periferal
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- Jul 5, 2007
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You guys...
The article below is from July 14, 2016 - Just after Ledecky/Malkin took over the Islanders. You seriously have to read it again:
How Ledecky will make Isles ‘world-class’
The quotes are unbelievable, especially given where we are today. Here's a few:
“We should be the world-class destination for free agents. If you think about a [salary] capped world, everybody can spend to the cap and we certainly have no constraints on our GM and our staff to spend. We want to create and continue to progress towards John Tavares lifting that Stanley Cup, so we should be world class in everything we do."
“Let’s get the buzz that you want to be playing for the New York Islanders, because they are a world-class group, world class in the way they travel, where they stay, how they treat the players, the accoutrements of a hockey team. We should make sure our scouting team is the best, that with the things that are not cap-centric we spend intelligently and really provide world-class standards."
“You’re not going to see me sitting in the owner’s box. I’ll be in there [at times], but we’ll use the owner’s box for community. We’re giving away, come sit in the owner’s box, to foundations, to charities, to non-profits. But I want to be out there and hearing what the fans have to say.
“They will come at me and say, ‘How come you traded [Matt] Martin or [Frans] Nielsen or [Kyle] Okposo, and I’m going to say I didn’t trade them. Our hockey people run the hockey. (Those players left through free agency.)"
“Talk to me about other things. Why shouldn’t every game be a playoff game in terms of the experience, in terms of the atmosphere? Why can’t the Long Island Rail Road run the same number of trains for regular-season games as they ran for the playoffs? That’s affecting our fan base. Make that fan base feel that they’re the most important thing."
“That’s what we can influence. But for me to sit here and say that we should trade a goalie or whatever, if I start doing that to Garth and his team, I’ve destroyed the organization and that’s what foolish owners do, and they pay a price for many, many years.
“By the way, this isn’t our first season. It’s our third season, so hopefully we’ve learned something in two years and we don’t make rookie mistakes in our third year.
“I was able to go and talk to 20 [team] presidents the last two years and visit every NHL arena, and I had a list of the best practices of each arena and I’d come back with my group and we’d send that best practices list to Barclays and the organization and say, ‘OK, when it’s our turn, how do we continue to take this data and make the experience No. 1?’”
“I think Garth has put together an organization over time, first with some constraints and now with an ability to spend, that over the last two years was eighth in the league in total points, and he has put together a group that continues to mix and match the players you need to win a Stanley Cup.
“I think what you saw in Pittsburgh this year was instructive. Who scored some of the winning goals? Rookies. Who was the goaltender? A rookie. You look at our farm system, and I know some of you follow our team at that level, I think developing players has been excellent, and I think they’re doing a great job.
“To get in the middle of that and start expressing opinions about this player or that player, that’s a recipe for disaster. You have to support the organization.
“We were talking about stockholders earlier. What’s the standard? We won the first round. We went to the second round. The standard this year has to be, you won the second round and went to the third round. And eventually you have to hoist the Stanley Cup, because that’s what the fans demand. They demand that excellence, on the ice and off the ice.
“The off-the-ice, I can handle, by giving them a great experience. The on-the-ice, that group has to manage that. They have got the insight. They’ve got the experience to decide who plays goalie, who plays on Johnny’s line and stuff like that, not me. That’s a recipe for disaster.
“Each one of you could talk about an owner who came in and completely rearranged the furniture and is paying for it in years and years of poor performance.”
There is so much more in here, but all of it is not good when you consider how he's acting flies in the face of the things he claims he wants. There is nothing first-class about the on-ice product. So you can't claim to want that and not put the right people in charge of it without either being a hypocrite or totally clueless.
But if Ledecky truly believes he answers to us the fans, then it's our job to make sure all of us are heard - Every single one of us.
The article below is from July 14, 2016 - Just after Ledecky/Malkin took over the Islanders. You seriously have to read it again:
How Ledecky will make Isles ‘world-class’
The quotes are unbelievable, especially given where we are today. Here's a few:
“We should be the world-class destination for free agents. If you think about a [salary] capped world, everybody can spend to the cap and we certainly have no constraints on our GM and our staff to spend. We want to create and continue to progress towards John Tavares lifting that Stanley Cup, so we should be world class in everything we do."
“Let’s get the buzz that you want to be playing for the New York Islanders, because they are a world-class group, world class in the way they travel, where they stay, how they treat the players, the accoutrements of a hockey team. We should make sure our scouting team is the best, that with the things that are not cap-centric we spend intelligently and really provide world-class standards."
“You’re not going to see me sitting in the owner’s box. I’ll be in there [at times], but we’ll use the owner’s box for community. We’re giving away, come sit in the owner’s box, to foundations, to charities, to non-profits. But I want to be out there and hearing what the fans have to say.
“They will come at me and say, ‘How come you traded [Matt] Martin or [Frans] Nielsen or [Kyle] Okposo, and I’m going to say I didn’t trade them. Our hockey people run the hockey. (Those players left through free agency.)"
“Talk to me about other things. Why shouldn’t every game be a playoff game in terms of the experience, in terms of the atmosphere? Why can’t the Long Island Rail Road run the same number of trains for regular-season games as they ran for the playoffs? That’s affecting our fan base. Make that fan base feel that they’re the most important thing."
“That’s what we can influence. But for me to sit here and say that we should trade a goalie or whatever, if I start doing that to Garth and his team, I’ve destroyed the organization and that’s what foolish owners do, and they pay a price for many, many years.
“By the way, this isn’t our first season. It’s our third season, so hopefully we’ve learned something in two years and we don’t make rookie mistakes in our third year.
“I was able to go and talk to 20 [team] presidents the last two years and visit every NHL arena, and I had a list of the best practices of each arena and I’d come back with my group and we’d send that best practices list to Barclays and the organization and say, ‘OK, when it’s our turn, how do we continue to take this data and make the experience No. 1?’”
“I think Garth has put together an organization over time, first with some constraints and now with an ability to spend, that over the last two years was eighth in the league in total points, and he has put together a group that continues to mix and match the players you need to win a Stanley Cup.
“I think what you saw in Pittsburgh this year was instructive. Who scored some of the winning goals? Rookies. Who was the goaltender? A rookie. You look at our farm system, and I know some of you follow our team at that level, I think developing players has been excellent, and I think they’re doing a great job.
“To get in the middle of that and start expressing opinions about this player or that player, that’s a recipe for disaster. You have to support the organization.
“We were talking about stockholders earlier. What’s the standard? We won the first round. We went to the second round. The standard this year has to be, you won the second round and went to the third round. And eventually you have to hoist the Stanley Cup, because that’s what the fans demand. They demand that excellence, on the ice and off the ice.
“The off-the-ice, I can handle, by giving them a great experience. The on-the-ice, that group has to manage that. They have got the insight. They’ve got the experience to decide who plays goalie, who plays on Johnny’s line and stuff like that, not me. That’s a recipe for disaster.
“Each one of you could talk about an owner who came in and completely rearranged the furniture and is paying for it in years and years of poor performance.”
There is so much more in here, but all of it is not good when you consider how he's acting flies in the face of the things he claims he wants. There is nothing first-class about the on-ice product. So you can't claim to want that and not put the right people in charge of it without either being a hypocrite or totally clueless.
But if Ledecky truly believes he answers to us the fans, then it's our job to make sure all of us are heard - Every single one of us.
