"You can either challenge change or embrace it. And they embraced it," New York Islanders President and GM Lou Lamoriello said yesterday as players cleaned out their lockers at Northwell Health Ice Center for the summer.
The Islanders heard the declarations that they would not be any good without captain John Tavares, who signed as a free agent with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and used it to fuel a sizzling regular season that included 48 wins, 103 points (their highest totals in more than 30 years) and the William Jennings trophy, which is awarded to the team who allowed the fewest goals against.
"In this room we knew that we were going to exceed expectations from everybody that pegged us to be last. We believed in each other and it showed throughout the year," Johnny Boychuk said.
After a first-round sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins, they met a team designed to play just like them. Early bad breaks and a 10-day layoff combined with a suffocating Carolina Hurricanes forecheck led them to drop four straight and start their summer earlier than they would have hoped. But, to a man, this season was nothing short of a success.
Barry Trotz, a finalist and favorite for the Jack Adams award, given annually to the league's top coach, was nothing short of complimentary as he faces a summer waiting for his boss, Lamoriello, to reshape a roster in need of an offensive jolt.
"We did all the stuff we set out to do. We have some good building blocks. You have to start somewhere. We started with becoming a competitive team from the get-go. This group was a special group," Trotz said. When asked what he thinks his team needs as the draft and free agency approach. "A little more pop up front, I think. That's probably what we needed all season."
Every player took a step back offensively this year, as expected. Not just due to the departure of Tavares, but also due to the switch to a system that saw the first team in 100 years go from worst to first in goals allowed.
Mathew Barzal led the club with 62 points, playing every game. Not exactly up to the production of his rookie season, but since he was the focal point of every opponent gameplan, very encouraging. Josh Bailey finished with 50+ points for the third straight season after not accomplishing that feat his first eight years in the league. Since he was not Barzal's primary winger, he silenced a lot of the haters who said he was a product of his former centerman. Brock Nelson blossomed under the regime change to be the team's most complete centerman at both ends of the rink and has now scored 20+ goals in four of his six seasons in the league. Anders Lee had a team-high 28 goals in his first season as captain. Casey Cizikas and the best fourth-line-in-hockey were reunited and did it ever look so good. Career-high 20 goals for the pivot while Matt Martin was his usual wrecking ball self, finishing with 275 hits in 67 games.
On the minus side, Jordan Eberle had only 19 goals, his lowest total since his rookie season, and never found his stride away from Barzal. Until the playoffs, that is, when he led the club with 4-5-9 in eight games after being inserted back into line one. It was another lost season for Andrew Ladd (26 games) and Anthony Beauvillier regressed offensively to 18-10-28, bouncing around with various linemates.
Defensively, we finally got to see Devon Toews live up to the hype as the 25-year-old was called up in December and will not be going back to Bridgeport - likely ever. Ryan Pulock continued to take strides in his development, improving his defensive game ten-fold while approaching the coveted 40-point mark and Scott Mayfield was arguably the team's best blueliner the first 60 games or so. Johnny Boychuk reclaimed his mojo, turned back the clock (at least for a year) and led by example.
Adam Pelech was a bit inconsistent, showing flashes then regressing, but still skates well enough to be a solid D4 on this team moving forward. Nick Leddy struggled to adapt to the system defensively and finished with the lowest point total of his career. Thomas Hickey suffered a significant concussion that reduced him to 40 games in the regular season. There's an argument to be made he should not have played in the second round against Carolina after taking another knock to the head in game one.
In goal, it was all about Robin Lehner and his continued battle against substance addiction and mental health. For his perseverance, he'll win the Masterton Trophy. It was also a ridiculously good statistical season, as he earned a Vezina trophy nomination, punching in 46 times and posting six shutouts and a .930 save percentage to go with a 2.13 goals-against average. Thomas Greiss was just as good, going 2.28, .927 with five shutouts. Both benefitted equally from the defensive lockdown.
With all the professional and personal success the Islanders enjoyed, the season still ends on a sour note as the year of the underdog continues in the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. It feels like a lost opportunity to do something really special when teams like Tampa, Calgary, Washington, Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, Nashville and Vegas are all eliminated in the first round and you are sent packing after round two.
The way this team is now built from the top down, however, you must believe that will not be something they let consume them during the summer. Instead, it will fuel them to want more next season. Be more. Accomplish more.
Who will be around to do it? We start analyzing that next week.
