Islanders to open 2016-17 NHL season with slew of home games
New York Islanders center John Tavares looks on against the New Jersey Devils during the third period of an NHL preseason hockey game at Barclays Center on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Islanders have 10 of their first 13 games of the 2016-17 season at home and finish the season with 17 of the last 24 on the road.
Next season’s schedule was released Tuesday afternoon and the Isles, as has been the case in past seasons both in Brooklyn and Nassau Coliseum, have a slew of home games against non-division rivals in the opening month of the season. After the season opener in Madison Square Garden against the Rangers and a trip to Washington to face the Caps, the Isles open their home season on Oct. 16 against the Ducks.
Only one Metro Division opponent, the Flyers, is among the 10 teams that come to Barclays Center over the next 11 games.
The Isles also vacate the area for a nine-game road trip in late February and early March that starts in Detroit on Feb. 21, features a five-day layoff, then goes through western Canada and finishes in St. Louis on March 11.
The Isles close the regular season at Barclays Center against the Senators on Sunday, April 9. That 5 p.m. start is one of nine weekend home games this season that start earlier than 7 p.m. Most of those are 6 p.m. starts on Sundays, with only one Saturday afternoon game at home, on March 18 against the Blue Jackets.
Vote on Isles’ ownership change. The transfer of majority ownership of the Islanders from Charles Wang to the duo of Jonathan Ledecky and Scott Malkin is expected to be voted on by NHL owners Wednesday at their board of governors meeting in Las Vegas, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Tuesday.
The vote is largely seen as a formality because the Islanders sale already was approved by NHL owners at a board meeting in Manhattan nearly two years ago.
Wang, who bought the Islanders in 2000, agreed to sell the Islanders to Ledecky and Malkin in September 2014 for about $485 million. The terms of the deal stipulated that Ledecky and Malkin act as minority owners for two seasons before taking over the Islanders this summer.
Wang has said he plans to stay on as a minority owner.— JIM BAUMBACH
