Islanders Best Player To Wear Number 56

Continuing our best of series, today we will look at the best player to wear number 56 for the New York Islanders in their history.

After two solid choices yesterday with number 55 we are back in no man’s land for number 56. In the Islanders‘ history, only seven players have worn the number starting with Marcel Cousineau in 1999.

In six games with the Islanders, he was 0-4 with a .882 save percentage and a 2.87 goals against average. He played just four years in the NHL after being selected in the third round of the NHL draft in 1991 by Boston.

The following year, Ian Herbers wore the number for the Islanders for just six games. In those six games, he did have three assists from the blue line. His career in the NHL would come to a close after his time with the Isles.

In 2001-2002, Lason Podollan wore the number 56 for the Islanders. He played one game with the team. He had just 4:10 of ice time and served a two-minute minor in the penalty box. Yikes.

In 2009-2010, the dark days of the Islanders, Dustin Kohn wore the number for 22 games with the Isles. He put up four assists from the blue line and averaged 11:36 in ice time per night. He was a second-round pick from 2005.

After Kohn, John Persson was the next player to wear the number. In 10 games with the Isles, he scored one goal and averaged 12:02 of ice time per game. I have no recollection of Persson with the Isles despite it only being six years ago.

In 2015-16, Taylor Beck wore the number for the Isles. He played in two regular-season games with the team after putting up 33 points in the AHL with the Sound Tigers in 46 games.

And last but certainly not least we have Tanner Fritz from 2017-2018. He put up seven points in 34 games while averaging 12:31 of ice time over that span.

I don’t think I have it in me to award a winner today. Nobody wore the number for more than a year, and Tanner Fritz was the leader in terms of games while in the number. Here’s to hoping for more fun at number 57.