Islanders News: Arena management

While news earlier in the week brought the prospect of yet another premature Coliseum demise, yesterday the Islanders — or more precisely their arena developers — announced their management team for the new arena being built at Belmont.

The leadership team is larger than the Sabres’ scouting staff.

So, the official news, if you’re into executive lineups, somehow has the Islanders in Variety: Tom Pistore (an MLSE guy) is President of Commercial Operations, Hank Abate the President of Arena Operations, Charles Groneman is Chief Financial Officer, Zachary Klein is General Counsel and Lea del Rosario is Senior Vice President of Human Resources. [Islanders | Islanders Insight | Variety]

• Prospect Report: Get to know Jake Pivonka, at Notre Dame. [Isles]
• More on the Coliseum fallout: What about the Long Island Nets? [Nets Daily]
• And Andrew Gross of Newsday discusses the implications on the Island Ice podcast. [SoundCloud]
• Could, um, James Dolan be the Coliseum, um, savior? [Post]
• Newsday’s editorial on the Coliseum shutting down is so very Long Island because it can’t even escape the first paragraph without mentioning Billy Joel. [Newsday] To paraphrase Judge Smails...”Don’t you have homes?”
• Here’s an update on Belmont construction progress:

Elsewhere

• The full accounting of the Great Sabres Purge of 2020 is jaw-dropping. Remember when the Pegulas bought the Sabres and finally they’d be on the path upward and everything was great but then they signed Ville Leino to a Belfour Bail Bajillion-dollar deal and you knew something was amiss? (Thankfully Christian Ehrhoff said no to the Isles.)
• Seattle’s team name announcement is obviously delayed, as is renovation of Key Arena. Thanks, COVID! [Seattle Times]
• Meanwhile, the NHL’s full “Return To Play” plans are still not set because, well, there’s a coronavirus out there that isn’t likely to bend to our whims and wishes.
• But Canada is on board with altering quarantine rules for NHLers if it means one of three cities can be a “hub” city. [NHL]
• Remember goalie Parker Milner, who played a handful of games with the Sound Tigers a few years ago? Well, he has retired from pro hockey to become the Cuisine Editor for the City Paper in Charleston, SC. The paper also named him the city’s Best Local Athlete of 2020. That’s... fishy...