New York Islanders Chase of Vesey a Big Deal

New York Islanders ownership came out with strong rhetoric when it came with their intents for the franchise. It was nice to hear, but words don’t always translate into action. But this whole Jimmy Vesey story shows us the intent was true.

The New York Islanders are seemingly out of the race for free agent jimmy Vesey. The Isles put a strong bid for the 23-year-old that even included a visit from team captain John Tavares. We were in it till the end.

We thought that it would have been a long shot to actually get him. But as the days went by and our name was still in the mix the possibility became more real. But now that it seems were out of the race, what does the entire chase reveal about managements, and ownerships intent for the franchise?

The Islanders have until recently been a franchise that has languished near the bottom of the league. Finishing in the bottom five six times since 2006-07. And we didn’t spend a lot. Two factors that conspired to keep free agents from embracing the Orange and Blue.

But with two top ten finishes over the last two seasons and an ownership group that is willing to spend the table seems to have turned.

We’ve said it before, the ownerships words needs to turn to action if were ever to believe them that a fifth Stanley Cup is at all possible.

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Seeing is believing. Matching actions to intent proves the ownerships commitment to success. When Ledecky said all those wonderful things at the beginning of the offseason it had to be taken with a grain of salt.

This was a new owner looking to build legitimacy, build loyalty, and more importantly to sell his idea for the New York Islanders. All new owners do this. Not all owners actually act on their promises.

There was a time that our approaches for such a coveted free agent would have been laughed out of the room. Cut almost immediately if we even had a chance to plead our case. Now, we were at the table up until the end.

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We were in the final four according to some reports. Losing out on Vesey isn’t the end of the world. Nor is it really that big of deal. The importance is how viable an option we were, and how management pursued him.

As someone said on our Facebook page; this is truly a new era for the New York Islanders.