Sunday was a historically bad day for a franchise that has seen an awful lot of them. The John Tavares saga ended, the Islanders were left holding an empty bag — we’ve certainly dissected where the blame could go often enough on that front — and the unmitigated glee from north of the border over Tavares’ decision makes this sting even more.



In exchanging texts with a few Islanders players, the reactions ranged from surprise to disbelief. I mentioned to one player that fans were posting videos of burning Tavares jerseys. “Don’t blame them,” was his reply.



It was a similar reaction inside the team’s front office. Lou Lamoriello surely didn’t envision Sunday’s scenario when he took the job six weeks ago and Barry Trotz surely felt the same when he signed on less than a week ago. These are men accustomed to winning, so getting off on the first official day of the 2018-19 season this way could not have been...