New York Islanders Season Preview: 2022-23

After an off-season of angst, introspection, and change, the New York Islanders opened training camp this weekend with one goal in mind for 2022-23: winning their first Stanley Cup championship.

Lofty ambition for a team that has declined from squeaking out a wildcard spot two years ago to missing the playoffs entirely last year? Perhaps, but from management to the coaching staff to the players, it's clear that no one on the Island is interested in lowering their standards.

"When I came here in January I set a high bar, and that's not going to change as long as I have this job," said General Manager Kyle Phillips. "Obviously we didn't even get close to where we wanted to go last season, but that just makes all of us determined to make things right this year."

Indeed, Head Coach Mike Sullivan set a gruelling pace in the team's first on-ice session Sunday morning; not a single puck touched the ice during two hours of intense skating drills which seemed specifically designed to weed out any players who couldn't handle the physical and mental grind.

"This is where you gotta be," Sullivan could be heard telling his team during a brief whiteboard session. "There's no surprises. We need you at this level. Not in the playoffs, not in game thirty, not on opening night. Right. Now."

Team captain Nathan MacKinnon, meanwhile, seemed to take things one step further post-practice in his first media availability of the season.

"We're not here to just make the playoffs and hope for the best," said the eight-year EHE vet.

"That's loser shit. Our goal is to win a championship, and anyone who isn't on board with that can stay home, because we don't need them."

FORWARDS

In just 12 months, the Islanders' forward group has been drastically overhauled; the only returnees from Opening Night 2021-22 are MacKinnon, Mitch Marner, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Rasmus Asplund.

Whatever else can be said about the alterations, they have not left the Isles lacking in finishing talent, and in theory this is a team that shouldn't have trouble producing offense either at 5v5 or on the powerplay. And yet, the current top nine forwards averaged a paltry 18 goals per 82 games last season, leading to a dismal 24th-place ranking in goals for.

On that front the lion's share of the blame belongs to MacKinnon and Marner who, despite their superstar status, finished 39th and 80th in league scoring respectively, and combined for a pedestrian 67 goals. Their supporting cast didn't exactly step up either, with early-season additions Jakub Vrana (20 goals in 64 games) and Jared McCann (14 goals in 73 games) failing to inject much life into the Isles' attack. Eriksson Ek, meanwhile, lit the lamp just 11 times despite being given extended looks on the powerplay.

The hope is that the offseason additions of Tomas Hertl and Andrei Svechnikov will ignite new chemistry in the top 6, while more traditional checking elements in the bottom of the lineup will give opponents a different look to deal with on a nightly basis.

DEFENSE

Much like the forwards, the Isles' defense corps saw radical change over the course of the last calendar year. That said, the group of seven projected to start the 22-23 season is identical to the one that closed out the 21-22 campaign, so it will be interesting to see if continuity is something that works in their favour. Certainly the Islanders' coaching staff will be hoping it does, as the team is coming off a season in which they ranked 3rd in Goals Against, 6th in Shots Against, and 10th in Shots For/Against Percentage.

The feeling is that such numbers were built on a collective ability to defend and attack in equal measure, and all signs point to that being the strategy once again with Erik Karlsson leading the offensive charge and two-way studs Rasmus Dahlin and Gustav Forsling offering support. Ryan McDonagh and Vladislav Gavrikov, meanwhile, will be leaned on for the more old-school defensive duties of shot blocking and crease clearing.

GOALTENDERS

The Islanders will be introducing a new backup in the form of veteran Anton Khudobin, but otherwise this will be another area of continuity for the team with Stuart Skinner returning to his role as #3 on the depth chart and Sergei Bobrovsky stepping back into the starter's role he made his own last season.

Indeed, Bobrovsky made good on the high-profile gamble the Islanders took when they surrendered two high draft picks to acquire him, posting a 2.39 GAA (3rd among qualified starters), .922 Sv% (T-3rd), with 7 shutouts (1st) across 62 starts, a stat line that saw him finish as first runner-up for the Vezina Trophy.

If the man known as "Bob" can come anywhere close to replicating those numbers, the Islanders crease will be in great shape, with Khudobin (.912 Sv% in 2021-22) and presumptive starter-in-waiting Skinner representing high-quality options to share the load. 

So where does all this leave the Islanders heading into a new season? On paper they have all the hallmarks of a Cup contender. But as they and their followers learned the hard way last season, looking good on paper counts for nothing when the games are played.

It is encouraging that Phillips and his staff worked tirelessly in the offseason to improve the chemistry of a group that just never clicked in 2021-22, but at this point it's impossible to say if that will be enough to change the team's fortunes.

At the very least it seems reasonable to expect the Isles to be in the thick of the playoff race right to the end. The real question is whether they will make that a race for a top seed in the Conference—thereby living up to their own high standards—or whether they will once again be relegated to scrapping for their playoff lives.

Marc-Andre Dore

Great article... graphics are amazing

New York Islanders Season Preview: 2022-23

• 1 teams Like this  2 years

Tommy Barr

As always ... love the Graphics!

New York Islanders Season Preview: 2022-23

• 1 teams Like this  2 years