NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman participated in the groundbreaking ceremony and announced that seven more games have been added at Nassau Coliseum this season, increasing the total to 28. The other 13 home games will be played at Barclays Center, where the Islanders moved in 2015 after playing 42 seasons at the Coliseum.
But the move back east began last season, when 21 regular-season home games were played at the Coliseum, along with Games 1 and 2 of New York's sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference First Round. The Islanders played their home games in the second round, when they were swept by the Carolina Hurricanes, at Barclays Center. No decision on where the Islanders would play their Stanley Cup Playoff games this season has been made.
Commissioner Bettman told Islanders fans how he, like co-owner Jon Ledecky, grew up in Queens, the New York City borough that borders Belmont Park.
"When people look at the history of the Islanders, it's easy to think about winning the four Stanley Cup championships, it's easy to think about [Bryan] Trottier, [Mike] Bossy, [Clark] Gillies and [Denis] Potvin, and the other great Islanders who have played here over the years," Commissioner Bettman said. "But this today will go down as one of the great days in the history of the New York Islanders because this is the day that assures everybody who has anything to do with the Islanders, who cares anything about the Islanders, who's passionate about the Islanders as Islander fans are, this is the future of this franchise right here on Long Island."