To the longest-tenured Islanders player, Charles Wang was “a special man.” To the former coach, he was “an inspiration to all of us.” The franchise, in its formal reminiscence delivered over the public address system, called him, “our owner, our friend.”
As far as his indelible place in the life and history of the New York Islanders, the late owner was something else, too. He was the right person at the right time.
Just as Roy Boe was the right one to give birth to the franchise and John O. Pickett was precisely the right one to take over the team when it was both on the brink of insolvency and on the verge of becoming a dynasty, Wang came along just when the Islanders needed someone to keep them home.