{"id":544616,"date":"2026-04-07T00:25:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T00:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/544616\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T00:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T00:25:13","slug":"pete-deboers-arrival-doesnt-change-the-islanders-harsh-reality-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/544616\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete DeBoer&#8217;s arrival doesn&#8217;t change the Islanders&#8217; harsh reality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The decision to<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/05\/sports\/islanders-fire-patrick-roy-hire-peter-deboer-with-four-games-left\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> fire Patrick Roy and hire Pete DeBoer <\/a>will not be a failure if the Islanders miss the playoffs, but the 2025-26 season will be.<\/p>\n<p>This was a long-term hire made with short-term ramifications, not just for playoff revenue but for the roster composition over what will be a consequential summer. DeBoer is a lifeline to this group \u2014 not just on a collective level but an individual one \u2014 that played itself below the playoff cut by going 3-7-0 over its last 10 games under Roy. His first three days in charge before coaching a must-win game Thursday against the Maple Leafs will tell him plenty about who hangs onto it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of my nonnegotiables, we\u2019ve got a list,\u201d DeBoer said. \u201cIt\u2019s not X\u2019s and O\u2019s. It\u2019s the details of the game: line changes, backchecking, effort, stopping in D-zone coverage. Willingness to take a turn and block a shot when it\u2019s your turn. All of the intangibles that go into playing winning hockey this time of year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39009779\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775521513_12_new-york-islanders-new-head-125122503.jpg\" alt=\"New York Islanders head coach Peter DeBoer speaking to media.\" class=\"wp-image-39009779\"  \/>Islanders new head coach Peter DeBoer, right, speaks with the media following NHL hockey practice, Monday, April 6, 2026. AP<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re counting, there are at least three things on that list \u2014 line changes, backchecking and defensive zone coverage \u2014 that have been consistent issues for the Islanders all season. DeBoer cannot overhaul the Islanders\u2019 entire system in three days, but he can make tweaks, and he can instill a mindset.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The decision to fire Patrick Roy and hire Pete DeBoer will not be a failure if the Islanders&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5116],"tags":[193,192,144,5277,5,159,4,2905,2087,43,350,336],"class_list":{"0":"post-544616","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-avalanche","8":"tag-avalanche","9":"tag-colorado","10":"tag-colorado-avalanche","11":"tag-coloradoavalanche","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-new-york-islanders","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-patrick-roy","16":"tag-pete-deboer","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-sports-columnists","19":"tag-sports-plus"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116360586781824916","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}