Some pundits are writing off Islanders due to their lack of activity this off season but I think on paper they are much more competitive than people give them credit.
Starting off with offense. Many may look at the Islanders offense numbers from the last 2 seasons and "think" that this team lacks offensive talent but I think the numbers don't say the whole story. The Islanders numbers were deceivingly low simply because of highly restrictive defensive minded system Barry Trotz had them playing since he took the reins 3 years ago. Prior to that the Islanders were a top 10 offensive team but were horrible at defense. Trotz fixed that literally over night and the Isles became the stingiest team on defense but sacrificed offense as a result. Sure the Isles lost John Tavares but they added players like Palmieri, Pageau, Zach Parise, Kieffer Bellows, Wahlstrom, and Dobson. They also have prospects Aatu Ratu and Dufour waiting in the wings. The rest of the team prior to Barry Trotz was chock full of at least 20 point players in Barzal, Lee, Brock Nelson, Bailey, and Beavillier and these players are still here. Sure starting to show some of their age but all still well within their prime. In addition the "best 4th line in hockey" will still be intact going into next year. It was the latter players that beat teams such as the Florida Panthers and the Pittsburgh Penguins a few years back in their playoff runs. I think with the addition of the other players added since John Tavares this is a much much more offensively talented team than when JT was our captain. It was just the defensive minded game Trotz was having the team play that kept their offense under wraps.
Looking at the Isles defensive core. They have to have one of the best defenses in the league from the goaltender out. We didn't have Sorokin or Varlamov during the JT years. Pelech and Pulock were just entering their primes. Now we have the highly skilled Dobson, the explosive Romanov, stalwart bruiser Mayfield. They can have one of Salo, Aho, or Hutton filling in the last position. Subtracting Chara and Greene this year as they did and all of a sudden the Islanders have a much faster, younger defense and overall the team has become much younger overall compared to last year. If this is the year Sorokin takes over as the #1 goaltender this team will dominate on defense for years to come.
As ex-Pen's player Ray Whitney commented this summer:
"I'm telling you right now, you can talk all you want about the goaltender for the New York Rangers, but (explicit) Sorokin is sick on Long Island. I'm telling you the Islanders are going to be a team to be reckoned with this season."
"They're gonna be a (explicit) good team, man. Their whole season was the biggest collaboration of bad luck I've ever seen a team have. They had to start the whole season on the road, they all got Covid, no canceled games, and then all of a sudden they started canceling every team's games when guys got Covid. There was no chance they (could) come back (after all that). The roster the year before had gone to the Eastern Conference Final, actually both years before. The Islanders are very good and will be very good this year."
So the Islanders might not have done much this offseason in regards to the roster but I agree with Lou, the Islanders are a good team and maybe just needed a more balanced system to take them to the next level. We'll see how the year plays out.
