Islanders Have Building Blocks, But No Direction

The New York Islanders are one of those teams in a dreaded position. The team is not good enough to be contenders and win the Stanley Cup, but also not bad enough to be a lottery team and get a game-changer in the draft without some real luck.

The Islanders are two games under .500 and sit 13th in the Eastern Conference, but the conference also isn't that good and it will be easier to make the playoffs than in the West. That being said, injuries have hurt the team or they would have a few more wins at least. New York is still dealing with some injuries, but not major ones anymore.

It is tough to imagine the team making the playoffs this season with the ground they have to make up and the makeup of their team. There are some very good core pieces to build around with Ilya Sorokin, Mathew Barzal, Noah Dobson, and Bo Horvat, but beyond that there are question marks and changes that need to be made.

Those four players mentioned cover forward, defense, and goaltending, which is a good start, but a lot more is needed to be competitive and win. Brock Nelson is very unlikely to re-sign, so the Islanders will either play out the season and lose him for nothing or deal him to actually bring back something of value. There are many old pieces on the team that Lou Lamoriello is still hanging onto from the 2020 and 2021 playoff runs. Over that time (three years), the Islanders have had three different head coaches, missed playoffs, and been eliminated in the first round twice.

It isn't a bad time for Anders Lee to have a resurgence, but his contract is also tough to trade. The same goes with JG Pageau, except his is easier to buyout or dump after the season. With one of the best goaltenders in the world in Sorokin under contract long term, Lamoriello re-signed 35-year-old Semyon Varlamov to a four-year deal.

The hope is that Anthony Duclair, Maxim Tsyplakov, and Simon Holmstrom will all continue to contribute with secondary scoring, but Kyle Palmieri is another player who should probably be dealt while his trade value is high. Things are gloomy for the Islanders and Palmieri is on the back-9 of his career. The team isn't likely to turn things around and win shortly, so in the last year of his deal, he might be looking to go somewhere he has a chance to win while he's playing well. The Islanders should take advantage of that and move him as well.

The fourth line and extra forwards has to have a major overhaul. The team has hung onto the veterans that worked well together so many years ago and it isn't the same anymore.

Some prospects are on their way, but not quick enough. A major change has to happen because it makes no sense for the core players (other than Dobson), who were signed long-term, to be moved or left in limbo for the majority of their contracts. It starts with management making all of these poor decisions that have gotten the Islanders to where they are. But at the very least, the team has to choose a direction because the Islanders aren't winning and they are getting any game-breakers from the draft either.