3 ideas to make UBS Arena even better for NY Islanders fans

Statues or Monument

A team with the history of the New York Islanders should have a statue (if not statues) outside of UBS Arena. Some of the greatest names in hockey history played and coached for this franchise, and their accomplishments are worthy of having a statue commissioned outside of the arena.

Some NHL teams have statues for single players. In 2016, the New Jersey Devils unveiled "The Salute," an 11-foot statue of Hall-of-Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur outside of the Prudential Center. In 2010, the Boston Bruins debuted an 800-pound statue of Bobby Orr, capturing his "flying goal" that won them the Stanley Cup.

Perhaps the team's biggest challenge to execute this is that they have too many candidates for a statue. How do you choose between Denis Potvin and Mike Bossy? Al Arbour or Bill Torrey? You could commission a bronze statue for Bobby Nystrom's Stanley Cup-winning goal, but then that wouldn't include Hall-of-Fame players such as Bryan Trottier and Clark Gillies.

Maybe there is a way to commemorate them all, much like the Toronto Maple Leafs have done with "Legends Row," a series of oversized bronze sculptures of the great players in team history outside of Scotiabank Arena. The benefit of this setup is that you can add to it as future players distinguish themselves as statue-worthy. The Leafs added four members to it back in 2017.

The Los Angeles Kings took a different approach and unveiled a 50th Anniversary Momument in 2016. Who knows if they would've gone this route without their two Stanley Cup wins in 2012 and 2014, but the monument captures the likenesses of several players from those teams, including Jonathan Quick, Dustin Brown, and Anze Kopitar. The monument also recognizes memorable moments in Kings' history, including Butch Goring being carried off by his teammates after scoring an OT goal against the Boston Bruins in 1976.

There are a few different directions the Islanders could go, but it would be hard to go wrong. It will undoubtedly be something celebrated and cherished by generations of fans and a regular meeting place outside of the arena before games, the way the Tom Seaver statue has become outside of Citi Field.

We know ownership had been busy building the team's new home, but let's hope the goal of building a statue or monument outside of UBS Arena is on their future to-do list.