Islanders Esoteric #11 Part 1

What a game! What a night! Thanks to Ted Nolan for coming up with this idea. I don’t care how many of the naysayers say this was a marketing ploy – the time I got to spend with my daughter at this game teaching her about my passion is priceless. She has been jibber jabbering about it all weekend long. I don’t think she has put down the Arbour 1,500 promotional banner since we got home on Saturday.

Let me change speed here for a second and congratulate Ben Walters on his debut being the 416th player to ever lace up the skates and play for the New York Islanders. Ben could be the next Derek Armstrong. As Ben did on this historic night, Derek, now with the LA Kings, made his NHL debut in Arbour’s 1,499th game way back on April 15th 1994 at Florida.

Ben also joins these other 194 players who have played for Al as NY Islanders:

Aaron Johnson, Adam Creighton, Alan Kerr, Alex McKendry, Anders Kallur, Andre St. Laurent, Andy Hilbert, Andy Sutton, Ari Haanpaa, Ben Walter, Benoit Hogue, Bert Marshall, Bill Berg, Bill Geurin, Bill MacMillan, Billy Carroll, Billy Harris, Billy Smith, Bob Bassen, Bob Bourne, Bob Cook, Bob Lorimer, Bob McGill, Bob Nystrom, Brad Dalgarno, Brad Lauer, Brad Turner, Brendon Witt, Brent Grieve, Brent Sutter, Brent Sutter, Brian Marchinko, Brian Mullen, Brian Spencer, Bruce Affleck, Bruno Gervais, Bryan Lefley, Bryan Trottier, Chris Campoli, Chris Luongo, Chris Pryor, Chris Simon, Clark Gillies, Claude Loiselle, Craig Cameron, Craig Ludwig, Dale Henry, Dale Kushner, Dan Plante, Daniel Marois, Danny Lorenz, Darcy Regier ,Darius Kasparaitis ,Dave Chyzowski, Dave Fortier, Dave Hudson, Dave Langevin ,Dave Lewis ,Dave McLlwain, Dave Salvian, David Maley, David Volek, Dean Chynoweth, Denis Potvin, Dennis Vaske, Derek Armstrong, Derek King, Derek Laxdal, Don Maloney, Doug Crossman, Doug Rombough, Duane Sutter, Ed Westfall, Ernie Hicke, Garry Howatt, Garth MacGuigan, Gary Nylund, George Maneluk, Gerald Diduck, Germain Gagnon, Gerry Desjardins, Gerry Hart, Gilles Thibaudeau, Glenn "Chico" Resch, Glenn Healy, Glenn Johannesen, Goran Hogosta, Gord Dineen, Gord Lane, Graeme Townshend, Greg Gilbert, Greg Parks, Hector Marini, Hubie McDonough, Iain Fraser, Jamie McLennan, Jari Gronstrand, Jason Simon, Jean Potvin, Jean-Paul Parise, Jeff Finley, Jeff Hackett, Jeff Norton, Joe Day, Joe Reekie, John Tonelli, John Tucker, Josef Vasicek, Jude Drouin, Keith Acton, Kelly Hrudey, Ken Baumgartner, Ken Leiter, Ken Morrow, Kevin Devine, Lorne Henning, Marc Bergevin, Mark Bergeron, Mark Fitzpatrick, Mark Hamway, Marty McInnis, Mats Hallin, Michel Bergeron, Mick Vukota, Mike Bossy, Mike Comrie, Mike Hordy, Mike Kaszycki, Mike McEwen, Mike Sillinger, Mike Stevens, Mike Walsh, Mikko Makela, Miro Satan, Neal Coulter, Neil Hawryliw, Neil Nicholson, Pat LaFontaine, Pat Price, Patrick Flatley, Paul Boutilier, Paul Gagne, Paul Guay, Pierre Turgeon, Radek Martinek, Raimo Helminen, Ralph Stewart, Randy Boyd, Randy Hillier, Randy Johnston, Randy Wood, Ray Ferraro, Reed Larson, Rich Pilon, Richard Brodeur, Richard Kromm, Richard Park, Richie Hansen, Rick Green, Rob DiMaio, Robert "Butch" Goring, Rod Dallman, Roger Kortko, Rollie Melanson, Ron Handy, Ron Hextall, Ruslan Fedetenko, Scott Howson, Scott Lachance, Scott Scissons, Shawn Byram, Shawn Evans, Stefan Persson, Steve Junker, Steve Konroyd, Steve Tambellini, Steve Thomas, Steve Weeks, Tom Draper, Tom Fitzgerald, Tom Kurvers, Tom Miller, Tomas Jonsson, Travis Green, Trent Hunter, Uwe Krupp, Vern Smith, Vic "Skeeter" Teal, Vladimir Malakhov, Walt Ledingham, Wayne McBean, Wayne Merrick, Yan Kaminsky, Yvon Vautour, Zigmund Palffy.

The things to note here as there are a lot of names to go through. I wasn’t able to decide if Mike Stevens, Mike Walsh, or Raimo Helminen actually played a game for Al during the 1988 – 1989 season. I know that Rod Dallman did not play for him in a regular season game but did lace them up for Al in a playoff game the following season. There could be other players that only played in the playoffs for Al but I do not have that information.