32 NHL Cities in 32 Days: New York Islanders

Alexis Bazydola
May 19, 2020
7 min read

The Location: New York, New York

The New York Islanders split their time between the Barclay’s Center and Nassau Coliseum. The team looked to move to Barclay’s permanently beginning in the 2015-16 season, but after attendance and fan support began to lag, the Islanders decided to split their time between the two venues beginning in the 2018-19 season. In February 2020, the team announced their permanent move back to the Coliseum for the 2020 playoffs and 2020-21 season until the Belmont Park Arena was finalized.

Opening its doors in 1972, Nassau Coliseum has been the primary home of the Islanders for the majority of their tenure in the NHL. It seats just over 13,000 fans for a home hockey game. It is also home to the Long Island Nets, an NBA G League team. It has also hosted phenomenal entertainers over the years including Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Spice Girls, and so many others have performed.

The Barclay’s Center opened in 2012 and is home to the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and the New York Islanders. It is has earned a LEED Silver Certification for sustainability efforts. For a home hockey game, the arena can seat just over 15,000 fans. Barclay’s has also hosted other events throughout its history such as Jay Z, The Who, Coldplay, Mumford & Sons, Billy Joel and so many more.

Team History

In the 1970s, the World Hockey Association (WHA) looked to expand to Long Island. County officials did not like the idea of the WHA bringing in a team as they felt it was not a serious league. William Shea was enlisted to help bring an NHL franchise to Long Island, instead. While this idea was met with initial frustrations from the New York Rangers owners, the team was eventually persuaded when financial compensation and the placement of the team was brought up. Shea and NHL President Clarence Campbell was able to convince the Rangers’ executives that the new franchise would not pull from their fanbase and would be required to compensate them for the close proximity. Roy Boe was awarded the expansion bid in 1971.

The Islanders began play in 1972 but did not see much success the first year as they set an NHL record for most losses and worst overall record with a 12-60-6 record. The team was awarded the first overall selection in the 1973 NHL Draft and selected Denis Potvin. Although Potvin won the Calder Memorial Trophy that season, the Islanders still finished last in the East Division. The next season began to look up for the Islanders as they clinched their first playoff spot in 1975. They defeated the New York Rangers in the first round and then the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second. They faced the Philadelphia Flyers in the Conference Finals, but did not advance.

Young Bryan Trottier emerged in the 1975-76 season and won the Calder Memorial Trophy. Although they continued to improve their game, they did not find much playoff success between 1976-79. Mike Bossy was selected at the 1977 NHL Draft and would win the Calder Memorial Trophy the next year. Financially, the team was on shaky ground. Boe was forced to sell the Islanders to John Pickett.

The 1980s began a new era for the Islanders as they placed their focus on playoff dominance over the regular season. Butch Goring was traded to the team before the 1980 playoffs. He along with Bossy, Trottier and Clark Gillies propelled the team to win their first Stanley Cup. They went on to defeat the Minnesota North Stars in 1981 to hoist yet another Cup. In 1982, the team won the President’s Trophy accumulating a franchise record 118 points in the regular season. They defeated the Vancouver Canucks and won their third straight Stanley Cup. While the Edmonton Oilers began to heat up in the 1982-83 season, the Islanders swept them in the Finals to win their fourth straight championship.

The 1983-84 season began the “Drive for Five.” They faced the Oilers again in the Finals, but came up short. This series featured rookie Pat LaFontaine. For the rest of the 80s, veterans began leaving the team and owner Pickett was pocketing money from the Islanders TV deals instead of reinvesting it in the team. This contributed to the lack of talent coming in to replace the departing veterans.

After a frustrated LaFontaine held out during contract negotiations, general manager Bill Torrey traded him along with Randy Wood and Randy Hillier to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Pierre Turgeon, Benoit Hogue, Uwe Krupp and Dave McLlwain. Steve Thomas and Adam Creighton were also acquired via trade from the Chicago Blackhawks. With other young stars added to their roster, the team was ready to rebuild. However, when the team failed to make the playoffs again in 1992, Torrey was forced to resign with Don Maloney taking his place.

The Islanders returned to the playoffs in 1993 and made it all the way to the Conference Finals before losing to Montreal Canadiens in five games. The next few seasons were met with competitive and front office uncertainty. When fans were angered over Maloney’s lack of efforts to improve his team, he began to make many roster moves. Beginning in the 1995-96 season, Mike Millbury was brought in as head coach. Maloney was fired this season as well after the team failed to make the playoffs and finished with a disastrous record.

With the instability in the front office, the team was sold to John Spano in 1996. Investigations were released in 1997 showing that Spano was a fraud and had insufficient funds to cover the team and was forced to relinquish the team back to Pickett. The roster’s talent began to decline as top players were traded away in order to make payroll. Fan support was also on the decline as attendance levels dropped. In 2000, the team was sold to Charles Wang and Sanjay Kumar.

Now serving as general manager, Millbury began making questionable moves through trades and draft selections which angered fans. After firing head coach Butch Goring, Millbury brought in Peter Laviolette. The Islanders selected Zdeno Chara in the 2001 NHL Draft. They also acquired Michael Peca from the Buffalo Sabres. They returned to the 2002 playoffs but were defeated by the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games. They would again make the playoffs in 2003 but were knocked out in the first round yet again. Laviolette was fired following this season.

Millbury resigned in 2006 as general manager. Neil Smith was hired as general manager and Ted Nolan as head coach. Rick DiPietro was signed to a 15-year, $67.5 million contract this year as well. The next few seasons saw improvements in the play of the Islanders, but they were not able to make it past the first few rounds of the playoffs.

In 2009, the Islanders selected John Tavares first overall as the beginning efforts to rebuild the team. The Islanders were still unable to make the playoffs in 2010 and fell to 26th in the league. This led to the selection of Nino Niederreiter and Brock Nelson in the first round. The 2011-12 season saw a breakout season for Tavares as he scored 31 goals and 50 assists. The team again finished in the bottom of the league and selected Griffin Reinhart in the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft. This same year it was also announced the team would move to Barclay’s Center beginning in 2015.

In 2013, the team returned to the playoffs to face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. They were eliminated in six games. More roster moves in 2013-14 saw the Islanders miss the playoffs yet again. During the 2014 offseason, the Islanders added Jaroslav Halak, Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin, Chad Johnson, Johnny Boychuk, and Nick Leddy to their roster. They returned to the playoffs in 2015 but were knocked out by the Washington Capitals in seven games. Game 6 of the series was the last at Nassau Coliseum.

In 2016, the Islanders claimed their first playoff series win since 1993 after knocking out the Florida Panthers. They lost in the second round to the Tampa Bay Lightning. With more concerns about waning attendance at the Barclay’s Center, rumors began that the Islanders should return to play at the Coliseum. The Islanders finished the 2016-17 season by missing the playoffs by one point.

2017-18 saw the emergence of rookie Mathew Barzal who won the Calder Memorial Trophy that season after accumulating 85 points. In June 2018, Lou Lamoriello was announced as the new general manager. Barry Trotz was hired as head coach. Tavares also left during this offseason to sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs. During the 2018-19 season, the Islanders split their time between Barclay’s and the Coliseum. They clinched a playoff spot in 2019 and swept the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. The Carolina Hurricanes swept the Islanders in the second round. At the current 2019-20 season’s pause, the Islanders sit at 14th in the league with 80 points.

Fanbase & Traditions

The Islanders are cheered on by their mascot Sparky the Dragon. He served as the mascot for both the Islanders and the New York Dragons Arena Football team who also played at Nassau Coliseum. The football team folded in 2009 when Sparky became the permanent mascot for the Islanders. While it was announced that Sparky would not make the move when the team began playing at Barclay’s Center. When this was met with backlash, Sparky was reintroduced in 2015.