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EAST MEADOW John Hayden Jersey , N.Y. (AP) After missing the playoffs for the second straight year, and eighth time in the last 11, the New York Islanders head into the offseason with much work to be done.The most important task is signing captain John Tavares, who is set to be a free agent this summer.Tavares has said all along he hopes to be back with the only franchise he’s played for, but doesn’t know what will happen. However, with the season having ended less than 48 hours ago, he needs to take a breather first.”Take some time to not even think about hockey for a few days,” Tavares said Monday. ”And then prepare for the offseason and training, and obviously the contract will come up here as well.”Tavares, 27, just wrapped up the final year of a six-year, $33 million contract, and would be the top free agent available July 1. The face of the Islanders since they selected him No. 1 overall in the 2009 draft, Tavares had 37 goals and 47 assists this season Authentic Jonathan Toews Jersey , finishing a goal and an assist shy of the career highs he set in 2014-15.”This is where I hope to be and I’ve stated that,” he said. ”Just have to take some time and figure out what I want to do.”Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky and general manager Garth Snow have both repeatedly said they want Tavares to return, and Snow reiterated that Monday.”We want to be in a situation where he has the Stanley Cup in his hand, wearing an Islanders jersey, and we want him to retire as an Islander,” Snow said.Ledecky read a statement in which he declined to address the futures of any player, or the statuses of Snow and coach Doug Weight, saying the team was ”committed to long-term success,” and defined that as ”competing every year for the Stanley Cup and eventually winning a fifth ring.”He added: ”For the past season, as owners we have failed. We sincerely apologize to our fans. We want to express that our ownership group is totally committed to winning and providing the resources to do just that.”The Islanders finished 35-37-10 despite getting off to a strong start in which they won 15 of their first 24 games.However, injuries to defensemen Calvin de Haan and Johnny Boychuk started them on a tailspin in which they lost 30 of their final 45 games (15-24-6).There were some bright spots, led by Mathew Barzal’s 22 goals and 63 assists that make him the leading candidate for the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie. Also, Anders Lee had the franchise’s first 40-goal season since Jason Blake in 2006-07, and Josh Bailey had career bests of 18 goals and 53 assists.Some other things to know as the Islanders head into the offseason:IMPROVING THE DEFENSEFinding a way to improve the defense needs to be the second priority this summer – after retaining Tavares. The Islanders finished eighth in the league in scoring with 261 goals Blake Comeau Jersey Womens , but gave up a league-worst 293. They were also last in shots allowed and penalty-killing,Nick Leddy had an unseemly minus-42 rating, the league’s worst since Pittsburgh’s Rico Fata (minus-46) in 2003-04. Calvin de Haan was lost for the season in December and is also set to be free agent. On the bright side, Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech, both 23, established themselves as solid young defensemen.THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHTBarzal and Anthony Beauvillier, both 20, formed a solid second line with Jordan Eberle, 27, combining for 180 points to complement the top line of Lee-Tavares-Bailey (217).Eberle had 25 goals and 34 assists in his first season in New York, and Beauvillier had a breakout second season in the NHL with 21 goals and 15 assists.WHO’S IN GOAL?Thomas Greiss is the only goalie signed for next season, with Jaroslav Halak set to be an unrestricted free agent. Greiss dealt with an injury down the stretch and finished 13-8-2 with one shutout and a 3.82 goals-against average.Halak was 20-26-6 with a shutout and a 3.16 GAA in the final season of a four-year deal. The 32-year-old had a solid first season, going 38-17-4 with a 2.43 GAA in 2014-15, but totaled just 50 wins the last three years.SNOW’S JOBWith the Islanders having made the playoffs just four times in 12 years since Snow was hired as the GM Patrick Kane Jersey , he was asked if he deserved to stay on the job.”Yeah,” he said. ”When I took over this position it was a situation where it was an all-out rebuild. … Now we’re in a situation where we feel we can compete for a Stanley Cup.”You can go through the lineup and have a pretty common theme of successful stories of where we’ve built through the draft. And I think our prospect pool at this point in time is impressive as well.”HOME AND HOMEThe team’s struggles this season were punctuated by losses at Barclays Center, where they were 59-26-16 since moving to the Brooklyn arena before the 2015-16 season.However, they lost 15 of their final 22 games there to finish with a losing record on home ice for the first time since 2013-14.Now, the Islanders will be splitting home games between Barclays Center and the Nassau Coliseum – their former home – for at least the next three seasons until a new arena is built at Belmont Park.—-Follow Vin Cherwoo at www.twitter.com/VinCherwooAP— ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) Russ Brandon abruptly resigned his dual role as president of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and NHL’s Buffalo Sabres after being confronted by the teams’ owners regarding an alleged inappropriate relationship with a female employee, two people with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because it is an internal matter, and owners Terry and Kim Pegula did not provide a reason for accepting Brandon’s resignation in a statement they released Tuesday.The relationship in question first became apparent to a number of team employees during the Sabres’ visit to New York for a game against the Rangers on Jan. 18, the people said. The trip included the team hosting a fan event at a bar the day before the game.Kim Pegula will take over Brandon’s roles overseeing the Bills, Sabres and Pegula Sports Entertainment, the company which controls the owners’ numerous holdings.In a text to The AP, Brandon said he has contemplated stepping down from the job for some time, and felt the timing was right after the conclusion of the NFL draft.”My goal when the Pegulas purchased the franchise was to reach 20 years with the Bills, in which I achieved this past November http://www.officialavalanche.com/authentic-adidas-alexander-kerfoot-jersey ,” Brandon wrote.”As grateful as I am for the amazing experience and the incredible people I’ve had the privilege to work with the past two decades, I am just as anxious for the professional opportunities that lie ahead,” he added.Brandon did not respond to follow-up questions regarding his relationship.Brandon’s departure comes after the Bills made a big splash in the first round of the draft by trading up to select both Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen with the seventh pick, and Virginia Tech linebacker Tremaine Edmunds with the 16th pick. The new additions join a Bills team that went 9-7 and ended a 17-year playoff drought last season.On Saturday, the last-place Sabres earned a boost by winning the NHL draft lottery and the right to the No. 1 pick for the third time in franchise history.”We have a tremendous amount of confidence in the strong leadership team we have built within each of these entities over the last several years,” the statement from the Pegulas read.”We are excited about the direction of our teams, especially after this past weekend’s NFL draft and NHL lottery results. Our focus remains on building championship teams on and off the field for our fans and community.”Brandon most recently served as the Bills’ managing partner, was the Sabres alternate on the NHL’s board of governors and a member of the NFL’s business ventures committee.The timing of Brandon’s exit comes at a time he was supposed to oversee the Bills’ next big venture in determining their future home. Brandon was expected to lead the team’s stadium search committee in deciding whether the Bills should continue playing at their current home or develop a new facility in downtown Buffalo.He served in various roles with the Bills, involving both marketing and football decisions during a two-year stint as general manager from 2008-09.He also took the lead in negotiating the Bills’ most recent lease five years ago, which played a critical role in securing the franchise’s long-term future in Buffalo especially following Hall of Fame owner Ralph Wilson’s death in March 2014.The lease included a strict non-relocation clause that included a $400 million penalty the team would be forced to pay if it considered moving before 2020.Brandon also oversaw the Bills’ eventual sale to the Pegulas, who completed their $1.4 billion purchase of the franchise in October 2014.The Pegulas retained Brandon and elevated him to the role of managing partner. The Pegulas thought so highly of Brandon, the Sabres were added to his responsibilities after the team reached a mutual agreement to part ways with Ted Black in July 2015.Brandon’s resignation continues a large turnover of Bills executives who served under Wilson. Bruce Popko is the senior holdover and now becomes the top executive as chief operating officer of Buffalo-based Pegula Sports and Entertainment, which oversees the Pegulas’ numerous holdings.Brandon grew up in nearby Syracuse, New York Erik Condra Jersey Womens , and began making his mark in Buffalo shortly after being hired by the Bills in 1997 to serve as the team’s business development and marketing director.He began by spearheading a campaign to transform them into a regional team by expanding the franchise’s fan base to offset Buffalo’s dropping population base.That process began in 2000, when the team shifted training camp to Brandon’s alma mater, St. John Fisher College in suburban Rochester, to capitalize on the community’s corporate and larger population base.Later, the Bills boosted their presence across southern Ontario by negotiating a deal to begin playing annual regular-season games in Toronto starting in 2008. The ”Bills In Toronto” series lasted through 2013 before the deal was placed on hold the following year and then terminated by the Pegulas.Toronto-based media giant, Rogers Communications, paid the Bills $78 million to essentially lease eight games (five regular season and three preseason) during the initial five-year agreement. The price was almost double what the Bills were projected to generate if those games were played at their home facility.The series also spurred a large bump in season-ticket purchases from across the border. By 2015, the Bills estimated southern Ontario fans accounted for about 18 percent of their season-ticket sales, surpassing their support from Rochester.Not everything succeeded under Brandon, who drew criticism for a number of decisions, including failing to build a winner during his two-year stint as the Bills GM when Wilson elected to promote from within the organization after Marv Levy stepped down following a two-year tenure.—This story’s third paragraph has been corrected to note the relationship first became apparent during the Sabres’ visit to New York for a game against the Rangers on Jan. 18—