Presenting perhaps the most ambitious project that I’ve been a part of in my year+ with the New York Islanders! Extremely proud to see the New York Islanders Trading Card wall come to life at UBS Arena! This was an idea that my co-worker, Sr. Designer Scott Modrzynski, has been pushing for a long time and after it was finally green-lit over the summer, Scott and I went to work.
There are 586 players who have played at least one game for the New York Islanders throughout the first 50 years of their history. The goal was to have each player represented on the wall but the challenge was that we only found or had cards for 372 of these players in an Islanders uniform. The solution? Creating unique trading cards for the 214 players that didn’t have one.
Between trying to find photos (way harder than I thought/you’d think), jersey swaps, and trying to make sure that each player was in an era-appropriate card, this project took months to complete. A lot of the cards that I created were inspired by real cards that I own and as a lifelong fan, I thoroughly enjoyed reminiscing, learning about, and creating cards for random Islanders from Tom Kuhnhackl to Vic “Skeeter” Teal.
A huge thank you to everyone who was involved in making this happen, it is super fulfilling to see this project come to fruition and to see all of the great reactions from fans and staff on Opening Night! Give it a visit the next time you’re at UBS Arena, located on the main concourse outside of section 110!
