“He’s moving to a city with 2.5 million people,” Tilliss said, referring to Brooklyn’s population. “They’ll draw from Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan. You’ll pull in fans who wouldn’t have gotten into a car and driven to Uniondale. Here, you hop on the train and you’re there.”

Early signs are that a core group of fans will ride the train to Brooklyn to see their team. Over all, 58 percent of their season-ticket holders have indicated they plan to see the Islanders play in Brooklyn, and the Islanders have sold 2,200 new season-ticket plans since they were eliminated from the playoffs in May.

The Islanders have not advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 1993, though a new generation of fans did experience the excitement of postseason hockey this spring when the team pushed the top-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins to six games. “The turnout was heartwarming and extra special because we weren’t expected to be there,” Wang said. “Now we have to build on the success.”

The face of the franchise is John Tavares, 22, a center who was the N.H.L.’s No. 1 draft pick in 2009 and a finalist this season for the Hart Trophy, given to the league’s most valuable player. He is signed through 2017-18, to a six-year, $33 million contract.

Wang says he knows star power will be necessary to compete with the Rangers.

“John buys into the program. or he wouldn’t have committed to this number of years,” Wang said.

Wang has also tried to undo mistakes. On Wednesday, the Islanders used a compliance buyout to drop the final eight years of goaltender Rick DiPietro’s contract from their salary cap. DiPietro cleared waivers and will receive $1.5 million a year for the next 16 years — double the time he had left on the 15-year, $67.5 million contract he signed in 2006.

With additional dollars to spend, the Islanders last Friday kept their starting goaltender Evgeni Nabokov with a one-year, $3.25 million contract and signed defenseman Travis Hamonic, 22, to a seven-year, $27 million agreement through 2019-20. In March, they also signed the veteran defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky, a leader on the power play, to a two-year extension. All three players were important factors in helping the Islanders reach the playoffs after the lockout-shortened regular season.