Islanders attendance top 10 in NHL for 21-22

Attendance has been an issue for the New York Islanders for as long as I remember. It's been such a constant theme in the Islanders' recent history that it's been weaponized by their rivals.

Whenever something good happens for the Islanders you'll see some variation of "CaNt FiLl ThEiR oWn BaRn" in the comment section. But that narrative is finally going to have be put to bed because the Isles were one of the top teams when it comes to filling their own barn this year.

New York Islanders top 10 in attendance

According to ESPN, the Islanders ranked eighth for attendance percentage at 99%. That's a huge jump from the 81.3% in 2019-20 that had the Isles ranked 30th out of 31 teams.

Again, attendance has been an issue for the Islanders for years now. Here's how the Isles ranked in terms of attendance percentage over the last five years:

19-20: 30/31
18-19: 28/31
17-18: 30/31
16-17: 27/30
15-16: 27/30

Obviously, getting a brand new arena, making deep ruins in the playoffs in back-to-back years, and people wanting to get out and relatively back to normal after two years of COVID lockdowns certainly helped push these numbers up a bit.

But even with all that in mind, it's important to note that jump in attendance for the Isles. Being top ten is a massive leap. I think we would have all been OK with the Isles jumping to mid-table but jumping up to eighth is a hell of a sign that the fanbase is there and healthy.

Will it continue? That's the next big question. Asking that question takes nothing away from what happened this year and how the fans showed up en-mass to support their team. It's great to see it happen once, but now let's see if the Islanders can sustain that type of attendance for a few more years.