New York Islanders

The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at UBS Arena. The Islanders are one of three NHL franchises in the New York metropolitan area, along with the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers, and their fanbase resides primarily on Long Island.

The team was founded in 1972 as part of the NHL's maneuvers to keep a team from rival league World Hockey Association (WHA) out of the newly built Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in suburban Uniondale, New York. After two years of building up the team's roster, they found almost instant success by securing 14 straight playoff berths starting with their third season. The Islanders won four consecutive Stanley Cup championships between 1980 and 1983, the eighth of nine dynasties recognized by the NHL in its history. Their 19 consecutive playoff series wins between 1980 and 1984 is a feat that remains unparalleled in the history of professional sports. They are the last team in any major professional North American sport to win four consecutive championships, and to date the last NHL team to achieve a three-peat.

Following the team's dynasty era, the franchise ran into problems with money, ownership and management, an aging arena, and low attendance. Their woes were reflected on the ice, as the team has not won a division title since 1987–88, and went 22 seasons without winning a playoff series prior to the 2016 playoffs. After years of failed attempts to rebuild or replace Nassau Coliseum in suburban Long Island, the Islanders relocated to Barclays Center in Brooklyn following the 2014–15 season. In the 2018–19 and 2019–20 seasons, the Islanders split their home games between Barclays Center and Nassau Coliseum. The Islanders played all their home games in the 2020–21 season at Nassau Coliseum. Their new arena near Belmont Park was opened in 2021.

Ten former members of the 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. Post-dynasty players Pat LaFontaine, Roberto Luongo, Pierre Turgeon, and Zdeno Chara were also inducted.

In fall 1972, the emerging World Hockey Association (WHA) planned to place its New York team, the New York Raiders, in Nassau County's brand-new Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. County officials did not consider the WHA a major league and wanted to keep the Raiders out. William Shea, who had helped bring Major League Baseball's New York Mets to the area a decade earlier, was enlisted to bring an NHL team to Long Island. Although Shea had previously worked with upstart rival leagues including the aborted Continental League, the American Football League and the American Basketball Association, his ultimate goal in these efforts had always been to try to persuade the established leagues to grant second franchises to New York as had been the case with the Mets (and also with the New York Jets and New York Nets, as a result of those teams' leagues merging with their established rivals).

In contrast, Shea decided there was no need to work with the WHA since unlike the initial results of his previous approaches to established leagues in the other major sports, Shea immediately found NHL president Clarence Campbell to be receptive to adding a second team in New York. Nevertheless, the Islanders' bid faced opposition from the New York Rangers, who did not want additional competition in the New York area. Eventually, Campbell and Shea persuaded the Rangers' owners, Madison Square Garden, to reconsider. Rangers' president Bill Jennings weighed pros and cons. Another local NHL team would be compelled to compensate the Rangers for sharing the New York area. On the other hand, a WHA team would owe the Rangers nothing unless it was included in a potential NHL–WHA merger, a prospect to which both Campbell and Jennings were adamantly opposed. Finally, consenting to the establishment of an NHL franchise in suburban Nassau County would help to ensure the vast majority of the Rangers' fanbase within New York City proper would continue to support the older franchise, and reduced the prospect of a rival league eventually establishing a team and fanbase there. Perhaps remembering the crucial role the Jets had played in ensuring the success of the AFL just a few years earlier as a challenger of the National Football League, Jennings decided to help bring a new NHL team to the New York metropolitan area.

Despite expanding to 14 teams just two years prior, the NHL awarded a Long Island-based franchise to clothing manufacturer Roy Boe, owner of the American Basketball Association's New York Nets, on November 8, 1971. The terms included $6 million ($46.18 million in 2025 dollars) franchise fee plus a $5 million ($38.48 million in 2025 dollars) territorial fee to the Rangers. An expansion franchise was also given to Atlanta (the Flames) to keep the schedule balanced and to prevent the WHA from entering the growing market at the newly built Omni Coliseum.

The New York Islanders name was unveiled by the franchise on February 15, 1972, at a press conference held across the street from Roosevelt Raceway at a restaurant owned by Burt Bacharach. Many expected it to use the "Long Island Ducks", after the Eastern Hockey League team that played from 1959 to 1973. The team was soon nicknamed the "Isles" by the local newspapers. The Islanders' arrival effectively doomed the Raiders, who played in Madison Square Garden under difficult lease terms and were forced to move to Cherry Hill, New Jersey in the middle of their second season.