49 Fun Facts About New York Islanders

The Islanders were created largely to keep which rival league's team out of Nassau Coliseum?

World Hockey Association: its New York Raiders were left to rent Madison Square Garden on harsh terms, and in their second season they fled to Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

Many expected the Islanders to borrow which nickname from Long Island's older minor-league hockey club?

Ducks: the Long Island Ducks of the Eastern Hockey League had played in Commack for more than a decade, so the name seemed a natural, but the new franchise called itself the Islanders instead.

Which winger captained the Islanders from 2018 through the 2025-26 season?

Anders Lee, a sixth-round draft pick, was handed the 'C' hours before the 2018-19 opener after the previous captain left for Toronto, and his team swept Pittsburgh in the playoffs that spring.

Which general manager, known as 'The Architect', built the Islanders through the draft from 1972?

Bill Torrey refused to trade draft picks for other teams' castoffs, telling the owners the club had to develop its own stars; his banner shows a bow tie instead of a number.

Which unwanted NHL record did the expansion Islanders set in their first season, 1972-73?

Most losses in an NHL season: the Islanders went 12-60-6, though they did beat the champion Bruins 9-7 in Boston, and Washington lost 67 games two years later to take the record.

Which defenseman, touted as 'the next Bobby Orr', did the Islanders draft first overall in 1973?

Denis Potvin was so prized that Montreal's Sam Pollock offered a package of veterans for him; the Islanders said no, and Potvin went on to captain their championship teams.

Before the Islanders hired him in 1973, Al Arbour had coached which team he once captained to three straight Finals?

St. Louis Blues: Arbour was the expansion club's first captain, playing in its three straight Finals from 1968, then coached it until he was fired 13 games into the 1972-73 season.

In 1975 the Islanders became the second NHL team to win a series from 3-0 down, against which opponent?

Pittsburgh Penguins: Ed Westfall's goal with 5:18 left won Game 7 1-0, and the Islanders then fell 3-0 behind Philadelphia in the next round and forced a seventh game again.

Bryan Trottier's 95 points as a 19-year-old in 1975-76 won him which award?

Calder Memorial Trophy: the Islanders had drafted Trottier at 17 and left him in junior for another year, and his 95 points then set a rookie record that lasted until 1981.

The Islanders drafted Mike Bossy in 1977 on the reasoning that a scorer can more easily be taught to do what?

Check: in the best-known telling, coach Al Arbour made that case for Bossy over a two-way forward, and twelve teams skipped the junior scoring star before the Islanders took him 15th.

Which centre, traded from Los Angeles in March 1980, is often called the Islanders' 'final piece of the puzzle'?

Butch Goring cost the Islanders two popular veterans, Billy Harris and Dave Lewis, but gave them a second scoring line, and they won the Stanley Cup that spring and the next three.

Whose overtime goal in Game 6 of the 1980 Final delivered Long Island's first Stanley Cup?

Bob Nystrom scored at 7:11 of overtime after the Islanders had blown a 4-2 third-period lead over Philadelphia, converting a pass from John Tonelli.

Which pair made the 1980 Islanders the first Stanley Cup winner with European-trained players?

Stefan Persson and Anders Kallur, both Swedes, went on to play on all four Islanders championship teams; Persson's late goal forced overtime in Game 1 of the 1980 Final.

Which taunt did Islanders fans start during a 1981 sweep of the Rangers that spread across the league?

'1940!' was the year of the Rangers' last Stanley Cup; fans in other NHL cities picked up the chant, and it followed the Rangers until they finally won again in 1994.

Whom did the Islanders beat in the 1982 Final, the first coast-to-coast Stanley Cup Final?

Vancouver Canucks: the Cinderella team was swept, and Mike Bossy scored one goal while falling, knocked into the air by a hit, on his way to the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Which Islanders goalie won the Conn Smythe after shutting down Gretzky's Oilers in the 1983 Final sweep?

Billy Smith allowed only six goals in the four-game sweep, and the Oilers later said the sight of the champions icing their injuries afterwards taught them what winning costs.

How many straight playoff series did the Islanders win from 1980 until their loss in the 1984 Final?

19: the streak nearly died in 1982, when the Islanders trailed late in a deciding first-round game before John Tonelli tied it and then won it in overtime.

The Islanders' 1984 'Drive for Five' ended in the Final against which team?

Edmonton Oilers: swept by the Islanders in the Final a year earlier, they won this rematch in five games, the first of their five Stanley Cups in seven seasons.

Whose goal in the fourth overtime ended the Islanders' 1987 'Easter Epic' against Washington?

Pat LaFontaine kept the puck in Washington's zone and fired a slapshot past Bob Mason just before 2 a.m. on Easter Sunday, after Kelly Hrudey had made 73 saves.

Which centre came to the Islanders in a 1991 blockbuster trade with Buffalo?

Pierre Turgeon was the centrepiece of the package Buffalo sent for the Islanders' star centre, who had demanded a trade, and in his first full season he scored 58 goals and 132 points.

Which Capitals player drew a then-record 21-game suspension for a 1993 hit on the Islanders' star center?

Dale Hunter hit the Islanders' top scorer from behind as he celebrated a series-clinching goal, separating his shoulder; Hunter sat out the first 21 games of the next season.

Which Islander's overtime goal in Game 7 eliminated the two-time defending champion Penguins in 1993?

David Volek finished a two-on-one with Ray Ferraro at 5:16 of overtime, ending Pittsburgh's bid for a third straight Stanley Cup.

Rangers fans mocked the Islanders' 1995 fisherman logo with which chant?

'We want fishsticks!' played on the logo's likeness to the Gorton's frozen-fish fisherman, and the Islanders went back to their old crest as soon as the league allowed.

Which shoulder patch did the Islanders' fisherman-era jerseys of the mid-1990s carry?

A lighthouse: the patch showed the Montauk Lighthouse, part of a seafaring redesign meant to tie the team more closely to Long Island and to sell more merchandise.

Which fraudster agreed to buy the Islanders for $165 million in 1996 despite having almost no money?

John Spano ran the club on forged bank documents until the deal collapsed in 1997; he was sentenced to 71 months in prison, and ESPN told the story in the film 'Big Shot'.

Which two future stars did Islanders GM Mike Milbury trade to Florida in June 2000?

Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen fetched Oleg Kvasha and Mark Parrish, and Milbury then used the first overall pick on another goalie, passing over Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik.

Which defenseman went to Ottawa in the 2001 deal that brought Alexei Yashin to Long Island?

Zdeno Chara went to Ottawa with Bill Muckalt and the second overall pick, then grew into a Norris Trophy winner who captained Boston to the 2011 Stanley Cup.

Which Islanders goalie signed a 15-year contract in 2006?

Rick DiPietro played only 50 games over his last five seasons because of injuries, so the Islanders bought out the final eight years in 2013, at $1.5 million a year for 16 years.

Which backup goalie retired in 2006 to become the Islanders' general manager?

Garth Snow went straight from the crease to the front office when the Islanders fired Neil Smith about 40 days into the job, and he stayed as general manager for 12 years.

Al Arbour signed a one-day contract in 2007 to reach what coaching milestone with the Islanders?

1,500 games coached: two days after turning 75, Arbour took the bench for one night at coach Ted Nolan's request and won 3-2, and the team hung a new banner reading 1500.

Whom did the Islanders take first overall in the 2009 draft?

John Tavares became the club's 14th captain in 2013, then walked away as a free agent in 2018 to sign with Toronto after nine seasons on Long Island.

Which legend said he might leave hockey after a 2011 Islanders brawl?

Mario Lemieux owned the Islanders' opponents in a game with 346 penalty minutes, and said the NHL's response, suspensions for three players and a $100,000 fine for the Islanders, had failed to send a strong message.

Which arena did the Islanders move to for the 2015-16 season after leaving Nassau Coliseum?

Barclays Center was built mainly for basketball, so the rink sat off-centre with the scoreboard over one blue line, and by 2021 the Islanders had left for a new arena on Long Island.

The Islanders' sixth-round pick in 2015 was the first NHL draftee born in which country?

China: Andong Song learned to skate on an undersized rink in Beijing and moved to Canada at 10 to keep playing, and his selection was broadcast live back home.

Which opponent did the Islanders beat in 2016 for their first playoff series win since 1993?

Florida Panthers: the Islanders' captain scored twice in Game 6, the winner in double overtime, in the club's first playoff spring as a Brooklyn team.

In 2018 Mathew Barzal became the first Islander named NHL rookie of the year since whom?

Bryan Berard won the award in 1997 after forcing a trade from Ottawa, which had drafted him first overall; Barzal took 160 of the 164 first-place votes.

Which coach joined the Islanders in 2018 two weeks after winning the Stanley Cup with Washington?

Barry Trotz resigned from Washington in a contract dispute days after the title, and in his first Islanders season the team went from allowing the most goals in the NHL to the fewest.

Which team beat the Islanders in the 2020 conference final, their first trip that far since 1993?

Tampa Bay Lightning: they won in six games on the way to the Stanley Cup, then beat the Islanders at the same stage a year later, 1-0 in Game 7.

Fans nickname UBS Arena 'The Stable' because it sits beside what?

A thoroughbred racetrack: the arena stands on the grounds of Belmont Park, and its 2021 opening gave the Islanders a home of their own after years of shuttling between Brooklyn and their old Coliseum.

Which former Devil scored the winning goal in the Islanders' first victory at UBS Arena, over New Jersey?

Zach Parise, once New Jersey's captain, got the winner in a 4-2 victory on December 11, 2021, after the Islanders had gone 0-5-2 in their first seven games in the building.

Which Hall of Fame goaltender was hired as Islanders head coach in January 2024?

Patrick Roy took over in mid-season when Lane Lambert was fired, and was himself dismissed with four games left in 2025-26, replaced by Peter DeBoer.

Whom did the Islanders select first overall in 2025 after winning the lottery with the 10th-best odds?

Matthew Schaefer fell to the Islanders after they jumped nine teams in a lottery they had a 3.5% chance of winning; the Erie defenseman was drafted at 17 while recovering from a broken clavicle.

Which detail of the Islanders logo was changed to mark the club's four straight Stanley Cups?

Stripes on the stick: the 1972 logo had three orange stripes, and a fourth was added on a 2008 third jersey before the four-stripe crest became the main logo in 2010.

Islanders fans borrowed their chanted 'Yes' goal celebration from which WWE wrestler?

Daniel Bryan turned the chant into a wrestling craze, and by 2014 Islanders fans were shouting it after every home goal, a habit hockey writers traced straight back to him.

Mike Bossy scored 50 goals in 50 games in 1981, becoming the first to do so since which player?

Maurice Richard had set the mark 36 years earlier, and Bossy matched it only by scoring twice in the last five minutes of his 50th game, the second with 89 seconds left.

The Islanders' top line of Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier and Clark Gillies was known by what nickname?

The Trio Grande formed in 1977 when coach Al Arbour broke up his top line to put the rookie Bossy beside Trottier and Gillies; Bossy scored 53 goals that season.

Which NHL trophy did Islanders sniper Mike Bossy win three times in the 1980s?

Lady Byng Trophy: it honours clean, gentlemanly play, and Bossy, who spoke out against hockey violence, won it in 1983, 1984 and 1986 while scoring 50-plus goals a season.

Which clothing manufacturer, owner of the ABA's New York Nets, was awarded the Islanders franchise in 1971?

Roy Boe had made his money in women's clothing and won two ABA titles with the Nets, but by 1978 he had sold both the Nets and the Islanders.

What is the name of the Islanders' dragon mascot, once shared with the Arena Football League's New York Dragons?

Sparky came from the New York Dragons, the arena football team that shared the Coliseum; dropped when the Islanders moved to Brooklyn in 2015, he was brought back three months later.