How many of these Islanders will return after missing playoffs?

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The current (unsuccessful) iteration of the Islanders has its swan song Thursday night against the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena, wrapping up a campaign that saw them miss the playoffs for the second time in four seasons.

That’s not being overdramatic. There are personnel changes every season for every team. But something feels — or at least should feel — very different going into this offseason. President/general manager Lou Lamoriello insisted on March 8, “there will be change this summer. We know we have to do more than what just transpired. We feel very strongly on that.”

That came a day after the NHL trade deadline in which Lamoriello’s lone move of significance was sending Brock Nelson to the Avalanche after being unsuccessful in attempts to re-sign the top-six center to a contract extension.

There is also the very real possibility that change may start with Lamoriello, 82, completing his seventh season running the organization.

But whether it’s Lamoriello or somebody else making the personnel decisions, which players could be dressing as Islanders for the last time?

There should be few untouchables for the Islanders, even with a decent amount of hard-to-trade contracts because of term and annual average value, no-trade or no-movement clauses, or player performance.

Contract considerations aside, maybe goalie Ilya Sorokin should be considered the only untouchable.

Top-six forwards Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anders Lee will both be going into the last season of their respective contracts and it’s believed both drew interest leading into the trade deadline.

Mathew Barzal will be entering the third season of an eight-year, $73.2 million deal that has a modified no-trade clause. He’ll be coming off a season in which he missed 52 games between an upper- and lower-body injury.

Defenseman Adam Pelech will be entering the fifth season of an eight-year, $46 million deal that transitions to a modified no-trade clause this offseason. Defenseman Scott Mayfield will enter the third season of a seven-year, $24.5 million deal and while he still has a no-trade clause for next season, would he be willing to drop it after being a frequent healthy scratch this season?

Casey Cizikas, Kyle MacLean, Marc Gatcomb, Pierre Engvall and defensemen Tony DeAngelo could be among others playing their last game with the Islanders, depending on how deep the reconstruction job goes. Kyle Palmieri is a pending unrestricted free agent, though Lamoriello strongly indicated a deal would be (or already has been) worked out.

It’s pretty clear Thursday will be Matt Martin’s last game in an Islanders’ jersey after his rousing, emotional UBS Arena send-off in Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to the Capitals.

Regardless of who goes, these Islanders were hoping for one last thing on Thursday: That the game was still meaningful to the Blue Jackets, who entered Wednesday two points behind the Canadiens. But the Canadiens eliminated Columbus  for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot with a 4-2 win over the Hurricanes. 

The Islanders have already played twice without any playoff implications after being eliminated with Saturday’s 4-3 five-round shootout loss in Philadelphia.

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.