The New York Islanders are bringing a lighthouse to center stage.
On Thursday night, fans picked the navy Lighthouse concept as the foundation for the team’s third jersey for the 2027-28 season, giving the franchise a primary crest it has never used before. The final matchup came down to the Lighthouse and a navy sweater with “ISLANDERS” across the chest, and the lighthouse design came out on top after 43 days, 80,490 submissions and an eight-jersey tournament.
“Can’t wait to see all the fans in the jersey. Can’t wait to wear it.
Let’s go!” Mathew Barzal said while revealing the winner on social media.
The result carries obvious weight for Islanders followers who remember the franchise’s complicated lighthouse history. The symbol was part of the team’s look during the controversial fisherman era in the 1990s, and later showed up again in Charles Wang’s Lighthouse Project, which aimed to transform the Nassau Coliseum property and keep the Islanders on Long Island. That plan never got off the ground, and the team spent years in uncertainty before eventually settling into UBS Arena.
Now the lighthouse is back in a very different role.
This was the first NHL jersey contest that allowed fans to build the base of an official team sweater, and the Islanders leaned into the process from the start. More than 80,000 entries came in, the field was cut to eight, and voting played out over three rounds. The navy Lighthouse rolled through the semifinal with 68.7% of the vote against the fisherman concept before moving on to win the whole thing.
The Islanders and Fanatics will now turn the fan-submitted idea into an NHL-ready jersey while keeping the core of the design intact. For Long Island, the symbolism is hard to miss: the lighthouse was once voted down, and now it’s headed to the uniform.
In Other News...
Islanders Are Bringing Back A Controversial Look At A Strange Time
The NHLs new Hometown Remix collection is set to give all 32 teams special edition uniforms, and for the Islanders it is bringing back one of the franchises most debated looks. The fisherman logo is expected to return on a jersey for the 2026-27 season, giving the club another turn with a design that has long stirred strong opinions among fans and observers alike.
What makes the timing especially interesting is that this will be a one-season uniform, separate from the fan-designed third jersey currently up for voting for 2027-28. The upcoming fisherman look is expected to resemble the version the Bridgeport Islanders wore last season more than the original 1990s sweater, which adds another layer to a throwback that is being revived in a very modern way. [Read more 🡒]
Islanders Could Be Giving Oliver Wahlstrom One More Shot
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The most realistic next step appears to be a contract that gets him into the mix at training camp, where he would have to earn his way back into the picture. His NHL role is still unsettled, and what happens from there would depend on how he looks in camp and how crowded the roster battle becomes once the season gets close. [Read more 🡒]