Hi everyone! I’m going to be going to my first Islanders game for the home opener, and I was wondering how the tee giveaway works. Will everyone be able to retrieve one after checking in? Or will it only be limited for a certain amount of attendants (first come first serve)?

I dont know if anyone remembers..its been years now and ive since moved from the Island.. but has the shopping cart pretzel been totally retired? I miss it.

This comes weeks after Darche’s comments of “I still want us to be competitive as we start bringing younger guys into the lineup. Does it mean we’ll make the playoffs? No it doesn’t necessarily. You never know with these things”

So our management is 100% saying we are not a cup contender. They are 100% saying the team we’re sending out is not the long term plan.

Yet 5 months ago we traded a first, third and goalie prospect for a now 35 year old center on the decline w/ 3 years left on his deal.

With these offseason comments they are also saying they want to win as many games as possible so young talent doesn’t come into a losing culture…

Do you guys think our farm system and current team is good enough to just let old players transition out and no new top 3 pick level guys added to our prospect pool?

I’ve watched sports my entire life… and I do not think I’ve ever heard management say going .500 with no real shot at a cup, pick in the 10-15 range , and do not move veterans for younger talent and picks is the right decision.

I get the sentiment of not want losing culture, but all sports are designed to reward the bad teams with better young talent. Obviously hindsight is 20/20, but the schenn trade was a disaster… staying put at the draft seemed like an odd decision only adding a single top 100 player a year after drafting a generational dman. And now trying to compete and running it back seems like the wrong move.

Casey shouldn’t be in the lineup. Palat shouldn’t be in the lineup. Ritchie shouldn’t be getting bottom 6 mins bc Schenn. We have 4 starting defensemen over 30 that could get us value.

Obviously everyone is excited for the season… but if I would have told you when we got schaef the plan to build a cup winner is build nothing around him, do not acquire prospects, TRADE AWAY picks, and play .500 hockey until our vets retire… I don’t think there would be a single person that believed that was the way to go…