Right off the bat, this isn’t just supposed to be a “The New York Islanders need more offense… article so I apologize if it comes across as such. This is going to look specifically at why this is the case and just how much the team relied on their goaltending last season.
For starters, the Islanders finished 29th in shots for per game last season. They were outshot 2534 to 2360 last season (30.9 to 28.8 per game average) and while they did very slightly outshoot their opponents at home, on the road they were outshot 1324 to 1128 (32.3 to 27.5 per game average). Luckily for the Islanders, 13 of their 21 skaters to play at least 25 games were on the ice with above a shooting percentage of at least 9.0%. For reference, the Carolina Hurricanes, who ousted the Islanders in the second round, only had six skaters with an on-ice shooting percentage of 9.0% or higher. Essentially, goaltenders generally didn't perform well against the Islanders last season.
Despite this, the Islanders still finished 22nd in goals for last season (Dallas was the only other playoff team not to crack the top-20). What New York and Dallas both had in common that got them to the playoffs though was stellar goaltending, with the two teams occupying the top-two spots for least goals against last season. One well-documented area where the Islanders can look to find some of these goals? Improving their power play, which ranked 29th in the NHL last year, operating at under 15%.
This isn’t meant to discredit what the Islanders pulled off last season and I realize this is coming across as pretty negative. New York does have a solid base of forwards, between Josh Bailey, Jordan Eberle, Anders Lee, Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal– who’s only going to improve. It’s just to say that their offensive problems were masked at least a little bit by their goaltending and unless a solution is found this year, the Islanders may fall short of the postseason. I’m not saying anything here that people don’t know in terms of the need for goals. But whether it's moving Nick Leddy, getting a big year out of Anthony Beauvillier or something else, the Islanders desperately need to find a way to drive more offense because putting the same amount of pressure on Semyon Varlamov may not come with excellent results this time around.
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