Are the NY Islanders Owners Underappreciated by Fans?

The New York Islanders' ownership situation is the best it's ever been, and yes, that includes the years in which they won four consecutive Stanley Cups when John Pickett owned the team. Scott Malkin, Jon Ledecky, and now additional minority owners, including John Collins, have brought stability to a franchise that was, for a long stretch, the most unstable in the league - and that's not even counting almost owner and convicted fraud, John Spano.

They accomplished the impossible by building a new hockey area on Long Island and have consistently allowed GM Lou Lamoriello and the front office to spend to the cap ceiling. They are building the area around UBS Arena to become a destination before and after games. They have transformed the Islanders from a small town, local community-type team into one that maintains that identity but also has big business behind it. So why are they receiving more love?

The Athletic published their first-ever ownership rankings this week, and the Islanders ownership group came in at No. 21 with a B- grade overall. When you dig into the numbers, you will find that a few interesting narratives are forming. They ranked 13th on the treatment of the fanbase, a strong recognition that ownership has done a lot to cater toward their season ticket holder fanbase, including listening to them and implementing changes they want to see. However, they ranked 27th in franchise vision, with 26% more fans having a lower confidence rating in them year-over-year.

Overall, they did finish ahead of James Dolan, owner of the New York Rangers, so there's that.

What's the reason for it? It was summed up perfectly by one fan who offered this explanation:

"The owners spend to the max, which is great, but are slow to realize that this team is in dire need of a rebuild. Whether this is all on Lou, or whether the owners are telling Lou to just focus on making the playoffs, even if they’re a one-and-done team, is unknown. But the perennial mediocrity is becoming tiresome.”

Whether it's justified or not, there is a growing perception amongst fans that winning is important, but it's not the most important thing to Ledecky, and especially majority owner Malkin, who has had a parallel focus on the real estate around the new arena. That's mostly due to the willingness to let Lamoriello run things back year after year, with improvements only happening on the margins.

Those who question ownership's desire to win feel that they are content with having a mostly full new building with a team that can be in playoff contention but not Stanley Cup contention in the years that have followed their back-to-back deep playoff runs. The problem with that is that they are not meddlers on the hockey side of things. They don't talk openly about the state of the team in the press; they aren't making headline comments about coaches, players, or their GM. If they are as hands-off as we believe they are, they have to provide the front office with the financial support they need to succeed and watch like everyone else.

If you take issue with who they have making the hockey decisions, that's another debate for another time, but there's no way to look at the support they've given Lamoriello than overwhelmingly positive. Would we like to hear from Malkin at some point? Absolutely, but I also will respect an owner who believes it's in the organization's best interest that things are said behind closed doors only and sticks with that plan year after year. It doesn't mean he doesn't care, though will be perceived as such.

It's fair to say that the Islanders have become a stale product on the ice, but the overall trajectory and stability of the franchise is on the rise, and continues to evolve and grow on the business side, and it's something that should not under-appreciated by the fanbase, especially after years of simply wanting owners that would give the team a fighting chance to compete with the rest of the NHL.