The New York Islanders’ season is over. Though it’s not the way you’d like to see things go and you’d hope the Islanders would have been able to win at least game or two in the series, all in all, this was an excellent year.
You can spend time picking apart New York’s second round loss and what went wrong or you can look at the positives of the season and how the team made it further than most people had ever predicted. The Islanders lost their captain, arguably the face of the franchise, which for many teams would be deflating and far too much to overcome. New York instead used the opportunity to show that they can contend on their own.
At the forefront of the Islanders’ season was Robin Lehner’s remarkable comeback story, propelling him to a Vezina nomination. Thomas Greiss also rebounded from a brutal 2017-18 season to set new personal bests for himself in save percentage and goals against average. Add Ilya Sorokin into the mix in the next little while and the Islanders’ future in net looks very bright.
Though Mathew Barzal’s production was down from his rookie season, 62 points is a great number for what many would call a “sophomore slump…. There shouldn’t be any doubts that he’ll rebound from what you can’t really even call a down year. Meanwhile, Anders Lee owned his role as captain showing up to play each game even when others didn’t and even Jordan Eberle rebounded from the worst regular season of his career to play a big part in sweeping Pittsburgh. Brock Nelson set a career best in points while Josh Bailey saw his production slip from a year ago but was still a key contributor. With questions surrounding three of the Islanders’ five top five forwards in terms of contracts for next year, if this core can stick around and the team adds a forward or two, New York will have a solid base for offense next season.
On the backend, this season really solidified Ryan Pulock as a top defenseman. He led the Islanders by almost three minutes in playoff TOI/GP and in the regular season, he was generally reliable defensively and was better offensively than any other Islanders defenseman. Nick Leddy also gets a lot of flack and though his production was way down compared to previous years, this was also the first year since 2014-15 that he wasn’t in the negatives in plus-minus (though he was as close as you can get). We also got a first NHL look at Devon Toews who showed real promise and can be a key member of the blue line in the coming seasons.
Away from specifically just players, bringing in Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz gave the Islanders an excellent management structure and a coach far better than any they’ve had in a long time. Between the two of them, the Islanders are in great hands for many years to come.
Overall, this was a great season for the New York Islanders. There was a whole lot to be positive about and it only builds momentum for the coming years. With questions surrounding the Columbus Blue Jackets for next year, while the core players in Pittsburgh and Washington aren’t getting any younger, a few additions in the offseason could solidify the Islanders as a contender in the Metropolitan again next season.
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