As the Islanders celebrate their 50th season in the National Hockey League, all of the memories of their storied history are being recognized throughout the season in a variety of ways. The team has been bringing back alumni to home games at UBS Arena, there will be special theme nights and promotional giveaways throughout the season, and there’s also the excitement of the current team that is off to a good start in 2022-23.
With a lot of playoff success over the last few years, the opening of UBS Arena, and a strong commitment from ownership to make the Islanders a world-class sports franchise, there is a growing interest in Islanders items in the sports memorabilia industry.
“I think the Islanders are a real brand that’s worth investing in,” said Brandon Steiner, the founder and CEO of CollectibleXchange. “That’s the first thing when you’re talking about collecting something. You collect something that you see value in.”
Steiner has a deal with the Islanders to sell game-used sticks and pucks along with other items on his website www.collectiblexchange.com. He’s worked with the Islanders before selling seats and other pieces of memorabilia from Nassau Coliseum after the Islanders had left for Brooklyn in 2015 and the Coliseum was set to be renovated.
One of the big reasons that drew Steiner back to working with the Islanders is President and General Manager Lou Lamoriello.
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“I’m a big Lou Lamoriello fan,” said Steiner. “I think he’s one of the greatest General Managers of all time. The guy just wins and sets a great winning environment. As soon as I heard he was going over to the Islanders, I immediately said I’d love to do something with them.”
Whether it’s older fans who lived through the Islanders’ glory years and Stanley Cup dynasty, or the subsequent generations of fans who grew up with the 1993 playoff run, the fisherman era, and the recent history of Islanders hockey, there is a passionate and rapidly growing fan base that continues to support the franchise as the quest continues for the fifth Stanley Cup in team history.
And now with their new home UBS Arena straddling the Nassau/Queens border, doing business with the Islanders is smart business.
“Islanders fans are as rabid as any other fan base in the country,” said Steiner. “They’ve got an arena now that matches up to that passion. I think this is a base and an organization you don’t want to be messing with because you got the right guy running it so it’s been fun for to me to create a whole bunch of new products and work with the players to create some cool stuff.”
While Steiner is selling a lot of game-used items from the current team, there’s no shortage of memorabilia featuring some great names from the past, including those players from the early 1980’s who have their names on the Stanley Cup. Whether it’s signed pucks, helmets, or photos, the memorabilia has a way of bringing back a lot of memories from back in the day.
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“I would probably say (Mike) Bossy is the most popular Islander along with (Bryan) Trottier,” said Steiner. “Those two guys were just incredible. Bossy was unbelievable…what a great player, and the fans knew it and they appreciated it.”
Steiner has enjoyed a very successful career in the sports memorabilia industry, and there was even a time when legendary Islanders defenseman Denis Potvin paid a visit to his office to talk about some marketing opportunities. “The Captain” had already retired and pitched an idea to Steiner.
“I remember Denis coming up to my office when I was pretty young in my career said we could definitely do “Potvin Socks,” said Steiner. “We never did that. If he would have come to me now, knowing how to do stuff like that, I would have run with it. I was only a few years into it and I didn’t know what to do with that idea.”
And now all these years later, the Islanders and the man who captained all four of the franchise’s Stanley Cup teams introduced those “Potvin Socks” earlier this season.
It’s on a play on words based on the chant that Rangers fans have directed at Potvin since his hard but clean hit on Ulf Nilsson in 1979.
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“Potvin was a really smart guy and a business guy,” said Steiner. “If I had a guy like that in today’s world, oh man. I just didn’t know back then really what to do.”
Fast forward to today’s team, and the Islanders have a number of players who are hot items in the sports memorabilia industry. Whether it’s Ilya Sorokin, Mat Barzal, Anders Lee, Brock Nelson, or Noah Dobson, there’s no shortage of players who fans are eager to collect memorabilia of.
“Right now, we’re focused on Sorokin,” said Steiner. “I think he’s starting to really develop some credibility. He’s a great goaltender. Barzal is one of the stars of the team so I don’t think you can go wrong there.”
With 50 years of Islanders memories to look back on, it’s a special time for the team and their fans to reminisce and get excited of what lies ahead. The passion of being an Islanders fan has been passed down from generation to generation and the team continues to build Islanders Country each and every day.
“The fan base just seems bigger, better, stronger and more committed,” said Steiner. “I see a lot of parent/kid connections at these games…more than normal. I see that base just getting bigger.”
And now there’s just one thing left for the new generation of Islanders fans to do to experience what the older fans witnessed back in the day: watch the Islanders bring Lord Stanley back home to Long Island.
Follow Peter Schwartz on Twitter: @SchwartzSports
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