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The New York Islanders began their offseason with a move nobody saw coming, as the team fired head coach Barry Trotz and named Lane Lambert as his replacement.
In Trotz’s four years as head coach, he managed to turn the team around, bringing them to the postseason in three straight years and the third round twice. His tenure was viewed as a pretty major success and of all the possible moves for the Islanders to make after missing the playoffs, letting Trotz go didn’t seem to be a realistic one.
Here we are though, with New York’s offseason off to a pretty wild start. While at least it’s clear that general manager Lou Lamoriello is going to be aggressive in trying to improve the team, having Trotz take the fall this season didn’t feel at all warranted and we better also see Lamoriello make some pretty significant moves to improve the team.
New York was in a spot where they were expected to be a top contender in the Eastern Conference and now, the question is what they will do from here. The Islanders have a roster where a good chunk of their core players are in their late 20s and early 30s, meaning they definitely have a window to compete with the current group. That’s not to say they can’t have sustained success long-term but up front, for example, the group of Brock Nelson, Josh Bailey, Anders Lee, Kyle Palmieri and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (five clear top-nine forwards), all range between the ages of 29 and 32 years old. Most of the forwards likely only have a couple more quality years left and some have arguably already started showing signs of decline in performance. This is all to say that with most still under term for a few more years with various forms of trade protection, we can be sure the Islanders are looking to compete now and the possibility of blowing things up after a single disappointing season isn’t a possibility.
New York will be looking to add in the offseason, but it’s a matter of what Lou Lamoriello can get done. It’s been clear for a long time that the team needs more talent at the top of their forward group and while some decent secondary scoring has been added with the likes of Pageau and Palmieri, the Islanders need to go bigger.
Vladimir Tarasenko was available last season which seemed like a perfect fit, but nothing got done. I’m not saying they go that route this offseason necessarily, but that level of top talent is what the team needs to actually compete. They should also be looking to improve the left side of their defense group after Devon Toews and Nick Leddy were dealt away in consecutive years. That said, cap space is another factor.
The Islanders have about $12 million in cap space heading into the offseason, but Noah Dobson will need a new contract, as will Kieffer Bellows and potentially Andy Greene, Sebastian Aho and who knows, maybe even Zdeno Chara. The team still has some wiggle room but if they were going to make major moves, we could see them try to move out a contract to give them more flexibility.
There will be a lot more offseason coverage coming in the next few weeks but the bottom line is if the Islanders are going to get back into a spot where they can contend next season, this will have to have to be an aggressive offseason from Lou Lamoriello.
Quizwiz
OTHER ARTICLES FROM MAY
2021-22 Season Recap: New York Islanders
Islanders fire Barry Trotz
Islanders will select 13th overall in 2022 NHL Draft
Mathew Barzal and Kieffer Bellows participating in WHC
Islanders name Lane Lambert head coach, Chara named Masterton finalist 
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