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| Kenny Jonnson revealing his plaque in the Islanders hall of fame (Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images) |
On Saturday, February 11th the New York Islanders organization enshrined yet another icon into their hall of fame, defenseman Kenny Jonsson. Jonsson was drafted with the 12th overall selection by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1st round of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. After playing with the Leafs during the 1994–95 lockout shortened season, he was traded mid season in 1995–96 to the New York Islanders in a trade which brought back the popular former captain Wendel Clark to Toronto. Jonsson spent most of his NHL career with the Islanders from 1995-2004, before heading back overseas to Sweden. During the 1999-2000 season, Jonsson was named the teams captain before stepping down the next season for Michael Peca to take over. That same season Jonsson was elected to his first and only all star game.
In 597 career games with the Islanders Jonsson had 57 goals, 175 assists, totaling 232 points. In his 9 seasons with the team, Jonsson and the Islanders made 3 playoff appearances, none of which resulted in a Stanley Cup.
As Adrian Aucoin, former teammate and defensive partner of Jonsson, says, "Kenny was probably one of the best rounded players I ever played with. He literally never made mistakes." (See the interview here http://islanders.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=616258)
Jonsson is the 4th former Islander to be inducted into the Islanders hall of fame this year. He joins players, Ed Westfall, Kenny Morrow, and Patrick Flatley as one of the Islanders' "Decades players". Jonsson is the final player to be enshrined by the organization this year.
