Escape from Long Island

The man you see in the picture above is New York Islanders owner Charles Wang.  As you will have probably read by now (and if you haven't, you will after reading this piece), the voters of Nassau County rejected the $400 million plan to build a new arena for the Islanders in the same area that the current Nassau Coliseum resides.  Rejected by a 56 to 43 percent margin, the plan was also to have included a new ballpark for a minor league team.

*Soapbox Alert: If you don't want to read my rant on bringing a team to Kansas City (and trust me, I do this when there's potential talks of a team in financial turmoil), then stop here.

Now, I know there are people that are going to be screaming for the team to relocate, with Quebec City being a likely destination.  I don't like to deal with rumors, but a source familiar with the Kansas City coalition to bring hockey to the city, NHL 21, says the major hangup is finding an interested owner.  I know not anyone from Kansas City who actually reads this blog, but if you are, I absolutely think this would be a great time to get on the ball and encourage someone to try and buy the Islanders off of Wang and do what you can to relocate the team here to Kansas City.  After all, the Islanders' on ice product would be an easy sell, as you can center your marketing campaign around the likes of John Tavares, Matt Moulson, Kyle Okposo, and Michael Grabner (And if any other city gets the Islanders, this goes for you, too.  This should be a slam dunk when it comes to marketing).  Those four can play on the top two lines on any team, given the right circumstances, and Tavares, at the very least, can be a true franchise player.  Off the ice, marketing the team is as simple as not doing what the ownership for the now deceased Atlanta Thrashers did, which is to say absolutely nothing.