Report: Gary Bettman crushes NHL team's future plans!

“It's not viable!”

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 6 years ago
Report: Gary Bettman crushes NHL team's future plans!
Keystone Press

Where the New York Islanders will play in the next years is still very much up in the air... but National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman was very clear on where he thinks the Isles will not be playing.

“I don’t view the Nassau Coliseum as a viable option,” Bettman said Friday at a news conference at Citi Field to announce the Winter Classic outdoor game, as reported by Newsday.

The renovated Nassau Coliseum is not an NHL caliber arena anymore, and Bettman made that clear. 

“Ultimately, whether or not the Islanders want to consider that and bring it to the league or something, you’ve had to ask them about it,” he said. “But my gut reaction is it’s not a viable option.”

The Islanders moved to Barclays Center two seasons ago, but since Barclays was built for basketball, it lacks the sightlines for the fans and also the NHL standard equipment to freeze the ice. Furtermore, the arena is built over a train station, and the ice tends to get rather slushy making it dangerous for players.

Owners Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin are looking for other options as we speak... but Bettman refuses the renovated Nassau Coliseum as one of them.

Source: Newsday