Islanders gave Noah Dobson a job, and he's doing it quite well

Noah Dobson is just doing his job, as far as the Islanders defenseman is concerned.

He just happens to be doing it really well and consistently this season, his fifth in the NHL even though Dobson is still three weeks shy of his 24th birthday.

“I’m in a good rhythm here and things have been going in,” Dobson said before the Islanders faced the Oilers at UBS Arena on Tuesday night. “I’m trying to focus on playing well in both ends and playing with a lot of confidence.

“My role on this team, I have to produce offensively. On the power play and five-on-five, it’s part of my game.”

Dobson was named the NHL’s third star of the week on Monday after notching eight assists in four games, including his third career three-assist game in Saturday’s 5-3 road loss to the Canadiens. He led the Islanders with 27 assists and 32 points in 30 games entering Tuesday, becoming the second defenseman in team history with 27 assists through 30 games after Hall of Famer Denis Potvin in 1975-76.

His career highs are 13 goals — which he’s scored in each of the last two seasons — and 38 assists and 51 points, which he achieved in 2021-22.

Dobson was also first on the team with an average ice time of 25:33.

And as far as the Islanders are concerned, this was the plan all along as they brought Dobson along slowly early in his career.

He played just 34 games as a rookie as the Islanders — without the option to assign him to their AHL affiliate in Bridgeport because he was underage — opted to keep him on the NHL roster rather than send him back to junior hockey because they believed his development would stagnate there.

Even after he became a regular, former coach Barry Trotz rarely used him against the opponents’ top lines.

“When he came in, a young player, he needed to gain strength,” said coach Lane Lambert, Trotz’s top lieutenant his four seasons with the Islanders. “It’s very difficult to come into the NHL as a young defenseman and have real early success right away. I think the plan for him was well thought out. I think some of our veteran players, be it Andy Greene or [Zdeno] Chara, helped him in his development.

“What he’s done is he’s taken it upon himself to understand what it takes. The training that needs to go into it and all the different kinds of things off the ice as well. He’s just continued a steady rise and he’s just getting better and better.”

Dobson’s confident play, either five-on-five or quarterbacking the first power-play unit, has become a necessity for the Islanders with stalwart defensemen Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock and Scott Mayfield all sidelined with injuries.

Both Pelech and defenseman Sebastian Aho — who has since returned to the lineup — were  injured early in the first period of a 5-3 win in Ottawa on Nov. 24. Dobson logged a career-high 31:05 with an assist against the Senators, then played 28:41 the next night as the Islanders lost a 1-0 shootout to the visiting Flyers.

“He sees the ice really well,” right wing Kyle Palmieri said. “He makes the pass that’s there. He has the ability to find opportunities in the play to get pucks at the net and set his teammates up for goals.”

In other words, Dobson is just doing his job.

“Collectively, as a whole group of five, we just have some good chemistry now,” Dobson said of the power play. “The main thing it comes down to is we’ve been executing.”

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

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.