New York Islanders
Encyclopedia
The New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey
team based in Uniondale
, New York
. They are members of the Atlantic Division
of the Eastern Conference
of the National Hockey League
(NHL). The Islanders are one of three NHL franchises in the New York City metropolitan area along with the New Jersey Devils
and the New York Rangers
, the latter of whom the Islanders maintain a rivalry with, known as the Battle of New York
.
The team was founded in 1972 during the 1972–73 NHL season as part of a bid to keep the rival World Hockey Association
out of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
where the Islanders have played since their founding. The Islanders won four consecutive Stanley Cup
championships between 1980
and 1983
, the eighth of the nine dynasties
recognized by the NHL in its history. However the team has not won a division title since 1989–90, and their last playoff series win was during the 1992–93 NHL season. Due to the failure of the Lighthouse Project development plan and other plans to replace the Nassau Coliseum, it is in doubt whether the team would remain in Nassau County
past the end of their lease with the arena in 2015.
Eight former members of the Islanders have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame
, seven of whom—Al Arbour
, Mike Bossy
, Clark Gillies
, Denis Potvin
, Billy Smith
, Bill Torrey
and Bryan Trottier
—were members of all four Cup winning teams. Pat LaFontaine
was the most recent inductee, having been honored in 2003.
(WHA) in the fall of 1972, the upstart league had plans to place its New York team, the Raiders, in the then brand-new Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
in Nassau County
. However, Nassau County officials did not consider the WHA a major league and wanted nothing to do with the upstart Raiders. Since the only legal way to keep the Raiders out of the Coliseum was to get an NHL team to play there, William Shea
, who had helped bring the New York Mets
to the area a decade earlier, was pressed into service once again. Shea found a receptive ear in NHL president Clarence Campbell
, though the New York Rangers
did not want the additional competition in the New York area. So, despite having expanded to 14 teams just two years before, the NHL hastily awarded a Long Island-based franchise to clothing manufacturer Roy Boe
, owner of the American Basketball Association's New York Nets
. A second expansion franchise was awarded to Atlanta (the Flames
) at the same time to balance the schedule.
The new team was widely expected to take the Long Island Ducks
name used by an Eastern Hockey League
franchise; the more geographically expansive "New York Islanders" came largely as a surprise. The fledgling Islanders, who were soon nicknamed the "Isles" by the local newspapers, had an extra burden to pay in the form of a $4 million territorial fee to the nearby New York Rangers
. The arrival of the Islanders effectively doomed the Raiders; they were forced to play in Madison Square Garden
under onerous lease terms and were forced out of town in the middle of their second season.
While the Islanders secured veteran forward Ed Westfall
from the Boston Bruins
in the 1972 NHL Expansion Draft
, junior league star Billy Harris in the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft
, and a few other respectable players, several other draftees jumped to the WHA. Unlike most other expansion teams' general managers, Islanders GM Bill Torrey
did not make many trades for veteran players in the early years. Rather than pursue a "win now" strategy of getting a few veterans to boost attendance (a tactic which proved disastrous for many teams in the long run), Torrey was committed to building through the draft.
In the team's first season, young players such as goaltender Billy Smith
(the team's second pick in the expansion draft) and forwards Bob Nystrom
and Lorne Henning
were given chances to prove themselves in the NHL. However, this young and inexperienced expansion team posted a record of 12–60–6, one of the worst in NHL history.
The team who finished last in 1972–73 received the right to pick first in the 1973 amateur draft and select junior superstar defenseman Denis Potvin
, who had been touted "as the next Bobby Orr
" when he was 13. Despite several trade offers from Montreal Canadiens
' GM Sam Pollock
, Torrey refused to part with the pick. That same summer, Torrey made perhaps the most critical move in the history of the franchise when he convinced former St. Louis Blues coach Al Arbour
to come to Long Island. Even with Potvin, who won the Calder Memorial Trophy
as NHL Rookie Of The Year, the team still finished last in the East in its second year. Under Arbour, the team showed signs of respectability. Although the team did not make the playoffs, they allowed 100 fewer goals than the previous season, and their 56 points represented a healthy 26-point improvement from the previous season. It turned out to be the team's last losing season for 15 years.
, and goaltenders Smith and Glenn "Chico" Resch
, the Islanders earned 88 points — 32 more than the previous season, and two more than their first two seasons combined — and earned their first playoff berth. They stunned the rival New York Rangers
in a best-of-3 first-round series. The Islanders won the series in the third game as J. P. Parise scored just 11 seconds into the extra session.
In the next round, an even bigger surprise occurred. Down three games to none in the best-of-seven series against the Pittsburgh Penguins
, the Islanders rallied to win the next four and take the series. Only three other major North America
n professional sports teams have accomplished this feat, the 1941–42 Toronto Maple Leafs
, the 2004 Boston Red Sox
(from the Major League Baseball
), and the 2009–10 Philadelphia Flyers
. In the third round of the playoffs, the Islanders nearly did it again, rallying from another 3–0 deficit to force a seventh game against the defending Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers
before the Flyers took the decisive seventh game at home and went on to win the Stanley Cup
.
The Islanders continued their stunning climb up the NHL standings in 1975–76, earning 101 points, the fifth-best record in the league. It was the first 100-point season in Islanders history, in only their fourth year of existence. Rookie center Bryan Trottier
, who scored 95 points and won the Calder Trophy, was blossoming into a superstar. It would be the first of four consecutive 100-point seasons, including the first two division titles in franchise history.
. The Canadiens were 24–3 in the playoffs in those two years — all three losses were to the Islanders.
In the 1977 NHL Amateur Draft
, Torrey had the 15th pick and had to make a tough decision between right winger Mike Bossy
and another forward. Bossy was known as a scorer who was not physical, while the other forward could check but was not very good offensively. Coach Arbour persuaded Torrey to pick Bossy, figuring it was easier to teach a scorer how to check. In the upcoming 1977-78 season, Bossy became the third Islander to win the Calder Trophy, having scored 53 goals that season, at the time the most scored by a rookie. The team was upset in the quarterfinal round in overtime of game 7 by the Toronto Maple Leafs
.
In 1978–79, the team finished with the best record in the NHL. Bryan Trottier was voted the league MVP and captured the scoring title
, while sophomore Bossy scored 69 goals, which also led the league. Despite their regular season dominance, the Islanders exited the playoffs with a loss to the New York Rangers
in the semifinals, after which original team captain and star Ed Westfall
- who had surrendered the captaincy to Clark Gillies
the season before - retired. Hockey professionals and journalists generally regarded the Rangers as an inferior team, which led them to question whether the Islanders were capable of winning big games in the playoffs when they really counted.
Off the ice, the Islanders were on shaky ground. Boe was losing money on both the Islanders and the Nets even as the Islanders quickly surged to NHL prominence and the Nets became an ABA power. The Islanders were still far behind on the $10 million they had paid in startup costs, and the expenses associated with moving the Nets to the NBA threw Boe's finances into a tailspin. Eventually, Boe was forced to sell both his teams. He readily found a buyer for the Nets, but had less luck finding one for the Islanders. Torrey orchestrated a sale to one of the team's limited partners, John Pickett, who made Torrey team president. Soon after buying the Islanders, Pickett signed a very lucrative cable
contract with the fledgling Sportschannel network. SportsChannel's owner, Charles Dolan
, thought the up-and-coming team would be a perfect centerpiece for his new network. Dolan gave Pickett a long-term guaranteed contract intended to not only keep the team on Long Island, but give area governments an incentive to renew his cable contracts. The Islanders have been on the network, now known as MSG Plus
, for over a quarter-century.
.
Before the playoffs, Torrey made the difficult decision to trade longtime and popular veterans Billy Harris and defenseman Dave Lewis to the Los Angeles Kings
for second line center Butch Goring
. Goring's is often called the "final piece of the puzzle": a strong two-way player, his presence on the second line ensured that opponents would no longer be able to focus their defensive efforts on the Islanders' first line of Bossy, Trottier and Clark Gillies
. Contributions from new teammates, such as wingers Duane Sutter
and Anders Kallur
and stay-at-home defensemen Dave Langevin
, Gord Lane
and Ken Morrow
(the latter fresh off a gold medal win at the 1980 Olympics
), also figured prominently in the Islanders' playoff success.
In the semifinals, the Islanders faced the Buffalo Sabres
, who had finished second overall in the NHL standings. The Islanders won the first two games in Buffalo, including a 2-1 victory in game two on Bob Nystrom
's goal in double overtime. They went on to win the series in six games and reach the finals for the first time in franchise history, where they would face the NHL's regular season champions, the Philadelphia Flyers
, who had gone undefeated for 35 straight games (25–0–10) during the regular season. In game one in Philadelphia, the Islanders won 4–3 on Denis Potvin
's power-play goal in overtime. Leading the series 3–2, they went home to Long Island for game six. In that game, Bob Nystrom
continued his overtime heroics, scoring at 7:11 of the extra frame, on assists by John Tonelli and Lorne Henning, to bring Long Island its first Stanley Cup. , this is the most recent Stanley Cup clinching game won in overtime by the home team. It was also the Islanders' sixth overtime victory of the playoffs. Bryan Trottier won the Conn Smythe Trophy
as the most valuable player in the playoffs. Torrey's strategy of building through the draft turned out very well; nearly all of the major contributors on the 1980 champions were home-grown Islanders or had spent most of their NHL careers in the Islanders organization. The Islanders were the first NHL team to win a Stanley Cup (in 1980) with Europeans (Stefan Persson, Anders Kallur) on its roster.
The Islanders dominated the next two seasons. Bossy scored 50 goals in 50 games
in 1981 and the Islanders lost only three playoff games en route to defeating the Minnesota North Stars
in five games to win the Stanley Cup. Butch Goring
won the Conn Smythe Trophy. During their semifinal sweep of the Rangers, Islander fans began taunting the Rangers with a chant of "1940!
" – referring to the Rangers' last Stanley Cup win in . Fans in other NHL cities soon picked up the chant.
In 1981–82 the Islanders won a then-record 15 straight games en route to a franchise-record 118 points, while Mike Bossy
set a scoring record for right wingers with 147 points in an 80 game schedule. The Islanders won the regular-season title
, yet once in the playoffs, they were pushed to the maximum five games by the Pittsburgh Penguins
and to six games by the Rangers. However, they finally hit their stride in the conference finals, sweeping the upstart Quebec Nordiques
and won the Stanley Cup over the Cinderella story
Vancouver Canucks
in a four-game sweep. In this series, which was the first ever coast-to-coast Stanley Cup Final, Bossy, upended by a check from Tiger Williams
and falling parallel to the ice, managed to hook the puck with his stick and score. Bossy netted the Stanley Cup-winning goal and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy.
The next year, although the Islanders had won three straight Stanley Cups, more attention was being paid to the upstart Edmonton Oilers
, whose young superstar Wayne Gretzky
had just shattered existing scoring records. The 1982–83 season was thus a battle to decide which was the best team in the NHL. The Oilers had a better regular season, but the Islanders swept them in the Stanley Cup finals to win their fourth straight championship. Billy Smith
was named the Most Valuable Player of the Playoffs
after shutting down the Oilers' vaunted scoring machine. Gretzky failed to score a goal during the series. The Sutter brothers, Duane and Brent
, unexpectedly led all players with 7 and 5 points, respectively, while Bossy again scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal. After game four, the Oilers players walked past the Islanders' dressing room and were surprised to see the champions subdued and nursing injuries. Oilers players such as Gretzky and Mark Messier
said that they realized at that moment how much it would actually take to win the Stanley Cup.
The Islanders finished the 1983–84 regular season tied atop the Prince of Wales Conference while successfully defending their Patrick Division title. They won a hard fought series, nicknamed the "Battle of New York", over the Rangers in the opening round of the playoffs. It was the fourth consecutive season that the Islanders had beaten the Rangers in the postseason. The Islanders then defeated the Washington Capitals
and Montreal Canadiens
in six games each to set up a finals rematch with the Oilers. This time, the Oilers dethroned the Islanders to win the first of what would be five Cups in seven years. For the 1984 postseason, the NHL changed the home and away schedule for the finals, from two games in one arena, three games in the other to two games in one arena, three games in the other, and two more games in the first arena. Under this format, the Islanders earned home ice advantage in the series despite finishing lower than the Oilers in the regular season. However, they had to play three straight games in Edmonton, where the Oilers managed to lock up the series. Bossy said afterward that the team believed that if they could win a single away game, they would have been able to take games six and seven at home to win a fifth Stanley Cup.
Out of their two home games, the Islanders had lost game one with a score of 1–0, in what was a goaltending duel between Billy Smith
and Grant Fuhr
, though they roared back with a 6–1 win in game two. In Edmonton, the Oilers' offensive juggernaut buried the Islanders by scores of 7–2, 7–2 and 5–2. Bossy, who had scored 17 goals in each of the past three playoffs only scored 8 in the first three rounds of the 1984 playoffs and was silenced during the final series. Though the Islanders' bid for a record-tying fifth championship was ended, Game Five was noted for rookie Pat LaFontaine
's emergence, as he scored two third period goals in 38 seconds to cut the Oilers' lead to 4–2.
During their run of four Stanley Cup championships and a fifth finals appearance, the Islanders won 19 straight playoff series, the longest streak in the history of professional sports (one more than the 1959–67 streak by the Boston Celtics
of the National Basketball Association
). Unlike the 1976–79 Montreal Canadiens
, who needed to win three series in the 1976 and 1977 playoffs under the playoff format in place at that time, the Islanders had to win four series in each of their Stanley Cup seasons.
In the 1984–85 NHL season, the Isles slipped to third in the Patrick Division and could do no better in the 1985–86 and 1986–87 seasons. They were now facing stiff competition from their division rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers
and Washington Capitals
. The Flyers had eliminated the Islanders in the Patrick Division Finals in 1985 and 1987 (the Flyers went on to the Stanley Cup finals both years). These losses were sandwiched around a 1986 first-round sweep by the Capitals – the team's first exit without winning a playoff round since 1978.
In 1986, Nystrom retired due to a serious injury and Clark Gillies
was picked up on waivers by the Buffalo Sabres
. Arbour retired as coach following the 1985–86 season and was replaced by longtime junior hockey coach Terry Simpson
.
During the first round of the 1987 playoffs against the Capitals, the Isles had fallen behind in the series three games to one. In previous years, the Capitals would have already won the series due to the previous playoff format. However, 1987 marked the first season that the opening round of the playoffs was a best-of-7 series instead of a best-of-5 series. The Isles evened the series, which set the stage for one of the most famous games in NHL history: the "Easter Epic
". Kelly Hrudey
stopped 73 shots on goal while Pat LaFontaine
scored at 8:47 of the fourth overtime—and at 1:56 a.m. on Easter Sunday morning. The win came even though the Islanders had been outshot 75–52. The Islanders were beaten in seven games by the Flyers in the second round of the playoffs. Chronic back pain forced Mike Bossy
to retire after the 1986–87 season.
The next year, in 1988, the Islanders captured another division title, but were defeated in the first round of the playoffs by the upstart New Jersey Devils
. After the playoffs, Potvin retired, holding records for most career goals (310), assists (742) and points (1052) by a defenseman (he has since been passed in these categories by Ray Bourque
and Paul Coffey
). Around this time, the Islanders' run of good luck in the draft began to run out. Of their four top draft picks from 1987 to 1990, the Islanders lost one to a freak knee injury and two others never panned out.
A year after winning the division, the Islanders got off to a slow start in the 1988–89 season, winning only seven of their first 27 games. Torrey fired Simpson and brought Arbour back. Unfortunately, Arbour could not turn things around, and the Islanders finished with 61 points, tied with the Quebec Nordiques
for the worst record in the league. It was the Isles' first losing season and the first time they had missed the playoffs since their second year of existence. Goalie Billy Smith, the last remaining original Islander, retired after the season to become the team's goaltending coach. Not long after the end of the 1988–89 debacle, Pickett moved to Florida
and turned over day-to-day operations over to a committee of four Long Island entrepreneurs – Ralph Palleschi, Bob Rosenthal, Stephen Walsh
, and Paul Greenwood
. In return, they each bought a 2.5 interest in the team.
In 1989–90, the Islanders rebounded to get back in the playoffs, but they lost to the Rangers in five games. The team bought out the remaining years of Bryan Trottier
's contract, and as of 2008–09 he is still the franchise leader in games played. He signed on as a free agent for the Pittsburgh Penguins
in the off-season. The next year, the team finished well out of the playoffs after winning only 25 games.
and Randy Hillier
(along with future considerations) to the Buffalo Sabres
in return for Pierre Turgeon
, Benoit Hogue
, Uwe Krupp
and Dave McLlwain
. He also sent longtime captain Brent Sutter
and Brad Lauer
to the Chicago Blackhawks
for Steve Thomas
and Adam Creighton
. With these additions and a talented core of players such as Derek King
, Ray Ferraro
and Patrick Flatley
, along with incoming Soviet-bloc players Vladimir Malakhov
and Darius Kasparaitis
, the Islanders had a new foundation in the early '90s. However, the management committee was not nearly as patient as Boe and Pickett had been, and forced Torrey to resign after the Islanders missed the playoffs again that season. Assistant GM Don Maloney
was hired in Torrey's place, while Torrey quickly resurfaced with the expansion Florida Panthers
.
In Maloney's first year, 1992–93, the Islanders rebounded to make the playoffs, in the process surpassing the 80-point mark for the first time in six years. The LaFontaine-Turgeon trade proved successful for both the Islanders and Sabres, as both players hit career highs in points and Turgeon won the Lady Byng Trophy.
Ray Ferraro emerged as a playoff hero, scoring a pair of overtime winners in the first round series against the Capitals. Instead of celebrating after winning the decisive sixth game at Nassau Coliseum, however, the Islanders were both irate and despondent. Turgeon, the team's star center and leading scorer, suffered a shoulder separation when Dale Hunter
checked him from behind as he celebrated a series-clinching goal. Turgeon was believed to be out for the entire second round, if not longer. He returned only for spot powerplay duty in the last game of the second round. Hunter received a then-record 21-game suspension.
The Islanders' next opponent, the Pittsburgh Penguins
, were twice-defending Stanley Cup champions and full of stars such as Mario Lemieux
, Jaromir Jagr
and Ron Francis
. The Penguins had roared through the regular season with 119 points, as well as recording a record 17 consecutive wins towards the end of the season, and were overwhelmingly favored to win a third straight championship. Jim Smith of Newsday
, Long Island's hometown newspaper, predicted that with Turgeon on the sidelines, the Penguins would sweep the Islanders out of the playoffs. However, on the strength of outstanding goaltending from Glenn Healy
and contributions from all four lines, the Islanders achieved a huge upset when David Volek
scored at 5:16 of overtime of the deciding seventh game. Newsdays front page the day following the win was a picture of Healy with a headline reading, "It's a Miracle!" This remains, as of the 2010-2011 season, the last playoff series won by the Islanders, a span totaling 18 years. Turgeon returned to the Islanders' top line for the Wales Conference Finals against the Montreal Canadiens
, though he was not in peak form as he had not fully recovered. The Islanders bowed out of the playoffs after a hard-fought five games, two of which went to overtime. After beating the Isles, the Canadiens went on to win the Cup.
Maloney had avoided making many personnel changes his first year, but on the eve of the 1993 Expansion Draft
he traded backup goaltender Mark Fitzpatrick
to the Quebec Nordiques
for Ron Hextall
. The clubs also exchanged first-round picks in the deal. Able to protect only one netminder in the Expansion Draft, the Islanders left Healy exposed. He was claimed by the Florida Panthers
, then was claimed by Tampa Bay
in Phase II of the draft the next day, and finally had his rights traded to the Rangers, where he was the backup.
The Islanders barely squeezed past the Panthers to make the 1994 playoffs before being swept in a lopsided opening series by the first-place Rangers, who went on to win the Cup. Arbour retired for good as coach and was succeeded by longtime assistant Lorne Henning
. Hextall, who allowed 16 goals in three games, drew most of the criticism for the failed playoff campaign and was shipped to Philadelphia for Tommy Soderstrom
in September. In the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season, the Islanders not only failed to qualify for the playoffs, they finished ahead of only the third-year Ottawa Senators
.
and Mathieu Schneider
, and Hogue was sent to Toronto
for young goaltender Eric Fichaud
. Additionally, Maloney allowed the team's leading scorer, Ferraro, to depart as an unrestricted free agent at the conclusion of the season. Fans' displeasure at Maloney for trading the popular Turgeon was magnified when Muller balked at joining a rebuilding team. He only played 45 games for the Islanders before being sent to the Maple Leafs.
Before the 1995–96 season, Maloney fired Henning and named Mike Milbury
head coach. The same year, the Isles' attempt at updating their look resulted in the unveiling of a new team logo, which turned out to so disliked by Islanders' fans that the team reverted to a modified version of the old logo as soon as the league allowed it to do so. The year was a disappointment on the ice as well, as the Islanders finished in last place with a record of 22–50–10. During the season, team management fired Maloney, whom fans blamed for the team's downfall, and gave Milbury total control of hockey operations as both coach and general manager.
In the middle of the 1996–97 season, Milbury resigned as coach and elevated assistant Rick Bowness
to the head coaching position. However, after another losing season and little improvement, Milbury took over as coach in the middle of the 1997–98 season. The team improved to fourth place in the Atlantic Division but still failed to make the playoffs. He stepped down as coach yet again in the middle of the 1998–99 season but retained his job as GM.
During this playoff drought, instability in the front office mirrored the Islanders' substandard performance on the ice. Pickett sold the team to Dallas businessman John Spano
in 1996. However, three months after the 1997 closing, Spano had only paid Pickett a fraction of the first installment on the cable rights deal. Several Islanders executives tipped off Newsday
that something was amiss about their new boss. In July, Newsday exposed Spano as a fraud who did not have the assets required to complete the deal. Among other things, the investigation showed that Spano had deliberately misled the NHL and the Islanders about his net worth, and also had two lawsuits pending against him. Within days of the report, Spano was forced to relinquish the team to Pickett. Federal prosecutors turned up evidence that Spano had forged many of the documents used to vouch for his wealth and to promise payment to Pickett, and even appeared to have sent many of the documents from his own office in Dallas. He was sentenced to 71 months in prison for bank and wire fraud. The NHL was embarrassed when reports surfaced that it spent less than $1,000 (depending on the source, the league spent either $525 or $750) to check Spano's background. It subsequently stiffened the process for vetting future owners.
Pickett finally found a buyer, a group led by Howard Milstein and Phoenix Coyotes
co-owner Steven Gluckstern. Even that deal almost fell through when Spectacor Management Group
, which managed the Coliseum for Nassau County, tried to force Pickett to certify that the Coliseum was safe. However, Pickett refused, since the Coliseum had fallen into disrepair in recent seasons. SMG backed down under pressure from the Islanders, the NHL and Nassau County officials.
Initially the team made numerous trades and increased their payroll in an effort to assemble a better team. In one transaction, youngsters Todd Bertuzzi
and Bryan McCabe
were traded for veteran Trevor Linden
. However, after the Islanders finished 12 points short of the playoffs in 1997-98, Milstein and Gluckstern decided to run the team on an austere budget in an attempt to make a profit. They also complained about the condition of the Nassau Coliseum and made noises about moving the team elsewhere. They began trading or releasing many popular players to avoid paying their salaries, including star scorer Zigmund Palffy
, team captain Linden, former rookie of the year Bryan Berard
, and rugged defenseman Rich Pilon
.
With the loss of so much talent, the result was predictable. The Islanders finished with 58 points in 1999 and 57 points in 2000. Attendance, which had been in a steady decline over the past few years, fell off even further to under 12,000 per game. At the same time, Milstein bid hundreds of millions of dollars in unsuccessful attempts to purchase the National Football League
's Washington Redskins
and Cleveland Browns
.
and Sanjay Kumar
. The new owners gave Milbury the green light to spend money and invest in free agents. His first attempt proved unpopular with fans, as he traded away future stars Roberto Luongo
and Olli Jokinen
to the Florida Panthers
for Oleg Kvasha
and Mark Parrish
. Milbury then further surprised the hockey world when he took Rick DiPietro
with the first selection in the entry draft
, ahead of the consensus picks Dany Heatley
and Marian Gaborik
. Reporters and fans were alternately confused and enraged by the moves, which Milbury acknowledged, saying, "As dangerous as this may be, we think Mad Mike maybe has something going for him." The "Mad Mike" nickname has remained with Milbury ever since. Milbury said that his moves were intended to improve the team immediately. In that respect, they failed completely The Islanders finished with the worst record in the NHL and the second-worst season in franchise history; the team's 0.317 winning percentage that year was only ahead of only 1972–73's .192. The team's uninspired play led Milbury to fire Isles legend Butch Goring
as head coach before the end of the year. Many fans were upset that Goring and not Milbury took the fall for the lost season, and they were again upset when Milbury passed on hiring Ted Nolan
as Goring's successor. Instead, Milbury tapped Bruins assistant Peter Laviolette
.
The team also made three key personnel acquisitions prior to the 2001-2002 season. They acquired Alexei Yashin
from the Ottawa Senators
in exchange for forward Bill Muckalt
, defenseman Zdeno Chara
and the Isles' second overall pick in the entry draft
, which the Senators used to select Jason Spezza
. The following day, Islanders prospects Tim Connolly
and Taylor Pyatt
were traded to the Buffalo Sabres
for Michael Peca
, who became the team's captain. By virtue of finishing last the year before, the Isles were also able to claim goaltender Chris Osgood
with the first pick in the waiver draft, adding a former championship goaltender without giving up any players in exchange. Thanks in large part to strong play by Peca, Yashin and Osgood, the new-look Islanders opened the season on a tear, starting 11–1-1–1 en route to finishing with 96 points, their best point total in 18 years. The Islanders finished one point short of their first division title in 14 years. The 44-point leap was the best turnaround in franchise history, surpassing the 1974–75 unit's 32-point jump. Had they won the Atlantic Division title, they would have had home-ice advantage in the first round. Instead, they were seeded fifth, and faced the fourth-seeded Toronto Maple Leafs
. The Islanders lost to the Leafs in a very physical first round series in which no road team won a game. Game 4 featured a Shawn Bates
penalty shot goal with a 2:30 to play that gave the Islanders the lead and ultimately the game. In Game 5, Gary Roberts charged Islander defenseman Kenny Jonsson
and Darcy Tucker
submarined Peca with a questionable check that tore the Islander captain's anterior cruciate ligament
. Neither Jonsson nor Peca returned in the series.
Despite the promise shown in the Toronto series, the Islanders had a slow start to the 2002–03 NHL season. They rebounded to make the playoffs but lost a five game series in the first round to the top-seeded Ottawa Senators. Milbury, known to make moves that riled the fanbase, fired Laviolette after the season, citing postseason interviews with the players in which they expressed a lack of confidence in the coach. He was replaced with Steve Stirling
, who had previously been coaching the team's top minor league affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers
. In 2004, the Islanders again lost in the first round of the playoffs, this time to the eventual champion Tampa Bay Lightning
. Despite the fact that the Lightning finished first in the conference and the Islanders qualified for the playoffs as the 8th and final seed, a few journalists had picked the Islanders to win based on their strong regular season performance against Tampa Bay.
Following the 2004–05 NHL lockout, which eliminated the 2004–05 season, the Islanders made several player moves to increase offense for 2005–06. Peca was traded to Edmonton
for center Mike York
, freeing up room under the NHL's new salary cap. The same day, the team signed winger Miroslav Satan
to play alongside Yashin. Milbury also remade the defensive corps, replacing departed free agents Adrian Aucoin
, Roman Hamrlik
and Jonsson, who left the NHL to play in his native Sweden, with Alexei Zhitnik
, Brad Lukowich
and Brent Sopel
. In the aftermath, Yashin was named the team's new captain. The team's inconsistent play led to Stirling's replacement midway through the season.
's sports properties before resigning in May 2007. The offseason was characterized by a degree of tumult. Wang hired Ted Nolan
as coach and Neil Smith as GM, but he fired Smith after a little over a month and replaced him with backup goaltender Garth Snow
, who retired to accept the position. The Islanders also made several free agent acquisitions, including defensemen Brendan Witt
and Tom Poti
as well as forwards Mike Sillinger
and Chris Simon
. Charles Wang also signed goaltender Rick DiPietro
to a 15-year, 67.5 million dollar contract, among the longest in professional sports history.
Eyeing home ice advantage in the playoffs, the Isles traded for Ryan Smyth
at the deadline but went on to suffer some setbacks because of injuries to DiPietro and a distracting stick swinging incident that resulted in Simon's suspension for the rest of the season. The team eventually qualified for the playoffs by capping off a late season winning steak with a shootout victory over the Devils. The Isles lost their first round matchup with the Buffalo Sabres
, the NHL's best team during the regular season, in five games.
After the season ended, Islanders GM Garth Snow announced that the team would begin a rebuilding process. The process would involve building from within the draft, the same way that the Islanders dynasty of the 1980s had done. Through careful drafting and careful acquisition of free agent players, the Islanders hope to rebuild the team to become consistent Stanley Cup contenders.
The team announced that they would buy out captain Alexei Yashin
's contract in June 2007. Smyth, Viktor Kozlov, Jason Blake, Tom Poti and Richard Zednik also left in July 2007 via free agency. Days later, the Islanders signed Bill Guerin
, who assumed the captaincy, to a two-year contract. Also in the offseason, free agents Mike Comrie
, Andy Sutton
and Jon Sim
joined the team. The Isles remained in the playoff hunt through the trade deadline, but a rash of injuries saw them plummet to the fifth worst record in league by the end of the season. The injuries led to increased opportunities for young players, including Sean Bergenheim
, Blake Comeau
and Kyle Okposo
, who had a productive 9 game stint with the Islanders to end the season.
At the 2008 NHL Entry Draft
, the Islanders made two trades to move down from the fifth to the ninth overall pick, with which they selected center Josh Bailey
. They also added free agents Mark Streit
and Doug Weight
. The team dismissed head coach Ted Nolan
over alleged philosophy differences, and later that summer replaced him with Scott Gordon
. Near the trade deadline, Snow traded Mike Comrie
and Chris Campoli
to the Ottawa Senators
in exchange for Dean McAmmond
and the San Jose Sharks
' first round draft pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft
and sent captain Bill Guerin
to the Pittsburgh Penguins
in exchange for a conditional draft pick, which became a third rounder.
The Islanders selected John Tavares first overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft
. After winning the draft lottery, the Islanders said their ticket sales department has seen a "300% increase in phone calls and e-mail inquiries over last year at this time" and also is "on pace" to renew 90% of its season tickets. The Islanders also drafted defenseman Calvin de Haan
with the 12th overall pick.
The 2009-2010 Islanders season started out slow, with the team losing its first 6 games, 3 of which went into overtime or a shootout. The team recorded its first victory of the 2009-2010 season on October 21, in a shootout against the Carolina Hurricanes that ended with John Tavares scoring the winning goal. The team continued to play inconsistent hockey due to injuries and it looked as though they would be finishing towards the bottom of the league once again. However, in late December 2009 and early January 2010, the team hit a hot streak and went 8-2-1 between December 26 and January 18. This led the team to 3-games above the NHL-average .500 mark. Unfortunately right after this, the team went 3-10-0 before the Olympic break. The first game back from the Olympic break saw the Islanders take on the eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks. The Islanders would win the game, on the back of a Blake Comeau hat trick. The Islanders ended their season 5-3-1 in the last nine games, failing to reach the playoffs by 9 points. In the 2009-2010 season the Islanders went to overtime 24 times, with 14 of those games being decided by a shootout.
At the 2010 Draft Lottery the New York Islanders were awarded the 5th pick in the 2010 Entry Draft. The New York Islanders used their pick to draft Swiss forward, Nino Niederreiter
5th overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft on June 25. They also drafted US-born Brock Nelson
with the 30th overall pick, and controversial Russian forward Kirill Kabanov
with the 65th overall pick.
On November 15, during a 10-game losing streak, Islanders management fired head coach Scott Gordon and replaced him with Jack Capuano
, who had been coaching the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the club's AHL affiliate. The team earned praise for its improved play in the second half. Rookie Michael Grabner
, acquired on waivers early in the season, scored 34 goals and was selected as a finalist for the Calder Trophy.
On August 1, 2011, voters in Nassau County rejected a proposal for a new arena to replace the Nassau Coliseum. In the wake of the vote there has been speculation that the team may eventually end up playing in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn
, or moving to Queens, Suffolk
, Kansas City
, or Canada
.
Before the 1995–96 season the Islanders attempted to update their look. The result was the unveiling of a logo depicting a fisherman holding a hockey stick. Many fans found that the logo bore a strong resemblance to the Gorton's fisherman and prompted New York Rangers
fans to chant "We Want Fishsticks" after the Rangers score versus the Islanders. The logo was a marketing disaster; the reaction among the fan base was so negative that management announced it would revert back to the original logo as soon as league rules allowed them to do so. The traditional logo was phased back in over the next two seasons, starting as an alternate jersey
logo in 1996-97
before fully replacing the fisherman in 1997-98
. The only change to the classic logo at this time was its colors; as the team had replaced its original royal blue with navy, the logo was recolored to match.
Beginning in 2008, the Islanders introduced another modification to their original logo for their new third jersey. The "new" logo, once again in royal blue, now features four orange stripes on the hockey stick instead of three, representing the four consecutive Stanley Cup titles in the 1980s. This became the team's full-time logo in 2010 when the team retired their inaugural Reebok Edge uniforms.
Prior to the 1995–96 season, team executives decided to change the jersey. The fisherman logo replaced the "NY" circular design, and the new uniforms incorporated navy blue and a brighter orange and introduced teal and gray shades as well. The team was seeking increased merchandise revenues, with the outward justification of connecting the team more overtly to Long Island. The jersey included a lighthouse shoulder patch, a reference to the Montauk Lighthouse, and featured uneven stripes resembling an ocean wave near the waistline, on the sleeves, and across the shoulders. All of the numbering and lettering on the jerseys also followed the wave pattern. Late in the season, the team decided to do away with the fisherman logo, but league rules forbade them from switching jersey designs for the 1996–97 season on only a few months' notice. Instead, the Islanders debuted their first third (and fourth) jerseys
, which were identical to the home and road jerseys then worn by the team except that they used the circular "NY" crest in place of the fisherman. The team wore these jerseys in approximately fifteen games during the 1996–97 season and adopted them permanently for 1997–98.
Prior to the 1998–99 season, the team's new ownership reverted to the initial traditional design but kept the navy blue and bright orange from the "wave" era jersey. They added a shoulder patch of four bars, alternating in color, to represent the Islanders' four straight Stanley Cup championships. The new design also changed the borders around the numbers and "C" and "A" letters: instead of leaving no space between the orange border and the white or blue numbers, the jersey featured a raised outline. A third jersey was introduced in 2003. It was orange and had navy blue stripes, outlined in white, going vertically on the sleeves and then cutting horizontally on the bottom of the sleeve. The navy blue stripes came out of the sleeve diagonally and jabbed out to a point into the bottom of the jersey. The team wore these jerseys through the 2006–07 season.
For the 2007–08 season, the Islanders redesigned their uniforms as all NHL teams changed over to the Reebok Edge system. This Islanders jersey resembled the prior design with a few changes. It featured uniform numbers on the right chest above the logo. The name plates were in two colored format: white on orange on the home navy blue jersey and navy blue on orange on the road white jersey. The sleeves on both jerseys were orange, with a wide navy stripe above a thin white stripe at the elbow. The jerseys had a thin stripe tracing around the shoulders, and they featured "retro" laces at the neck.
The Islanders' third jersey was a royal blue throwback design resembling the jersey that the team wore from 1972–1977, with white letters and numerals (as worn from 1973 on; the team wore orange numerals on the blue jerseys in their inaugural season). The logo on the jersey features four stripes on the hockey stick instead of the original three, another nod to the championship teams of 1980-83.
In 2010-11, the Islanders retired their inaugural navy Edge uniforms, replacing them with the throwback design which became the new home jersey. A corresponding new white road jersey was unveiled during the Islanders' draft
party at Nassau Coliseum.
For the 2011-2012 season, The Islanders are planning to unveil alternate uniforms. Unveiled on November 16, the new alternate is black with grey on the shoulder yoke. The front of the jersey will have the team name above the player's number in orange with blue and white trim. The Islanders crest is placed on the shoulder yoke.
. In the mid-1990s, the Islanders had a mascot called "Nyiles" which vaguely resembled the logo fisherman. Nyiles was discarded toward the end of the 1997-98 season; the team made somewhat of an event out of it at late-season home games by distributing "Who kidnapped Nyiles?" flyers implicating various other NHL mascots in his disappearance (Toronto Maple Leafs mascot Carleton the Bear turned out to be the culprit).
The Islanders also have an ice crew of women, the "Ice Girls", who skate onto the ice during television breaks to clean up the snow that piles up during the game. The Ice Girls are also used for promotional purposes.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Records as of April 10, 2011
, the most recent being Pat LaFontaine
in 2003. Denis Potvin
and Mike Bossy
were the first Islanders to be inducted, in 1991. Besides the six players, two team builders have been inducted. Bill Torrey
and Al Arbour
were both inducted in 1995 and 1996, respectively. All six of these players, plus Bob Bourne
have since been inducted into the Islanders' Hall of Fame.
The Islanders' organization also honors individuals by retiring the number they wore on their jersey. Six of the players who were inducted into the Hall of Fame (Denis Potvin's #5, Clark Gillies' #9, Bryan Trottier's #19, Mike Bossy's #22, Bob Nystrom's #23, and Billy Smith's #31) have been retired and a banner raised in Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
. Retiring a player's number means that nobody will use that number again while playing for the New York Islanders. Each player with a retired number has their own banner that hangs in the rafter
s at the Coliseum. There are two other banners hanging with the retired numbers. One is for Al Arbour
in recognition of the 1500 games he coached for the Islanders. The other banner is for Bill Torrey
, who held the title of General manager, Vice president, President, and Chairman of the Board for the Islanders organization from 1972 until 1993. Torrey's banner features the words "The Architect" and a bowtie, which was his trademark, in place of a number. The Islanders organization has expressed interested in retiring Brent Sutter
's #21, sometime during the 2011 season. Sutter is among the top ten all time in Islanders scoring.
Below are the top-ten point-scorers in the history of the Islanders' franchise as of the end of the 2008-09 NHL season.
, the team's first, won the Bill Masterton Trophy during his Islanders captaincy; Michael Peca
, who won the Frank J. Selke Trophy
after the 2001–02 season
, is the only other captain to have won an award during his term. Denis Potvin
had the longest captaincy, from 1979 through 1987, during which he played 521 regular season games. Bryan McCabe
served the shortest length of time, 56 regular season games. Bill Guerin
was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins
mid-season in 2009. Doug Weight
was named captain on 2 October 2009. On 21 September 2011, the Islanders named Mark Streit as the thirteenth captain in team history.
The Islanders did not assign a captain for the 1996–97 season
after their previous captain, Patrick Flatley
, was released from his contract. The Islanders also did not name a captain for the 2000–01 season
.
and MSG Plus 2
.
The following is a list of on-air talent for the Islanders:
-based Hofstra University
. The play-by-play is done by longtime Islanders broadcaster Chris King. Hofstra students will handle color commentary and reporting for all home games and several away games, and are also involved in engineering the broadcasts from on-and-off site.
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
team based in Uniondale
Uniondale, New York
Uniondale is a hamlet as well as a suburb of New York City in Nassau County, New York, United States, on Long Island, in the Town of Hempstead. The population was 24,759 at the 2010 United States Census.-Geography:...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. They are members of the Atlantic Division
Atlantic Division (NHL)
The NHL's Atlantic Division was formed in 1993 as part of the Eastern Conference in a league realignment, the predecessor of which was the Patrick Division. It is the only division in the NHL where all of its current members have won the Stanley Cup at least twice, though only three teams have won...
of the Eastern Conference
Eastern Conference (NHL)
The Eastern Conference is one of two conferences in the National Hockey League used to divide teams. Its counterpart is the Western Conference....
of the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
(NHL). The Islanders are one of three NHL franchises in the New York City metropolitan area along with the New Jersey Devils
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey, United States. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
and the New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
, the latter of whom the Islanders maintain a rivalry with, known as the Battle of New York
Islanders–Rangers rivalry
The Islanders-Rangers rivalry, also unofficially known as the "Battle of New York", is unique among New York City's major league sports, as the Rangers and the Islanders are in the same conference and division, guaranteeing plenty of matchups...
.
The team was founded in 1972 during the 1972–73 NHL season as part of a bid to keep the rival World Hockey Association
World Hockey Association
The World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major competition for the National Hockey League since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926...
out of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Uniondale, New York, United States. Home to the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League, the Coliseum is located approximately east of New York City on Long Island...
where the Islanders have played since their founding. The Islanders won four consecutive Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
championships between 1980
1980 Stanley Cup Finals
-See also:* List of Stanley Cup champions* 1979–80 NHL season* 1980 NBA Finals* 1980 World Series* Super Bowl XV-Notes:...
and 1983
1983 Stanley Cup Finals
-Members of New York Islanders 1980 to 1983 Dynasty:*Mike Bossy, Bob Bourne, Clark Gillies, Butch Goring, Anders Kallur, Gord Lane, Dave Langevin, Wayne Merrick, Ken Morrow, Bob Nystrom, Stefan Persson, Denis Potvin, Billy Smith, Duane Sutter, John Tonelli, Bryan Trottier *Lorne Henning , Bill...
, the eighth of the nine dynasties
Dynasty (sports)
A sports dynasty is a team that dominates their sport or league for multiple seasons or years. Such dominance is often only realized in retrospect...
recognized by the NHL in its history. However the team has not won a division title since 1989–90, and their last playoff series win was during the 1992–93 NHL season. Due to the failure of the Lighthouse Project development plan and other plans to replace the Nassau Coliseum, it is in doubt whether the team would remain in Nassau County
Nassau County, New York
Nassau County is a suburban county on Long Island, east of New York City in the U.S. state of New York, within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,339,532...
past the end of their lease with the arena in 2015.
Eight former members of the Islanders have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame
Hockey Hall of Fame
The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it is both a museum and a hall of fame. It holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League records, memorabilia and NHL trophies, including the Stanley Cup...
, seven of whom—Al Arbour
Al Arbour
Alger Joseph "Radar" Arbour is a retired Canadian ice hockey player and a coach and executive in the National Hockey League .-Playing career:...
, Mike Bossy
Mike Bossy
Michael Dean Bossy is a former Canadian ice hockey player who played for the New York Islanders for his entire career and was part of their four-year reign as Stanley Cup champions in the early 1980s...
, Clark Gillies
Clark Gillies
Clark "Jethro" Gillies is a retired professional ice hockey player. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. He provided both physical presence and offensive punch for the NHL's New York Islanders during their four-year run as Stanley Cup champions. In a career that spanned 958 games, Gillies...
, Denis Potvin
Denis Potvin
Denis Charles Potvin is a former defenseman and team captain for the New York Islanders in the National Hockey League and cornerstone for the Islanders' four Stanley Cup championship teams in the early 1980s. His brother, Jean Potvin, was also an NHL defenseman and the brothers were teammates for...
, Billy Smith
Billy Smith (ice hockey)
William John Smith, better known as Billy Smith, is a retired professional ice hockey goaltender and is best known for winning four Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders and being the first goalie to be credited with a goal....
, Bill Torrey
Bill Torrey
William A. Torrey was a General Manager and executive in the National Hockey League, most famous for building up the expansion New York Islanders into a dynasty that won four consecutive Stanley Cups...
and Bryan Trottier
Bryan Trottier
Bryan John Trottier is a retired Canadian-American professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League for the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. He won four Stanley Cups with the Islanders, two with the Penguins and one as an assistant coach with the...
—were members of all four Cup winning teams. Pat LaFontaine
Pat LaFontaine
Patrick Michael LaFontaine is an American former ice hockey center in the National Hockey League who spent his entire career playing for the league's New York-based teams; LaFontaine skated for the New York Islanders from 1983 until 1991, the Buffalo Sabres from 1991 until 1997, and the New York...
was the most recent inductee, having been honored in 2003.
1972–74: The NHL comes to Long Island
With the impending start of the World Hockey AssociationWorld Hockey Association
The World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major competition for the National Hockey League since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926...
(WHA) in the fall of 1972, the upstart league had plans to place its New York team, the Raiders, in the then brand-new Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Uniondale, New York, United States. Home to the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League, the Coliseum is located approximately east of New York City on Long Island...
in Nassau County
Nassau County, New York
Nassau County is a suburban county on Long Island, east of New York City in the U.S. state of New York, within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,339,532...
. However, Nassau County officials did not consider the WHA a major league and wanted nothing to do with the upstart Raiders. Since the only legal way to keep the Raiders out of the Coliseum was to get an NHL team to play there, William Shea
William Shea
William Alfred "Bill" Shea was an American lawyer and a name partner of the prominent law firm of Shea & Gould...
, who had helped bring the New York Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
to the area a decade earlier, was pressed into service once again. Shea found a receptive ear in NHL president Clarence Campbell
Clarence Campbell
Clarence Sutherland Campbell OBE, QC was the third president of the National Hockey League from 1946 to 1977.-Early life and career:...
, though the New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
did not want the additional competition in the New York area. So, despite having expanded to 14 teams just two years before, the NHL hastily awarded a Long Island-based franchise to clothing manufacturer Roy Boe
Roy Boe
Roy Lars Magnus Boe was an owner of the New Jersey Nets, New York Islanders, and several other professional sports teams....
, owner of the American Basketball Association's New York Nets
New Jersey Nets
The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
. A second expansion franchise was awarded to Atlanta (the Flames
Atlanta Flames
The Atlanta Flames were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA from 1972 to 1980. The team, a member of the National Hockey League , was relocated to Calgary, Alberta, Canada for the start of the 1980–81 NHL season and were re-named the Calgary Flames. The NHL returned to the...
) at the same time to balance the schedule.
Long Island Ducks (ice hockey)
The Long Island Ducks were a minor league hockey team in the Eastern Hockey League owned by Al and Renee Baron that played their home games at the Long Island Arena...
name used by an Eastern Hockey League
Eastern Hockey League
-Eastern Amateur Hockey League :The league was founded in 1933 as the Eastern Amateur Hockey League . The league was founded by Thomas Lockhart, who served as its commissioner from 1933 to 1972...
franchise; the more geographically expansive "New York Islanders" came largely as a surprise. The fledgling Islanders, who were soon nicknamed the "Isles" by the local newspapers, had an extra burden to pay in the form of a $4 million territorial fee to the nearby New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
. The arrival of the Islanders effectively doomed the Raiders; they were forced to play in Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
under onerous lease terms and were forced out of town in the middle of their second season.
While the Islanders secured veteran forward Ed Westfall
Ed Westfall
Edwin Vernon "Shadow" Westfall is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins and the New York Islanders from 1961 until 1978–79...
from the Boston Bruins
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
in the 1972 NHL Expansion Draft
1972 NHL Expansion Draft
The 1972 NHL Expansion Draft was held on June 6, 1972. The draft took place to fill the rosters of the league's two then-new expansion teams for the 1972–73 season, the New York Islanders and the Atlanta Flames.-Draft results:-See also:...
, junior league star Billy Harris in the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft
1972 NHL Amateur Draft
The 1972 NHL Amateur Draft was held at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Selections by round:Below are listed the selections in the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft...
, and a few other respectable players, several other draftees jumped to the WHA. Unlike most other expansion teams' general managers, Islanders GM Bill Torrey
Bill Torrey
William A. Torrey was a General Manager and executive in the National Hockey League, most famous for building up the expansion New York Islanders into a dynasty that won four consecutive Stanley Cups...
did not make many trades for veteran players in the early years. Rather than pursue a "win now" strategy of getting a few veterans to boost attendance (a tactic which proved disastrous for many teams in the long run), Torrey was committed to building through the draft.
In the team's first season, young players such as goaltender Billy Smith
Billy Smith (ice hockey)
William John Smith, better known as Billy Smith, is a retired professional ice hockey goaltender and is best known for winning four Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders and being the first goalie to be credited with a goal....
(the team's second pick in the expansion draft) and forwards Bob Nystrom
Bob Nyström
Robert Thore Nystrom is a retired professional ice hockey right winger. He played for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League from 1972 to 1986. He is best remembered as having scored the winning goal at the 7:11 mark of overtime to give the New York Islanders the 1980 Stanley Cup...
and Lorne Henning
Lorne Henning
Lorne Henning is a Canadian hockey executive. He currently serves as Director of Player Personnel and Assistant General Manager for the NHL's Vancouver Canucks...
were given chances to prove themselves in the NHL. However, this young and inexperienced expansion team posted a record of 12–60–6, one of the worst in NHL history.
The team who finished last in 1972–73 received the right to pick first in the 1973 amateur draft and select junior superstar defenseman Denis Potvin
Denis Potvin
Denis Charles Potvin is a former defenseman and team captain for the New York Islanders in the National Hockey League and cornerstone for the Islanders' four Stanley Cup championship teams in the early 1980s. His brother, Jean Potvin, was also an NHL defenseman and the brothers were teammates for...
, who had been touted "as the next Bobby Orr
Bobby Orr
Robert Gordon "Bobby" Orr, OC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Orr played in the National Hockey League for his entire career, the first ten seasons with the Boston Bruins, joining the Chicago Black Hawks for two more. Orr is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest...
" when he was 13. Despite several trade offers from Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
' GM Sam Pollock
Sam Pollock
Samuel Patterson Smyth "Sam" Pollock, OC, CQ was a general manager in the National Hockey League.Born in Montreal, Quebec, Sam was a keen evaluator of talent. In 1950, with the Montreal Junior Canadiens and in 1958, with the Ottawa Junior Canadiens, he won the Memorial Cup...
, Torrey refused to part with the pick. That same summer, Torrey made perhaps the most critical move in the history of the franchise when he convinced former St. Louis Blues coach Al Arbour
Al Arbour
Alger Joseph "Radar" Arbour is a retired Canadian ice hockey player and a coach and executive in the National Hockey League .-Playing career:...
to come to Long Island. Even with Potvin, who won the Calder Memorial Trophy
Calder Memorial Trophy
The Calder Memorial Trophy is an annual award given "to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League." The Rookie of the Year trophy has been awarded 79 times since its creation for the 1936–37 NHL season...
as NHL Rookie Of The Year, the team still finished last in the East in its second year. Under Arbour, the team showed signs of respectability. Although the team did not make the playoffs, they allowed 100 fewer goals than the previous season, and their 56 points represented a healthy 26-point improvement from the previous season. It turned out to be the team's last losing season for 15 years.
1974–79: Ascendancy
In 1975, the Islanders made one of the biggest turnarounds in NHL history. Led by Potvin, forwards Westfall, Harris, Nystrom, Clark GilliesClark Gillies
Clark "Jethro" Gillies is a retired professional ice hockey player. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. He provided both physical presence and offensive punch for the NHL's New York Islanders during their four-year run as Stanley Cup champions. In a career that spanned 958 games, Gillies...
, and goaltenders Smith and Glenn "Chico" Resch
Chico Resch
Glenn Allan "Chico" Resch is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender and television sportscaster. Resch played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1973 to 1986, winning one Stanley Cup with the New York Islanders in 1980...
, the Islanders earned 88 points — 32 more than the previous season, and two more than their first two seasons combined — and earned their first playoff berth. They stunned the rival New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
in a best-of-3 first-round series. The Islanders won the series in the third game as J. P. Parise scored just 11 seconds into the extra session.
In the next round, an even bigger surprise occurred. Down three games to none in the best-of-seven series against the Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
, the Islanders rallied to win the next four and take the series. Only three other major North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n professional sports teams have accomplished this feat, the 1941–42 Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
, the 2004 Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
(from the Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
), and the 2009–10 Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
. In the third round of the playoffs, the Islanders nearly did it again, rallying from another 3–0 deficit to force a seventh game against the defending Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
before the Flyers took the decisive seventh game at home and went on to win the Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
.
The Islanders continued their stunning climb up the NHL standings in 1975–76, earning 101 points, the fifth-best record in the league. It was the first 100-point season in Islanders history, in only their fourth year of existence. Rookie center Bryan Trottier
Bryan Trottier
Bryan John Trottier is a retired Canadian-American professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League for the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. He won four Stanley Cups with the Islanders, two with the Penguins and one as an assistant coach with the...
, who scored 95 points and won the Calder Trophy, was blossoming into a superstar. It would be the first of four consecutive 100-point seasons, including the first two division titles in franchise history.
Postseason disappointments
Unfortunately for the Islanders, regular-season success was not rewarded in the playoffs. In 1976 and 1977, the Islanders were knocked out in the semifinals by eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Montreal CanadiensMontreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
. The Canadiens were 24–3 in the playoffs in those two years — all three losses were to the Islanders.
In the 1977 NHL Amateur Draft
1977 NHL Amateur Draft
The 1977 NHL Amateur Draft was held at the Mount Royal Hotel in Montreal, Quebec.-Selections by round:Below are listed the selections in the 1977 NHL Amateur Draft.Club teams are located in North America unless otherwise noted.-Round one:-Round two:...
, Torrey had the 15th pick and had to make a tough decision between right winger Mike Bossy
Mike Bossy
Michael Dean Bossy is a former Canadian ice hockey player who played for the New York Islanders for his entire career and was part of their four-year reign as Stanley Cup champions in the early 1980s...
and another forward. Bossy was known as a scorer who was not physical, while the other forward could check but was not very good offensively. Coach Arbour persuaded Torrey to pick Bossy, figuring it was easier to teach a scorer how to check. In the upcoming 1977-78 season, Bossy became the third Islander to win the Calder Trophy, having scored 53 goals that season, at the time the most scored by a rookie. The team was upset in the quarterfinal round in overtime of game 7 by the Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
.
In 1978–79, the team finished with the best record in the NHL. Bryan Trottier was voted the league MVP and captured the scoring title
Art Ross Trophy
The Art Ross Trophy is awarded to the National Hockey League player who leads the league in scoring points at the end of the regular season. It was presented to the NHL by former player, general manager, and head coach Art Ross. The trophy has been awarded 61 times to 25 players since its inception...
, while sophomore Bossy scored 69 goals, which also led the league. Despite their regular season dominance, the Islanders exited the playoffs with a loss to the New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
in the semifinals, after which original team captain and star Ed Westfall
Ed Westfall
Edwin Vernon "Shadow" Westfall is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins and the New York Islanders from 1961 until 1978–79...
- who had surrendered the captaincy to Clark Gillies
Clark Gillies
Clark "Jethro" Gillies is a retired professional ice hockey player. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. He provided both physical presence and offensive punch for the NHL's New York Islanders during their four-year run as Stanley Cup champions. In a career that spanned 958 games, Gillies...
the season before - retired. Hockey professionals and journalists generally regarded the Rangers as an inferior team, which led them to question whether the Islanders were capable of winning big games in the playoffs when they really counted.
Off the ice, the Islanders were on shaky ground. Boe was losing money on both the Islanders and the Nets even as the Islanders quickly surged to NHL prominence and the Nets became an ABA power. The Islanders were still far behind on the $10 million they had paid in startup costs, and the expenses associated with moving the Nets to the NBA threw Boe's finances into a tailspin. Eventually, Boe was forced to sell both his teams. He readily found a buyer for the Nets, but had less luck finding one for the Islanders. Torrey orchestrated a sale to one of the team's limited partners, John Pickett, who made Torrey team president. Soon after buying the Islanders, Pickett signed a very lucrative cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
contract with the fledgling Sportschannel network. SportsChannel's owner, Charles Dolan
Charles Dolan
Charles F. Dolan is an American billionaire and founder of Cablevision and HBO.-Biography:A John Carroll University drop out, Dolan is married and has six children, including Cablevision Systems Corporation and Madison Square Garden, Inc. chairman James L. Dolan.The Charles F...
, thought the up-and-coming team would be a perfect centerpiece for his new network. Dolan gave Pickett a long-term guaranteed contract intended to not only keep the team on Long Island, but give area governments an incentive to renew his cable contracts. The Islanders have been on the network, now known as MSG Plus
MSG Plus
MSG Plus is a regional sports network in the New York City metropolitan area, whose reach expands to cover the entire state of New York, Northern New Jersey, Southwestern Connecticut, and Northeastern Pennsylvania. The network was rebranded on March 10, 2008.Like its sister network, MSG, it is...
, for over a quarter-century.
1980–84: The Dynasty
After the Islanders' regular season dominance and playoff disappointment in 1979, Arbour decided that he would no longer concern himself too greatly with his team's finish in the regular season. Instead, he focused his team's energy on how they would perform in the playoffs. In 1980, the Islanders dropped below the 100-point mark for the first time in five years, earning only 91 points. However, they finally broke through and won the Stanley CupStanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
.
Before the playoffs, Torrey made the difficult decision to trade longtime and popular veterans Billy Harris and defenseman Dave Lewis to the Los Angeles Kings
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
for second line center Butch Goring
Butch Goring
Robert "Butch" Goring is a retired Canadian ice hockey player. He played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders and Boston Bruins. He is a four-time Stanley Cup winner with the Islanders. Since retiring as a player he has served as head coach of...
. Goring's is often called the "final piece of the puzzle": a strong two-way player, his presence on the second line ensured that opponents would no longer be able to focus their defensive efforts on the Islanders' first line of Bossy, Trottier and Clark Gillies
Clark Gillies
Clark "Jethro" Gillies is a retired professional ice hockey player. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. He provided both physical presence and offensive punch for the NHL's New York Islanders during their four-year run as Stanley Cup champions. In a career that spanned 958 games, Gillies...
. Contributions from new teammates, such as wingers Duane Sutter
Duane Sutter
Duane Calvin Sutter is a Canadian former forward player and former head coach in the National Hockey League. He is one of the famed six Sutter brothers to play in the NHL. As of August 22, 2011, he is a pro scout for the Edmonton Oilers....
and Anders Kallur
Anders Kallur
Anders Kallur is a Swedish retired professional ice hockey player.Kallur played for Modo Hockey and Södertälje SK before moving to Djurgårdens IF in 1978. He was awarded Guldpucken as the best player of the 1978–79 season...
and stay-at-home defensemen Dave Langevin
Dave Langevin
David Richard "Bam Bam" Langevin is a retired American ice hockey defenseman who played 216 games for the WHA Edmonton Oilers as well as 513 games for the NHL New York Islanders, Minnesota North Stars and Los Angeles Kings between 1977 and 1987...
, Gord Lane
Gord Lane
Gordon Thomas Lawrence Lane is a retired Canadian ice hockey defenceman.Lane played junior in the WCHL, first with the Brandon Wheat Kings and after a trade with the New Westminster Bruins...
and Ken Morrow
Ken Morrow
Kenneth Arlington Morrow is a retired American professional ice hockey defenseman and currently serves as the New York Islanders' director of pro scouting...
(the latter fresh off a gold medal win at the 1980 Olympics
1980 Winter Olympics
The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIII Olympic Winter Games, was a multi-sport event which was celebrated from 13 February through 24 February 1980 in Lake Placid, New York, United States of America. This was the second time the Upstate New York village hosted the Games, after 1932...
), also figured prominently in the Islanders' playoff success.
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...
, who had finished second overall in the NHL standings. The Islanders won the first two games in Buffalo, including a 2-1 victory in game two on Bob Nystrom
Bob Nyström
Robert Thore Nystrom is a retired professional ice hockey right winger. He played for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League from 1972 to 1986. He is best remembered as having scored the winning goal at the 7:11 mark of overtime to give the New York Islanders the 1980 Stanley Cup...
's goal in double overtime. They went on to win the series in six games and reach the finals for the first time in franchise history, where they would face the NHL's regular season champions, the Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
, who had gone undefeated for 35 straight games (25–0–10) during the regular season. In game one in Philadelphia, the Islanders won 4–3 on Denis Potvin
Denis Potvin
Denis Charles Potvin is a former defenseman and team captain for the New York Islanders in the National Hockey League and cornerstone for the Islanders' four Stanley Cup championship teams in the early 1980s. His brother, Jean Potvin, was also an NHL defenseman and the brothers were teammates for...
's power-play goal in overtime. Leading the series 3–2, they went home to Long Island for game six. In that game, Bob Nystrom
Bob Nyström
Robert Thore Nystrom is a retired professional ice hockey right winger. He played for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League from 1972 to 1986. He is best remembered as having scored the winning goal at the 7:11 mark of overtime to give the New York Islanders the 1980 Stanley Cup...
continued his overtime heroics, scoring at 7:11 of the extra frame, on assists by John Tonelli and Lorne Henning, to bring Long Island its first Stanley Cup. , this is the most recent Stanley Cup clinching game won in overtime by the home team. It was also the Islanders' sixth overtime victory of the playoffs. Bryan Trottier won the Conn Smythe Trophy
Conn Smythe Trophy
The Conn Smythe Trophy is awarded annually to the player judged most valuable to his team during the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup playoffs. The Conn Smythe Trophy has been awarded 46 times to 40 players since the 1964–65 NHL season...
as the most valuable player in the playoffs. Torrey's strategy of building through the draft turned out very well; nearly all of the major contributors on the 1980 champions were home-grown Islanders or had spent most of their NHL careers in the Islanders organization. The Islanders were the first NHL team to win a Stanley Cup (in 1980) with Europeans (Stefan Persson, Anders Kallur) on its roster.
The Islanders dominated the next two seasons. Bossy scored 50 goals in 50 games
50 goals in 50 games
"50 goals in 50 games" refers to the act of scoring 50 goals in the first 50 games of a National Hockey League season. Scoring fifty goals in fifty games in the NHL is a rare achievement....
in 1981 and the Islanders lost only three playoff games en route to defeating the Minnesota North Stars
Minnesota North Stars
The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, and the team's colors for most of its history were green, yellow, gold and white...
in five games to win the Stanley Cup. Butch Goring
Butch Goring
Robert "Butch" Goring is a retired Canadian ice hockey player. He played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders and Boston Bruins. He is a four-time Stanley Cup winner with the Islanders. Since retiring as a player he has served as head coach of...
won the Conn Smythe Trophy. During their semifinal sweep of the Rangers, Islander fans began taunting the Rangers with a chant of "1940!
Curse of 1940
The Curse of 1940, also called Dutton's Curse, was a superstitious explanation for why the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League did not win the league's championship trophy, the Stanley Cup, from 1940 to 1994.-Popular theories:...
" – referring to the Rangers' last Stanley Cup win in . Fans in other NHL cities soon picked up the chant.
In 1981–82 the Islanders won a then-record 15 straight games en route to a franchise-record 118 points, while Mike Bossy
Mike Bossy
Michael Dean Bossy is a former Canadian ice hockey player who played for the New York Islanders for his entire career and was part of their four-year reign as Stanley Cup champions in the early 1980s...
set a scoring record for right wingers with 147 points in an 80 game schedule. The Islanders won the regular-season title
Presidents' Trophy
The Presidents' Trophy is an award presented by the National Hockey League to the team that finishes with the most points in the league during the regular season. If two teams tie for the most points, then the trophy goes to the team with the most wins. The winning team is also awarded C$350,000...
, yet once in the playoffs, they were pushed to the maximum five games by the Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
and to six games by the Rangers. However, they finally hit their stride in the conference finals, sweeping the upstart Quebec Nordiques
Quebec Nordiques
The Quebec Nordiques were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The Nordiques played in the World Hockey Association and the National Hockey League...
and won the Stanley Cup over the Cinderella story
Cinderella (sports)
In American and Canadian sports, a Cinderella or "Cinderella Story" refers to a team or player who advances much further in a tournament or career than originally anticipated. Cinderellas tend to gain much media and fan attention as they move closer to the championship game at the end of the...
Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver, :British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The Canucks play their home games at Rogers Arena, formerly known as General Motors Place,...
in a four-game sweep. In this series, which was the first ever coast-to-coast Stanley Cup Final, Bossy, upended by a check from Tiger Williams
Tiger Williams
David James "Tiger" Williams is a former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League from 1974–75 to 1987–88. He is the NHL's career leader in penalty minutes.-NHL career:...
and falling parallel to the ice, managed to hook the puck with his stick and score. Bossy netted the Stanley Cup-winning goal and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy.
The next year, although the Islanders had won three straight Stanley Cups, more attention was being paid to the upstart Edmonton Oilers
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League ....
, whose young superstar Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky, CC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. Nicknamed "The Great One", he is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the National Hockey League , and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters,...
had just shattered existing scoring records. The 1982–83 season was thus a battle to decide which was the best team in the NHL. The Oilers had a better regular season, but the Islanders swept them in the Stanley Cup finals to win their fourth straight championship. Billy Smith
Billy Smith (ice hockey)
William John Smith, better known as Billy Smith, is a retired professional ice hockey goaltender and is best known for winning four Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders and being the first goalie to be credited with a goal....
was named the Most Valuable Player of the Playoffs
Conn Smythe Trophy
The Conn Smythe Trophy is awarded annually to the player judged most valuable to his team during the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup playoffs. The Conn Smythe Trophy has been awarded 46 times to 40 players since the 1964–65 NHL season...
after shutting down the Oilers' vaunted scoring machine. Gretzky failed to score a goal during the series. The Sutter brothers, Duane and Brent
Sutter family
The Sutter family, originally from Viking, Alberta, Canada, is one of the most famous families in the National Hockey League . Six brothers: Brent, Brian, Darryl, Duane, Rich, and Ron, reached the NHL in the 1970s and 80s. Four brothers, Brian, Duane, Darryl, and Brent have gone on to become...
, unexpectedly led all players with 7 and 5 points, respectively, while Bossy again scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal. After game four, the Oilers players walked past the Islanders' dressing room and were surprised to see the champions subdued and nursing injuries. Oilers players such as Gretzky and Mark Messier
Mark Messier
Mark Douglas Messier is a former Canadian professional ice hockey centre of the National Hockey League and current special assistant to the president and general manager of the New York Rangers. He spent a quarter of a century in the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, and Vancouver...
said that they realized at that moment how much it would actually take to win the Stanley Cup.
The Islanders finished the 1983–84 regular season tied atop the Prince of Wales Conference while successfully defending their Patrick Division title. They won a hard fought series, nicknamed the "Battle of New York", over the Rangers in the opening round of the playoffs. It was the fourth consecutive season that the Islanders had beaten the Rangers in the postseason. The Islanders then defeated the Washington Capitals
Washington Capitals
The Washington Capitals are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Since their founding in 1974, "The Caps" have won one conference championship to reach the 1998 Stanley Cup...
and Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
in six games each to set up a finals rematch with the Oilers. This time, the Oilers dethroned the Islanders to win the first of what would be five Cups in seven years. For the 1984 postseason, the NHL changed the home and away schedule for the finals, from two games in one arena, three games in the other to two games in one arena, three games in the other, and two more games in the first arena. Under this format, the Islanders earned home ice advantage in the series despite finishing lower than the Oilers in the regular season. However, they had to play three straight games in Edmonton, where the Oilers managed to lock up the series. Bossy said afterward that the team believed that if they could win a single away game, they would have been able to take games six and seven at home to win a fifth Stanley Cup.
Out of their two home games, the Islanders had lost game one with a score of 1–0, in what was a goaltending duel between Billy Smith
Billy Smith (ice hockey)
William John Smith, better known as Billy Smith, is a retired professional ice hockey goaltender and is best known for winning four Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders and being the first goalie to be credited with a goal....
and Grant Fuhr
Grant Fuhr
Grant Scott Fuhr is a Canadian former ice hockey goaltender in the National Hockey League and currently the goaltending coach for the Phoenix Coyotes. In 2003, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame...
, though they roared back with a 6–1 win in game two. In Edmonton, the Oilers' offensive juggernaut buried the Islanders by scores of 7–2, 7–2 and 5–2. Bossy, who had scored 17 goals in each of the past three playoffs only scored 8 in the first three rounds of the 1984 playoffs and was silenced during the final series. Though the Islanders' bid for a record-tying fifth championship was ended, Game Five was noted for rookie Pat LaFontaine
Pat LaFontaine
Patrick Michael LaFontaine is an American former ice hockey center in the National Hockey League who spent his entire career playing for the league's New York-based teams; LaFontaine skated for the New York Islanders from 1983 until 1991, the Buffalo Sabres from 1991 until 1997, and the New York...
's emergence, as he scored two third period goals in 38 seconds to cut the Oilers' lead to 4–2.
During their run of four Stanley Cup championships and a fifth finals appearance, the Islanders won 19 straight playoff series, the longest streak in the history of professional sports (one more than the 1959–67 streak by the Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
of the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
). Unlike the 1976–79 Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
, who needed to win three series in the 1976 and 1977 playoffs under the playoff format in place at that time, the Islanders had to win four series in each of their Stanley Cup seasons.
1984–91: Post-dynasty and the Easter Epic
The Islanders remained competitive for the rest of the decade, even as some of the stars from the Cup teams departed. As the decade wore on, Pickett began to keep the money from the team's cable deal rather than reinvest it in the team as he had done in years past. Although it did not become clear immediately, the lack of funds limited Torrey's ability to replace all of the departing talent.In the 1984–85 NHL season, the Isles slipped to third in the Patrick Division and could do no better in the 1985–86 and 1986–87 seasons. They were now facing stiff competition from their division rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
and Washington Capitals
Washington Capitals
The Washington Capitals are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Since their founding in 1974, "The Caps" have won one conference championship to reach the 1998 Stanley Cup...
. The Flyers had eliminated the Islanders in the Patrick Division Finals in 1985 and 1987 (the Flyers went on to the Stanley Cup finals both years). These losses were sandwiched around a 1986 first-round sweep by the Capitals – the team's first exit without winning a playoff round since 1978.
In 1986, Nystrom retired due to a serious injury and Clark Gillies
Clark Gillies
Clark "Jethro" Gillies is a retired professional ice hockey player. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. He provided both physical presence and offensive punch for the NHL's New York Islanders during their four-year run as Stanley Cup champions. In a career that spanned 958 games, Gillies...
was picked up on waivers by the Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...
. Arbour retired as coach following the 1985–86 season and was replaced by longtime junior hockey coach Terry Simpson
Terry Simpson
Terry Simpson is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player and a former NHL head coach. He only played one season of professional hockey in 1964–65 for the Jacksonville Rockets of the EHL...
.
During the first round of the 1987 playoffs against the Capitals, the Isles had fallen behind in the series three games to one. In previous years, the Capitals would have already won the series due to the previous playoff format. However, 1987 marked the first season that the opening round of the playoffs was a best-of-7 series instead of a best-of-5 series. The Isles evened the series, which set the stage for one of the most famous games in NHL history: the "Easter Epic
Easter Epic
The Easter Epic is the nickname given to a National Hockey League Stanley Cup Playoff game between the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals, played April 18–19, 1987, at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. It is so named because the game started on Saturday evening but did not finish...
". Kelly Hrudey
Kelly Hrudey
Kelly Hrudey is a former NHL ice hockey goaltender and current hockey broadcaster with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. During his NHL career, Hrudey played for the New York Islanders , Los Angeles Kings , and San Jose Sharks .-Playing career:Hrudey played junior hockey for three years with...
stopped 73 shots on goal while Pat LaFontaine
Pat LaFontaine
Patrick Michael LaFontaine is an American former ice hockey center in the National Hockey League who spent his entire career playing for the league's New York-based teams; LaFontaine skated for the New York Islanders from 1983 until 1991, the Buffalo Sabres from 1991 until 1997, and the New York...
scored at 8:47 of the fourth overtime—and at 1:56 a.m. on Easter Sunday morning. The win came even though the Islanders had been outshot 75–52. The Islanders were beaten in seven games by the Flyers in the second round of the playoffs. Chronic back pain forced Mike Bossy
Mike Bossy
Michael Dean Bossy is a former Canadian ice hockey player who played for the New York Islanders for his entire career and was part of their four-year reign as Stanley Cup champions in the early 1980s...
to retire after the 1986–87 season.
The next year, in 1988, the Islanders captured another division title, but were defeated in the first round of the playoffs by the upstart New Jersey Devils
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey, United States. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
. After the playoffs, Potvin retired, holding records for most career goals (310), assists (742) and points (1052) by a defenseman (he has since been passed in these categories by Ray Bourque
Ray Bourque
Raymond Jean "Ray" Bourque is a former Canadian professional ice hockey player. He currently holds records for most goals, assists and points by a defenceman in the National Hockey League . Bourque has become near-synonymous with the Boston Bruins franchise, for which he played 21 seasons and...
and Paul Coffey
Paul Coffey
Paul Douglas Coffey is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey defenceman in the National Hockey League. Known for his speed and scoring prowess, Coffey ranks second all-time among NHL defencemen in career goals, assists, and points, behind Ray Bourque.-Playing career:Coffey was drafted 6th...
). Around this time, the Islanders' run of good luck in the draft began to run out. Of their four top draft picks from 1987 to 1990, the Islanders lost one to a freak knee injury and two others never panned out.
A year after winning the division, the Islanders got off to a slow start in the 1988–89 season, winning only seven of their first 27 games. Torrey fired Simpson and brought Arbour back. Unfortunately, Arbour could not turn things around, and the Islanders finished with 61 points, tied with the Quebec Nordiques
Quebec Nordiques
The Quebec Nordiques were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The Nordiques played in the World Hockey Association and the National Hockey League...
for the worst record in the league. It was the Isles' first losing season and the first time they had missed the playoffs since their second year of existence. Goalie Billy Smith, the last remaining original Islander, retired after the season to become the team's goaltending coach. Not long after the end of the 1988–89 debacle, Pickett moved to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and turned over day-to-day operations over to a committee of four Long Island entrepreneurs – Ralph Palleschi, Bob Rosenthal, Stephen Walsh
Stephen Walsh (money manager)
Stephen Walsh is one of two money managers arrested on February 24, 2009 for alleged securities fraud of between $550 million and $670 million. Walsh is accused with Paul Greenwood of using their companies such as Westridge Capital Management Inc...
, and Paul Greenwood
Paul Greenwood (money manager)
Paul Greenwood is a money manager accused of securities fraud with business partner Stephen Walsh and was arrested with Walsh on February 24, 2009...
. In return, they each bought a 2.5 interest in the team.
In 1989–90, the Islanders rebounded to get back in the playoffs, but they lost to the Rangers in five games. The team bought out the remaining years of Bryan Trottier
Bryan Trottier
Bryan John Trottier is a retired Canadian-American professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League for the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. He won four Stanley Cups with the Islanders, two with the Penguins and one as an assistant coach with the...
's contract, and as of 2008–09 he is still the franchise leader in games played. He signed on as a free agent for the Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
in the off-season. The next year, the team finished well out of the playoffs after winning only 25 games.
1991–95: New faces and the miracle of 1993
LaFontaine, the Islanders' remaining superstar, was frustrated with the team's lack of success and the progress of his contract negotiations, and held out rather than report to camp before 1991–92. In response to the holdout, Torrey engineered a rebuilding project with two blockbuster trades on October 25, 1991. He dealt LaFontaine, Randy WoodRandy Wood (ice hockey)
Randolph B. Wood is an American former professional ice hockey left winger who played twelve seasons in the National Hockey League for the New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs and Dallas Stars....
and Randy Hillier
Randy Hillier
Randall George Hillier is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman.Hillier was drafted by the Boston Bruins in 1980 while playing for the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL. He served the Bruins during his first three NHL seasons, but was best known for his seven seasons with the Pittsburgh...
(along with future considerations) to the Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...
in return for Pierre Turgeon
Pierre Turgeon
Pierre Turgeon is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League for the Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche...
, Benoit Hogue
Benoit Hogue
Benoît "Benny" Hogue is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey left wing. He was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the second round, 35th overall, in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft....
, Uwe Krupp
Uwe Krupp
Uwe G. Krupp is a retired German professional hockey defenceman and current coach of the German national ice hockey team. Following Walt Tkaczuk, Krupp was only the second German-born player to have a lasting career in the National Hockey League...
and Dave McLlwain
Dave McLlwain
David Allan McLlwain is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. McLlwain is best known for playing for a record four National Hockey League teams in one season during the 1991–92 season...
. He also sent longtime captain Brent Sutter
Brent Sutter
Brent Colin Sutter is a retired National Hockey League player and current head coach of the Calgary Flames. Selected by the New York Islanders 17th overall at the 1980 NHL Entry Draft, Sutter played over 1,000 games for the Islanders and Chicago Blackhawks during his 18-year career. He won the...
and Brad Lauer
Brad Lauer
Brad R. Lauer is a Canadian ice hockey coach and former professional ice hockey player. Lauer was drafted 34th overall in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Islanders and played in the National Hockey League for the Islanders, Chicago Blackhawks, Ottawa Senators, and Pittsburgh...
to the Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...
for Steve Thomas
Steve Thomas (ice hockey)
Stephen Antony "Stumpy” Thomas is a retired English-born Canadian ice hockey right winger who played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Detroit Red Wings...
and Adam Creighton
Adam Creighton
-International:-External links:...
. With these additions and a talented core of players such as Derek King
Derek King
Derek King is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1986–87 until 1999–2000....
, Ray Ferraro
Ray Ferraro
Raymond Ferraro is a retired professional ice hockey player. He played in the National Hockey League for the Hartford Whalers , New York Islanders , New York Rangers , Los Angeles Kings , Atlanta Thrashers and St. Louis Blues...
and Patrick Flatley
Patrick Flatley
Patrick Flatley is a retired professional ice hockey forward who played in the NHL for 14 seasons between 1983 and 1997 for the New York Islanders and New York Rangers.-Playing career:...
, along with incoming Soviet-bloc players Vladimir Malakhov
Vladimir Malakhov (ice hockey)
Vladimir Igorevich Malakhov is a Russian retired professional ice hockey player currently under contract with the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League...
and Darius Kasparaitis
Darius Kasparaitis
Darius Kasparaitis is a retired professional ice hockey defenseman. Known by the nickname Kaspar, he has dual citizenship in both the United States and Russia, and he has played for the Russian national ice hockey team.- Playing career :Kasparaitis left Lithuania for Russia at age 14 after...
, the Islanders had a new foundation in the early '90s. However, the management committee was not nearly as patient as Boe and Pickett had been, and forced Torrey to resign after the Islanders missed the playoffs again that season. Assistant GM Don Maloney
Don Maloney
Donald Michael "Slip" Maloney is a former NHL player, and is currently the general manager of the Phoenix Coyotes. He played for the New York Rangers for parts of eleven seasons. His best season came in the 1982–83 season, in which he tallied 29 goals and 69 points in 78 games...
was hired in Torrey's place, while Torrey quickly resurfaced with the expansion Florida Panthers
Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in Sunrise, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . They play their games at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise and are the...
.
In Maloney's first year, 1992–93, the Islanders rebounded to make the playoffs, in the process surpassing the 80-point mark for the first time in six years. The LaFontaine-Turgeon trade proved successful for both the Islanders and Sabres, as both players hit career highs in points and Turgeon won the Lady Byng Trophy.
Ray Ferraro emerged as a playoff hero, scoring a pair of overtime winners in the first round series against the Capitals. Instead of celebrating after winning the decisive sixth game at Nassau Coliseum, however, the Islanders were both irate and despondent. Turgeon, the team's star center and leading scorer, suffered a shoulder separation when Dale Hunter
Dale Hunter
Dale Robert Hunter is a former professional ice hockey player and current head coach of the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League.-NHL career:...
checked him from behind as he celebrated a series-clinching goal. Turgeon was believed to be out for the entire second round, if not longer. He returned only for spot powerplay duty in the last game of the second round. Hunter received a then-record 21-game suspension.
The Islanders' next opponent, the Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
, were twice-defending Stanley Cup champions and full of stars such as Mario Lemieux
Mario Lemieux
Mario Lemieux, OC, CQ is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He is acknowledged to be one of the best players of all time. He played 17 seasons as a forward for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League between 1984 and 2006...
, Jaromir Jagr
Jaromir Jagr
Jaromír Jágr is a Czech professional ice hockey right winger who plays for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League . Jágr formerly played with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, and New York Rangers, serving as captain of the Penguins and the Rangers...
and Ron Francis
Ron Francis
Ronald Michael Francis, Jr. is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played 23 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Hartford Whalers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Carolina Hurricanes and Toronto Maple Leafs...
. The Penguins had roared through the regular season with 119 points, as well as recording a record 17 consecutive wins towards the end of the season, and were overwhelmingly favored to win a third straight championship. Jim Smith of Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
, Long Island's hometown newspaper, predicted that with Turgeon on the sidelines, the Penguins would sweep the Islanders out of the playoffs. However, on the strength of outstanding goaltending from Glenn Healy
Glenn Healy
Glenn Healy is a former ice hockey goaltender who played for 15 years in the National Hockey League. Prior to that, he was a member of the Western Michigan University hockey team, and 1985 graduate of the school. He also served as the director of player affairs for the National Hockey League...
and contributions from all four lines, the Islanders achieved a huge upset when David Volek
David Volek
David Volek is a Czech former professional ice hockey player.Volek was born in the former Czechoslovakia, where he played in 1983–84 for HC Slavia Prague. He later moved to HC Sparta Praha and became a member of the Czecholovakian national ice hockey team for the 1988 Winter Olympics...
scored at 5:16 of overtime of the deciding seventh game. Newsdays front page the day following the win was a picture of Healy with a headline reading, "It's a Miracle!" This remains, as of the 2010-2011 season, the last playoff series won by the Islanders, a span totaling 18 years. Turgeon returned to the Islanders' top line for the Wales Conference Finals against the Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
, though he was not in peak form as he had not fully recovered. The Islanders bowed out of the playoffs after a hard-fought five games, two of which went to overtime. After beating the Isles, the Canadiens went on to win the Cup.
Maloney had avoided making many personnel changes his first year, but on the eve of the 1993 Expansion Draft
1993 NHL Expansion Draft
The 1993 NHL Expansion Draft was held on June 24, 1993, in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The draft took place to fill the rosters of the league's two expansion teams for the 1993–94 season, the Florida Panthers and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.-Rules:...
he traded backup goaltender Mark Fitzpatrick
Mark Fitzpatrick
Mark Fitzpatrick is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He moved to Kitimat, British Columbia, where he started minor hockey, when he was ten years old...
to the Quebec Nordiques
Quebec Nordiques
The Quebec Nordiques were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The Nordiques played in the World Hockey Association and the National Hockey League...
for Ron Hextall
Ron Hextall
Ronald Jeffrey Hextall is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played 13 National Hockey League seasons for the Philadelphia Flyers, Quebec Nordiques, and New York Islanders...
. The clubs also exchanged first-round picks in the deal. Able to protect only one netminder in the Expansion Draft, the Islanders left Healy exposed. He was claimed by the Florida Panthers
Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in Sunrise, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . They play their games at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise and are the...
, then was claimed by Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . They have one Stanley Cup championship in their history, in 2003–04. They are often referred to as the...
in Phase II of the draft the next day, and finally had his rights traded to the Rangers, where he was the backup.
The Islanders barely squeezed past the Panthers to make the 1994 playoffs before being swept in a lopsided opening series by the first-place Rangers, who went on to win the Cup. Arbour retired for good as coach and was succeeded by longtime assistant Lorne Henning
Lorne Henning
Lorne Henning is a Canadian hockey executive. He currently serves as Director of Player Personnel and Assistant General Manager for the NHL's Vancouver Canucks...
. Hextall, who allowed 16 goals in three games, drew most of the criticism for the failed playoff campaign and was shipped to Philadelphia for Tommy Soderstrom
Tommy Söderström
Tommy Söderström is a Swedish former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played in 156 National Hockey League games with the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders over parts of five seasons.-External links:...
in September. In the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season, the Islanders not only failed to qualify for the playoffs, they finished ahead of only the third-year Ottawa Senators
Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
.
1995–2000: Management issues
By the end of the 1994–95 season, Maloney was under considerable heat from the press and fan base for his handling of the team. Since taking over in 1992, the only noticeable attempt he made to upgrade the roster was the acquisition of Hextall. Near the end of the failed 1995 campaign, Maloney decided that the core of players he had left alone for three seasons should be totally revamped, and he undertook a rebuilding project. He traded Turgeon and Malakhov to Montreal for Kirk MullerKirk Muller
Kirk Christopher Muller is a retired professional ice hockey centre who played in the National Hockey League for 19 seasons from 1984–85 until 2002–03...
and Mathieu Schneider
Mathieu Schneider
Mathieu Schneider is a American former professional ice hockey player. Considered an offensive defenseman, Schneider played 1289 games in the National Hockey League with ten different teams, scoring 233 goals and totalling 743 points...
, and Hogue was sent to Toronto
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
for young goaltender Eric Fichaud
Eric Fichaud
Éric Fichaud is a professional ice hockey goaltender. He was selected in the first round of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, 16th overall, by the Toronto Maple Leafs...
. Additionally, Maloney allowed the team's leading scorer, Ferraro, to depart as an unrestricted free agent at the conclusion of the season. Fans' displeasure at Maloney for trading the popular Turgeon was magnified when Muller balked at joining a rebuilding team. He only played 45 games for the Islanders before being sent to the Maple Leafs.
Before the 1995–96 season, Maloney fired Henning and named Mike Milbury
Mike Milbury
Michael Milbury is an American sportscaster currently working as an ice hockey analyst for the New England Sports Network , Hockey Night in Canada and the NHL on NBC. He played twelve seasons in the National Hockey League , all of them as a defenseman for the Boston Bruins...
head coach. The same year, the Isles' attempt at updating their look resulted in the unveiling of a new team logo, which turned out to so disliked by Islanders' fans that the team reverted to a modified version of the old logo as soon as the league allowed it to do so. The year was a disappointment on the ice as well, as the Islanders finished in last place with a record of 22–50–10. During the season, team management fired Maloney, whom fans blamed for the team's downfall, and gave Milbury total control of hockey operations as both coach and general manager.
In the middle of the 1996–97 season, Milbury resigned as coach and elevated assistant Rick Bowness
Rick Bowness
Richard Gary Bowness is a Canadian former National Hockey League right winger and currently an associate coach with the Vancouver Canucks. He played for the Atlanta Flames, Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets and Central Hockey League, AHL and QMJHL teams...
to the head coaching position. However, after another losing season and little improvement, Milbury took over as coach in the middle of the 1997–98 season. The team improved to fourth place in the Atlantic Division but still failed to make the playoffs. He stepped down as coach yet again in the middle of the 1998–99 season but retained his job as GM.
During this playoff drought, instability in the front office mirrored the Islanders' substandard performance on the ice. Pickett sold the team to Dallas businessman John Spano
John Spano
John A. Spano, Jr. is a businessman and swindler who briefly bought control of the NHL's New York Islanders in 1997 before he was exposed as a fraud...
in 1996. However, three months after the 1997 closing, Spano had only paid Pickett a fraction of the first installment on the cable rights deal. Several Islanders executives tipped off Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
that something was amiss about their new boss. In July, Newsday exposed Spano as a fraud who did not have the assets required to complete the deal. Among other things, the investigation showed that Spano had deliberately misled the NHL and the Islanders about his net worth, and also had two lawsuits pending against him. Within days of the report, Spano was forced to relinquish the team to Pickett. Federal prosecutors turned up evidence that Spano had forged many of the documents used to vouch for his wealth and to promise payment to Pickett, and even appeared to have sent many of the documents from his own office in Dallas. He was sentenced to 71 months in prison for bank and wire fraud. The NHL was embarrassed when reports surfaced that it spent less than $1,000 (depending on the source, the league spent either $525 or $750) to check Spano's background. It subsequently stiffened the process for vetting future owners.
Pickett finally found a buyer, a group led by Howard Milstein and Phoenix Coyotes
Phoenix Coyotes
The Phoenix Coyotes are a professional ice hockey team based in Glendale, Arizona. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They play their home games at Jobing.com Arena....
co-owner Steven Gluckstern. Even that deal almost fell through when Spectacor Management Group
Spectacor Management Group
SMG, formerly Spectacor Management Group, is a worldwide venue management group headquartered in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, that specializes in managing publicly owned facilities. SMG was a joint venture in general partnership form with two equal principals: The Hyatt Hotel Company and...
, which managed the Coliseum for Nassau County, tried to force Pickett to certify that the Coliseum was safe. However, Pickett refused, since the Coliseum had fallen into disrepair in recent seasons. SMG backed down under pressure from the Islanders, the NHL and Nassau County officials.
Initially the team made numerous trades and increased their payroll in an effort to assemble a better team. In one transaction, youngsters Todd Bertuzzi
Todd Bertuzzi
Todd Bertuzzi is a Canadian professional ice hockey winger with the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League...
and Bryan McCabe
Bryan McCabe
Bryan McCabe is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who is a free agent.McCabe moved to Calgary, Alberta at a young age and spent the majority of his minor hockey career playing in the Calgary area....
were traded for veteran Trevor Linden
Trevor Linden
Trevor John Linden, C.M., O.B.C. is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player. He played centre and right wing with four different teams: the Vancouver Canucks , New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens, and Washington Capitals...
. However, after the Islanders finished 12 points short of the playoffs in 1997-98, Milstein and Gluckstern decided to run the team on an austere budget in an attempt to make a profit. They also complained about the condition of the Nassau Coliseum and made noises about moving the team elsewhere. They began trading or releasing many popular players to avoid paying their salaries, including star scorer Zigmund Palffy
Zigmund Palffy
Žigmund "Ziggy" Pálffy is a Slovak professional ice hockey player of Hungarian origin, who plays for HK 36 Skalica of the Slovak Extraliga....
, team captain Linden, former rookie of the year Bryan Berard
Bryan Berard
Bryan Wallace Berard is a former American professional ice hockey player. He was the first overall pick in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft by the Ottawa Senators. He is most noted for a debilitating eye injury he received early in his career...
, and rugged defenseman Rich Pilon
Rich Pilon
Richard Brian Pilon is a retired NHL ice hockey player. A stay-at-home defenceman, Pilon played for three teams throughout his 15-year NHL career, the New York Islanders, New York Rangers and St...
.
With the loss of so much talent, the result was predictable. The Islanders finished with 58 points in 1999 and 57 points in 2000. Attendance, which had been in a steady decline over the past few years, fell off even further to under 12,000 per game. At the same time, Milstein bid hundreds of millions of dollars in unsuccessful attempts to purchase the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
's Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
and Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
.
2000–2006: New ownership, a return to the playoffs
In 2000, Milstein and Gluckstern sold the team to Computer Associates executives Charles WangCharles Wang
Charles B. Wang is the co-founder of Computer Associates International, Inc. and owner of the New York Islanders ice hockey team and their AHL affiliates, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers....
and Sanjay Kumar
Sanjay Kumar
Sanjay Kumar Sanjay Kumar Sanjay Kumar (Sanjay Kumar (Sanjay Kumar ([[hindi) (born [[Dhanbad,India]]) was the [[Chairman]] and [[CEO]] of [[CA, Inc.|Computer Associates International]] (now CA Technologies), until April 2004.-Emigration:...
. The new owners gave Milbury the green light to spend money and invest in free agents. His first attempt proved unpopular with fans, as he traded away future stars Roberto Luongo
Roberto Luongo
Roberto Luongo is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League . Born in Montreal, Quebec, he is of Italian and Irish ancestry. He employs the butterfly style of goaltending...
and Olli Jokinen
Olli Jokinen
Olli Jokinen is a Finnish professional ice hockey player currently playing for the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League . He was initially drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in 1997, third overall after Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. He was the captain of the Florida Panthers from 2003...
to the Florida Panthers
Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in Sunrise, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . They play their games at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise and are the...
for Oleg Kvasha
Oleg Kvasha
Oleg "The Chosen One" Kvasha is a Russian professional ice hockey forward currently playing for Atlant Moscow Oblast of the Kontinental Hockey League .-Playing career:...
and Mark Parrish
Mark Parrish
Mark Daniel Parrish is an American professional ice hockey right winger in the Ottawa Senators organization. He has played 10 seasons in the NHL for the Florida Panthers, New York Islanders, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres-Playing...
. Milbury then further surprised the hockey world when he took Rick DiPietro
Rick DiPietro
Rick DiPietro, Jr. is an American professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League . He was the first overall selection by the Islanders in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft....
with the first selection in the entry draft
2000 NHL Entry Draft
The 2000 NHL Entry Draft was held from June 24 to 25 at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, following the 2000 NHL Expansion Draft on June 23 for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild...
, ahead of the consensus picks Dany Heatley
Dany Heatley
Daniel James Heatley is a Canadian professional ice hockey winger, and alternate captain for the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League . Originally drafted by the Atlanta Thrashers second overall in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, he won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the top NHL rookie in 2002...
and Marian Gaborik
Marian Gaborik
Marián Gáborík is a Slovak professional ice hockey right winger currently playing for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League . He began his career in the Slovak Extraliga with HC Dukla Trenčín for two seasons before being drafted third overall in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft by the...
. Reporters and fans were alternately confused and enraged by the moves, which Milbury acknowledged, saying, "As dangerous as this may be, we think Mad Mike maybe has something going for him." The "Mad Mike" nickname has remained with Milbury ever since. Milbury said that his moves were intended to improve the team immediately. In that respect, they failed completely The Islanders finished with the worst record in the NHL and the second-worst season in franchise history; the team's 0.317 winning percentage that year was only ahead of only 1972–73's .192. The team's uninspired play led Milbury to fire Isles legend Butch Goring
Butch Goring
Robert "Butch" Goring is a retired Canadian ice hockey player. He played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders and Boston Bruins. He is a four-time Stanley Cup winner with the Islanders. Since retiring as a player he has served as head coach of...
as head coach before the end of the year. Many fans were upset that Goring and not Milbury took the fall for the lost season, and they were again upset when Milbury passed on hiring Ted Nolan
Ted Nolan
Theodore John Nolan is currently the Head Coach of Latvia men's national ice hockey team...
as Goring's successor. Instead, Milbury tapped Bruins assistant Peter Laviolette
Peter Laviolette
Peter Laviolette Jr. is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman and is the current head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League...
.
Alexei Yashin
Alexei Valeryevich Yashin is a Russian professional ice hockey player. He is currently a member of CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League...
from the Ottawa Senators
Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
in exchange for forward Bill Muckalt
Bill Muckalt
Bill Muckalt is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player. Muckalt played in the National Hockey League for the Vancouver Canucks, New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators and Minnesota Wild from 1998 until 2003.-Playing career:...
, defenseman Zdeno Chara
Zdeno Chára
Zdeno Chára is a Slovak professional ice hockey defenseman. He is the captain of the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League and won the Norris Trophy while playing for them in 2008–09. At 6 ft 9 , he is the tallest player ever to play in the NHL...
and the Isles' second overall pick in the entry draft
2001 NHL Entry Draft
The 2001 NHL Entry Draft was held on June 23–24, 2001 at the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, Florida.-Round one:-Round two:-Round three:-Round four:-Round five:-Round six:-Round seven:-Round eight:-Round nine:...
, which the Senators used to select Jason Spezza
Jason Spezza
Jason Anthony Rocco Spezza is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre, an alternate captain of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League...
. The following day, Islanders prospects Tim Connolly
Tim Connolly
Tim Connolly is an American professional ice hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League.-Playing career:...
and Taylor Pyatt
Taylor Pyatt
Taylor William Pyatt is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who plays for the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League . Drafted out of the Ontario Hockey League , he played major-junior with the Sudbury Wolves...
were traded to the Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...
for Michael Peca
Michael Peca
Michael Anthony "Mike" Peca is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey forward in the National Hockey League . He most recently played for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL. He has also played for the Vancouver Canucks, Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders, Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple...
, who became the team's captain. By virtue of finishing last the year before, the Isles were also able to claim goaltender Chris Osgood
Chris Osgood
Christopher John Osgood is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. He's currently ranked tenth in wins in NHL regular season history with 401 career wins. He spent the first part of his 17-year NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings, then the New York Islanders and the St. Louis...
with the first pick in the waiver draft, adding a former championship goaltender without giving up any players in exchange. Thanks in large part to strong play by Peca, Yashin and Osgood, the new-look Islanders opened the season on a tear, starting 11–1-1–1 en route to finishing with 96 points, their best point total in 18 years. The Islanders finished one point short of their first division title in 14 years. The 44-point leap was the best turnaround in franchise history, surpassing the 1974–75 unit's 32-point jump. Had they won the Atlantic Division title, they would have had home-ice advantage in the first round. Instead, they were seeded fifth, and faced the fourth-seeded Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
. The Islanders lost to the Leafs in a very physical first round series in which no road team won a game. Game 4 featured a Shawn Bates
Shawn Bates
Shawn William Bates is an American professional ice hockey center and is currently a free agent. He previously played in the National Hockey League for the Boston Bruins and New York Islanders.- College :...
penalty shot goal with a 2:30 to play that gave the Islanders the lead and ultimately the game. In Game 5, Gary Roberts charged Islander defenseman Kenny Jonsson
Kenny Jönsson
Per Anders Kenny Jönsson is a retired Swedish professional ice hockey player.- Playing career :Jönsson was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1st round as the 12th overall selection in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft...
and Darcy Tucker
Darcy Tucker
Darcy Tucker is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player, who played most of his National Hockey League career with the Toronto Maple Leafs. A sixth round draft choice, Tucker began his NHL career with the Montreal Canadiens...
submarined Peca with a questionable check that tore the Islander captain's anterior cruciate ligament
Anterior cruciate ligament
The anterior cruciate ligament is a cruciate ligament which is one of the four major ligaments of the human knee. In the quadruped stifle , based on its anatomical position, it is referred to as the cranial cruciate ligament.The ACL originates from deep within the notch of the distal femur...
. Neither Jonsson nor Peca returned in the series.
Despite the promise shown in the Toronto series, the Islanders had a slow start to the 2002–03 NHL season. They rebounded to make the playoffs but lost a five game series in the first round to the top-seeded Ottawa Senators. Milbury, known to make moves that riled the fanbase, fired Laviolette after the season, citing postseason interviews with the players in which they expressed a lack of confidence in the coach. He was replaced with Steve Stirling
Steve Stirling
Steve Stirling is an assistant coach of the Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League. He is the former head coach of the American Hockey League's Norfolk Admirals, the Springfield Falcons, and the National Hockey League's New York Islanders...
, who had previously been coaching the team's top minor league affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers
Bridgeport Sound Tigers
The Bridgeport Sound Tigers are an ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League. It has been the AHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's New York Islanders, who also own the franchise, since its inception, and use the same team colors as the parent Islanders do. The team is based in...
. In 2004, the Islanders again lost in the first round of the playoffs, this time to the eventual champion Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . They have one Stanley Cup championship in their history, in 2003–04. They are often referred to as the...
. Despite the fact that the Lightning finished first in the conference and the Islanders qualified for the playoffs as the 8th and final seed, a few journalists had picked the Islanders to win based on their strong regular season performance against Tampa Bay.
Following the 2004–05 NHL lockout, which eliminated the 2004–05 season, the Islanders made several player moves to increase offense for 2005–06. Peca was traded to Edmonton
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League ....
for center Mike York
Mike York
Michael York is an American professional ice hockey left winger currently playing for the Iserlohn Roosters of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga .-Playing career:...
, freeing up room under the NHL's new salary cap. The same day, the team signed winger Miroslav Satan
Miroslav Satan
Miroslav Šatan is a Slovak professional ice hockey right winger for HC Slovan Bratislava of the Slovak Extraliga.-Pre-NHL:In 1991–92, he played for the local HC Topolcany and did remarkably well, as he scored 30 goals and had 22 assists in just 31 games. He then graduated to the senior division...
to play alongside Yashin. Milbury also remade the defensive corps, replacing departed free agents Adrian Aucoin
Adrian Aucoin
Adrian Aucoin is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing for the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League .- Playing career :...
, Roman Hamrlik
Roman Hamrlík
Roman Hamrlík is a Czech professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League .- Playing career :...
and Jonsson, who left the NHL to play in his native Sweden, with Alexei Zhitnik
Alexei Zhitnik
Oleksiy Mykolaiovych "Alexei" Zhitnik is a retired Ukrainian-Russian ice hockey defenceman. Zhitnik has played more games in the National Hockey League than any other Soviet-born defenceman. He has represented the Soviet Union, CIS, and Russia internationally, and Ukraine during two NHL All-Star...
, Brad Lukowich
Brad Lukowich
Brad Lukowich is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who plays for the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League. He has won the Stanley Cup once in his career, with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004. He was on the roster of the Dallas Stars when they won the cup in 1998–99 but did not...
and Brent Sopel
Brent Sopel
Brent Sopel is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing the Kontinental Hockey League and previously the National Hockey League .-Vancouver Canucks:...
. In the aftermath, Yashin was named the team's new captain. The team's inconsistent play led to Stirling's replacement midway through the season.
2006–present: A new look, and rebuilding
On the day he fired Stirling, Milbury also announced that he would step down as general manager once a successor was found. Milbury served for a year as vice president of all of Charles WangCharles Wang
Charles B. Wang is the co-founder of Computer Associates International, Inc. and owner of the New York Islanders ice hockey team and their AHL affiliates, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers....
's sports properties before resigning in May 2007. The offseason was characterized by a degree of tumult. Wang hired Ted Nolan
Ted Nolan
Theodore John Nolan is currently the Head Coach of Latvia men's national ice hockey team...
as coach and Neil Smith as GM, but he fired Smith after a little over a month and replaced him with backup goaltender Garth Snow
Garth Snow
Garth E. Snow is an American retired professional ice hockey goaltender and is currently the general manager for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League.-Playing career:...
, who retired to accept the position. The Islanders also made several free agent acquisitions, including defensemen Brendan Witt
Brendan Witt
Brendan Witt is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He most recently played for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American Hockey League, affiliate of the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League ....
and Tom Poti
Tom Poti
Thomas Emilio Poti is an ice hockey defenseman and an alternate captain of the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League. He attended Saint Peter-Marian High School for two years. A graduate of the Cushing Academy, Poti moved on to play for Boston University of Hockey East...
as well as forwards Mike Sillinger
Mike Sillinger
Mike Sillinger is the current Director of Player Development for the Edmonton Oilers, and a retired Canadian ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League for 17 seasons...
and Chris Simon
Chris Simon
Chris Simon is a former Canadian professional ice hockey left winger whose last club was UHC Dynamo of the Kontinental Hockey League . He played 15 seasons in the NHL.-Minor hockey:...
. Charles Wang also signed goaltender Rick DiPietro
Rick DiPietro
Rick DiPietro, Jr. is an American professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League . He was the first overall selection by the Islanders in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft....
to a 15-year, 67.5 million dollar contract, among the longest in professional sports history.
Ryan Smyth
Ryan Alexander Gordon Smyth is a Canadian professional ice hockey winger who currently plays for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League...
at the deadline but went on to suffer some setbacks because of injuries to DiPietro and a distracting stick swinging incident that resulted in Simon's suspension for the rest of the season. The team eventually qualified for the playoffs by capping off a late season winning steak with a shootout victory over the Devils. The Isles lost their first round matchup with the Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...
, the NHL's best team during the regular season, in five games.
After the season ended, Islanders GM Garth Snow announced that the team would begin a rebuilding process. The process would involve building from within the draft, the same way that the Islanders dynasty of the 1980s had done. Through careful drafting and careful acquisition of free agent players, the Islanders hope to rebuild the team to become consistent Stanley Cup contenders.
The team announced that they would buy out captain Alexei Yashin
Alexei Yashin
Alexei Valeryevich Yashin is a Russian professional ice hockey player. He is currently a member of CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League...
's contract in June 2007. Smyth, Viktor Kozlov, Jason Blake, Tom Poti and Richard Zednik also left in July 2007 via free agency. Days later, the Islanders signed Bill Guerin
Bill Guerin
William Robert Guerin is an American former professional ice hockey player and current player development coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Guerin played eighteen seasons in the National Hockey League winning two Stanley Cup championships with the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins teams...
, who assumed the captaincy, to a two-year contract. Also in the offseason, free agents Mike Comrie
Mike Comrie
Michael William "Mike" Comrie is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre.He is married to Hilary Duff.-Playing career:Mike Comrie was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta and attended Jasper Place High School...
, Andy Sutton
Andy Sutton
Andrew Cameron "Andy" Sutton is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman, currently playing for the Edmonton Oilers. He has previously played with the San Jose Sharks, Minnesota Wild, Atlanta Thrashers, New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators and Anaheim Ducks.-Playing career:Sutton was born in...
and Jon Sim
Jon Sim
Jonathan Sim is a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger currently playing for HC Slavia Praha of the Czech Extraliga...
joined the team. The Isles remained in the playoff hunt through the trade deadline, but a rash of injuries saw them plummet to the fifth worst record in league by the end of the season. The injuries led to increased opportunities for young players, including Sean Bergenheim
Sean Bergenheim
Sean Bergenheim is a Finnish professional ice hockey winger, currently playing for the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League .- Playing career :...
, Blake Comeau
Blake Comeau
Blake Comeau is a Canadian ice hockey player who currently plays for the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League.-Playing career:...
and Kyle Okposo
Kyle Okposo
Kyle Henry Erovre Okposo is an American professional ice hockey right winger, an alternate captain of the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League...
, who had a productive 9 game stint with the Islanders to end the season.
At the 2008 NHL Entry Draft
2008 NHL Entry Draft
The 2008 NHL Entry Draft was the 46th NHL Entry Draft. It was hosted by the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place in the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on June 20–21, 2008...
, the Islanders made two trades to move down from the fifth to the ninth overall pick, with which they selected center Josh Bailey
Josh Bailey
Joshua Bailey is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who now plays for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League . Bailey was selected 9th overall by the New York Islanders in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft....
. They also added free agents Mark Streit
Mark Streit
Mark Streit is a Swiss professional ice hockey defenceman and occasional forward and captain of the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League , also captaining the Swiss national team. He is presently one of five players in the NHL from Switzerland...
and Doug Weight
Doug Weight
Douglas Daniel Weight is a retired American professional ice hockey player who is currently an Assistant Coach and Special Assistant to the General Manager for the New York Islanders. During his 19-year National Hockey League career, he played for the New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, Carolina...
. The team dismissed head coach Ted Nolan
Ted Nolan
Theodore John Nolan is currently the Head Coach of Latvia men's national ice hockey team...
over alleged philosophy differences, and later that summer replaced him with Scott Gordon
Scott Gordon
Scott Gordon is an American born professional hockey coach and former professional hockey goaltender. He is an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League and a former head coach of the American Hockey League's Providence Bruins and the National Hockey League's New...
. Near the trade deadline, Snow traded Mike Comrie
Mike Comrie
Michael William "Mike" Comrie is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre.He is married to Hilary Duff.-Playing career:Mike Comrie was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta and attended Jasper Place High School...
and Chris Campoli
Chris Campoli
Chris Campoli is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is currently playing for the Montreal Canadiens. Campoli previously played with the Chicago Blackhawks, Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders.- Junior career :...
to the Ottawa Senators
Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
in exchange for Dean McAmmond
Dean McAmmond
Dean McAmmond is a Canadian professional ice hockey player. McAmmond has played in the National Hockey League since 1991 for several teams and is currently a free agent.-Pre-NHL career:...
and the San Jose Sharks
San Jose Sharks
The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California, United States. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
' first round draft pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft
2009 NHL Entry Draft
The 2009 NHL Entry Draft was the 47th Entry Draft. It was held on June 26–27, 2009 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. The Draft was part of the Montreal Canadiens centennial celebrations. National Hockey League teams took turns selecting amateur ice hockey players from junior, collegiate, or...
and sent captain Bill Guerin
Bill Guerin
William Robert Guerin is an American former professional ice hockey player and current player development coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Guerin played eighteen seasons in the National Hockey League winning two Stanley Cup championships with the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins teams...
to the Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
in exchange for a conditional draft pick, which became a third rounder.
The Islanders selected John Tavares first overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft
2009 NHL Entry Draft
The 2009 NHL Entry Draft was the 47th Entry Draft. It was held on June 26–27, 2009 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. The Draft was part of the Montreal Canadiens centennial celebrations. National Hockey League teams took turns selecting amateur ice hockey players from junior, collegiate, or...
. After winning the draft lottery, the Islanders said their ticket sales department has seen a "300% increase in phone calls and e-mail inquiries over last year at this time" and also is "on pace" to renew 90% of its season tickets. The Islanders also drafted defenseman Calvin de Haan
Calvin de Haan
Calvin de Haan is a Canadian major junior ice hockey player. He is currently playing for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American Hockey League . He was selected 12th overall by the New York Islanders during the 2009 NHL Entry Draft...
with the 12th overall pick.
The 2009-2010 Islanders season started out slow, with the team losing its first 6 games, 3 of which went into overtime or a shootout. The team recorded its first victory of the 2009-2010 season on October 21, in a shootout against the Carolina Hurricanes that ended with John Tavares scoring the winning goal. The team continued to play inconsistent hockey due to injuries and it looked as though they would be finishing towards the bottom of the league once again. However, in late December 2009 and early January 2010, the team hit a hot streak and went 8-2-1 between December 26 and January 18. This led the team to 3-games above the NHL-average .500 mark. Unfortunately right after this, the team went 3-10-0 before the Olympic break. The first game back from the Olympic break saw the Islanders take on the eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks. The Islanders would win the game, on the back of a Blake Comeau hat trick. The Islanders ended their season 5-3-1 in the last nine games, failing to reach the playoffs by 9 points. In the 2009-2010 season the Islanders went to overtime 24 times, with 14 of those games being decided by a shootout.
At the 2010 Draft Lottery the New York Islanders were awarded the 5th pick in the 2010 Entry Draft. The New York Islanders used their pick to draft Swiss forward, Nino Niederreiter
Nino Niederreiter
Nino Niederreiter , nicknamed El Niño, is a Swiss ice hockey player currently playing for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League . He was selected fifth overall by the New York Islanders in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, making him the highest-drafted Swiss hockey player in NHL history...
5th overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft on June 25. They also drafted US-born Brock Nelson
Brock Nelson
Brock Nelson is an American ice hockey player currently playing for the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association . He previously played for Warroad High School and was a finalist for the Minnesota Mr...
with the 30th overall pick, and controversial Russian forward Kirill Kabanov
Kirill Kabanov
Kirill Kabanov is a Russian junior ice hockey forward, currently playing for the Shawinigan Cataractes of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League . He is also currently with the New York Islanders organization. He played ten games with HC Spartak Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League before...
with the 65th overall pick.
On November 15, during a 10-game losing streak, Islanders management fired head coach Scott Gordon and replaced him with Jack Capuano
Jack Capuano
Jack Capuano is the head coach of the New York Islanders.He is a retired former professional ice hockey defenseman who spent parts of three seasons in the National Hockey League in the late 1980s and early 1990s....
, who had been coaching the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the club's AHL affiliate. The team earned praise for its improved play in the second half. Rookie Michael Grabner
Michael Grabner
Michael René Grabner is an Austrian professional ice hockey player playing for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League . Grabner grew up playing for the local team in Villach, EC VSV. He moved to North America at the age of 17 and joined the Spokane Chiefs of the major junior Western...
, acquired on waivers early in the season, scored 34 goals and was selected as a finalist for the Calder Trophy.
On August 1, 2011, voters in Nassau County rejected a proposal for a new arena to replace the Nassau Coliseum. In the wake of the vote there has been speculation that the team may eventually end up playing in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, or moving to Queens, Suffolk
Suffolk County, New York
Suffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York on the eastern portion of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,493,350. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came...
, Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, or Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Logo
An advertising executive named John Alogna from East Meadow created the original version of the Islanders logo with the NY over a silhouette of Long Island. Part of the Y is made to resemble a hockey stick, with three orange stripes near the bottom of the shaft, and a puck located to the right of the stick blade, above the "Islanders" name at the bottom. Aside from the 1995 rebrand attempt, this logo has remained largely intact throughout the team's history.Before the 1995–96 season the Islanders attempted to update their look. The result was the unveiling of a logo depicting a fisherman holding a hockey stick. Many fans found that the logo bore a strong resemblance to the Gorton's fisherman and prompted New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
fans to chant "We Want Fishsticks" after the Rangers score versus the Islanders. The logo was a marketing disaster; the reaction among the fan base was so negative that management announced it would revert back to the original logo as soon as league rules allowed them to do so. The traditional logo was phased back in over the next two seasons, starting as an alternate jersey
Third jersey
A third jersey or alternate jersey is a sports team's alternate and/or throwback design for the previously established other two jerseys, the home and away outfits. Alternate jerseys are used in all four of the North American major professional sports leagues as well as college sports, semipro...
logo in 1996-97
1996-97 NHL season
The 1996–97 NHL season was the 80th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup winners were the Detroit Red Wings, who swept the Philadelphia Flyers in four games and won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 42 years. The regular season saw a decline in scoring and rise in the...
before fully replacing the fisherman in 1997-98
1997-98 NHL season
-Stanley Cup Final:The 1998 Stanley Cup Final was played in the 105th year of the Stanley Cup. The series was played between the Western Conference champion Detroit Red Wings and the Eastern Conference champion Washington Capitals. The Red Wings were led by Captain Steve Yzerman, Coach Scotty...
. The only change to the classic logo at this time was its colors; as the team had replaced its original royal blue with navy, the logo was recolored to match.
Beginning in 2008, the Islanders introduced another modification to their original logo for their new third jersey. The "new" logo, once again in royal blue, now features four orange stripes on the hockey stick instead of three, representing the four consecutive Stanley Cup titles in the 1980s. This became the team's full-time logo in 2010 when the team retired their inaugural Reebok Edge uniforms.
Jersey
The Islanders debuted in 1972 with traditional-style jerseys: either white with orange and royal blue stripes near the waistline and on the sleeves or royal blue with white and orange stripes. The design remained largely the same, despite minor tweaks, through the 1994–95 season.Prior to the 1995–96 season, team executives decided to change the jersey. The fisherman logo replaced the "NY" circular design, and the new uniforms incorporated navy blue and a brighter orange and introduced teal and gray shades as well. The team was seeking increased merchandise revenues, with the outward justification of connecting the team more overtly to Long Island. The jersey included a lighthouse shoulder patch, a reference to the Montauk Lighthouse, and featured uneven stripes resembling an ocean wave near the waistline, on the sleeves, and across the shoulders. All of the numbering and lettering on the jerseys also followed the wave pattern. Late in the season, the team decided to do away with the fisherman logo, but league rules forbade them from switching jersey designs for the 1996–97 season on only a few months' notice. Instead, the Islanders debuted their first third (and fourth) jerseys
Third jersey
A third jersey or alternate jersey is a sports team's alternate and/or throwback design for the previously established other two jerseys, the home and away outfits. Alternate jerseys are used in all four of the North American major professional sports leagues as well as college sports, semipro...
, which were identical to the home and road jerseys then worn by the team except that they used the circular "NY" crest in place of the fisherman. The team wore these jerseys in approximately fifteen games during the 1996–97 season and adopted them permanently for 1997–98.
For the 2007–08 season, the Islanders redesigned their uniforms as all NHL teams changed over to the Reebok Edge system. This Islanders jersey resembled the prior design with a few changes. It featured uniform numbers on the right chest above the logo. The name plates were in two colored format: white on orange on the home navy blue jersey and navy blue on orange on the road white jersey. The sleeves on both jerseys were orange, with a wide navy stripe above a thin white stripe at the elbow. The jerseys had a thin stripe tracing around the shoulders, and they featured "retro" laces at the neck.
The Islanders' third jersey was a royal blue throwback design resembling the jersey that the team wore from 1972–1977, with white letters and numerals (as worn from 1973 on; the team wore orange numerals on the blue jerseys in their inaugural season). The logo on the jersey features four stripes on the hockey stick instead of the original three, another nod to the championship teams of 1980-83.
In 2010-11, the Islanders retired their inaugural navy Edge uniforms, replacing them with the throwback design which became the new home jersey. A corresponding new white road jersey was unveiled during the Islanders' draft
2010 NHL Entry Draft
The 2010 NHL Entry Draft was the 48th NHL Entry Draft, held on June 25–26, 2010 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, home arena of the Los Angeles Kings. This was the first time Los Angeles hosted the NHL Entry Draft. An unofficial record of 11 American-trained players were selected in...
party at Nassau Coliseum.
For the 2011-2012 season, The Islanders are planning to unveil alternate uniforms. Unveiled on November 16, the new alternate is black with grey on the shoulder yoke. The front of the jersey will have the team name above the player's number in orange with blue and white trim. The Islanders crest is placed on the shoulder yoke.
Mascot and Ice Girls
The Islanders' team mascot is named "Sparky the Dragon", who served at one point as cross-promotion with the New York DragonsNew York Dragons
The New York Dragons were an Arena Football League team based in the New York metropolitan area. The team was founded in as the original incarnation of the Iowa Barnstormers, and relocated to New York in . They played in New York until 2008, when the league folded...
. In the mid-1990s, the Islanders had a mascot called "Nyiles" which vaguely resembled the logo fisherman. Nyiles was discarded toward the end of the 1997-98 season; the team made somewhat of an event out of it at late-season home games by distributing "Who kidnapped Nyiles?" flyers implicating various other NHL mascots in his disappearance (Toronto Maple Leafs mascot Carleton the Bear turned out to be the culprit).
The Islanders also have an ice crew of women, the "Ice Girls", who skate onto the ice during television breaks to clean up the snow that piles up during the game. The Ice Girls are also used for promotional purposes.
Season-by-season record
- This is only a partial list of the last five seasons. For the full season-by-season history, see List of New York Islanders seasons
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Records as of April 10, 2011
| Season | GP | W | L | OTL | Pts | GF | GA | Finish | Playoffs |
| 2006–07 | 82 | 40 | 30 | 12 | 92 | 248 | 240 | 4th, Atlantic | Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1–4 (Sabres Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:... ) |
| 2007–08 | 82 | 35 | 38 | 9 | 79 | 194 | 243 | 5th, Atlantic | Did not qualify |
| 2008–09 2008–09 NHL season The 2008–09 NHL season was the 92nd season of operation of the National Hockey League . It was the first season since prior to the 2004–05 lockout in which every team played each other at least once during the season, following three seasons where teams only played against two divisions in the... |
82 | 26 | 47 | 9 | 61 | 201 | 279 | 5th, Atlantic | Did not qualify |
| 2009–10 2009–10 NHL season The 2009–10 NHL season was the 93rd season of operation of the National Hockey League , and the 100th season since the founding of the predecessor National Hockey Association . It ran from October 1, 2009, including four games in Europe on October 2 and 3—until April 11, 2010, with the 2010... |
82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 79 | 222 | 264 | 5th, Atlantic | Did not qualify |
| 2010-11 | 82 | 30 | 39 | 13 | 73 | 229 | 264 | 5th, Atlantic | Did not qualify |
Honored members
Six New York Islanders players have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of FameHockey Hall of Fame
The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it is both a museum and a hall of fame. It holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League records, memorabilia and NHL trophies, including the Stanley Cup...
, the most recent being Pat LaFontaine
Pat LaFontaine
Patrick Michael LaFontaine is an American former ice hockey center in the National Hockey League who spent his entire career playing for the league's New York-based teams; LaFontaine skated for the New York Islanders from 1983 until 1991, the Buffalo Sabres from 1991 until 1997, and the New York...
in 2003. Denis Potvin
Denis Potvin
Denis Charles Potvin is a former defenseman and team captain for the New York Islanders in the National Hockey League and cornerstone for the Islanders' four Stanley Cup championship teams in the early 1980s. His brother, Jean Potvin, was also an NHL defenseman and the brothers were teammates for...
and Mike Bossy
Mike Bossy
Michael Dean Bossy is a former Canadian ice hockey player who played for the New York Islanders for his entire career and was part of their four-year reign as Stanley Cup champions in the early 1980s...
were the first Islanders to be inducted, in 1991. Besides the six players, two team builders have been inducted. Bill Torrey
Bill Torrey
William A. Torrey was a General Manager and executive in the National Hockey League, most famous for building up the expansion New York Islanders into a dynasty that won four consecutive Stanley Cups...
and Al Arbour
Al Arbour
Alger Joseph "Radar" Arbour is a retired Canadian ice hockey player and a coach and executive in the National Hockey League .-Playing career:...
were both inducted in 1995 and 1996, respectively. All six of these players, plus Bob Bourne
Bob Bourne
Robert Glen Bourne is a retired professional ice hockey centre who played for the New York Islanders and the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL between 1974 and 1988.-Playing career:...
have since been inducted into the Islanders' Hall of Fame.
The Islanders' organization also honors individuals by retiring the number they wore on their jersey. Six of the players who were inducted into the Hall of Fame (Denis Potvin's #5, Clark Gillies' #9, Bryan Trottier's #19, Mike Bossy's #22, Bob Nystrom's #23, and Billy Smith's #31) have been retired and a banner raised in Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Uniondale, New York, United States. Home to the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League, the Coliseum is located approximately east of New York City on Long Island...
. Retiring a player's number means that nobody will use that number again while playing for the New York Islanders. Each player with a retired number has their own banner that hangs in the rafter
Rafter
A rafter is one of a series of sloped structural members , that extend from the ridge or hip to the downslope perimeter or eave, designed to support the roof deck and its associated loads.-Design:...
s at the Coliseum. There are two other banners hanging with the retired numbers. One is for Al Arbour
Al Arbour
Alger Joseph "Radar" Arbour is a retired Canadian ice hockey player and a coach and executive in the National Hockey League .-Playing career:...
in recognition of the 1500 games he coached for the Islanders. The other banner is for Bill Torrey
Bill Torrey
William A. Torrey was a General Manager and executive in the National Hockey League, most famous for building up the expansion New York Islanders into a dynasty that won four consecutive Stanley Cups...
, who held the title of General manager, Vice president, President, and Chairman of the Board for the Islanders organization from 1972 until 1993. Torrey's banner features the words "The Architect" and a bowtie, which was his trademark, in place of a number. The Islanders organization has expressed interested in retiring Brent Sutter
Brent Sutter
Brent Colin Sutter is a retired National Hockey League player and current head coach of the Calgary Flames. Selected by the New York Islanders 17th overall at the 1980 NHL Entry Draft, Sutter played over 1,000 games for the Islanders and Chicago Blackhawks during his 18-year career. He won the...
's #21, sometime during the 2011 season. Sutter is among the top ten all time in Islanders scoring.
Franchise scoring leaders
| Pos | Position |
| GP | Games played |
| G | Goals |
| A | Assists |
| Pts | Points |
| Player | Position | GP | G | A | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bryan Trottier Bryan Trottier Bryan John Trottier is a retired Canadian-American professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League for the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. He won four Stanley Cups with the Islanders, two with the Penguins and one as an assistant coach with the... |
C | 1123 | 500 | 853 | 1353 |
| Mike Bossy Mike Bossy Michael Dean Bossy is a former Canadian ice hockey player who played for the New York Islanders for his entire career and was part of their four-year reign as Stanley Cup champions in the early 1980s... |
RW | 752 | 573 | 553 | 1126 |
| Denis Potvin Denis Potvin Denis Charles Potvin is a former defenseman and team captain for the New York Islanders in the National Hockey League and cornerstone for the Islanders' four Stanley Cup championship teams in the early 1980s. His brother, Jean Potvin, was also an NHL defenseman and the brothers were teammates for... |
D | 1060 | 310 | 742 | 1052 |
| Clark Gillies Clark Gillies Clark "Jethro" Gillies is a retired professional ice hockey player. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. He provided both physical presence and offensive punch for the NHL's New York Islanders during their four-year run as Stanley Cup champions. In a career that spanned 958 games, Gillies... |
LW | 872 | 304 | 359 | 663 |
| Brent Sutter Brent Sutter Brent Colin Sutter is a retired National Hockey League player and current head coach of the Calgary Flames. Selected by the New York Islanders 17th overall at the 1980 NHL Entry Draft, Sutter played over 1,000 games for the Islanders and Chicago Blackhawks during his 18-year career. He won the... |
C | 694 | 287 | 323 | 610 |
| Pat LaFontaine Pat LaFontaine Patrick Michael LaFontaine is an American former ice hockey center in the National Hockey League who spent his entire career playing for the league's New York-based teams; LaFontaine skated for the New York Islanders from 1983 until 1991, the Buffalo Sabres from 1991 until 1997, and the New York... |
C | 530 | 287 | 279 | 566 |
| John Tonelli John Tonelli John A. Tonelli is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey forward. He was a four-time Stanley Cup champion with the New York Islanders, and also played with the Calgary Flames, Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks, and the Quebec Nordiques of the National Hockey League.-Bio:In 1982 and 1985,... |
LW | 594 | 206 | 338 | 544 |
| Bob Bourne Bob Bourne Robert Glen Bourne is a retired professional ice hockey centre who played for the New York Islanders and the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL between 1974 and 1988.-Playing career:... |
C | 814 | 238 | 304 | 542 |
| Bob Nystrom Bob Nyström Robert Thore Nystrom is a retired professional ice hockey right winger. He played for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League from 1972 to 1986. He is best remembered as having scored the winning goal at the 7:11 mark of overtime to give the New York Islanders the 1980 Stanley Cup... |
RW | 900 | 235 | 278 | 513 |
| Derek King Derek King Derek King is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1986–87 until 1999–2000.... |
LW | 638 | 211 | 288 | 499 |
Franchise individual records
This is a list of franchise individual records by the Islanders.- Most goals in a season: Mike BossyMike BossyMichael Dean Bossy is a former Canadian ice hockey player who played for the New York Islanders for his entire career and was part of their four-year reign as Stanley Cup champions in the early 1980s...
, 69 (1978–79) - Most assists in a season: Bryan TrottierBryan TrottierBryan John Trottier is a retired Canadian-American professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League for the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. He won four Stanley Cups with the Islanders, two with the Penguins and one as an assistant coach with the...
, 87 (1978–79) - Most points in a season: Mike BossyMike BossyMichael Dean Bossy is a former Canadian ice hockey player who played for the New York Islanders for his entire career and was part of their four-year reign as Stanley Cup champions in the early 1980s...
, 147 (1981–82) - Most penalty minutes in a season: Brian CurranBrian CurranBrian Phillip Curran is a Canadian ice hockey player, coach. and executive. He is the current head coach of the Lloydminster Bobcats in the Alberta Junior Hockey League....
, 356 (1986–87) - Most points in a season, defenseman: Denis PotvinDenis PotvinDenis Charles Potvin is a former defenseman and team captain for the New York Islanders in the National Hockey League and cornerstone for the Islanders' four Stanley Cup championship teams in the early 1980s. His brother, Jean Potvin, was also an NHL defenseman and the brothers were teammates for...
, 101 (1978–79) - Most points in a season, rookie: Bryan TrottierBryan TrottierBryan John Trottier is a retired Canadian-American professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League for the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. He won four Stanley Cups with the Islanders, two with the Penguins and one as an assistant coach with the...
, 95 (1975–76) - Most wins in a season: Billy SmithBilly Smith (ice hockey)William John Smith, better known as Billy Smith, is a retired professional ice hockey goaltender and is best known for winning four Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders and being the first goalie to be credited with a goal....
; Chris OsgoodChris OsgoodChristopher John Osgood is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. He's currently ranked tenth in wins in NHL regular season history with 401 career wins. He spent the first part of his 17-year NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings, then the New York Islanders and the St. Louis...
, Rick DiPietroRick DiPietroRick DiPietro, Jr. is an American professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League . He was the first overall selection by the Islanders in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft....
32 (1981–82; 2001–02; 2006–07)
Team captains
The Islanders have had thirteen team captains. Ed WestfallEd Westfall
Edwin Vernon "Shadow" Westfall is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins and the New York Islanders from 1961 until 1978–79...
, the team's first, won the Bill Masterton Trophy during his Islanders captaincy; Michael Peca
Michael Peca
Michael Anthony "Mike" Peca is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey forward in the National Hockey League . He most recently played for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL. He has also played for the Vancouver Canucks, Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders, Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple...
, who won the Frank J. Selke Trophy
Frank J. Selke Trophy
The Frank J. Selke Trophy is awarded annually to the National Hockey League forward who demonstrates the most skill in the defensive component of the game. The winner is selected by a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association following the regular season. It has been awarded 33 times to...
after the 2001–02 season
2001–02 New York Islanders season
The 2001–02 New York Islanders season was the 30th season in the franchise's history. This season saw the Islanders finish in second place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 42 wins, 28 losses, 8 ties, and 4 overtime losses for 96 points...
, is the only other captain to have won an award during his term. Denis Potvin
Denis Potvin
Denis Charles Potvin is a former defenseman and team captain for the New York Islanders in the National Hockey League and cornerstone for the Islanders' four Stanley Cup championship teams in the early 1980s. His brother, Jean Potvin, was also an NHL defenseman and the brothers were teammates for...
had the longest captaincy, from 1979 through 1987, during which he played 521 regular season games. Bryan McCabe
Bryan McCabe
Bryan McCabe is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who is a free agent.McCabe moved to Calgary, Alberta at a young age and spent the majority of his minor hockey career playing in the Calgary area....
served the shortest length of time, 56 regular season games. Bill Guerin
Bill Guerin
William Robert Guerin is an American former professional ice hockey player and current player development coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Guerin played eighteen seasons in the National Hockey League winning two Stanley Cup championships with the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins teams...
was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
mid-season in 2009. Doug Weight
Doug Weight
Douglas Daniel Weight is a retired American professional ice hockey player who is currently an Assistant Coach and Special Assistant to the General Manager for the New York Islanders. During his 19-year National Hockey League career, he played for the New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, Carolina...
was named captain on 2 October 2009. On 21 September 2011, the Islanders named Mark Streit as the thirteenth captain in team history.
The Islanders did not assign a captain for the 1996–97 season
1996–97 New York Islanders season
The 1996-97 New York Islanders season was the 25th in the franchise's history. It saw the withdrawal of the "Fisherman" logo from 1995 at the start of the season and the return of the original logo.-Game log:-Regular season:ScoringGoaltending...
after their previous captain, Patrick Flatley
Patrick Flatley
Patrick Flatley is a retired professional ice hockey forward who played in the NHL for 14 seasons between 1983 and 1997 for the New York Islanders and New York Rangers.-Playing career:...
, was released from his contract. The Islanders also did not name a captain for the 2000–01 season
2000–01 New York Islanders season
The 2000–01 New York Islanders season was the 29th season in the franchise's history. The team missed the playoffs again for the seventh consecutive season.-Game log:-Regular season:ScoringGoaltending-External links:...
.
Television
Most games are shown locally on sports channels MSG PlusMSG Plus
MSG Plus is a regional sports network in the New York City metropolitan area, whose reach expands to cover the entire state of New York, Northern New Jersey, Southwestern Connecticut, and Northeastern Pennsylvania. The network was rebranded on March 10, 2008.Like its sister network, MSG, it is...
and MSG Plus 2
MSG Plus
MSG Plus is a regional sports network in the New York City metropolitan area, whose reach expands to cover the entire state of New York, Northern New Jersey, Southwestern Connecticut, and Northeastern Pennsylvania. The network was rebranded on March 10, 2008.Like its sister network, MSG, it is...
.
The following is a list of on-air talent for the Islanders:
- Howie RoseHowie RoseHowie Rose is an American sportscaster. He is currently the radio voice of the New York Mets on WFAN, and the television announcer for the New York Islanders on MSG Plus.-Early life and career:...
, play-by-play - Butch GoringButch GoringRobert "Butch" Goring is a retired Canadian ice hockey player. He played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders and Boston Bruins. He is a four-time Stanley Cup winner with the Islanders. Since retiring as a player he has served as head coach of...
, color analyst - Deb PlaceyDeb PlaceyDeborah Kaufman Placey is the New Jersey Devils news anchor/reporter for the team's televised home and road games on MSG Plus and the MSG Network. Placey is joining the New Jersey Devils after ten seasons reporting for the New York Islanders...
, studio host - Peter Ruttgaizer, studio host
Radio
Islanders' radio broadcasts are aired over WRHU (88.7 FM), which is licensed to HempsteadHempstead (village), New York
Hempstead is a village located in the town of Hempstead, Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 53,891 at the 2010 census.Hofstra University is located on the border between Hempstead and Uniondale.-Foundation:...
-based Hofstra University
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...
. The play-by-play is done by longtime Islanders broadcaster Chris King. Hofstra students will handle color commentary and reporting for all home games and several away games, and are also involved in engineering the broadcasts from on-and-off site.
See also
- List of New York Islanders draft picks
- List of New York Islanders general managers
- List of New York Islanders head coaches
- List of NHL players
- List of NHL seasons
- List of Stanley Cup champions
- List of New York Islanders broadcasters