Yes, it was certainly sad to hear that Billy Jaffe, a class act and excellent TV analyst will not be returning to MSG Broadcasts to cover the Islanders next season. Jaffe has had the job for four years, ever since Joe Micheletti was removed and shipped to the Rangers which started a fan uproar. Jaffe made the fans forget about Joe real quick.

There have been plenty of TV on-air personalities covering the Islanders, but Jaffe is pretty special. He has passion and enthusiasm and he certainly doesn’t have a face for radio. But TV is something that is ever changing and no one has a permanent gig.

In April, talk of Billy’s contract with his employer MSG expiring swirled on the net. He was a real gentleman about it. Every time I, or anyone else, asked about it, he would say “Thank you for the support, but I’d like to keep the negotiations private.” Jaffe still had his National TV stints during the Stanley Cup playoffs on Versus and his appearances on NHL Live, and for good reason: he knows his stuff.

It is now July and his contract has indeed expired and MSG Network will not be renewing it. Newsday’s Neil Best has said that while a new deal would be with MSG, the Islanders had the right to approve or disapprove who calls their games. He is quoted as saying that “three people familiar with the decision said the discontent with Jaffe came from the Islanders and not the network.”

So, MSG owned by Cablevision who owns Newsday and the NY Rangers, let the NY Islanders make a decision all on their own? If that’s the case, it’s probably the only one they’ve ever made. As it is MSG that wrote his paychecks, I can’t imagine that they didn’t have any say in the matter. Then again, they were not his only employer.

Jaffe did do additional work for the NY Islanders and could be seen at events and on Islanders TV Features. This work was in addition to his MSG responsibilities. While I’ve read he “volunteered,” I can’t imagine any TV personality’s agent would let a client volunteer for anything that wasn’t a charity event. But whatever he was paid was well worth it. He was always professional and entertaining.

Jaffe knows his stuff. He knows the league, he knows the players, he knows the game. That is why he does national broadcasts. He will certainly be doing broadcasts this coming season, even if it isn’t for MSG.

So who will be doing Islander broadcasts? Rumors on the web say it could be a promotion for ex-Islander Butch Goring who would move from the MSG studio in NY to a permanent position in the Isles TV Booth. Perhaps it’s ex-Islander Denis Potvin who called his last Florida Panther game a while ago and was a regular guest on XM radio telling Islander stories of old. Would he want to move from the sunny south back to the home in Uniondale he knew so well?

Or maybe, just maybe, radio play-by-play guy Chris King could get his shot at the pie and take over on TV. Chris King does an exceptional job and has for years toiling on the radio that no one can hear. (Okay, I can hear it, but I live east and south.) Chris has called games for the Islanders, the Sound Tigers and for (believe it or not) the Stony Brook Seawolves.

If it was me, and I was making the call, as much as Denis Potvin is an icon in Islander history, I would love to see Chris King get his chance. But…. I’m nothing but a lowly blogger with an opinion. And opinions are like *something else*, everyone’s got one.

I did get a response from Jaffe via email (the same one Neil Best got) and he said he enjoyed his four years here and looks towards the future. I wish him well. He’s an excellent announcer and a great guy.

The other news that may have been buried today in Islander Country is the dissolution of the affiliation with the ECHL club, the Utah Grizzles. While it’s a shame because ex-Islander Kevin Colley is in charge over there, the Islanders were sharing the affiliation with the Calgary Flames. The Flames will now have the sole affiliation with the Grizzles. The Islanders are currently working on a deal with a different ECHL affiliate. (Perhaps a little closer than Utah? Please?)

What a day. But every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.

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