The New York Islanders begin their season tonight against the New York Rangers and will look to build on last year's trip to the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Islanders have a very similar roster to last year, however, two notable members of New York’s defense group from last season are no longer with the team, after Devon Toews was traded to Colorado and Johnny Boychuk retired. While the team has strong defensive depth, losing two contributing defensemen would be a blow for any team. Something to watch for will be how much the team is affected by the departures of Toews and Boychuk.
Shifting to the forward group, there shouldn't be any changes on lines one, two or four but once again, the line that remains in question for the Islanders heading into the season is the third line. Jean-Gabriel Pageau will be a solid center but Derick Brassard is gone and it’s tough to say who’s likely to spend the majority of the year with him. Between Kieffer Bellows or Oliver Wahlstrom, we can hope that at least one of them could end up as a regular alongside Pageau this season.
There are also a few names who could be poised for a breakout year. Anthony Beauvillier looked great in the playoffs and if he picks up where he left off, he could see an increase in production. Another is, Noah Dobson, who could take advantage of a full-time spot in the lineup this season and take a big step in his development. Lastly, we can’t forget about Ilya Sorokin, who will finally join the Islanders, after dominating in Russia.
Speaking of which, there has been hype for a long time about the idea of Ilya Sorokin joining the Islanders and now, we finally get to see it play out. We can imagine Semyon Varlamov starts as the team’s go-to netminder but will Sorokin be able to win the starter’s job by season’s end?
The Islanders made it to the second round of the playoffs in 2019, then the Conference Finals this past season. With no notable offseason additions, the Islanders will hope their current group and internal additions to the roster can be enough to push them even further this season. The question is with their current roster, can the Islanders build on their success?
Puck drop is tonight at 7 p.m. For a full comparison of the Islanders and Rangers rosters, you can find that here.
***NOTE: We've launched a HockeyBuzz Islanders Twitter account! For anyone interested, you can follow @HB_Islanders for updates on articles, Islanders news, etc.***
Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Where do you see the Islanders finishing within the East Division?
New York Islanders Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»