On the Philadelphia Flyers …
- birky: Bob McKenzie said on TSN that the Flyers may have had an offer of two 2nd round picks on the table for Radko Gudas.
On the Pittsburgh Penguins …
- Josh Yohe of DK Pittsburgh Sports: Wingers Andrew Ladd and Scott Hartnell have been linked to the Penguins.
On the New York Islanders …
- B.D. Gallof: 99 percent certain that the Islanders won’t do anything big by the deadline. Don’t think that GM Garth Snow likes the market that much.
- Rich Calder and Josh Kosman of the NY Post: The Islanders lease agreement with Barclays Center has an out after the fourth season.
“I don’t think either side ever believed the full lease would be honored,” said a source briefed on the matter. “I just didn’t think we’d be talking about this the first year in.”
Jonathan Ledecky’s group will take over majority ownership on July 1st and is listening to complaints about the move to the Brooklyn arena. Source close to the Islanders and other sources are saying Ledecky is enamored about moving to Queens or back to Long Island. A new arena would be required for Queens or Long Island though. The Barclays Center cost $1 billion back in 2012.
Mikhail Prokhorov (owner of the Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center) is overseeing the renovation of the Nassau Coliseum, but the plans are to make the seating 13,000, which is too small.
The Barclays seats 15,795 for hockey, with 1,500 having obstructive views. They are averaging 13,424 a game so far this year.
“The Islander deal was forced from the start because the club was hemorrhaging so much money playing on Long Island … and had to bail,” another source said. “Now you’re left with this weird situation where Barclays’ folks pay the Islanders to play there — but aren’t getting the bang for the buck they desired, not to mention all the crap they’re getting from Islander fans who are finding every little fault they can with being in Brooklyn.
“On the Islanders’ end, they might be better off financially than at Nassau Coliseum. But under the current deal, I think they realize they’ll never be able to have the type of revenue coming in to compete with other big-market teams to sign top players.”