Along with our friend Lisa, aka IslesChick, we reveal the 2026 winner of the Don Cutts Trophy as the Weirdest Islander of the Year for 2026.
It was a weird season for the Islanders, who had good streaks and bad and historic performances and horrible ones on the way to a disappointing finish. Within that journey were standout players for many reasons, mostly the wrong kind. We saw AHL guys get cups of coffee when they deserved more, goalies with more personality than wins, players we forgot were still
with the organization getting traded and players acquired from surprise teams scoring hilarious goals who then had one shockingly bad game after another. And those were the guys who didn’t win!
Our 2026 Weirdest Islander of the Year experienced a season no one will forget. A tidy piece of offseason business, he had an auspicious and tantalizing debut followed by a few middling games and then… nothing. For months. Game after game, week after week, there he was, in the starting lineup to provide exactly zero on the scoresheet. The coach and players loved him but the fans understandably didn’t. And by the time he was dealt away, he had to have two picks attached to him including an extra first rounder. What’s the opposite of flipping a beat-up house and restoring it for a profit? It was this.
The winner of the Weirdest Islander of the Year is awarded the Don Cutts Trophy for his efforts. The concept of Weirdest Islander of the Year comes from Patron Will Forthman.
WEIRDEST ISLANDER OF THE YEAR:
- 2024 – Robert Bortuzzo
- 2025 – Tony DeAngelo
Thanks again to Lisa for coming on. She’s always great, and you will probably see her and her husband Dave at any Phish concert in New York this summer. Follow her on BlueSky and enjoy her long-running message board, Islander Mania.
As a bonus, Lisa’s husband Dave shared with us a memento he’ll always have to remember this year’s Weirdest Islander by:
WEIRD BONUS MATERIAL
- Well, that was unexpected. Congrats on the third place finish, though.
- Our runner-up immediately became a trivia question answer by becoming just the fourth player traded between the Islanders and Rangers over the last 50+ years.
- At least, we’ll always have this hilarious goal against his former team at MSG.
- The Islanders signed our Weirdest Islander of the Year to a two-year, $8 million contract last summer, which seemed like a “tidy piece of business” at the time.
- Strangely, he was suspended for cross-checking after his first game.
- He also scored in that opening game against the Penguins, which included Matthew Schaefer’s first NHL point.
- He went an incredible 38 games without a goal, which is why his Islanders tenure ended after 55 games. Of course, he immediately snapped the streak in his first game with the Blues.
- Everyone (except for the people watching it) was positive about his Islanders experience even after it ended.
What makes a “Weird Islander?”
We’re always open to suggestions about other Weird Islanders to discuss. Remember the criteria. Candidates must fulfill one of the two of the following:
- Played one (1) season or less for the Islanders or very short stints over multiple seasons.
- Be a veteran NHLer who is not generally associated with his time on Islanders.
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