Romanov to Wear No. 28, Past Islanders to Don It

Over his two years in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens, Alexander Romanov wore the no. 27. Now a member of the New York Islanders, 27 is not available as his new captain, Anders Lee, rocks it and has been rocking it since his first day back in 2012.

John Tonelli also wore no. 27, which was retired back in 2020, but allowed Lee to continue wearing it for the rest of his career.

Per the New York Islanders official website, Alexander Romanov will be wearing no. 28 for New York.

Through the Islanders’ fifty years as an NHL franchise, 23 players have worn the number 28. Let’s take a look at some of the players on the list.

The first player to ever wear no. 28 was named Anders Kallur, a Swedish forward who played his entire six-year NHL career on the island.

Kallur helped the Islanders to their four Stanley Cups, but was injured for the 1980 playoff run.

In 383 regular season games, Kallur scored 101 goals with 110 assists (211 points).

In 78 postseason contests, Kallur notched 12 goals and 23 assists (35 points), including an overtime winner in Game 2 of the 1984 NHL Patrick Division Finals against the Washington Capitals.

From 1992-1994, Tom Kurvers donned no. 28. Although the defenseman was only a member of the New York Islanders for a short while, he sadly passed away back in June of 2021 at the young age of 58. The organization included him in their remembrance video during Alumni Weekend, as this was a rather tough year, losing legends Mike Bossy, Clark Gillies, and Jean Potvin.

In his three-year stint on the island, Kurvers scored 26 goals with 108 assists for 134 points in 192 regular season games. He had two points in 15 career playoff games with New York.

Although he played less than two years with the New York Islanders, I think it’s worth mentioning that Felix Potvin wore no. 28 during his short tenure. It’s a rather uncommon number for a goaltender, with 29 being more of the classic go-to.

To each their own.

Now it’s time to talk about some enforcers, eh?

Tim Jackman, a 12-year NHL veteran, started his career with the New York Islanders, wearing no. 28 from 2008-2010. Over his time on the island, the gritty, fist-throwing forward had 10 goals and 15 assists in 159 games, with 310 penalty minutes.

He dropped the gloves 38 times over his Islanders career, including this knockout of Montreal Canadiens Greg Stuart:

When Tim Jackman left the New York Islanders, his number was passed on to a player with a similar role in Zenon Konopka. In his one season as a member of New York, 2010-2011, he set a career-high with 307 penalty minutes, which included 25 fights, two behind league leader George Parros (27).

In 82 games with New York, Konopka scored two goals.

The last two New York Islanders to don no. 28 was defenseman Sebastian Aho back in 2017-18, his first stint up with the big club before he spent two-plus years down in Bridgeport. In 2020, he wore no. 25 with New York, which is still his number.

In August, he was arrested for driving while intoxicated in his native country of Sweden, so we are not sure how that will affect his availability for this upcoming season.

The latest New York Islander to wear no. 28 was former 5th overall pick in 2016, Michael Dal Colle. In his first season with the club, 2017-18, he wore no. 71, but when Aho was no longer on the NHL roster, Dal Colle wore 28.

Unfortunately, as many know, Dal Colle never turned into the player that the organization expected. After the Islanders did not tender him a qualifying offer in the summer of 2021, they brought him back on a one-year deal. But after just playing one game for New York in 2021-22, the Islanders did not tender him this past offseason as he is now an unrestricted free agent.

In his five-year career on the island, Dal Colle scored eight goals with 13 assists in 112 games.

With Alexander Romanov the owner of no. 28, the hope for the organization is that he pans out better than the last guy.