Post: New York Islanders deny report Wang 'appeared' to discuss team sale

The Post -- but not Brooks! -- has a report today (which the team denies) that New York Islanders owner Charles Wang "appears" to have discussed the process of selling the team with sports/entertainment investment and advising bank The Raine Group.

Of course, the team says there is no truth to the story, and the bank in question could not be reached by the Post for comment. But got you to click, right?

The Post report says that over the past few years, Wang had "quietly let it be known he is open to selling" the team. Then again, over the past few years, it was very loudly known that the team did not have a building to play in beyond 2015, and Wang didn't want to own the team in another market. So.

To be fair to the Post, even when sale explorations are legit and real (which may or may not be the case here), the franchise in question and anyone with real business on the line -- Raine has not been hired by the team, the Post says -- are always the last to speak on them unless they have something to gain from the leak. But the Post's history also includes its share of "the Post has learned" EXCLUSIVES that amount to the proverbial hill of beans.

So we'll see.

The most interesting tidbit, particularly for fans agonizing over the team's finances, may be the end of the article:

Plus, Wang might be feeling more pressure to sell. His NHL team lost more than $10 million last year, a source with direct knowledge of its finances said, more than in any recent year.

The team has a roughly $75 million loan that comes due at the end of next season.

Talk away, dear reader.