Team co-owners Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin are still trying to get that first shovel in the ground on the site of the team’s future state-of-the-art arena in Belmont, N.Y., tentatively scheduled to open in time for the 2021-22 campaign.

With a busy offseason in full swing, the one thing Ledecky, Malkin, Snow, Weight and the rest of the Islanders are waiting for hasn’t come close to materializing.

Team captain John Tavares, an unrestricted free-agent-to-be on July 1, is standing pat on his desire to take a wait-and-see approach to his future here in Brooklyn and Long Island, where the Isles will play half of their regular-season games until they move into their Belmont digs.

Tavares, coming off a season in which he piled up 84 points (37 goals and 47 assists), may have ended his tenure with the franchise that drafted him first overall in 2009 with a game-winning overtime goal in Detroit on April 7 in New York’s regular-season finale.

Or he may have simply put an ironic exclamation point on his second straight non-playoff season in Orange and Blue, and sixth overall during his nine-year run as the face of the franchise.

“I think it’s just a good feeling to win and when you get the winner, it makes it feel a little extra special,” Tavares said in front of his locker that night before peeling off the only NHL sweater he has worn to date for perhaps the final time.

“Just a good way to finish the year,” he said.

The Islanders’ finish to 2017-18 may have put the finishing touches on Tavares’ time with the club.

Despite getting off to a brilliant 15-7-2 start, something Weight emphasized throughout training camp after New York fell a single point shy of qualifying for a postseason spot in 2016-17, the Isles fell into a maddening malaise once December started.

They went a putrid 20-30-8 following their strong opening, steadily sinking in the standings and providing little hope that they might just provide Brooklyn with a touch of “Cup Crazy”, as they did during their inaugural season here when they won an opening-round playoff series for the first time since 1993.

The nosedive into obscurity had to be deflating for Tavares, who has amassed 272 goals and 621 points while waiting for the rest of the organization to catch up to his brilliance on the ice.

“It’s a big decision and there’s a lot that goes into it and that’s a big reason why I’ve taken my time,” the two-time Hart Trophy finalist said following the Isles’ exit interviews and locker-cleanout day at Barclays Center last month.

“For me personally, you realize that you don’t know how many opportunities you get to get to this point and possibly see what the landscape is,” he added. “I don’t necessarily know if that’s even what I want to do yet.” 

While Tavares continues to take a wait-and-see approach, the rest of the NHL’s 30 clubs are doing their best to figure out if they can lure Tavares to their town, with Colorado being mentioned most prominently as a potential landing spot for the 27-year-old Ontario native.

Making matters worse, New York Rangers goaltender and future Hall of Famer Henrik Lundqvist weighed in on the matter while attending a charity event in the city earlier this week.

“Of course, if he would like to play for us, that would be big,” said Lundqvist, who, like Tavares, is still chasing his first Stanley Cup title.

Not only would Tavares be a major get for the arch rival Rangers, but the loss of the best player in the modern history of the team to its arch rivals across the East River would likely be a deadly blow to Snow’s GM tenure here.

The former NHL netminder has delivered only four playoff appearances in a dozen years during his stretch at the helm.

But he continues to cling to the hope that Tavares will dip his skate into the free-agent pond on July 1, then opt to return to the only NHL home he has ever known to the tune of about $110 million during eight years.

That’s one more year and about $10-$12 million more than any other team can offer Tavares.

“We want him to retire as an Islander,” Snow insisted emphatically while his players cleaned out their lockers last month.

“Our goal is to have John Tavares hoist the Stanley Cup in an Islanders jersey and retire an Islander.”

Those hopes continue to dwindle with each passing day, almost assuring Tavares an opportunity to latch on with another team, one that has a Stanley Cup run in its near future.

As for the Isles, they will continue to stay busy, getting ready for the draft, plotting out their arena plans, skating at the World Championships and, ultimately, waiting for their captain to return to them.

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