NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Friday said that Islanders Owner Charles Wang "wants to stay on Long Island and that the team and public officials need to ratchet up talks in the next year about where the franchise will play." Bettman said, "With four years to go on the lease -- and Wang has said repeatedly he intends to honor the lease -- then we probably need to get more serious and focus on this in about a year." On Long Island, Katie Strang noted the Lighthouse Project -- Wang's "massive redevelopment plan that included a new arena for the Islanders -- is all but dead." Still, Bettman said that Wang "remains committed to remaining on Long Island" (NEWSDAY, 4/23).
WORKING THINGS OUT: Bettman said that he "expected ongoing issues involving Devils' ownership to be settled without any disruptions to the franchise going forward." Devils investors Mike Gilfillan and Ray Chambers have said that they are "exploring the sale of their share of the team because of differences with" Chair & Managing Partner Jeff Vanderbeek. Bettman "pointed out that both Vanderbeek and Chambers have been committed to the Prudential Center and Devils, 'A) because of hockey and B) because of Newark'" (NJ.com, 4/22).
EASTERN BLOCK: Blue Jackets President Mike Priest said that the team as recently as two months ago "expressed to the NHL a desire to move to the Eastern Conference." Priest: "We have an annual review with the league, and that's where it came up. I asked the question: What would the procedure be in the event that a team from the West needs to move to the East?" In Columbus, Aaron Portzline noted "nothing will happen for at least a couple of seasons," and "two hurdles are in the way." First, a club currently in the Eastern Conference "would need to relocate to a city in the West." The Blue Jackets also "would need to curry favor with the NHL's Board of Governors, which would have to approve any team's move across conferences." That "might be a bigger hurdle" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 4/24).
BIDING THEIR TIME: In K.C., James Dornbrook reports the city "remains in the hunt" for an NHL team. Paul McGannon, President of NHL21, a private, 800-member organization devoted to bringing the NHL to K.C., said that "much work is going on behind the scenes, and the area needs to stay patient and keep cultivating interest in hockey." The NHL in an e-mail said that it has "no candidates for relocation and no plans for expansion" (K.C. BUSINESS JOURNAL, 4/22 issue).
