New York Islanders Will Play Games At Nassau Coliseum (Report)

It seems that the wait to have the New York Islanders return to their traditional home of Long Island may be over. On Monday the team is going to announce a return to the Nassau Coliseum.

It’s happening. The New York Islanders will make a return to the Nassau Coliseum before they move to their new home in Nassau County  (whenever that gets built.)

It’s what fans have been calling for ever since the team left for Brooklyn in 2015. It reached a crescendo this season as the New York Islanders played a preseason game there versus the Philadelphia Flyers.

It got Islanders fans all a flutter. We all knew this was a nice gesture, but we didn’t think the Islanders could actually play meaningful games at the Coliseum. Until a report from Newsday posted on January 27th said otherwise.

The Report

According to Newsday’s Jim Baumbach, Monday will see a major announcement concerning the Islanders and where they’re going to play their home games in the coming years.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is expected to attend a news conference late Monday morning at the team’s former home arena in Uniondale to announce the unusual setup effectively giving the NHL team two home arenas for at least three seasons.Sources said the Islanders will play 12 regular-season home games at Nassau Coliseum next season and — if all goes well with that experience — they will play at least half of their home schedule in the remaining years before their Belmont arena opens.

So rejoice. Be jubilant. It seems to be happening. It seems that Islanders fans dreams are coming true. Well, at least one of their dreams. John Tavares still hasn’t signed an extension and Garth Snow is still very much employed by the Islanders.

So what does this mean for the team? Nothing much. They still play in New York. Some games will be further to commute to than others.They’ll still keep their nomadic tag. So don’t expect that joke to go away anytime soon.

I’m not a fan of the team playing at both in one season, but this is perhaps the best compromise the two sides could make as they try to hammer out a new deal. A deal they have until Thursday to figure out.

What will be interesting is how this affects the Islanders $50 million payment from Barclays that they get every year? Part of the Isles initial deal to play at the Barclays was that annual massif payout. How does that look under this new deal?

Next: New York Islanders NHL Trade Deadline Preview 2.0

For now, all that matters is that the New York Islanders are going to be coming to Long Island to play their home games. It’s time to rejoice.