The New York Islanders fell in Spherical 1 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs to the Carolina Hurricanes, and it’s clear change is required for the workforce to return to its former glory. It was a protracted season, full of accidents, blown leads, and false confidence, offering a transparent image that the present roster is a number of items away from changing into a authentic Stanley Cup contender. With the roster so far-off, they need to use the 2024-25 season to gauge the workforce’s skill to arrange for a historic 2025 offseason.
Evaluating if Roy Has What it Takes
When common supervisor Lou Lamoriello determined to alleviate Lane Lambert of his teaching duties, he named Patrick Roy head coach on a two-year deal. That is uncommon for midseason teaching hires, as the usual is an interim rent for simply the rest of stated season. The Islanders had a imaginative and prescient with Roy when employed, setting him as much as gauge every participant’s skill within the 2023-24 season to arrange for the 2024-25 season.
Associated: 2023-24 New York Islanders: Too Lengthy, Too A lot Cash
With Roy as head coach, the Islanders completed at a near-100 standing factors tempo. To not point out, this was all with an injury-riddled defensive core and career-worst Ilya Sorokin. With a full and wholesome coaching camp and preseason, the Islanders will be capable of analyze what Roy is able to over the course of a complete season. And, if the season doesn’t go to plan, there isn’t a contractual obligation to deliver him again the next season.
Everybody Is Wholesome
Along with evaluating Roy, the Islanders have a handful of gamers who’ve unsure futures with the workforce. The 2 most evident commerce candidates are forwards Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Each struggled immensely this season, and followers have lately known as for every to be traded. It’s purely speculative for now, however it seems the Islanders are entertaining commerce gives on the 2 forwards.
The problem right here is that each gamers are overpaid and have two seasons remaining on their contracts. The Islanders have the property to dump their contracts, however it’s removed from preferrred. With a dwindling prospect pool, they should shrink back from tacking on a primary or second-round decide alongside the forwards to shed their contracts. By conserving each Lee and Pageau for yet one more season, the Islanders can gamble they are going to every enhance, barely growing their commerce worth. Nevertheless, even when they wrestle once more, it could be a lot simpler to commerce the forwards subsequent offseason with only one yr remaining on their contracts.
The Islanders additionally must gauge defenseman Scott Mayfield’s skill. He performed simply 41 video games resulting from a Recreation 1 ankle harm to start out the common season, a mid-season upper-body harm, and a season-ending lower-body harm suffered in February. On the ice, he was sluggish, misplaced, and a daily within the penalty field. Final season was an anomaly for him, so it’s all however assured as soon as absolutely wholesome, he’ll bounce again.
At his greatest, Mayfield is among the league’s greatest third-pairing defensemen, enjoying key minutes on the penalty kill and on the finish of shut video games. Whereas there’s a small probability of the Islanders discovering a commerce accomplice for Mayfield and the remaining six years of his contract, a full season to guage his talents is crucial to the Islanders in understanding his long-term future within the NHL.
Sorokin struggled on paper within the 2023-24 season, however he received very unfortunate. He primarily struggled on the penalty kill, understandably so given the Islanders’ accidents to key penalty-killing defensemen in Mayfield, Adam Pelech, and Ryan Pulock, in addition to the midseason teaching change. It’s apparent Sorokin will bounce again subsequent season, the one query is how a lot better will he be.
2025 Free Agent Class Appears to be like Robust
Whereas we’re nonetheless a yr out, the 2025 offseason might present one of many strongest free agent courses in league historical past. The category is headlined by Leon Draisaitl, Mikko Rantanen, Mitch Marner, Brock Boeser, Nikolaj Ehlers, Travis Konecny, Pavel Buchnevich, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaege and lots of others. In fact, all of those gamers are eligible to signal contract extensions starting July 1, 2024, however many are prone to take a look at the free-agent market.
For the Islanders, they might have north of $45 million in spending cash. If the workforce trades Lee and Pageau, and the wage cap rises to round $92 million, they are going to be capable of herald many key free brokers. Additionally, the one core free brokers the workforce must re-sign are Noah Dobson, Alexander Romanov, and Brock Nelson, seemingly leaving the workforce with round $30 million to spend. Whereas we’re nonetheless far out from the 2025 offseason, and so much can occur between from time to time, it makes a variety of sense to economize to go all-in.
Gauging Younger Core
The Islanders have a variety of present roster gamers with query marks, however this can be a fair greater challenge within the prospect pool. The workforce has struggled in current seasons with creating prospects, primarily as a result of they lack alternatives on the NHL roster. If the Islanders resolve to make use of the 2024-25 season to guage the workforce’s skill, this may embody assessing a lot of the prospect pool.
It will begin by giving Ruslan Iskhakov, William Dufour, Matthew Maggio, Alex Jefferies, Samuel Bolduc, and Simon Holmstrom all common enjoying time. Bolduc and Holmstrom have already performed many NHL video games, however neither has discovered a everlasting spot within the lineup. Iskhakov and Dufour have additionally performed only one common season NHL sport a chunk, however that’s it. If the Islanders resolve to go this route, the lineup might appear to be this:
Jefferies – Horvat – Barzal
Holmstrom – Nelson – Palmieri
Lee – Iskhakov – Maggio
Engvall – Cizikas – Dufour
Additional: MacLean, Tsyplakov
Romanov – Dobson
Pelech – Pulock
Bolduc – Mayfield
Additional: Reilly*
Sorokin
Varlamov
In fact, this lineup doesn’t look able to profitable the Stanley Cup, however it’s similar to the 2023-24 roster. It’s a funky roster, however the data gained pays dividends down the road. This lineup contains reuniting Pelech with Pulock, enjoying Maggio alongside Iskhakov, a duo that was stellar final season within the American Hockey League, and different earlier line mixtures.
This iteration of the Islanders would undergo tough stretches, particularly with 4 rookies within the ahead core, however can be a good way to gauge the participant’s skill for the long run. It additionally leaves roughly $5.5 million in free wage cap room, so if the Islanders are authentic Stanley Cup contenders, they are going to have the property and cap house required to make a splash on the commerce deadline.
The fact right here is until the Islanders blow up the present roster, they aren’t getting a lineup a lot better than this. The one main enhancements might be including a extra severe first line, left-wing, and discovering a terrific heart for the third line. Nevertheless, making each of these strikes would require the Islanders to commerce their first and second-round picks within the 2024 Draft, a call that might not be smart.
The overarching thought right here is the Islanders ought to decide to a route. In the event that they run it again with out making main adjustments to the roster, they’re lining themselves as much as be one other first-round exit at greatest. The roster lacks the star energy and depth to take down high Stanley Cup contenders, and there may be minimal wiggle room to make any midseason additions given the workforce’s tight wage scenario. The Islanders ought to use the 2024-25 season to gauge their long-term outlook to arrange for a historic 2025 offseason.
