There’s a strange, bittersweet middle ground where a lot of us Islanders fans live — old enough to know exactly who Pat LaFontaine was, but not quite old enough to brag that we saw him with our own eyes at his peak.
But before YouTube, you didn’t need VHS tapes or eyewitness memories to understand what he meant here. Every franchise has its icons, the players who define their eras. And when the dynasty’s glow finally dimmed, when names like Bossy, Trottier, Gillies, Smith, and Potvin faded from the nightly lineup, LaFontaine wasn’t just the next man up.
He was the era.
He was the reason to turn on SportsChannel, the reason to fight traffic on the Meadowbrook, the reason to believe magic still lived inside the old Coliseum’s concrete walls. His teams couldn’t match the impossible acts that preceded them — no one could — but LaFontaine gave Islanders fans something else: relevance, wonder, electricity. When 16 had the puck, anything felt possible. He once scored goals in 11 straight games. He was THAT good.
And now, more than forty years after he first arrived on Long Island, LaFontaine finally takes his place in the Islanders Hall of Fame on Saturday, becoming the 17th member of the franchise’s new Ring of Honor.
His resume here requires no embellishment:
– 530 games
– 287 goals (tied for 5th all-time)
– 566 points (8th all-time)
– 4OT goal in the Easter Epic
He was on track to be a career Islander before circumstances, contract disputes, and the hard edges of the business sent him to Buffalo. The trade worked out for both teams — Pierre Turgeon became a star on Long Island, LaFontaine became a star in western New York — but the fracture lingered.
Years of tension, hurt feelings, and missteps kept one of the greatest players in franchise history at arm’s length.
That’s what makes this weekend matter: this ownership group, new stewardship, new priorities. The Islanders have spent recent years reconnecting with the pillars of their past, and LaFontaine was always a name that needed mending. Not just because he was great, but because he was ours.
It’s special for me because I started my career here on Long Island. It’s home. I was drafted by the New York Islanders. I met my wife here. My family — we still live here.
At this time in my life, it feels extra special. I’ve been retired since ’99, and it’s given me a chance to reflect on the game, on what Long Island has meant to me as a person and as a player. Everything really stems from being chosen as a New York Islander.”
Talk to those who were around him — and the message is the same: Pat wasn’t just a Hall of Fame player. He was a Hall of Fame human being. His Companions in Courage Foundation, building interactive hospital playrooms for sick children, only adds to the legacy.
And to hear LaFontaine talk about Long Island — about Arbour, Trottier, Bossy, about raising a family here — it’s clear he never left, not really.
On Saturday, the Islanders will honor him accordingly. And for a franchise forever shaped by its legends, placing 16 in the team HOF feels not just right.
It feels like Long Island, remembering and honoring one of its own — at last.
📚 SOUND SMART: LaFontaine played for the Isles from 1984 until 1991, the Buffalo Sabres from 1991 until 1997, and the New York Rangers from 1997 until his retirement in 1998, scoring 468 goals and 1,013 points along the way before his career was ended by concussions. His 1.17 points per game (1,013 points over 865 games) is the best among American-born ice hockey players, active or retired. In 2017, LaFontaine was named one of the “100 Greatest NHL Players“ in history.
🎥 ISLES REWIND: On March 3, 1984, in Pat LaFontaine’s second career NHL game, the rookie scored a hat trick and added two assists as the Islanders tied a franchise record for goals scored in an 11-6 win over the host Toronto Maple Leafs. The Islanders scored four in the first period, starting with Lafontaine‘s first career goal 8:29 into the game. They scored three in the second and four more in the third. Brent Sutter and John Tonelli each had two goals.
📺 Pat LaFontaine - Hockey Hall of Fame Induction - November 3, 2003
🔗 Pat LaFontaine’s Legacy Through the Eyes of Bryan Trottier and Patrick Flatley by Rachel Luscher, New York Islanders “Patrick Flatley has a poster in his garage of a Muhammad Ali quote that says, “I’m so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.” For Flatley, it serves as a reminder of his good friend and former teammate Pat LaFontaine because of how he played. His blazing speed is still ingrained in his memory, all these years later.”
🔗 Maven’s Memories: The Lore of Pat LaFontaine by Stan Fischer “So much has been said about Pat LaFontaine and what he has meant to the Islanders and Long Island that the pouring of more encomiums seems almost redundant. But quite the opposite is true. As superb a hockey player he has been, so the St. Louis native also has been a humanitarian, a model parent and a role model for young athletes be they on skates or up at bat. “He’s a ‘One and Only,’” says my younger son Simon who simultaneously grew up with the Islanders as a team and Patty as his idol.
And we leave you with this…one more time, the Easter Epic finish.
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To get Morrow after the incredible '80 Olympics for the cup years was phenomenal. To then get another legend in '84 in Lafontaine was truly a miracle. Was a incredible player & person. Congrats to FINALLY having your night tonight Patty. Earned & LONG OVERDUE.