| Nick Obergan. 4th November, 2011 - 12:09 pm
 The nineteenth in a series of 30 articles, we will go through the history of every NHL franchise alphabetically and select an All-Time Roster for each. All stats as of October 20, 2011.
New York Islanders (1972-Present)
Before the Oilers dynasty in the 1980's, there was the New York Islanders dynasty; they made it to the Stanley Cup Final five consecutive years, and won the first four (1980-83) thanks in no small part to Hall of Famers Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier and Denis Potvin. There are no current Islanders on this list, but strong careers out of John Tavares, Kyle Okposo and Matt Moulson could shake things up ten years from now.
First Team
C: Brian Trottier (75-90): Franchise leader in games (1,123), assists (853), points (1,353) and plus/minus (+470), 17 short handed goals; 7-time All-Star; 1979 MVP & Art Ross winner (134 points, +76), 1976 Calder Trophy winner, 1980 Conn Smythe winner; 4-time Stanley Cup winner; five 40-goal seasons, six 30-goal seasons; Hall of Famer.
W: Mike Bossy (77-87): Most goals (573), 2nd most points (1,126), +381, 181 power play goals in 752 games; 7-time All-Star; 3-time Lady Byng winner, 1978 Calder Trophy winner, 1982 Conn Smythe winner; 4-time Stanley Cup winner; five 60-goal seasons and four 50-goal seasons in first nine years; Hall of Famer.
W: Clark Gillies (74-86): 3rd in all scoring categories among forwards (304-359-663, +240) in 872 games; 1978 All-Star; 4-time Stanley Cup winner; six seasons with 30+ goals; Hall of Famer.
D: Denis Potvin (73-88): Franchise's best defenseman by an extremely large margin; 1,052 points, +460, 1,356 PIM in 1,060 games; 9-time All-Star; 3-time Norris Trophy winner, 1974 Calder Trophy winner; 4-time Stanley Cup winner; seven seasons with 76+ points, including 101-point/+71 campaign in 1978-79 (73 games); Hall of Famer.
D: Stefan Persson (77-86): 2nd most points by a defenseman (369 in 622 games), +176; 4-time Stanley Cup winner; three seasons better than +30.
G: Billy Smith (72-89): Franchise's best goalie by an extremely large margin; 675 games, 304-230-105, 22 shutouts, 3.16 GAA; 1978 All-Star; 1982 Vezina Trophy winner, 1983 Conn Smythe & Jennings Trophy winner; 4-time Stanley Cup winner; Hall of Famer.
Second Team
C: Pat Lafontaine (83-91): 5th most points by a forward (566 in 530 games); 4-time All-Star; four straight 40-goal/85-point seasons; Hall of Famer.
W: Bobby Nystrom (72-86): 3rd most games (900), 513 points, +113, 1,248 PIM; 1977 All-Star; 4-time Stanley Cup winner; seven 20-goal seasons.
W: John Tonelli (78-86): 544 points, +216 in 594 games; 2-time All-Star; 4-time Stanley Cup winner; career-best season in 1984-85 (42-58-100, +50).
D: Tomas Jonsson (81-89): 2nd most goals by a defenseman (84), 333 points, +78 in 532 games; 2-time Stanley Cup winner; five 40-point seasons.
D: Ken Morrow (79-89): 3rd best plus/minus (+149), 105 points in 550 games, 2nd most playoff games (127); 4-time Stanley Cup winner.
G: Glenn Resch (73-81): Most shutouts (25), 157-69-47, 2.56 GAA; 2-time All-Star; 1980 Stanley Cup winner (as a backup).
Third Team
C: Brent Sutter (80-92): 4th most points (610 in 694 games), +121; 1985 All-Star; 2-time Stanley Cup winner; one season with more than 70 points but it was big (42-60-102 in 72 games in 1984-85).
W: Bob Bourne (74-86):542 points, +160, 16 short handed goals in 814 games; 1981 All-Star; 4-time Stanley Cup winner; three time 30-goal scorer.
W: Derek King (86-97): 499 points, 81 power play goals in 638 games; three seasons with 30 goals/70 points.
D: Jean Potvin (73-77, 79-81): 213 points, -7 in 402 games; scored 17-55-72 in 1975-76.
D: Kenny Jonsson (95-2004): 232 points, -20 in 597 games; averaged over 24 minutes of ice time per game.
G: Roland Melanson (80-85): 77-34-14, 3.14 GAA as Smith's backup; 1983 Jennings Trophy winner; 3-time Stanley Cup winner (as a backup); three 20-win seasons.
Coaches
Al Arbour (93-98, 2009-10, 2010-11): regular season record of 740-537-223, playoff record of 119-89; 1979 Jack Adams winner; 4-time Stanley Cup winner, 1984 Stanley Cup finalist; Hall of Famer.
Peter Laviolette (2001-03): 77-62-25 in the regular season, made playoffs both years (4-8).
Nick is RealGM's NHL Feature Writer. You can reach him by email nick.obergan@realgm.com or on twitter @NickObergan |
