The 2024 Stanley Cup Final not only lived up to the hype, but it exceeded it as arguably the best Final in a decade. The series has been entertaining, with star power making an impact on every shift. The Florida Panthers jumped out to the 3-0 series lead, but the Edmonton Oilers tied it up, and now, all eyes are on Game 7 on Monday night.
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Beyond the excitement, this series shows the elite talent needed to win the Cup. It also displays the gap between these two teams and the rest of the league, especially the New York Islanders, who are far from contention. The Islanders barely made it to the playoffs, and it’s clear they are a few tiers behind the Stanley Cup contenders. There are a few things separating them from competing with the best.
Islanders Star Power Is a Tier Below
The Islanders have a great core, with Mathew Barzal, Bo Horvat, and Brock Nelson leading the forwards while Noah Dobson anchors the defense. Make no mistake, they are star players who lead them to victories and help them make the playoffs. However, they aren’t the elite players that Stanley Cup teams have.
They aren’t on the same level as Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, and any star who has been a part of a title-winning team. The reality is that Barzal and Horvat, while capable of leading the offense, don’t make the offense one of the best in the league. In fact, the offense was below league average despite the stars in the top six. Likewise, even with an exceptional season on both ends of the ice, Dobson doesn’t turn the defense into a strength.
Special Teams
It’s noticeable how bad the Islanders’ special teams were. The Islanders’ power play was below league average, scoring only 20.35 percent of the time. The penalty kill, meanwhile, was awful, stopping only 71.49 percent of the opportunities opponents had. Some of this issue was bad coaching in the first half of the season, which resulted in Lane Lambert’s firing, but even with the coaching change, the unit didn’t improve.
All the teams that made deep playoff runs were capable of stepping up on both the power play and penalty kill, and the Oilers and the Panthers were no exception. The Panthers scored 15 of their 71 goals in the playoffs on the power play, and when they had the man advantage, they took advantage. Meanwhile, the Oilers had a great power play during the season, and the playoff run and the penalty kill were on another level, allowing only four goals on 68 opportunities.
The Islanders will not be in the Cup conversation with hapless special teams. The wild part about their struggles is that they have the pieces to succeed, especially on the power play. Unfortunately, the unit has been below average in each of the past two seasons.
Islanders Need More Gap-Sound Defense
The Islanders’ defense was once a strength. They cut off angles to the net on the rush, limited shooting lanes, and blocked shots on the net. Now, the unit is a weak link. The Islanders allowed 3.15 goals per game this season, and multiple times, they allowed opponents to come back in games.
The big issue with the Islanders is their defensive struggles. They are slower and struggle to keep up with the speed prevalent in the league. On top of that, they aren’t limiting shots, which is making the job of the goaltenders difficult.
The ability to limit shots is an easier fix. They must play the shooting lanes and dare opponents to take tough-angle shots on the net. Because of that, the Oilers and Panthers are on the brink of winning the Cup. They don’t have great defensive units per se, but they play a tight, gap-sound defense that allows them to win low-scoring games. This is particularly true about the Oilers, who made it to the Final on the back of great defense, even though their unit isn’t great.
Depth Scoring
The Panthers made it to the Final with their depth continuously finding the back of the net. Anton Lundell is a middle-six center with three goals and 13 assists in this playoff run, while Evan Rodrigues has caught fire with seven goals and seven assists. Their depth was a key part of their success all season, with 10 skaters scoring 10 goals or more, and it’s given them an edge, especially against other teams with star players.
The Islanders have a group that doesn’t provide that confidence in the slightest. Barzal, Nelson, Horvat, and Kyle Palmieri accounted for most of the goals, but the offense failed to generate much after that. In the playoffs, the lack of depth scoring showed that the Islanders scored only 12 goals in the First Round against the Carolina Hurricanes, losing the series in five games. The problem is that there’s no quick fix to depth scoring unless the Islanders make a big move in free agency, which is unlikely, considering who is running this team.
Scoring at the Blue Line
The Islanders have Dobson, who has emerged as a great two-way defenseman with 10 goals and 60 assists this season and 13 goals in each of the last two seasons. After him, production dropped. Mike Reilly scored six goals and 18 assists, while Alexander Romanov had seven goals and 15 assists, but that’s underwhelming considering the teams in the Stanley Cup Final.
The Panthers have a trio of Gustav Forsling, Aaron Ekblad, and Brandon Montour, impacting both ends of the ice. Likewise, the Oilers have Evan Bouchard leading the way at the point with six goals and 26 assists in the playoffs. Still, they’ve also seen Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse, and Brett Kulak step up in the offensive zone, combining for eight goals and 16 assists in the playoffs. It’s all about finding more defensemen who can contribute at the blue line for the Islanders.
Where the Islanders Are Close to the Oilers & Panthers
For all their criticisms, the Islanders have a great coach who, like Paul Maurice and Kris Knoblauch, sets the team up for success. Patrick Roy was hired to balance out the roster and lead a disciplined, structured, and overachieving group. In just half a season, he transformed the Islanders, and the ceiling for this team next season is high because he is behind the bench.
They also have the goaltending capable of leading them to the Final. Yes, that’s something that came under fire when Ilya Sorokin struggled, but he’s still one of the elite goaltenders in the NHL and makes the unit a strength. As a bonus, Seymon Varlamov proved he can still play at a high level, even at 35, giving the Islanders two options in the net to maintain stability throughout the season and the playoffs.
The Islanders have a long way to go before contention. The Oilers and Panthers are multiple tiers ahead of them and prove how many things must go right to win it all. The Islanders have some pieces in place, but this offseason will be pivotal as they look to close the gap, which can only happen with significant movement.
