Over the next few weeks, we will be offering you a detailed analysis of the 31 NHL clubs: the work of the general manager, the draft, the trades, the free agents, the outlook for the future. Today, the New York Islanders.
Posted on April 15, 2020 at 12:01 p.m.
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CURRENT SITUATION
One wondered what kind of mess Lou Lamoriello, at 75, was getting into when he accepted the Islanders GM in 2018. The team had won only one round of the playoffs since their semi-final against the Canadiens in 1993 and the team’s main star, John Tavares, threatened to quit. The captain accepted a staggering offer from the Maple Leafs weeks later, and Lamoriello, for only changes, was content to hire support players Valtteri Filppula, Tom Kuhnhackl, Leo Komarov, Matt Martin (obtained in a trade) and goalie Robin Lehner. Coach Barry Trotz left the Washington Capitals only 14 days after winning the Stanley Cup to join the Islanders. To everyone’s surprise, the team won 48 games last year and reached the second round of the playoffs. She was fighting for a playoff spot during the season hiatus.
The Garth Snow era, Lamoriello’s predecessor, was tumultuous, but Snow had become a better general manager by the time of his firing. He left the team in good shape, thanks in part to many players drafted and developed by the organization. Most of the team’s important players are in their prime. Number one center Mathew Barzal is younger, at 22, but Anders Lee, Brock Nelson, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Pulock, Adam Pelech, Devon Toews and Nick Leddy are all between 25 and 29. Only Eberle and Leddy were not drafted by the team.
The Islanders are set to welcome the most dominant outside goalie in the NHL, 23-year-old Ilya Sorokin, a 2014 third round pick. We’ll see soon enough if Sorokin’s fabulous KHL stats aren’t spiked. by the power of his club, CSKA Moscow.
DRAFT (2009-2019)
The Islanders made a few mistakes early in the draft in the last decade, but each time Garth Snow was able to correct the mistake in time. Griffin Reinhart, fourth overall pick in 2012, netted first and second round picks before his star went out and allowed the team to draft Mathew Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier in 2015. Ryan Strome, fifth pick at total in 2011, Jordan Eberle reported. Patience would perhaps have been in order in his case since he has just released 26 years this year with Rangers, his third club. Michael Dal Colle’s pick for fifth place in 2014 wasn’t great, but if you add up the number of players drafted and developed by the team over the years, no matter what round they were picked, the total is impressive. Four of the team’s top six forwards, Barzal, Nelson, Lee and Bailey, and four of the top five defensemen, Pulock, Toews, Mayfield and Pelech, were drafted by the organization. This defense is vastly underestimated. Of the group, only Pulock was drafted in the first round. Trent Klatt led the draft between 2010 and 2015, in which the Islanders unearthed most of his important players. He took a break to connect with his family and lead young teams. Klatt has been replaced by Vellu Kautonen, but he continues to work for the Islanders, working closely with Kautonen. Lamoriello’s loyal New Jersey associate, David Conte, has been brought back into the fold as an advisor.
Best shot
Anders Lee, forward, sixth round, 152e in total in 2009.
Lee was drafted the year Tavares was the first overall pick. He was on his way to a fifth consecutive season of more than 25 goals and he had one of 34 and another of 40.
Worst shot
Michael Dal Colle, striker, 5e in total in 2014.
Dal Colle eventually reached the NHL, but he had just ten points, including four goals, in 53 games. He was preferred over William Nylander, Nikolaj Ehlers, Kevin Fiala, Jakub Vrana, Dylan Larkin, David Pastrnak and several others.
Best hope
Noah Dobson, defender, 12e in total in 2018.
The Islanders preferred to integrate him into their team this year instead of sending him back to the juniors, but he played very little. The potential of this right-handed defender remains very high.
TRADES
Lou Lamoriello had hardly been active since the start of his reign on Long Island before offering the Ottawa Senators first and second round picks for Jean-Gabriel Pageau and a second round (2021) pick for the Devils. of New Jersey for defenseman Andy Greene. He has retained Pageau’s services for the long term, but Greene will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. The reinforcement has not been useful so far due to the interruption of the season.
Prior to his arrival, Garth Snow had had his fill of picks by trading Griffin Reinhart for first and second round picks and Travis Hamonic for one first round pick and two second round picks. Snow had done the opposite in previous years by squandering choices and hopes for short-term solutions. He seems to have finally figured it out, but was he acting under the insistence of former owner Charles Wang, who died in 2018?
Best shot
First and second round picks to the Oilers for young defenseman Griffin Reinhart in 2015. The Islanders were able to draft Mathew Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier with those picks (we offered an additional pick to move from the start of the second round to the end of the first one). Reinhart flopped in Edmonton.
Pire coup (Garth Snow)
First-round and second-round picks in 2015, and Matt Moulson, at the Buffalo Sabers for Thomas Vanek on Oct. 27, 2013. Vanek did not finish the season on Long Island and he was traded to the Canadiens for Sebastian Collberg and a second round pick. Ilya Samsonov, Brock Boeser, Travis Konecny and Sebastian Aho were still available in the first round with this choice finally ceded from the Sabers to the Senators.
AUTONOMOUS PLAYERS
Garth Snow gave his worst contract of 2016 when he offered Andrew Ladd $ 38m for seven years despite clear signs of slowing down. The Islanders are still stuck with that contract four years later. Ladd spent most of the winter in the American League. Lou Lamoriello believed he had gotten rid of it by trading it back for Zach Parise at the trade deadline, but the blow ended at the last moment. He would have gotten a more productive player, but under contract for longer. The acquisitions of Mikhail Grabovski (4 years / $ 20 million) and Nikolai Kulemin (4 years / $ 16 million) in 2014 were also swords in the water. Lamoriello is not a big spender, but he offered 20 million for four years to goalkeeper Semyon Varlamov in July 2019 to fill the void left by Robin Lehner’s departure. Under the teachings of Mitch Korn, one of the League’s most renowned goalkeeper coaches, Varlamov is having a very good season.
Best Shot (Lou Lamoriello)
Robin Lehner, one year / $ 1.5m in July 2018. Lehner gave the Islanders a big year last season and got the team through the first round.
Pire coup (Garth Snow)
Andrew Ladd, whose contract will occupy $ 5.5 million of the club’s payroll until 2023. Ladd has obtained 72 points in 181 games since arriving in Long Island.
Ten seasons (two rounds won, five exclusions)
2010-2011 : 30-39-13, 14e East, OUT
2011-2012 : 34-37-11, 14e East, OUT.
2012-2013 : 24-17-7, 8e East, first round loss.
2013-2014 : 34-37-11, 14e East, OUT.
2014-2015 : 47-28-7, 5e East, first round loss.
2015-2016 : 45-27-10, 5e East, second round.
2016-2017 : 41-29-12, 9e East, OUT.
2017-2018 : 35-37-10, 11e East, OUT.
2018-2019 : 48-27-7, 4e East, second round.
2019-2020 : 35-23-10, 9e East, (two points off last playoff spot, but with two more games to play than the Columbus Blue Jackets, eighth).
(Tomorrow: New York Rangers)
TO READ
Gilbert Dionne struck the imagination during the playoffs in 1993 with 12 points in 20 games, en route to a Stanley Cup, the Canadiens’ last. But he will have been a shooting star. Two years later, he was no longer in the NHL. But he will always be able to tease his big brother, the illustrious Marcel, who obtained 1631 more points, but does not have a Cup. Gilbert works on trains today. Richard Labbé spoke to him. A fascinating read.
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