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With Monday’s 2-1 overtime victory over Philadelphia, in which Anthony Beauvillier tallied the winning goal, the New York Islanders ascended into first place in the NHL’s East division.
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Through that game, Barry Stotz’s club had gone 13-2-1 in its last 16 contests and was sitting with a 21-8-4 record. They are second in the NHL in points gathered, and certainly not that far down on the list when it comes to favorites to win the Stanley Cup. And we’re going to cover that in just a minute.
Goaltending Has Been Strong
The Islanders may not be firing on all cylinders, but they are excellent where it counts the most these days in the NHL – they are preventing other teams from scoring against them. Semyon Varlamov has been one of the league’s very best goaltenders, with a 1.91 goals-against and .930 save percentage. He also has a glittering 5.51 figure in the metric of GSAA (Goals Saved Above Average), which carries some weight.
Yet Varlamov was not the star of Monday’s game against the Flyers – his backup was. Ilya Sorokin has long been considered a tremendous prospect, and he stopped just about everything that was sent his way as he ran his winning streak to eight consecutive starts.
The East is Extremely Competitive
The Islanders themselves had won nine straight before losing to the Washington Capitals last week. The Caps had themselves won nine of their last ten. And they loom as the most formidable challenge to the Islanders on their road to a #1 playoff seed. Indeed, they are priced at +135 to win the division.
But they are not the only one. The Pittsburgh Penguins were six points behind the Isles, with a game in hand. They are listed at +1800 to win the Cup, and +500 to win the ultra-competitive East.
And of course, many people might be looking upon the Boston Bruins as the most dangerous of these teams. As of this writing, they were trailing the Islanders by ten points, but they had five games in hand. And naturally situations like that are bound to arise when the season is so affected by postponed and/or delayed games. The Bruins are listed at +1350 to emerge with a Stanley Cup title, and +225 to win the East. If you believe they will come on as the season progresses, that might provide value.
As far as what the oddsmakers think of the Islanders’ chances, well, let’s just say that opinions are all over the place.
One of the reasons is that people are mindful about the additional games they have played, as they’ve been one of the more fortunate teams with regard to COVID-19 postponements. While, as mentioned, they are second in the NHL in points, there are six teams that have a higher points-per-game percentage then their .697. These include the Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, Washington Capitals and Colorado Avalanche.
Another factor a skeptic might point to is that they will not have their captain for the rest of the season. Anders Lee was having his best season in a few years, and was tied for the team lead in goals. But he injured his ACL, which required surgery, and is no longer available.
What this now does is greatly affect the way the Islanders approach things in advance of the April 12 trade deadline. We fully expect that they consider themselves contenders, which makes them “buyers” during this trading cycle, and the primary objective, for the time being, is to find someone who can, at least temporarily, take the place of the forceful Lee as a scorer up front.
They’ll get some salary cap relief, because of the NHL rules regarding Long-Term Injured Reserve, and keep in mind that Lee was on a contract calling for $7 million per season.
There are some options for GM Lou Lamoriello, some of which are of the “rental” variety. By and large, there are “sellers” (i.e., non-contenders) who would like to get something for them. Taylor Hall was the Hart Trophy winner in 2018, and the Buffalo Sabres have him on the market. Buffalo might also be willing to part with Sam Reinhart for the right price, and even Jack Eichel is not untouchable, although the Sabres’ team captain would probably be off the table for now because a neck injury has him on injured reserve.
Then there is New Jersey forward Kyle Palmieri, who scored 132 goals in the five seasons prior to this one. Currently with the New Jersey Devils, he is a local kid, having grown up on Long Island.
And there are others.
In a small bit of good news, the Islanders may not have to spend some of that pre-deadline time looking for an extra defenseman. Thomas Hickey came back and played for them for the first time in two years, and had two assists in a 6-1 win over the Flyers last Saturday.
He’ll be in their top six only until Noah Dobson comes back from dealing with his COVID issues. But if he can fill a need in that “depth” category, it allows Lamoriello and Trotz to save themselves some resources they can perhaps throw into a package for a Lee stop-gap.
We’d admit the mood isn’t sky-high after the loss of their captain, but the way they handle the trade deadline might make the difference between whether the Islanders are real contenders or mere pretenders.
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