The New York Islanders finalized plans Thursday to relocate their American Hockey League affiliate to Hamilton, Ont., for the start of the 2026-27 season.
The move, which has been rumored for months, still requires formal approval from the AHL’s Board of Governors.
It would mark the end of a 25-year run for the organization in Bridgeport, Conn., and runs counter to the recent trend of NHL teams moving their farm clubs closer to home. Bridgeport is 60 miles from the Islanders’ current base in Elmont, N.Y., while Hamilton will require a short flight to shuttle players back and forth.
However, they’ll be playing out of the 18,000-seat TD Coliseum, which recently underwent a $300 million renovation and reopened with a Paul McCartney concert in November. The building was previously home to the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs from 1996 to 2015.
“The support the city has shown our organization throughout this transition has been incredible,” said Islanders GM Mathieu Darche. “We look forward to having our top young talent play in front of such a strong fanbase inside the newly renovated, world-class TD Coliseum and we are committed to establishing ourselves in the community to engage a new generation of hockey fans.”
In order to initiate the move, the Islanders had to get out of a 10-year lease they signed in 2021 to continue playing at Total Mortgage Arena, the 10,000-seat facility in Bridgeport that has been home to an AHL team since the expansion Bridgeport Sound Tigers joined the league in 2001-02. The Islanders later bought the Sound Tigers and changed their name in 2021. Oak View Group operates both Total Mortgage Arena and TD Coliseum.
On Thursday, the Islanders announced they were committed to working with the city of Bridgeport on a successful transition for Total Mortgage Arena.
The franchise struggled with results and attendance in recent seasons. Bridgeport is again outside of the playoff window with a 24-27-3-5 record this season, and finished an AHL-worst 15-50-4-3 in 2024-25. It has consistently finished near the bottom of the AHL in average attendance, though it has spiked upward to 4,292 in 2025-26.