The Top 5 NY Islanders Born In the USA

4. Anders Lee (Edina, MN)

The captain of the Islanders ship, Lee, earned his ticket to the NHL the hard way. Drafted in the sixth round of the 2009 NHL Draft, Lee was never a shoo-in to become a full-time NHLer.

A star high school athlete in hockey and football, Lee played one season in the USHL before joining the University of Notre Dame. Lee wasted no time leaving his mark with the Fighting Irish, finishing his first year as the NCAA's leading freshman goal scorer with 24. Before his junior year, Lee was named team captain, finishing the season as the teams leading point producer (38). After being upset as the region's top seed in the NCAA tournament, Lee elected to turn pro and join the NY Islanders.

Lee scored during his NHL debut against the Winnipeg Jets on what may be the flukiest goal of his career. A shot from the left wall managed to slip past Jets' netminder Ondrej Pavelec, leaving Lee as the most shocked person at Nassau Coliseum to learn the puck had gone in.

With a career season in 2017-18, Lee eclipsed the 40-goal mark - the first time an Islander had done so since Jason Blake in 2006-07, and the only one to do so since.

Not only has Lee been the team's top goal scorer since joining the Islanders, he remains one of the top net-front presences in the league.