The New York Islanders are down 3-0 in the first round in what has been a one-sided series against the Carolina Hurricanes. They’ve been outplayed and it’s clear there is a gap between them and their opponent. The Islanders at best are a team that can make the playoffs and maybe pull off an upset in a series while the Hurricanes are destined to compete for the Cup.
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When Patrick Roy was hired, the expectation or hope was that the gap between the Islanders and Hurricanes was closer. They lost in the first round last season in six games and they looked like a team that would play a closer series this time around. The opposite happened. The Islanders are further away from the Hurricanes and contention as a whole.
This gap has reflected how the Islanders built their team, specifically, with how general manager (GM) Lou Lamoriello has operated. He’s trusted the group time and time again and now the return is here and it’s not great. Lamoriello built this team with little upside and it’s showing in the first round against an elite team.
Lamoriello Played it Safe
The Islanders never took a swing in free agency under Lamoriello despite the urge to add star-caliber talent to the roster. The good thing about doing this is that Lamoriello rarely if ever handed out a contract that has aged poorly. Signing Scott Mayfield to a seven-year contract in the 2023 offseason is the exception but otherwise, there aren’t a lot of deals that weigh the Islanders down. The downside is that they remain a team with a low ceiling.
The contrast is the Hurricanes and their offseason moves spearheaded by their GM Don Waddell. Sure, not every deal works out and some would be looked at as awful contracts if not for the team’s success. Jesperi Kotkaniemi is under contract for the next seven seasons but only scored 12 goals and 15 assists this season and has yet to record a point in the first round. However, the big swings for the most part have paid off. Brent Burns for example was a risky addition as he was an aging defenseman who was starting to lose a step. He has emerged as one of their best two-way players. Waddell has taken plenty of risks and for the few that don’t work out, there are plenty that do and upgrade the roster.
The Islanders barely made the playoffs a season ago, sneaking in as a wild-card team. They ended the season with a lot of glaring weaknesses and those issues have rolled over into this season’s team. Sure they could make the playoffs but if the goal is to win the Cup, they are far from doing so and they needed an upgrade one way or another. That upgrade never came.
Lamoriello’s Silence at the Deadline
The Islanders entered the trade deadline as a team that could make a playoff run but needed at least one player to put the roster over the top. Lamoriello never made a move and as fans have grown accustomed to hearing him say, he signaled confidence in the group.
There are plenty of arguments that have been made rationalizing the lack of movement at the trade deadline. The Islanders wouldn’t have been able to defeat a team like the Hurricanes even if they went out and added someone. They didn’t have the assets to move to make a big trade. This team wasn’t going to risk it all despite having a veteran-heavy roster with a closing contending window.
Sure, they probably would remain a notch below the Hurricanes and they couldn’t make a splash but they would have looked better in this series and possibly taken a game or two if they had another skater in the lineup for the playoffs. They don’t and the series is lopsided. The contrast is the Hurricanes, who entered the trade deadline with a good team but knew they had to make a few moves to ensure they could make a deep playoff run.
The Hurricanes Meanwhile Remained Aggressive
All the moves that Waddell has made in both the recent offseasons and trade deadlines reflect a GM willing to move all the chips in to win the Stanley Cup. They entered the season with a great team, one poised to compete for the Cup after reaching the Eastern Conference Final last season and they knew it wouldn’t be enough to stand pat.
Waddell made the biggest move of the trade deadline by acquiring Jake Guentzel from the Pittsburgh Penguins. In case that alone wasn’t enough, the Hurricanes also added Evgeny Kuznetsov to the forward unit. The two skaters have not only stepped up in the homestretch of the regular season, they’ve made a significant impact in the first round, scoring two goals and three assists in the first three games. Guentzel is the star player that every contender wanted as a scorer with a proven track record in the playoffs but Kuznetsov, while a risk, was also a veteran with plenty of playoff experience of his own and it’s already benefitting the team.
The Islanders in the end remain in the same place as they were a season ago. The bottom half of the Eastern Conference crumbled, allowing them to back their way into the third-best record in the Metropolitan Division but the top half of the conference only got better. The Islanders made it to the playoffs but it’s clear they are far from a Cup contender.
The question is what comes next for the Islanders. The series isn’t over, at least not yet, but it sure feels that way. The offseason looks closer than the Stanley Cup at this point and for the Islanders, it could mean they must look ahead to big changes. That’s the best path forward because frankly, no change at all isn’t helping this team contend, as the first round is showing. The Hurricanes proved that taking a few swings will pay off and Lamoriello or whoever the next GM might be, should take note.