Islanders pushing to get NHL All-Star Game

With the new UBS arena open, fans are flooding in to see the New York Islanders new home. But ownership isn't resting on their laurels. According to The Fourth Period, the team is pushing to get an NHL All-Star game.

In The Fourth Period's reporting, the team is apparently pushing to get an "upcoming" NHL All-Star game. So when will that All-Star game be exactly? Could it be in the next year or so?

New York Islanders looking to get All-Star game at UBS

Probably not. This year's All-Star Game will be held in Vegas. The 2023 edition could very well be in Florida. Remember, Florida had their All-Star game canceled on account of the pandemic. So that means the earliest the Islanders could see an All-Star game on Long Island is 2024.

That's sounds like a long time away, and it's kind of is. But then again, that might be good timing for the Islanders and more specifically their arena and the area around it.

While the arena is complete the rest of the project is not. The proposed 435,000 square feet of retail space and the 250 room hotel have yet to be started or complete. Another two years should give them enough time to have some of that done. Which would be perfect to accommodate the influx of people (and the corporate sponsors ) coming in for the All-Star weekend.

Having all that infrastructure in place for the flood of fans and sponsors would be a great way to show off the new hubs of entertainment on Long Island.

It's been a while

It's also been a loooong time since the Islanders hosted an All-Star game. Long enough that a number of us - myself included - weren't around when it happened. The last time they hosted was in 1983, 38 years ago.

Four Islanders players played that game for the Wales Conference, with Al Arbour behind the bench. They lost the Campbell Conference 9-3 with Gretzky scoring four goals and nabbing the MVP prize.