New York Islanders Barclays Center Ice Chatter Begins

The 2017-18 NHL regular season has yet to start, but the Barclays Center ice narrative has already begun around the New York Islanders. Don’t worry. It will never go away.

We know that the marriage between the New York Islanders are the Barclays Center is on rocky ground. They have a 25-year lease deal that is currently being negotiated between both sides, we hope.

Either side can back out of the deal, and depending on who does will dictate how early the New York Islanders will be homeless. It’s my opinion that a deal gets sorted between both sides that is beneficial to each.

By that I mean it, the deal, reduces the reported $50 million Barclays pays every year to the Islanders and gives the New York Islanders a flexible out when their new arena is built. Whenever that is.

But that’s it for the Islanders. Don’t expect any more concessions from the Barclays Center. The scoreboard won’t be centered, the New York Islanders logo won’t be painted all over the arena, and certainly, the ice making infrastructure won’t be updated.

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Ice Will Never Be Updated

Speaking to Newsday’s Arthur Staple, New York Islanders John Tavares indicated that he’s not focusing on the quality of the ice in Brooklyn. Mainly because he doesn’t believe it will ever be fixed.

“From the way I’ve been told, the way the system is,” Tavares continued, “it’s just never going to be quite like what you’re going to get in the arena that was traditionally built for hockey. Honestly, I don’t really worry about it I just go out there and play.’’

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The system Tavares is referring to is the PVC pipes that Barclays uses to create ice. The industry standard used across NHL facilities is steel piping.

And why would Barclays change it? It would likely cost a ton of money and inconvenience to install for a tenant that they flat out don’t want. At least if Bloomberg’s article from January is to be believed.

The ice at the Barclays isn’t perfect we all know that. Tavares knows that. But let’s be clear with one thing. It isn’t the worst. We’ve already been over this.

Complaints about the ice conditions were coming from everywhere. In this piece done by Sports Illustrated no fewer than six teams were listed as having problems with their ice. The classic teams down south such as Arizona were mentioned. But a northern big market team in the Chicago Blackhawks was also singled out.

Next: Isles Mailbag: Halak and Prospect Talk

It’s going to be a long season if our own media is bringing up the ice quality at the Barclays Center. Especially as the Islanders and Barclays try to negotiate a deal.