Islanders Midseason Report

At his initial press conference, incoming Islanders GM Kyle Phillips was emphatic that he wasn't going to be satisfied with carrying on the tradition of mediocrity that had been established on Long Island over the years.

But halfway into his inaugural season, that's exactly what has happened.

Despite a number of high-profile moves to support the existing core, the Isles sit right in the middle of the league standings with a 27-20-0 record, and find themselves clinging to a wildcard spot in the Eastern conference.

Not exactly the results that Phillips (or Islanders fans) were hoping for after shipping out two first round picks and a number of prospects, along the way to bumping the team's payroll to within a whisker of the EHE salary cap.

"Nope, I'm not gonna sugar-coat it," said Phillips after watching his team get shut out by division rival New Jersey. "I'm not happy with this group."

"Some of the core guys have been good, some not so much. Same with the new guys. Some have been what we were hoping when we brought them in, and some have been really disappointing.

"Put it all together, and this team has been average."

To Phillips's point, the Islanders' performance has certainly been a mixed bag. Starting the year with a 2-7-0 record put them behind the 8 ball early on. A coaching change and a 15-5 record over the next 20 games righted the ship to some degree, but that was followed up by a 10-8-0 stretch, leaving the team in its current middle-of-the-table predicament. Zero overtime/shootout losses has contributed to that, with the Isles showing a notable inability to salvage any points from their defeats.

Fittingly, the team's individual performances have also been hit-or-miss. 44 and 40 points, respectively, from Nathan MacKinnon and Mitch Marner, is reasonable production for first-line players, but hardly matches their superstar reputations. Meanwhile, a combined 34 goals from William Nylander, Patrik Laine, and Nick Suzuki means the team simply hasn't gotten enough secondary production from their supposed top-6 players.

Jakub Vrana has been good since being added in a significant early-season trade, with 22 points in 29 games. But that hasn't been enough to offset the disappointing production of fellow necomers Jared McCann and Jake DeBrusk, who have chipped in a meagre 8 goals over 76 combined contests.

Things look much the same on the back end, where franchise fixture Dougie Hamilton has had a stinker of a campaign, notching just 19 points in 47 games along with an ugly plus/minus of -15. (Only one other regular—fourth liner Trevor Lewis—is in the double-digits in that category.)

Erik Karlsson, meanwhile, has been perfectly cromulent since arriving from Ottawa, but hasn't elevated the defense group the way it was hoped he could, chipping in just 15 points.

So far, the only true home-run addition has been goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, whose 20 wins, 2.22 GAA and .924 save percentage with the Islanders have him in the conversation for a Vezina nod. But even his performace has slipped of late, exposing the Islanders as a team that can't seem to overcome an off night from their goalie.

There is, of course, a lot of hockey left to be played. But Phillips doesn't sound as if he's in a patient mood.

"I had my doubts about this core when I arrived, and they haven't done anything to change my mind so far. You look at the high-profile guys who've been here the longest, you look at what little they've accomplished as a group, and you look at the support they've gotten this year, from ownership on down, and I think they have a lot to prove.

"At this stage you really have to wonder if there's something wrong with the mix of this team. And I'm not saying there are drastic changes coming, but at the same time I don't think anyone should feel safe."