Now that Islanders are in second round of playoffs, an unsuccessful call for games to be kept at the Coliseum

Now that the New York Islanders have made it to the second round of the playoffs, the home games will be, as planned, at the Barclays Center rather than the Nassau Coliseum, which. as the team--approved by the NHL--announced in February reflected "that the Nassau Coliseum does not qualify as an NHL major league facility."

So why was it at Nassau in the first place? Because the fans wanted it, the operators of both arenas (BSE Global) wanted it, the players probably wanted, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo wanted it. But the league wants Barclays, which has many more suites, when the games are full.

Yesterday, Newsday reported Hempstead asks NHL to schedule Islanders at Coliseum:

Hempstead Town Supervisor Laura Gillen requested the NHL relocate the remaining Islanders playoff games to Long Island, but NHL officials said the games will be played in Brooklyn as scheduled.

An understandable effort, but not a successful one. After all, the lease between the team and BSE Global requires playoff games to be played at Barclays, a requirement that was bent for the first round.

The big picture

Laura Gillen should recognize why the Coliseum isn’t fit for NHL hockey and use her voice to continue to push for getting Belmont done. Once Belmont and the Hub redevelopment are done, both will boost Hempstead enormously. https://t.co/VHYU2YCToZ

— Randi Marshall (@randimarshall) April 19, 2019

And about the competition

Of course extra revenue helps the town - means extra sales tax, jobs etc. and given the plans to redevelop the Hub, I seriously disagree with your assumption about the arena.

— Randi Marshall (@randimarshall) April 20, 2019

Well, I disagree with Newsday editorial board member Marshall; I think a new arena at Belmont would seriously threaten the Coliseum.