2023-24 season: 39-27-16, 3rd in Metropolitan Division, 7th in Eastern Conference, 15th in league, lost 1st Round against Carolina 4-1.
For the 3rd time in 6 seasons, the New York Islanders got eliminated by the Carolina Hurricanes. This time it happened with them being complete loser point capitalists, having had 16 overtime/shootout losses. They are the biggest reason this season why I am for returning to having ties be a thing again. The NHL should revert back to 10 minute overtimes, where if you lose in overtime, it's 0 points in the standings, and ties are 1 point. Keeping 3 on 3 for the full 10 minutes would also keep the loser merchants like the Islanders from cheating the system. The Islanders have some good players and enough skill to get by on most nights, but it isn't helping that Lou Lamoriello keeps trying to remake the New Jersey Devils model, which only ever worked when their goalie played well enough to stop 20 shots. It's also worth acknowledging that Lou never evolved past his failing model, which by 2013 wasn't working. He only got the job on the Islanders as a legacy name and he hasn't been able to build the strong defense that you need for a goalie-first kind of team.
This season was as average a season that was had in the NHL. The high points weren't very high, and the low points never were rock-bottom. But when they were 4 games above .500, the Godfather, Lou Lamoriello, fired Lane Lambert and replaced him with Patrick Roy, who I thought would never leave the QMJHL for a Cup contender, let alone leaving for Fishtown. As a result of him leaving for Brooklyn, the Islanders went on 2 separate 6-game winning streaks to finish 3rd in a weak Metropolitan Division race. The offense somehow picked up the pace, which is showing that maybe he changed his style a little bit since leaving Colorado, but it still wasn't good enough for Carolina. With goaltending supposedly being their strong suit, I expected that to be how they would win a series, even though I knew Carolina had them beat. But they blew a 3-goal lead for the first time in their playoff history and lost 5-3 in Game 2, switched goalies twice during the series, and after rallying to tie Game 5, allowed 3 goals in the 3rd period to lose the series. Their goaltending was also barely average most of the season, with Sorokin and Varlamov combining for only 10.5 goals saved above expected. Sorokin was again expected to maintain the starting job, but his .909 save percentage led to him losing it to Semyon Varlamov. With a better team defense they strung together a lot of wins, but as the only playoff team with less than 40 wins it's pretty obvious they overachieved last year.
Anthony Duclair was New York's prized free agent, and it was a rare occurrence where Lou Lamoriello brought in outside talent to help their scoring problems. They do a good job staying out of their own end with Patrick Roy coaching them, but when they are in the offensive zone they don't seem to know what to do. Duclair is a net-front presence with a proven track record of being able to play up and down the lineup, and he will provide a small boost to the team. Regardless, I still think Lou's on the hot seat to be fired if the team doesn't make the playoffs, which I don't think they will. I'm not expecting anything big from the Islanders, and even though I think they improved this offseason, I think that they won't overachieve like they did last year. I think they will finish 41-31-10, 5th in the Metropolitan Division, 9th in the Eastern Conference, and 17th in the league, and they will without a doubt be the best team to miss the playoffs this season.
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