In what seemed an inevitability, the Islanders are not going to play six games at the refurbished Nassau Coliseum next season, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly wrote in an email to The Post on Tuesday night.
This comes despite a clause in the lease agreement between developer Bruce Ratner and the county that promises four regular-season games and two preseason games for the next decade, with a monetary penalty for Ratner if it doesn’t come through. The agreement was signed when Ratner’s company won the bid to redevelop the Islanders’ former home, into which they put $165 million and reopened this spring.
Ratner also developed the Islanders’ current home at Barclays Center but recently sold a 85 percent stake to Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.
When trying to win the Coliseum bid, Ratner asked then-Islanders majority owner Charles Wang to commit to games on Long Island, thus making it a more favorable bid to county legislators. With that in mind, Ratner won the bid and committed the games without ever having an official approval from either the league or the team, now under the majority ownership of Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin.
It has not been ruled out that the Islanders could play a preseason game at the Coliseum this fall, but no regular-season games will take place. The original idea of having a minor league team, often mentioned as the Islanders’ AHL affiliate currently playing in Bridgeport, was also scrapped when hope mounted the Islanders might return to the Coliseum full-time, which currently appears impossible.
The Islanders will play next season at Barclays Center, their third in Brooklyn, as they negotiate “in good faith,” as their lease states, before opt-out clauses almost assuredly will go into effect in January. It is also expected the Islanders are waiting for the state to release requests for proposals to develop the area next to Belmont Park as a possible site for a new arena.