Summer Coolers: The New York Islanders
the New York Islanders new general manager Matthew Darsh placing Lou Amarello. And I think one of the first places to start statistically with this club that missed the playoffs last year, 500 record, 12th in the East, 23rd overall in the league. The special teams would be dreadful. Both special teams coaches were Smith at the end of last season. Power play was 31st. Penalty killing was 31st. And when you add those two numbers up, it comes to 62. And that was the worst special teams index in the NHL. Let’s talk about their ads. Picked up Emil Heinman and the 16th and 17th overall picks in the draft in the Noah Dobson deal. That was Victor Ecklund who is the brother of William Ecklund who plays for the San Jose Sharks. He’s a right-wing and defenseman Kashan Herson also was selected with one of those picks. They also pick up David Rit. Goalender signed as a UFA from the LA Kings. One year $1 million. This is somewhat of a safety blanket. In the event that Sidian Varlamoff cannot return to form, he is expected to training camp this year. And the Islanders also signed Jonathan Duan. Two years, 4 million per year coming out of Colorado. Let’s hit the RFA UFA resigns. We’re going to start with the UFAS first. Kyle Parmary re-ups two years, 4.75 per year. and Tony D’Angelo one year 1.75 million but I think more intriguing are the RFAS that Dar was able to keep on board first was Alexander Romanos defenseman eightyear 625 million so you’d have to think that he is being looked at as the top backliner on the Islanders and they also resigned defenseman Adam Bokefist right-wing Simon Holmstrom center Matt Gholm and right-wing Maxine Ciplov who I thought had a pretty decent year last season, two years, 2.5 million and the Islanders and Ciplov were able to come to an agreement before they went to arbitration. They lose no adoption in the trade with Montreal to bring Neil Heinman in. And Mike Riley, as we mentioned earlier, signed as a UFA by the Carolina Hurricanes. So, this is an interesting club, Neil, and you’ve seen so much of them over the last couple of years. They don’t have a lot in their prospect pool, so it’s almost what is what you get. It’s going to be a very interesting new look Islanders because without Lamarello around there with an iron fist on every single syllable that’s uttered in the building and a new rookie GM a whole new outlook. They are not going to be the team that started last season. They don’t have Noah Dobson who is clearly number one defenseman and they don’t have really anybody as offensively gifted back there as Noah Dobson. Romanov is not an offensively gifted player. He’s a good backliner that get good defensively and can hit you and knock you out, but he’s not a guy that you’re going to put on the power play. Tony D’Angelo can play the power play, does play the power play, but he’s not Dobson. He doesn’t have the rocket that Dobson had or has, but he’s moved on to Montreal. The other guy that they’re going to really miss at the beginning of the season at least is Brock Nelson, who Lula Melo traded at the deadline to Colorado. And so without those two power players, Dobson and Brock Nelson, and a power play that was 31st in the league to begin with, they’re going to have to do some miracles to make this power play be very effective. They still have Horvat. They brought in Jonathan Druan who really improved his game while with Colorado and has rectified his career after being a very high pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning if you remember. And then Tampa Bay traded him to Montreal. And so you’ve also got the question mark of Matthew Barzelle coming back from a broken kneecap. How is he going to be? Is it healed? Is he okay? Will he be the same? I agree with you that Ciplov had a good year. Holstrom had a real good year for them. And if those two improve their trajectory getting better, that will really help the Islanders. Anders Lee, the captain, fantastic season last year. I can’t say enough about him. The way he played, he had a career year in my mind, but he’s getting older. He’s not going to keep going upwards. He’s going to actually either stay the same or go down a little bit. And then you’ve got the question mark of Anthony Duclair who took personal time off because the coach criticized him or that was what was said. That’s why he was taking personal time at the end of the season and never came back. So that’s your forward group. And we’ve talked a little bit about their defense. the newcomer, the first overall pick, Matthew Schaefer, if he makes the team, which they probably will, we’ll see after 10 games because if he’s still there after 10 games, he’s on the team because they’re not going to burn up a year of his entry level contract. We’ll see what we can get out of him. That’s an unknown for now anyways. Everybody in the hockey world thinks he’s going to be great and be your number one guy. Maybe he’ll be the number one guy right away like a Dennis Podman, but we have to wait on that. That second pair of Pelican and Pulock, our veterans that we saw last year along with Mayfield, we know what they can bring. It’s not a great team. It’s a team that’s looking to the future, an organization that’s looking to the future. They’re not looking to the present. So, the present has a lot of question marks. They certainly don’t look like they’re obviously better than last year. I don’t think that they are. I want to go back to Noah Dobson for a second because folks that listen to the Atlantic division summer cooler heard us say that we think 9.5 million was too much. There was way too much that the Canadians gave up in exchange for him in the deal that brought Neil Heinman in. Yet you have shared with me in a conversation that we had yesterday that Dobson is still a significant loss for the Islanders even though we don’t think he’s worth the money for the Canadians. Look here, here’s my thing. There’s 32 teams, so therefore there’s 32 number one defenseman. So Dobson is not in the top half of the league of top defenseman. He’s not Adam Fox. Okay. He So, he may be 25th number one 25th on the number one defenseman list. He’s still He’s still taking him off the Islanders. They lose their number one defenseman. So, even though Montreal we think overpaid, they brought him in there. They’re he’s going to be probably do real good for Montreal. He did have defensive liabilities for the Islanders. No doubt. Playing with this group, he had major defensive liabilities for them. and but they have to replace him with somebody. They might think that Schaefer can do it right away. They might think that while Schaefer develops, they’ve got Tony D’Angelo there to be on the power play. But this group, there’s no doubt that you’re starting 2526. Without Brock Nelson and without Noah Dobson, I don’t see Brock the Brock Nelson in this lineup and I don’t see the Noah Dobson in this lineup. And so therefore, my prediction or expectation is they’re not going to be as good. One final note on the Islanders because Ilia Sroken is certainly one of the finest goalenders in the National Hockey League, but when Vlamov went down last year, it was goalie by number as to who would be the backup, who would get the odd game to spell in a bit. I think that David Riddick can be a real good addition to this club if Verlamov can’t go and if Ramoff can go, it certainly gives the Islanders a formidable one-two in that. Yeah. If Arlamov can go, then David Riddick makes a million dollars playing in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where they the team is definitely I I’ll make one prediction on this show. Bridgeport next season will have a better home record than they had last season. I’m sure Rocky Thompson will be able to deliver more than four wins at home than what the Ford Islanders had from the year ago. But as I said, pick, this is an organization that’s looking to the future. They’re not looking to the present. That is obvious by the moves that their general manager made. They’re going to have a new feeling to the organization now that Lu Lamarello, Hall of Fame general manager, is gone and young Matthew Darch is there from the Tampa Bay Lightning. And we’ll see what will we expect from Patrick Wah. Can he get this group to overachieve? We talk about overachieving. It’s really important. And the other thing is Patrick Wad doesn’t get off the hook on these poor special teams just because they fired the two assistant coaches that handled the special teams. It’s the head coach’s responsibility to make sure they have good special teams. He he doesn’t get off. So I want to see this season how will Patrick W fare now he doesn’t have the iron fist of Lamarello upstairs. He’s got the rookie GM. How is he going to handle that? And how will he get this group to overachieve? Because clearly if they have any hope of making the playoffs, they have to overachieve. How long of a leash does Wah have with a new GM that did not hire him? That is a good question that I can’t answer, but I would expect that Patrick Wah will be Patrick Wah and try to walk all over Matthew Dar, but we’ll find out as the season goes on.
The New York Islanders enter the 2025–26 season with a new GM at the helm, Matthew Darche, replacing Hall of Famer Lou Lamoriello. After finishing 12th in the Eastern Conference last season and missing the playoffs with a 500 record, the Islanders are retooling—and arguably rebuilding.
Hosts Neil Smith and Vic Morren break down what Darche inherited, what he’s changed, and what it means for a franchise that had the worst special teams index in the NHL last season. Power play? 31st. Penalty kill? 31st. Combine them? Dead last. Both assistant coaches were let go, but the pressure now falls squarely on Patrick Roy, who stays on as head coach.
They dive into the loss of key players like Noah Dobson and Brock Nelson, dissect what Emil Heineman, Jonathan Drouin, and David Rittich bring to the team, and consider whether top prospect Matthew Schaefer is ready to fill a top-pairing role on the blue line.
With a thin prospect pool and major question marks on the power play, can the Islanders overachieve and make a push for the playoffs? Or is this a transition year with the eyes squarely on the future?
IN THIS EPISODE:
[00:00] Overview: New GM, missed playoffs, worst special teams in NHL
[01:10] Noah Dobson & Brock Nelson departures — big losses
[02:45] Offseason signings: Drouin, Rittich, CC, DeAngelo
[04:30] Who replaces Dobson’s minutes and Nelson’s production?
[05:50] Can Barzal rebound from injury and stay healthy?
[06:30] The outlook for Matthew Schaefer and other young defensemen
[07:10] Patrick Roy’s challenge: improve special teams or face consequences
[08:20] Depth concerns, aging veterans, and overachievement expectations
[09:00] Can Rittich or Varlamov give Sorokin needed rest?
[09:50] Roy-Darche dynamic: How long is the leash for the head coach?
[10:15] Closing thoughts: An Islanders team focused more on the future than the present
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Special teams were historically bad, and improving both units is mission-critical.
Noah Dobson and Brock Nelson are major losses, even if Montreal may have overpaid for Dobson.
The Islanders are not clearly better on paper heading into 2025–26—they may need to overachieve to stay competitive.
Goaltending remains a strength, especially if Sorokin gets support from Varlamov or Rittich.
Patrick Roy will be under pressure, both from a new GM and from a fanbase tired of mediocrity.
This season may be less about contention and more about transition, with key prospects like Schaefer taking on big roles early.
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👤 Vic Morren: Vic Morren on LinkedIn
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