. Perhaps the outcome would have been different if the Islanders had won a postseason series. Perhaps qualifying for the playoffs would have been sufficient. Perhaps it was the Islanders’ dismal record and pair of last-place finishes during the two seasons that the notorious Fisherman was their primary emblem.
Undoubtedly, the defeat contributed at least in part to the backlash back then.
Nick Hirshon, a journalism professor at William Patterson University and author of “We Want Fish Sticks,” a book chronicling the botched rebranding, stated in a phone interview with Sports+ that it is a sports cliche that you should rebrand when you believe you’re headed in a winning route.
In 1994-95, following a 15-28-5 lockout-shortened season, the Islanders rebranded. That was the first box they neglected to check. The remainder would arrive in due time.
This is part of the reason why some who were alive between 1995 and 1997 may find it strange that the Islanders have embraced the Fisherman as their reverse throwback image this season. In 2020, when the NHL first adopted the throwback concept, the Islanders firmly rejected it, opting instead for a navy blue sweater that was essentially identical to their normal jersey.
This time, they took the plunge, and the resulting buzz was instantaneous. The sweaters rapidly spread around the UBS Arena concourse. The Isles are a team located just outside of one of the league’s most populous media cities, but they have difficulty attracting attention. This garnered interest.
Players cheered it on. So too did the marketing department.
Zach Parise stated in October, “I enjoy retro music” “I appreciate the variety of styles and hues. Not the change, but a different appearance Always exciting for the fans.”
Why, however, has there been such a shift in perception towards this emblem, which was originally associated with the franchise’s dark days?
When the Islanders introduced the Fisherman logo for the first time in 1995, many errors were committed, according to Hirshon. “Not much research was conducted; there were no focus groups or discussions with supporters to ascertain if they desired a change from the original logo. They didn’t have a particularly effective brand spokesperson. In the majority of advertisements at the time, they featured either [general manager] Mike Milbury or [owner] John Spano, who turned out to be a fraudulent guy and was forced to sell the team. And they did not focus as much on the squad, such as Ziggy Palffy, who was and remains immensely popular with the fan base.
“I believe that with the passage of time, many of the younger fans who don’t remember the Fisherman logo from its first run in 1995-1997 view it as a cool retro design and don’t associate it with the loss of the 1990s or any of the negative media attention that it received: ‘We Want Fish Sticks’ chants and so on.”
Hirshon cites the Kings’ 1988 rebranding after acquiring Wayne Gretzky as an example of a successful endeavor. Gretzky came at his debut press conference wearing silver and black, new colors for a franchise that had previously donned the same purple and gold as its co-tenants at the Los Angeles Forum.
With Gretzky, the Kings, who had made the playoffs in the two previous seasons prior to obtaining No. 99, became perennial challengers and reached the 1993 Stanley Cup Final. Silver and black continue to be their logo’s major colors.
“People are more receptive to something like that when the team is performing well, so ‘I guess I’ll buy the new jersey and associate it with all these good memories,’” Hirshon said. “I think it’s also important to remember that changing a jersey or logo is only one step in a larger rebranding effort.”
This season, the Islanders are donning the Fisherman jersey for six games as a reverse throwback appearance.
AP
The Islanders also debuted Nyisles as their new mascot and incorporated aspects into their game presentation to accentuate the Fisherman brand, including a foghorn as the goal horn and fog-like smoke pouring from the Nassau Coliseum scoreboard. As the team struggled, however, and Spano was soon forced out of ownership owing to fraud, all of this became a running joke for the franchise.
A comprehensive rebranding effort would not be well received at this time. As a reference to the past and a shirt they’ve worn six times this season – the final two times are this Saturday against the Hurricanes and on January 28 against Las Vegas — the Fisherman appears cool.
“[Fans] just see it as something that is cool and old, and it fits in with the nostalgic direction that many sports teams have been taking in recent years, particularly with 1990s designs,” Hirshon added. “Many people, including myself, grew up in the ’90s, and now we’re feeling nostalgic: ‘Yeah, remember that?’ It is now old enough that we sort of long for it once more.
Adam Pelech continues to skate with the club as he recovers from a head injury, although it has been around six weeks since the star defenseman was knocked unconscious by Robert Bortuzzo against the Blues.
Though recent attention has been focused on the Isles’ offensive troubles, the loss of Pelech on defense has caused significant problems. When both players are healthy, the 2022 All-Star creates a pairing with Ryan Pulock that plays the most minutes against opposition top lines. Without Pelech, Pulock has skated with Pelech’s replacement on any given night, most recently Parker Wotherspoon; however, Dennis Cholowski replaced Wotherspoon against the Bruins on Wednesday. This has been Lane Lambert’s way of protecting Wotherspoon, Cholowski, and Robin Salo, who have all had opportunities to play in that position. However, this has necessitated that the Isles utilize a different pair — typically Scott Mayfield’s — against opposition top lines.
There are a few things to mention here. First, the graphic dates back to Wotherspoon’s debut on December 23. Second, we examined which pair played the most hands, but this does not imply that a pair played against a certain line exclusively. Remember that the Islanders do not have last change on the road, and so have less control over matches.
The last two limitations go specifically to the Calgary game, the only one we examined in which Mayfield did not face off against a top line. Aho and Mayfield played approximately five minutes against Nazem Kadri’s line that night and were on the ice for two goals against; Pulock and Wotherspoon were on for somewhat longer and were also on for a goal.
Still, there are a few conclusions from this, the most significant being that Lambert is still protecting Noah Dobson. On Monday night against Washington, for instance, Dobson played just 3:22 while Dylan Strome’s left wing Alex Ovechkin was on the ice. Mayfield and Romanov spent 11:54 and 10:04 seconds on the ice, respectively.
When Lambert and GM Lou Lamoriello discuss Dobson taking the next defensive step, they refer to his ability to be relied upon in situations like these. Currently, he is not quite there. Neither is Aho, who was demoted from Mayfield’s left side after a string of subpar performances in the Western Conference.
The Isles have recently been left with Mayfield and Romanov as their de facto top duo, with varied success. The Wild’s top line of Kirill Kaprizov, Sam Steel, and Mats Zuccarello, as well as the Capitals’ Ovechkin-Strome line, played well against them. Mayfield and Romanov performed admirably against the Stars’ top line of Jason Robertson, Tyler Seguin, and Joe Pavelski — Robertson scored, but only during a rare shift against Wotherspoon and Pulock — and Montreal’s top line, anchored by Nick Suzuki.
This alignment has the additional disadvantage of breaking up Romanov and Dobson, a well-balanced duo that the Islanders want to make work, and restricting Dobson’s five-on-five ice time, which was down 0.16 minutes per game from last season through Wednesday.
Nevertheless, it may be their best option at the moment. Which makes it the more imperative to get Pelech back and rectify the situation.
Five hits by Bruins, four by Islanders
1. In his first game, William Dufour turned the puck over twice, which resulted in goals. However, the Islanders set up their 20-year-old potential for failure. Requesting that he make his NHL debut on the top line against the Bruins and then sitting him when he failed is a self-fulfilling prophecy that reeks of desperation.
2. Likewise for the recent deployment of Semyon Varlamov, who, according to Natural Stat Trick, surrendered four goals on 1.86 predicted goals-against on Wednesday. The NHL is a results-based league, and Varlamov is responsible for that, just as Dufour is for his performance. However, not giving Varlamov a single game on the homestand until the last game and then expecting him to beat the league’s greatest team in only his second game in a month is unfair to the guy.
Semyon Varlamov’s attempt to stop the NHL’s greatest team in only his second game in the previous month was not a winning strategy.
3. Keeping Simon Holmstrom on the roster as a healthy scratch instead of sending him to AHL Bridgeport — even for a single day — was baffling when every dollar of cap space counts.
4. Prior to Thursday’s roster changes, the Islanders had $3.36 million in available cap space and were on track to have $6.88 million by the March 3 trade deadline. Can they afford to wait so long before acting? It is difficult to see how.
5. According to Natural Stat Trick, despite the justifiable concern over the power play, the Islanders had only five high-danger opportunities at five-on-five on Wednesday. It was the fourth time in their last seven games that they were limited to five or fewer high-danger opportunities, and they scored a total of eight goals over the five-game homestand.
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