The Islanders blew the John Tavares sweepstakes months ago

Scott Malkin takes the hit for the franchise’s latest debacle. For it was the principal owner who allowed John Tavares to hold the Islanders hostage throughout a season in which No. 91 refused to commit to an extension even while the clock mercilessly ticked off the final year of his contract.

Whether a representation of ownership naivete, arrogance or foolhardiness, the organization got suckered after Malkin forbade then-general manager Garth Snow to shop Tavares as a trade-deadline rental following months in which the captain and his agent whispered sweet words of nothing into the owner’s ears.

And now he is gone, gone for nothing in return, off to Toronto, where he can establish his legacy as an all-time Maple Leaf if he can help his hometown team end a Stanley Cup drought that reaches back 51 years to 1967, the last year of the Original Six.

It made perfect sense for the Islanders to give Tavares, probably the second-best non-dynasty player in their history behind Pat LaFontaine (Pierre Turgeon comes mighty close), all the leeway in the world until their long-term arena situation was resolved.

But once they won the Belmont bid on Dec. 20, the Islanders not only had every right to apply some pressure to Tavares, they had an obligation to do so. From that moment on, ownership and management were in a need-to-know situation. If he wouldn’t sign, they needed to trade him. This, by the way, is not a second-guess. I wrote as much numerous times throughout the season.

But no. People kept talking about Steven Stamkos, as if the Islanders were in the same position as the Lightning when their No. 91 went through his final season without signing an extension. That Tampa Bay team had gone to the seventh game of the conference finals a year after going to the Cup final and were set up for years in a no-tax state. The Islanders were not that.

Tavares becomes the second-best player near his prime in the cap era to go elsewhere as a free agent, after first-ballot Hall of Famer Scott Niedermayer left the Devils to sign with Anaheim in 2005. Coincidentally, Lou Lamoriello was the general manager then and now. But circumstances were different. Niedermayer did not leave for hockey reasons; he left so that he could play with his brother, Rob. There was nothing Lamoriello could have done about that, though he had attempted a few years earlier to trade for No. 27’s younger sibling.

There apparently was nothing Lamoriello could do about this, either, even though he spent countless hours attempting to recruit Tavares, an effort that began before the executive was officially hired by the Islanders. Nothing Lamoriello could do to paste over the weaknesses of the team that had been assembled by Snow over the previous decade. No move over the last week or two that might have changed the course of this decision, not even the hiring of Barry Trotz to replace Doug Weight behind the bench.

Boy, was the perception of Tavares — with whom, by the way, the Islanders won one playoff round — off, wasn’t it? This was allegedly the guy who luxuriated in life on the small pond and would never want the fishbowl existence in Toronto. If he was going to leave, well, he’d go to San Jose, where he could blend in and hide in plain sight, just like he had on the Island. Well, apparently not.

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The key for Lamoriello is not to overreact to this, not to dive headfirst into a shallow pool in order to make up for this defection with a Big Gulp. The GM’s response should be measured. The Islanders should take small bites here. Barclays is going to be a ghost town, regardless.

Meanwhile, Brendan Shanahan, who as Maple Leafs president orchestrated the successful pursuit of Tavares, is clearly close to the top of the list of the most influential people in hockey over the last two decades. Gary Bettman, one. Bob Goodenow, two. And the case can be made that it is Shanahan, three, taking into account his career as a preeminent power winger, as a league executive and as a team president.

For it was Shanahan whose acquisition by the Red Wings from the Whalers (!) early in 1996-97 changed the course of history for that franchise and whose presence was instrumental in their three Cup victories in six years following a 42-year drought. It was Shanahan who convened the 2004-05 lockout summit that created the new-age rules that were adopted when the NHL reopened for business. It was Shanahan who invented the Dep’t of Player Safety videos we now take for granted. It is Shanahan whose rebuild plan has revitalized the Maple Leafs.

There will be anger directed at Tavares from the fan base. There will be a perception he misled the team. That anger is misdirected. The mistake was made at the top, and it was ongoing. Ownership blew it. The more things change on the Island, the more they stay the same.