Twitter lit up with Bruce Ratner’s statement that the Sound Tigers would be the team to take over Nassau Coliseum, pending the whole deal’s approval, after the Islanders leave (which could be two years) and renovations are complete (would that be another? No word that I’ve seen yet). Apparently that lit up Howard Saffan’s phone, too.
“My comment is the same position (as yesterday),” Saffan said; see yesterday’s dots story for that. “We have a contractual arrangement with the City of Bridgeport to put a hockey team in here. We absolutely to not have any agreement in place (to Nassau). Our owner has not executed any agreement with Barclays.”
Like we wrote, lots makes sense in the whole idea. There’s just that agreement through 2021. So if at some point Charles Wang does make a deal and something did go down? “We will explore all our avenues to put an AHL team in this building,” Saffan said. “It’s irresponsible, what (Ratner) said.”
So the short-term impact seems minimal, especially if the Islanders aren’t going to Brooklyn until 2015. The long-term, well, cans of worms are open. The other metropolitan-area organizations’ affiliates have leases coming due around the “right” time. The Devils have two years left in Albany; Hartford’s embarking on its new relationship with the new XL Center management and has three plus options. But it’s early.
Edit: Managed to tweet it from the wrong account, but anyway: Max MacKay signed with Wheeling, where he had a good stint late this season.