Islanders Core of the Four: A deep dive into 4 time Stanley Cup winners

A millennial looks back at the group of 17 players that brought four Stanley Cups to the New York Islanders. Who were they?

I’m 35, I was born in 1984, I don’t like to admit it, but I’m a millennial and I wasn’t around when the New York Islanders were dominating the NHL and winning four back-to-back Stanley Cups. In fact, I was only five days old when the Islanders won their fourth cup.

The 1993 playoff push was my first real taste of a good New York Islanders team. I was eight years old then. So everything that happened before then I had to learn second hand either through reading a ton of content or listening to other people’s stories.

Whenever I get the chance I try to go back and soak up as much knowledge from that time. Recently I was reading Dan Saraceni’s piece on Gord Lane for the Islander of the Day. I knew the player, I knew how he played the game, and I knew his role in the Isles four cup winning teams. But I asked myself, could I name all 17 players on the Isles four cup teams?

Could I name the Core of the Four?

It was Lorne Henning

I couldn’t. I got to 12 and then I really struggled to remember names. My memory isn’t fantastic so that’s nothing new. After looking at a roster for the final cup winning team I got to 16 quick enough.

But I just couldn’t think of that 17th player and it drove me nuts. It took me longer than I care to admit, but that 17th player was Lorne Henning. I couldn’t remember Lorne.

So I’m going to try and fix that. I won’t ever forget the 17 again. The best way to do that, in my opinion, is to write about it.

Going forward I’m going to write a piece about every single one of the 17 players detailing what brought them to the Islanders, what they did when they wore the blue and orange jersey of the New York Islanders, what they meant to the team, and what they did after the Isles.