As NHL free agency continues, how do Islanders stack up in Metropolitan Division?
Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello speaks to the media at the Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow on May 3. Credit: Brad Penner
About 11 weeks remain until NHL teams open training camps, and it’s a little more than 13 weeks until the puck drops for the 2024-25 season.
Which is another way of saying it’s impossible to adequately grade the Islanders’ offseason so far, even if the NHL general managers will start filtering out on summer vacation soon, making trades difficult to execute until training camps open in mid-September.
But it is fair to look at the moves president/general manager Lou Lamoriello has made so far and compare that to the Islanders’ Metropolitan Division rivals.
The Islanders, on the strength of an 8-0-1 finish, finished third in the division at 39-27-16 or 17 points behind the second-place Hurricanes, who eliminated them in the first round in five games. The Islanders finished 20 points behind the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers. They finished three points ahead of the Capitals, who were swept in the first round by the Rangers after qualifying for the postseason as the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card team.
The Penguins (88 points), Flyers (87), Devils (81) and Blue Jackets (66) did not make the playoffs out of the Metro.
The Islanders, needing a top-six wing to complement top-liners Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal and defense depth, signed speedy Anthony Duclair to a four-year, $14 million deal and re-signed third-pair defenseman Mike Reilly, perhaps the team’s best puck mover among the blue-line corps last season, to a one-year, $1.125 million contract when the free agent market opened on Monday.
They weren’t attention-grabbing, move-the-needle signings like Barry Trotz’s Predators, who imported Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchesseault and defenseman Brady Skjei. And the Islanders, with just under $1 million available under the $88 million salary-cap ceiling, arguably could still use another scoring wing for the top six and perhaps another depth defenseman.
But Duclair is an improvement from the rotating list of wings tried on the Islanders’ top line last season — fourth-line center Casey Cizikas finished the season in that spot — and KHL import Maxim Tsyplakov could be an intriguing addition after scoring 31 goals in 65 games for Moscow Spartak.
Whether it can push the Islanders higher in the standings, or whether other teams will pass them, is what is left to be determined.
The Devils, who made the playoffs in 2023 and eliminated the Rangers in the first round, may be best poised for a climb up the standings. GM Tom Fitzgerald finally acquired the starting goalie he so needed, getting Jacob Markstrom from the Flames. He signed Brett Pesce, one of the top defensemen on the market, away from the Hurricanes and added Brenden Dillon for blue-line depth. He re-acquired Stefen Noesen and Tomas Tatar to give his forward group some scoring and grit.
The expectations will be high for new coach Sheldon Keefe, the Maple Leafs’ former bench boss.
The Rangers did little beyond trading for Reilly Smith from the Penguins and signing center Sam Carrick while shedding themselves of the final three seasons of fourth-liner Barclay Goodrow’s six-year, $21.85 million deal via waivers to the Sharks and losing Jack Roslovic, Alex Wennberg and defenseman Erik Gustafsson to free agency. A very meh offseason so far. Still, they had the most points in the NHL and remain formidable.
As noted, the Hurricanes lost Pesce, Skjei and Noesen, not to mention Jake Guentzel and Teuvo Teravainen. That’s a lot.
The Blue Jackets’ biggest offseason move was to hire former Hurricanes GM Don Waddell, who has a history of providing strong leadership. Reuniting center Sean Monahan with Johnny Gaudreau is a solid move. But the Blue Jackets still need time for their top prospects to mature.
The same is true for the Flyers, entering their third season under coach John Tortorella. Their biggest offseason news came when highly touted Russian prospect Matvei Michkov, the seventh overall pick in 2023, signed his entry-level deal with the expectation he’ll make his NHL debut in October.
The Penguins keep trying to go for it with their aging core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson. Now, they’ve traded for Kevin Hayes, signed defenseman Matt Grzelcyk and imported two ex-Islanders via free agency, Anthony Beauvillier and defenseman Sebastian Aho. They actually could be better.
The Capitals, too, are trying to give Alex Ovechkin, 39 in September, another run at the Cup. Other than the Devils, they’ve done the most roster renovation, trading goalie Darcy Kuemper for underachieving center Pierre-Luc Dubois, bringing in former Vegas goalie Logan Thompson, defensemen Jakob Chychrun and Matt Roy and forward Andrew Mangiapane.
Hey, it’s worth a shot.
All these grades will start rolling in come September and October.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.