46 Facts About New York Islanders

1.

New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York.

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2.

The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, and play their home games at UBS Arena.

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3.

The New York Islanders won four consecutive Stanley Cup championships between 1980 and 1983, the seventh of eight dynasties recognized by the NHL in its history.

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4.

Eight former members of the New York Islanders have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, seven of whom—Mike Bossy, Clark Gillies, Denis Potvin, Billy Smith, Bryan Trottier, coach Al Arbour, and general manager Bill Torrey—were members of all four Cup-winning teams.

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5.

The New York Islanders secured veteran forward Ed Westfall, defenseman Gerry Hart, and goaltender Billy Smith in the 1972 Expansion Draft, along with junior hockey stars Billy Harris, Lorne Henning, and Bobby Nystrom in the 1972 Amateur Draft.

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6.

In 1976 and 1977, the New York Islanders were knocked out in the semi-finals by the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Montreal Canadiens.

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7.

Hockey professionals and journalists generally questioned whether the New York Islanders were capable of winning the important games needed to win a Stanley Cup championship.

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8.

Boe was losing money on both his franchises, even as the New York Islanders quickly surged to NHL prominence and the Nets became an ABA power.

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9.

New York Islanders readily found a buyer for the Nets, but had less luck finding one for the Islanders.

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10.

The New York Islanders have remained on the network, now known as MSG Sportsnet, for over four decades.

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11.

In 1980, the New York Islanders dropped below the 100-point mark for the first time in five years, earning only 91 points.

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12.

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 New York Islanders or had spent most of their NHL careers in the New York Islanders organization.

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13.

The New York Islanders were the first NHL team to win the Stanley Cup with Europeans on its roster.

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14.

Bossy scored 50 goals in 50 games in 1981 and the New York Islanders lost only three playoff games en route to defeating the Minnesota North Stars in five games to win the Stanley Cup.

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15.

The New York Islanders won the Presidents' Trophy, yet once in the playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins they found themselves down late in the third period of deciding game 5 before John Tonelli scored both the tying goal and the overtime winner.

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16.

New York Islanders remained competitive for the rest of the decade, even as some of the stars from the Cup teams departed.

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17.

Smith, the last remaining original New York Islanders player, retired after the season to become the team's goaltending coach.

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18.

New York Islanders dealt LaFontaine, Randy Wood and Randy Hillier to the Buffalo Sabres in return for Pierre Turgeon, Benoit Hogue, Uwe Krupp and Dave McLlwain.

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19.

New York Islanders sent longtime captain Brent Sutter and Brad Lauer to the Chicago Blackhawks for Steve Thomas and Adam Creighton.

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20.

New York Islanders returned only for spot power-play duty in the last game of the second round.

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21.

The New York Islanders bowed out of the playoffs after a hard-fought five games, two of which went to overtime.

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22.

New York Islanders was claimed by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, then was claimed by the Tampa Bay Lightning in Phase II of the draft the next day, and finally had his rights traded to the Rangers, where he became the backup.

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23.

New York 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, it would be the New York Islanders last playoff appearance until 2002.

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24.

New York Islanders traded Turgeon and Malakhov to the Montreal Canadiens for Kirk Muller and Mathieu Schneider, while Hogue was sent to Toronto for young goaltender Eric Fichaud.

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25.

New York Islanders played 45 games for the Islanders before being sent to Toronto as well.

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26.

New York Islanders fans disliked it, and rival Rangers' fans mockingly called the New York Islanders "fishsticks"—mocking how the logo resembled the Gorton's Fisherman.

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27.

Several Islanders executives tipped off Newsday that something was amiss about their new boss.

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28.

New York Islanders was sentenced to 71 months in prison for bank and wire fraud.

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29.

New York Islanders remained adamant that his moves were to immediately improve the team, whose poor winning percentage that year was ahead of only the franchise's first season.

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30.

The New York Islanders lost in a very physical first-round series in seven games; the home team won every game of the series.

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31.

New York Islanders was replaced with Steve Stirling, who had previously been coaching the team's top minor league affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

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32.

New York Islanders served as vice president of Wang's sports properties for one year before resigning in May 2007.

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33.

New-look Islanders were picked by most analysts to languish towards the bottom of the standings.

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34.

At the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, the New York Islanders made two trades to move down from the fifth to the ninth overall pick, with which they selected center Josh Bailey.

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35.

New York Islanders was replaced on an interim basis by Jack Capuano, who had been coaching the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

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36.

On September 10,2013, Tavares was introduced as the 14th captain in New York Islanders history, replacing former Islander Mark Streit of the Philadelphia Flyers, who served as team captain since 2011.

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37.

In May, the New York Islanders acquired the rights to Jaroslav Halak from the Washington Capitals in exchange for a fourth-round pick in 2014, which was then dealt to the Rangers, who drafted Igor Shesterkin.

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38.

The New York Islanders signed Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin and goaltender Chad Johnson as free agents.

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39.

Additionally, on October 4, the Islanders acquired Johnny Boychuk from the Boston Bruins for two-second round picks in 2014 and 2015 and a conditional third-round pick in 2015, as well as Nick Leddy from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for prospect Ville Pokka, T J Brennan and the rights to Anders Nilsson.

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40.

The New York Islanders lost the fourth and fifth games of their series before rebounding in the sixth game to force a seventh game in the series.

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41.

In June 2015, the New York Islanders selected forward Andong Song in the 6th round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, making him the first Chinese player to be drafted by an NHL team.

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42.

The New York Islanders posted the fourth-best penalty kill rate and allowed the fewest power-play goals during the season.

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43.

New York Islanders led his team and all NHL rookies in points, and was tied for 13th overall in scoring in the NHL.

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44.

New York Islanders debuted in 1972 with traditional-style jerseys: one was white with orange and royal blue stripes near the waistline and on the sleeves, the other was royal blue with white and orange stripes.

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45.

Six past New York Islanders have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame–Bossy, Gillies, Pat LaFontaine, Potvin, Smith and Trottier.

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46.

New York Islanders are unusual among professional sports teams in their use of a noncommercial radio station as its primary outlet.

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