The New York Islanders have not gotten off to a great start to the season this year; for a team that went to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, this is surely a disappointing start. What is Wrong with the New York Islanders? What can be done to fix their issues?
Issues with New York Islanders:
1. Lack of Goal Scoring
2. Defense isn't as good
3. Team is too old
4. Injuries
The New York Islanders are last in the Metropolitan division and have scored the second-fewest goals in the entire league. A big reason for this is the loss of Jordan Eberle to the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft. Eberle had been a major part of their team and was one of their more reliable offensive players last year. After losing Eberle, the Islanders re-sign Kyle Palmieri and signed Zach Parise to provide depth scoring. The Isles have only scored 29 goals this season, only the Arizona Coyotes have scored fewer goals this season.
One of the strengths of the Islanders teams' under Barry Trotz is the defense, but their defense hasn't been as good this year. They traded away Nick Leddy, who had been a major part of their defense for a long time, and that left the left side of their defense pretty weak. Zdeno Chara was brought in to provide some depth on defense, but he clearly is two years past retirement.
Another major issue with the New York Islanders is that the team is too old. The Average age for forwards on the Islanders is 28.8 years old; Zach Parise is the oldest player at 37 years old, followed by Cal Clutterbuck, who is 33, and Matt Martin at 32 years of age. The Average age for defensemen on the Islanders is 30.3 years old; Zdeno Chara is 44 and Andy Greene is 39. The NHL is a young man's game, and having so many players on the roster over the age of 30 definitely have attributed to their slow start.
A big part of the reason why the team had a slow start to the season is due to injuries. Semyon Varlamov missed the first 10 games of the season for the Islanders, Anders Lee is off to a slow start because he is coming off an ACL injury. Ryan Pulock will miss a couple weeks due to a lower-body injury, which will leave their defense severely depleted. Josh Bailey is also going to miss some time due to COVID.
In order to fix the team, the Islanders will need to make a few trades.
Trades:
New York Islanders trade Zdeno Chara, 2022 2nd round pick to the Boston Bruins for Derek Forbort.
Zdeno Chara gets to go back to Boston to finish out his career, while the Islanders get a big, physical defenseman in Derek Forbort to stabilize the back-end.
The Islanders also trade Kieffer Bellows, Sebastian Aho to the Buffalo Sabres for Jacob Bryson, Rasmus Asplund.
This trade is great for both teams and all players involved; hopefully Bryson and Asplund can take their game to the next level.
Semyon Varlamov is traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Joonas Korpisalo, Andrew Peeke, 2022 2nd round pick.
The Islanders trade away Varlamov, so they can hand over the reigns to Sorokin, and at the same time bolster their defense.
This is how the lineup looks like after the trades:
A.Lee-M.Barzal-O.Wahlstrom
R.Asplund-B.Nelson-A.Beauvillier
Z.Parise-JG Pagueau-K.Palmieri
M.Martin-C.Cizikas-C.Clutterbuck
A.Pelech-S.Mayfield
D.Forbort-N.Dobson
J.Bryson-A.Peeke
I.Sorokin
J.Korpisalo
IR: R.Pulock, J.Bailey
The Islanders have a younger and deeper team that should have a little more firepower in the lineup down the stretch.
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