness, the Lighthouse Project had to fight for years to get to this stage before they even thought about starting the process to get the needed approvals.

History For Sale

photo by fishstickcity

Recently, reports came out that the puck that Islander legend Mike Bossy put to the back of the net in the winter of 1981 to achieve 50 goals in 50 games is up for sale on ebay and Bossy isn't happy.

The story as has been reported is that Bossys daughter gave the puck to her swimming instructor later that summer in exchange for his giving her swimming lessons.  Hopefully, the seller and Bossy are able to work out an amicable solution for both sides so the puck ends up back in Bossys possession where it belongs.

Isles to Begin Working on Extension For Okposo, Neuvirth a Goner?

According to David Pagnotta from The Fourth Period, expect chatter to heat up this summer about the Islanders offering Kyle Okposo a contract extension.

Okposo who has grown into the star forward the Islanders hoped he would be when they took him in the first round of the 2006 draft is going into the final year of a 5 year deal he signed in 2011.  In 60 games last season Okposo had 51 points including 18 goals.  With Garth Snow having shown a great ability at retaining his own, I am not concerned at all about the Islanders coming to an agreement with Okposo.

In addition to Flames having done some prelim work on Giordano, expect chatter to pick up on likes of Kopitar, O'Reilly, Okposo & Backes.

— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) May 13, 2015

Meanwhile, according to NBC Sports, goalie Michal Neuvirth isn't expected to return to the Islanders next season.  After having a stellar season in Buffalo, Neuvirth underwhelmed in his brief stint with the Islanders following the deadline day deal that brought him to Long Island.  Neuvirth is also seeking to be a number one goalie which is something the Islanders can't provide for him with Jaroslav Halak under contract.

Happy Birthday Jaro

photo by ESPN

Today, Islanders goalie Jaroslav Halak is celebrating his 30th birthday.

The Islanders acquired Halak from the Capitals last May to be the teams number one goalie and subsequently signed him to a 4 year contract.  In his first season, Halak gave the team all they could've hoped for and then some.  He was a consistent rock for the Islanders in the crease and was instrumental in the team qualifying for the playoffs this season.  If not for his great performance in game 7 against Washington, the Islanders would've had zero chance to win that game.

We here at savetheisles would like to wish Halak a very Happy Birthday.

Isles Not Striving To Be Better

A couple days ago, it was announced that all the Islanders coaches would be returning next season.  This came as a disappointment for most fans who were hoping for at least a few changes behind the bench after the bad end to the Islanders season and rightfully so.

Islanders general manager Garth Snow will stick with coach Jack Capuano, staff http://t.co/P7GqZOPKX0

— Arthur Staple (@StapeNewsday) May 1, 2015

While an argument could be made in favor of Jack Capuano, the teams poor second half and atrocious effort in game 7 should've been enough to sink his chances to return next season, in my opinion at least.  An argument may be able to be made for Jack Capuano, but none can be made in favor of Doug Weight or Greg Cronin.  The 0-14 playoff power play should've been enough to sink Weight alone and send him to a front office only position.  Meanwhile, some have said that with the improvements of the penalty kill in the last two months Cronin deserved another year.  I have a few responses to that.  One being that even with the improvement they still finished in the bottom half of the league.  They really showed no overall improvement from Brent Thompson and they finished right in line with where the Maple Leafs penalty kill finished under Cronin.  All that doesn't suggest to me that they will be better next season, it suggests to me that Snow was fooled off two months of good play.

I recently said what the team did with the coaching staff would be a test if they wanted spend money on experienced coaches to help the team take the next step or if they wanted to continue to try and strike gold.  Based off this decision, it seems like they unfortunately went for the latter.