Islanders Make Plans for Brooklyn
Monday · Sep 16 · 2013 | 11:04 AM PDT
New third jersey will "speak to Brooklyn"
Everyone here wants to know what will happen to the New York Islanders when they move to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Will they keep their name? Keep their colors? Their jerseys? Or will they follow the NBA's Nets who moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn last year?
We may have finally gotten a definitive answer last week. It's an answer which balances the organization's internal desire to give the club a new feel for a new market with the desire among long time fans to avoid another Gorton's fisherman debacle.
Islanders Point Blank and other outlets reported on a press conference held by the team last Thursday as Isles training camp got underway in their future home. CEO Brett Yormark was quoted as saying, "[Owner] Charles [Wang] and I have decided that the Islander colors as they are today will be the same when they get here. The name will be the same."
That's two down. Same colors. Same name. A relief to many fans, for sure. Presumably, the logo will also be the same, but it sounds like the uniforms will undergo changes. This is from Islanders Point Blank:
Fans of the team would most likely agree that he came to the right decision, but the Barclays Center CEO does intend to add a patch to the home and away jerseys that identifies in Brooklyn. The patch would be placed around the shoulder area of the jersey. “We’re working with Charles and the league on that,” he said.
Yormark also intends to revamp the third jersey to appeal Brooklyn.
“What we will do is introduce a third jersey,” he said. “A second home jersey, and that is where we are going to get a little creative. That is where we will speak to Brooklyn in an authentic way.”
He did not, however, go into specific details as to what the new third jersey would look like.
Probably a safe bet it's black, given the rebranding of the Brooklyn Nets. And there has certainly been no shortage of black Islanders jersey ideas on the Icethetics Concepts page. To be fair, their current third jersey is black, but it hasn't really been a hit among fans.
Also, the Islanders' website was recently redesigned with an aesthetic that's more in line with Nets' look — same font and lots of black and white.
By the way, if anyone wants to mock up a Brooklyn shoulder patch for the Isles, I'd be happy to add it to the Concepts page. Meantime, do you think the Islanders are doing the right thing here?
Reader Comments (11)
They are going to need to modify the crest, at least a little bit, because Brooklyn and Queens are cut off in the current design.
As a die hard Islanders fan, I hope they do not change the jersey/colors/name. I'm 100% fine with a "brooklyn" themed shoulder patch, and altering the logo to show brooklyn and queens. Just because the team is playing in Brooklyn, doesn't mean they have to limit their outreach to Brooklyn. Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, Suffolk are all on Long Island, and the team should appeal to all of those on the Island. There is absolutely no reason to do a total rebrand of the identity. The isles have one of the best, classic jersey designs in the league, why would you mess with what works!
I don't care much about the big move to Brooklyn, I just wish the Islanders would use the Gorton Fisherman uniform for their 3rd uniform.
No. As a life-long Isles fan I don't want a patch, "second home jersey", or modification of the crest in any way
Why do I have this feeling they are going to mess this up like buffalo did with their 3rd?
@Derek M, I feel the exact same way about this "Brooklyn-inspired" third jersey they have in the works. To hear that even Yormark has said that their main uniforms will not change as of right now is a huge sigh of relief for me. With their Royal Blue and Orange uniforms, they have finally got their look right again and it would be a damn shame if they changed it. Their home and road jerseys are two of the best in the NHL. I hope that they do a really good job with the new shoulder patch on their home and road jerseys. As I said, it would be a damn shame if they ruined their amazing look. As for the logo, as long as it is a subtle change, since they are going to Brooklyn, it might not be a bad idea as long as the tweaks are very small and done right. As for the new third, as long as they leave their home and road uniforms alone, I don't care what it looks like when it comes out. I would just be happy to know that the Islanders are keeping the Royal Blue and Orange.
Very glad to hear this, yet, not surprised.
The Islanders identity is a very historic one at that; and I would hate for the fans to go through the Fisherman again. I'm not exactly sure about the third jersey though, it could go anywhere, much like Chris Creamer's mockup...
these teams need to hurry up and reveal their third jerseys already. NHL14 is a pain to play without the stupid jersey code.
They could just keep their alternate jersey the same and colour is black, grey, silver, and white. It's tribute enough. It doesn't even have to say Brooklyn on the chest, just keep it saying Islanders.
this is currently being shown on their live feed at Barclays. I wonder if this is the patch they're talking about?
http://imgur.com/evbCG6w
I thought the fisherman logo was more closely resembled by the Highliner fish sticks fisherman, not the Gortons one.