I feel bad for the Islander fans. This move is a joke. Not because its cap circumvention, which it is. But because it shows how uncommitted to putting a descent product on the ice ownership/management is. Nobody can blame the fans for the fact that place is empty most night. The product they put out blatantly sucks (although it has gotten slighly better this year), and there is no commitment from the owner to try and make it better.
That team is run so poorly, and is so cheap, they have been in a perpetual cycle of sh!t for the past 20 years. Is moving to Brooklyn, with a tiny arena that eliminates a large number of the highest priced seats in one end of the rink because it wasn't built for hockey, really going to make things better for that franchise? For their sake, I sure hope so, but I have my doubts.
I know people have been saying it for years, but the Islanders actually look to have a decent team in the next few years. Nothing mind-blowing, but they have a solid forward corps + Niederreiter, Nelson, and Strome who aren't in the NHL. Hamonic is a top pair D, MacDonald can take 2nd pair minutes, but that's kinda it - Visnovsky and Streit are in their late 30s - so they still have a need back there long-term. As long as they can get average goaltending they should be in the playoff races for the next few years.
Just because the NHL has a silly artificial line up to which teams have to spend, even if spending to that line makes the team by default unprofitable, don't blame the Islanders. They're actually on the right track here.