Even before press conference time came -- and remember, we're talking about a three-hour window between advisory to bombshell announcement -- North American media were all over the pending news of the New York Islanders move to Brooklyn.
The Islanders -- the Islanders -- were trending on Twitter. Moms and cousins and debt collectors were dropping you notes about the news. This kind of attention is, suffice to say, unusual for your average Islanders follower.
And it puts Islanders legend Denis Potvin in a sad panda state of mind. Reached by The Hockey News, Potvin's initial reaction was, "You're kidding." To wit:
"Maybe they can better position themselves to be competitive in that building. That’s the best I can hope for.”
More and better quotes at that link.
Potvin appears to not have been keeping up with the buzz since every last effort to keep the club in Nassau County faded away, but that's probably a consequence of his "minimal" relationship to the franchise these days. He also worried about the team's logo disappearing into the history books -- a highly unlikely outcome.
They're staying in New York, Denis. It's gonna be okay.