Swinging for the Fences Pt. II

A year and a half ago, in the midst of what had been, to that point, a successful 2022-23 season, New York Islanders brass took a look at their star-studded roster and decided something was missing.

Call it depth, call it leadership, call it 'x' factor—whatever it was, the club felt they still needed something to push them into the echelon of true Stanley Cup contenders.

Their answer? Go all-in on acquiring legendary EHE centerman Patrice Bergeron for a package of futures.

The result? With Bergeron in the lineup, the Islanders posted a winning percentage of .707, a goals-per-game average over 4, and finished second overall in the league.

It all fell apart, of course, when Bergeron went down with a season-ending injury and the team bowed out in the first round of the playoffs. Nevertheless, the Islanders seemed to have found the formula to unlocking their potential.

Fast forward to today, and the organization is trying to use the same formula to solve the same problems.

Call it depth, call it leadership—call it missing the playoffs for the sixth time in 10 seasons. Whatever the case, the Islanders are again turning to a legendary EHE centerman to set things right, this time acquiring Steven Stamkos in a blockbuster trade with the Los Angeles Kings.

It's a move that, on paper, makes all the sense in the world: a roster whose main struggle in 2023-24 was putting the puck in the net (the Isles ranked 15th in goals for) will now feature the EHE's all-time leader in goals, points, powerplay goals, and shots on goal.

On top of that, the acquisition cost, while steep (Ryan McLeod, Justin Barron, Francesco Pinelli, and a 2025 1st round pick), subtracted almost nothing of consequence from the Islanders' lineup for next season.

It should be a perfect match. And it's a box that Isles GM Kyle Phillips has been trying to check for almost a year, with his pursuit of Stamkos last December basically an open secret around the league.

The question is: now that Stamkos has finally landed on Long Island, will it work out on the ice?

"Yeah, I better hope so," said Phillips on a late-night media call just a few hours after news of the trade broke. "I've always said I wanted my record to speak for itself, and right now it's not saying anything good.

"As a group we've pretty much fallen flat on our dicks for the last three years, and it's getting to the point where jobs are on the line, mine included."

As for the man of the hour himself, Stamkos said he had mixed emotions when he got the call from Kings GM Todd Snider.

"It was surreal for sure," said Stamkos. "Of course there were rumours for a while, and we had moved on from Kuch (Nikita Kucherov) and Johnny (Gaudreau) so I was kinda the last man standing in that sense.

"But I was in LA for seven years, still had two years on my contract...in a way you kinda just think you'll always be there.

"I loved LA, I was proud to be a King. But I'm excited to go to New York. That's a team that's always trying to win, there's a lot of talent there, and I'm just gonna try to do my part and fit in."

For an Islanders team that was still looking for their proverbial missing piece, "fitting in" would mean elevating a whole franchise to elite status. That's the kind of thing only a tiny handful players around the league could possibly hope to achieve.

But the Islanders believe they have just added one of those players—again.