The NY Islanders have had celebrity power couples throughout their history

Whether you are a "Swiftie" or not, you probably heard that Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs TE Travis Kelce announced their engagement on Tuesday. That got at least one social media account thinking, "What was the closest thing the NHL had to the Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce mania?"

Hmmm.

Well, when it comes to name recognition off the ice, a few New York Islanders players found themselves allied with stars far beyond the reaches of the rink, and in doing so, created some of the franchise’s most buzz-worthy celebrity meets athlete power couples.

Let’s start with Alexei Yashin and Carol Alt. When Alt, a renowned supermodel and actress, dated Yashin in the early 2000s and for many years after. Their glamorous pairing coincided with Yashin’s tenure as the team’s marquee acquisition, putting a rare spotlight on the franchise during a period of transition, and left us wondering if we should wear more turtlenecks.

Going further back, Islanders defenseman Wayne McBean briefly dated Alyssa Milano, then a beloved actress fresh off her success on Who’s the Boss?. Though McBean’s NHL career was short-lived, the relationship added a heaping dose of Hollywood cachet to the Isles during the early 1990s.

Fast forward to the late 2000s, when forward Mike Comrie took a whirl with pop star and Disney Channel darling’ sweetheart Hilary Duff. The union brought Comrie mainstream attention as a player with a modest NHL career. The two married in 2010, had a son, but divorced in 2016.

Lastly, and perhaps most curiously, current Islanders minority owner Oliver Haarmann has found himself in headlines not for on-ice moves, but off the ice. Haarmann, a German financier who joined the Isles’ ownership group in 2023, has been publicly dating Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon since 2024. Witherspoon fans have taken note of her boyfriend’s tie to Islanders ownership, offering a boost to the team's media relevance in a novel way.

It might not be the equivalent of Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift. Still, from matrimony to modeling to movie screens, these renowned pairings are part of what makes Islanders' off-ice culture unexpectedly rich and colorful, even if it sometimes overshadows the scoreboard.