Hockey Night in NY

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

Some nights in an 82-game season, you look for a story and, truthfully, there isn’t much. The score is the score. Somebody scored. Somebody didn’t. Maybe there was a decent quote afterward.

You file it away and move on because not every game comes with a theme, a milestone, a moment, a reason to remember it two weeks later.

And then there are nights like Saturday.

A buzz built before puck drop, helped along by a game-ops and video presentation that has quietly become one of the league's better shows. The building felt alive before the Islanders gave anyone a reason to get loud.

Then came the second period.

Bo Horvat scored his 100th goal as an Islander. Simon Holmstrom and J.G. Pageau showed off the chemistry that keeps making that line work. Victor Eklund scored his first NHL goal with his very proud mother there to see it.

And if you’ve spent the last few months pounding the table over last season’s trade-deadline acquisitions (guilty, very much guilty ✋🏻), then for one night, you were on the wrong side of the argument.

Read more

IslesFix Store

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

There is a temptation that comes with every opening night. You wait six months for hockey to return, spend three weeks dissecting meaningless preseason games, and convince yourself you’ve figured out what your team will be.

Subscribe now

And then you watch one game.

Suddenly, you know everything.

Except you don’t.

Remember, the Islanders lost their first three games last season before becoming one of the NHL’s surprise teams. For a while, anyway. Until they weren’t. But I digress.

The point is, whatever you thought about the Islanders after Wednesday’s opener in Toronto, and whatever happens Saturday night in their home opener, it probably isn’t time to start drawing conclusions.

Especially without Mathew Barzal.

Have you looked at those forward combinations? It’s difficult not to grimace. Not because there aren’t capable NHL players in the lineup, but because losing one player makes the entire group look considerably thinner. And if it looks that way on paper, it’s even more obvious when they’re on the ice.

Barzal carries the puck through the neutral zone, gains the offensive zone, and makes everyone around him a little more dangerous. Without him, the Islanders have to work considerably harder to manufacture offense.

Fortunately, Mathieu Darche offered encouraging news. Barzal could begin skating this weekend or early next week, and the general manager doesn’t believe he’ll need much practice time before returning.

That’s the good news.

The bad news? Until then, we’re evaluating an Islanders team that isn’t the team we expect to watch this season. And even when Barzal returns, give him a few games. He’s missed training camp. Pete DeBoer is installing a new system. Chemistry doesn’t magically appear because your most talented forward puts his skates back on.

There will be plenty of time to judge these Islanders.

Just not yet.

Duclair Flashes

Anthony Duclair has spent two seasons trying to become what the Islanders envisioned when they signed him. Injuries, inconsistency, and stretches of disappearing made that increasingly difficult to picture.

Wednesday offered a reminder. Duclair was one of the Islanders’ most noticeable forwards in the 2-1 loss, skating with pace, creating one of their best offensive chances, and eventually earning a promotion from the fourth line because DeBoer believed his legs could help the top six.

One good game doesn’t erase the previous two years. It also shouldn’t be dismissed simply because the Islanders lost. Duclair’s skill set is exactly what this lineup still lacks in places: speed that backs defenders off and enough individual creativity to make something happen without a perfectly constructed possession.

If Wednesday becomes normal rather than notable, suddenly DeBoer has another legitimate top-nine option instead of a contract he has to find somewhere to hide. For a team still looking for offense while Barzal is out, Duclair becoming useful again could feel like adding a player without making a trade.

Barzal Timetable Revealed

Mathieu Darche delivered the most encouraging Mathew Barzal update yet.

Barzal is expected to begin skating this weekend or early next week after making what Darche described as “really, really good progress” with the inflammation in his knee. He hasn’t skated in roughly two weeks and missed all of training camp, but the Islanders don’t believe he’ll require a traditional multi-week ramp-up once he gets back onto the ice.

“Barzal is not a guy that needs three weeks to get ready,” Darche said. “You give him a few practices and he’ll be good to go.” That’s the optimistic part.

The actual checkpoint comes afterward: how does the knee respond once Barzal starts skating hard again? If the inflammation stays down, the timeline could accelerate quickly. If it returns, everything changes. For an Islanders offense that looked awfully ordinary without him Wednesday, there probably isn’t a more important early-season medical update.

⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders host the New Jersey Devils in their home opener on Saturday night at UBS Arena. Face-off is set for 7:30 PM EST.

📊 STANDINGS:

Blank Check?

Matthew Schaefer played exactly one game of the second year of his entry-level contract Wednesday. Naturally, we’re already discussing whether his next one could begin with a $20 million-plus annual salary.

Daily Faceoff’s Jeff Marek and Isles’ beat reporter Stefen Rosner kicked around what an extension might eventually look like in a salary-cap environment where teams are paying young stars earlier and earlier. Rosner said he doesn’t expect Schaefer to take a conventional hometown discount and suggested that on a shorter deal, $21–22 million may not be impossible.

📚 SOUND SMART: Per NHL Edge Stats, Matthew Schaefer, who's 19 years old, had the fastest max skating speed (22.97 mph) across the NHL on Wednesday night & also led the slate in total skating distance (4.26 miles).

🎥 ISLES REWIND: On October 2, 2009, the Islanders named Doug Weight as the 12th captain in franchise history. Weight previously served as an alternate captain the year prior under Bill Guerin before wearing the "C" for two seasons.

Weight capped his playing career by winning the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, given annually to the player who "best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community."

📺 A Timelapse of a Minecraft Nassau Coliseum

🔗 Islanders’ In-Game Line Changes On Opening Night Show Pete DeBoer Won’t Wait To Make Adjustments by Stefen Rosner, The Hockey News “I thought Duke had good legs tonight. I thought he had some juice, so I wanted to get him up with some better players.”

🔗 Islanders rookie Victor Eklund holds own versus Auston Matthews’ line by Ethan Sears, New York Post “I thought he got better as the game went on,” Pete DeBoer said after Eklund’s NHL debut, which included significant minutes against Auston Matthews and Toronto’s top line.

And we leave you with this…the Islanders dropped their hometown remix jersey schedule; the sweaters themselves will drop in early November.

Thanks for reading! Follow us on X for regular updates until the next newsletter.

And please check out our newsletters about the Knicks and Mets, too.

Hockey Night in NY

Hockey Night in NY

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

The Islanders came out on the short side of a 2-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday night, and somehow it felt refreshing.

Not the losing part.

The talking-about-an-actual-hockey-game part.

For months, almost every Islanders conversation has been about what might happen. Now, finally, there was something real to pick apart.

And in a mostly even game, there was a little bit of everything.

Some things, like Logan Stanley breaking his stick and helping Toronto create its first goal, felt almost painfully predictable.

Others did not.

Anthony Duclair and Ondrei Palat were two of the Islanders’ better forwards. Schaefer dazzled the way he tends to do, even without finding the scoresheet. Emil Heineman scored a shorthanded goal off a beautiful feed from new captain Bo Horvat. Kyle Palmieri was robbed by a toe in close. Ilya Sorokin was solid.

There were encouraging stretches. There were mistakes. There were moments that made you think maybe something is there, and others that reminded you this is still a team very much figuring out what it is.

A little good. A little bad. A whole bunch of, we’ll see how this goes from here.

And that’s OK.

Because after an entire offseason of forecasts, projections, and guesses, the Islanders finally gave us something better to talk about. A hockey game.

Let’s dive in.

Game Recap

The Islanders opened their season with a loss Wednesday night, falling 2-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs after a slow start left them chasing the game for most of the night. Toronto scored twice in the first period, with Colton Sissons opening the scoring at 7:14 before Easton Cowan made it 2-0 on the power play.

The Islanders struggled to generate offense through the first two periods before Emil Heineman finally broke through with a short-handed goal with 5:51 remaining in the third. That was all the Isles could manage against Anthony Stolarz, who finished with 26 saves and held off the Islanders’ late push.

Ilya Sorokin stopped 24 shots in defeat.

The victory was Toronto’s first under coach Jim Hiller after the Maple Leafs opened their season with a 3-2 loss to Montreal.

GameScore Impact Card

⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders host the New Jersey Devils in their home opener on Saturday night at UBS Arena. Face-off is set for 7:30 PM EST.

📊 STANDINGS

Nothing Special

Matthew Schaefer scored 23 goals and 59 points as an 18-year-old defenseman for plenty of reasons. Ethan Sears in The New York Post focused Wednesday on perhaps the biggest one: few NHL players move like he does.

“I like to go fast,” Schaefer told The Post. “That’s what I really like to do. I like to go fast.” The Calder Trophy winner has already been clocked above 23 mph, putting him among the league’s fastest skaters, but straight-line speed only tells part of the story. His edge work, acceleration, ability to change direction, and willingness to attack open ice allow him to turn routine defensive-zone possessions into offense before opponents realize what happened.

That skating is also why Schaefer can take risks that would bury other young defensemen. A bad pinch doesn’t necessarily become a disaster when you can recover faster than the forward going the other way.

Read more

It’s a Quick Fix featuring Joe Buono (@IslesFix) and former VP of Communications for the Islanders, Chris Botta (@ChrisBottaNHL).

We preview the upcoming New York Islanders season (84 games!), discussing the direction of the franchise under Mathieu Darche and Peter DeBoer and what the moves made this offseason suggest about expectations for the year ahead. They discuss whether the Islanders are truly retooling, still trying to contend, or attempting to do a little of both — and what Darche and DeBoer have signaled about how quickly they expect the team to take a step forward.

Later, Chris and Joe also make their predictions for where the Islanders will finish, what needs to go right for them to stay in the playoff race and which players could shape the season. Then they wrap things up with a round of rapid-fire questions covering which player needs to take a meaningful step in their development, what to watch for tonight in Toronto, and how the fanbase will feel about the franchise in April.

Isles Fix Podcast Network

Thanks to all who listened this season. Enjoy!

📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, almost every club record for a teenager is within reach this season for Matthew Schaefer. Schaefer brings career totals of 23-36-59 (4 game-winning goals) into this season; Bryan Trottier went 32-63-95 (5 game-winning goals) in his teenage season of 1975-76. Schaefer has 221 shots on goal, 64 shy of Tim Connolly’s club record for a teen.

Schaefer will still be a Teenager for the next 84 Isles games and on Tuesday, was named an Alternate Captain, the first teenager to wear a letter for the Isles.

🎥 ISLES REWIND: On September 30, 1999, Kenny Jonsson was named the eighth captain in team history, taking over the C after the departure of Trevor Linden. Jonsson held the captaincy until Nov. 18, 2000, with a team record of 30-55-13 over that span. The Swedish defenseman recorded 31 points (2G, 29A) as Islanders captain, before relinquishing the role early in the 2000-01 campaign.

🔗 The unusual messaging following Islanders into season comes with giant caveat by Ethan Sears, New York Post “It’s easy to exercise cautious optimism after everything goes right in training camp. It’s harder to strike an appropriate tone when the last few days of preseason were rough enough that people in the organization started to feel uneasy.”

🔗 Matthew Schaefer earns a letter as NY Islanders announce their alternate captains by Jiggs Wesfall,Eyes on Isles “Pete DeBoer ultimately selected Ryan Pulock, Kyle Palmieri and Brayden Schenn as alternate captains, along with one name that stood out from the rest: 19-year-old Matthew Schaefer. After determining Schaefer was too young to become captain following Anders Lee's departure, the Islanders still felt their young defenseman was ready for an official leadership role.”

And we leave you with this…your official Isles Territory 2026-27 Hype Video

Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter for regular updates until the next newsletter.

And please check out our newsletters about the Knicks and Mets, too.

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

There was a time when nobody could figure out what the Islanders were worth because nobody knew where they'd play.

Remember that?

Subscribe now

The Lighthouse Project. Kansas City rumors. Brooklyn. Nassau Coliseum, with the low ceiling, the bathrooms, and all its wonderful imperfections. Barclays Center with the SUV in the corner and obstructed views.

And now?

Three billion dollars. THREE BILLION DOLLARS!

That’s the valuation attached to a proposed sale of roughly 15% of the Islanders to a group of investors, according to Sportico. The deal still requires NHL approval, and Scott Malkin would remain the controlling owner.

Malkin and Jon Ledecky bought the franchise in 2014 for $485 million.

Do the math.

In a little more than a decade, an organization once defined by uncertainty has become one of the NHL’s multibillion-dollar properties. UBS Arena changed everything. Belmont gave the Islanders permanence. The surrounding development gave ownership something far more valuable than a hockey building occupied 42 nights a year. Even since 2023, when a minority investment reportedly valued the franchise at $1.75 billion, the number has nearly doubled.

Which makes the timing almost perfect.

Because while the business has never looked healthier, the hockey team is very much in between things.

Not rebuilding. Not contending. Transitioning.

The building is settled. The ownership is settled.

The franchise value certainly is settled.

Now they just have to figure out the hockey team, which, compared to what else had to happen over the last decade, should be the easy part.

Let’s dive in.

On The Rise 📈

The Islanders have agreed to sell approximately 15% of the franchise to a group of investors in a transaction that values the club at $3 billion, according to Sportico. Venture-capital investor David Shuman had already been announced as a new investor, and one participant reportedly plans to purchase roughly 10%. The deal remains subject to NHL approval and would not change control of the franchise, with Scott Malkin remaining the controlling owner.

The eye-popping part is the trajectory.

Malkin and Jon Ledecky agreed to buy the Islanders for $485 million in 2014. Sportico valued the club at $1.93 billion last year, while an earlier 2023 minority investment reportedly came at a $1.75 billion valuation.

What has happened off the ice is unquestionably one of the greatest turnarounds in franchise history. UBS Arena gave the organization the permanent home it spent decades chasing, while the Belmont development made the Islanders part of a much larger entertainment property.

Two straight playoff misses haven’t stopped the business from soaring.

Read more

IslesFix Store

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

There’s regular-season hockey this week. Thanks for being with us.

Every training camp reaches a point when optimism runs out of room to hide. For three weeks, everything gets explained away.

Subscribe now

The kid looks good? Keep watching. The veteran looks a little slow? He’s getting his legs. The lines look strange? They’re experimenting. The system breaks down? It’s preseason.

Then the exhibitions end. And somebody has to make decisions.

That day arrived for the Islanders on Sunday, and Mathieu Darche’s choices said plenty. Isaiah George spent camp trying to prove the Islanders already had their sixth or seventh defenseman. They signed Logan Stanley.

Cole Eiserman kept reminding everyone that his shot already looks NHL-ready. He’s going to Hamilton. Kashawn Aitcheson made the Islanders think longer than expected. Hamilton, too.

And after three weeks of Pete DeBoer installing a new system, the Islanders closed the preseason Saturday by getting outworked, outshot, and beaten 4-1 by New Jersey. Not exactly the sendoff anyone wanted.

Still, inside the room, the belief that this team will surprise remains.

Bo Horvat said that when everything comes together, the Islanders have “a really good hockey team.” Ryan Pulock talked about being motivated by all the predictions that have them missing the playoffs. Matthew Schaefer has made it clear he enjoys the doubt and loves when haters hate.

There are reasons for confidence. Schaefer is special. Kyle Palmieri and Alexander Romanov are healthy. Semyon Varlamov is back after two knee surgeries. Victor Eklund looked the part and made the team. Matias Maccelli adds skill. And most importantly, DeBoer has done this before.

But belief gets you only so far. By Wednesday night in Toronto, the 84-game story will unfold, and time will tell us unequivocally and unapologetically who was right all along. The Isles? Or the naysayers?

Read more

Twenty-five years ago, the Islanders were in Lake Placid preparing for training camp when the world changed.

Subscribe now

For first-year head coach Peter Laviolette, the timing was impossible to forget. He had barely begun his first NHL training camp when word of the September 11 attacks reached the team. “I was probably two minutes into my first training camp as a head coach in the National Hockey League,” Laviolette later recalled. “Day 1. I’ll never forget.”

The setting carried its own strange symbolism. The Islanders were in Lake Placid, home of the Miracle on Ice, one of the most celebrated moments in American sports history. But by mid-morning, hockey had become irrelevant.

Mike Milbury informed Laviolette shortly after the first plane struck. Players gathered around television monitors inside the arena as the scope of the attacks became clear. Laviolette emerged from practice in no mood to discuss hockey.

Players including Alexei Yashin and Michael Peca still spoke with reporters, but there was little doubt that the season, the roster and the excitement surrounding the Islanders had instantly become secondary.

The Islanders had acquired Peca, Yashin and Adrian Aucoin during an aggressive offseason and, for the first time in years, expectations were building around the franchise.

Then September 11 happened.

Everything else stopped mattering.

🏒 When hockey returned

Sports eventually became part of New York’s healing process.

Mike Piazza’s home run against Atlanta. The Yankees’ emotional World Series run. Mark Messier wearing the helmet of a fallen fire chief.

The Islanders would provide their own small piece of that return to normalcy.

The 2001-02 team opened the season 9-0-1 and ultimately ended the franchise’s seven-year playoff drought. On October 13, 2001, the Islanders played their first regular-season home game at Nassau Coliseum since the attacks.

The building became something more than a hockey arena that night.

Fans stood through warmups and an extended pregame ceremony. FDNY and NYPD hockey players joined the Islanders and Detroit Red Wings on the ice as an American flag was unfurled. Michael Buffer introduced the teams. Jamie-Lynn Sigler sang the national anthem.

Then, 36 seconds after the puck dropped, Oleg Kvasha scored.

The Coliseum erupted.

For a few hours, Long Islanders had somewhere to cheer again. They had something to distract them from what had become the new normal. It was sports delivered for New Yorkers, and people aroun the country

🚒 One Islanders fan whose fight never stopped

The Islanders’ connection to September 11 continued long after that night.

Hicksville resident and FDNY firefighter Ray Pfeifer was among the first responders who worked at Ground Zero and later developed cancer related to his service. Pfeifer became one of the most prominent advocates for extending health benefits to 9/11 first responders, helping fight for the Zadroga Act.

The Islanders honored him on April 2, 2016, when Pfeifer dropped the ceremonial puck before a game against Pittsburgh.

“There’s nobody who’s going to be more happy than me,” Pfeifer said beforehand. “To be in that venue, just to be in front of a hometown crowd and be with my team … it’s a dream come true.”

Pfeifer died on May 27, 2017.

Before his death, he continued fighting to ensure those who died from 9/11-related illnesses were recognized alongside those lost on the day of the attacks. The Ray Pfeifer Foundation continues that work today, helping first responders obtain medical equipment not covered by insurance.

Twenty-five years later, the Islanders’ connection to September 11 isn’t really about what happened on the ice.

It’s about the people in the stands, the people who served, and the role a hockey team played in giving its community somewhere to gather again.

Never forget.

And we leave you with this…read Alex Mitchell’s story in the New York Post about what inspired Patrick Dowd’s “Always Believe” sign.

Thanks for reading! Follow us on X for regular updates until the next newsletter.

And please check out our newsletters about the Knicks and Mets, too.

Hockey Night in NY

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

There are 25 players at Islanders rookie camp, and technically they are all there for the same reason.

Except they’re really not. For some, this is orientation. A chance to get comfortable, get stronger, get noticed, and maybe give the organization something to remember a year from now.

For others, this is already business. Isaiah George has plenty of NHL games on his résumé. Victor Eklund has already made his NHL debut. Cole Eiserman has had a taste of pro hockey and owns the kind of shot that makes people pay attention before he even gets through warmups.

They are not all standing at the same starting line.

That is what makes rookie camp interesting.

Read more

Hockey Night in NY

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

There wasn’t much drama at the top of Corey Pronman’s 2025 NHL re-draft for The Athletic last month.

Matthew Schaefer went No. 1 overall again. Of course he did.

Subscribe now

A year after the Islanders won the lottery and made Schaefer the first pick, he’s already won the Calder Trophy, established himself as the best player from the class, and is already a Top-10 Norris Trophy contender.

That’s great for the Islanders, but it’s also not really news anymore.

What is interesting is what happened with some of their other picks, because we’re getting close to being able to ask a much bigger question.

Could 2025 eventually become the Islanders’ most important draft since 2009?

That’s an incredibly high bar.

The Islanders left the 2009 draft with John Tavares first overall, Calvin de Haan at No. 12, Casey Cizikas at No. 92, and Anders Lee all the way down at No. 152. Every one of those players became an important Islander. Tavares became the face of the franchise and eventually its captain. The defenseman, de Haan, played six seasons on Long Island. Cizikas became one of the defining players of the teams that reached consecutive conference finals. Lee scored 308 goals as an Islander and succeeded Tavares as captain.

One draft produced two Islanders captains and another player in Cizikas, who became synonymous with the franchise's identity. Even after Tavares left, the fingerprints of that 2009 draft remained all over the Islanders for years. It wasn’t simply a good draft. It helped build the next decade-plus of Islanders hockey.

That’s what makes Pronman’s early assessment of 2025 so interesting.

Kashawn Aitcheson was selected No. 17, and Pronman now has him eighth. That’s a pretty massive move in one year. Put him alongside Schaefer, and you can at least start dreaming about two members of the 2025 class eventually playing major roles on the same Islanders blue line.

Then there’s Daniil Prokhorov. The Islanders grabbed the massive Russian winger at No. 42. Pronman now has him going No. 18. That’s basically turning a second-round selection into another first-round talent, at least according to how the class looks today. Tomas Poletin might be even more interesting from a scouting perspective. He went 106th overall. Pronman has him 52nd now.

Victor Eklund was the exception, dropping from No. 16 to No. 27. That’s worth mentioning, but one-year re-drafts are hardly final judgments. Eklund has plenty of development ahead of him and still has the best chance of any prospect to make the team out of training camp.

Still, look at the whole thing.

No. 1 stays No. 1. No. 17 becomes No. 8. No. 42 becomes No. 18. No. 106 becomes No. 52. Nobody should start comparing Aitcheson to Lee or Prokhorov to Cizikas. We don’t even know yet whether some of these guys will become NHL regulars.

But that’s not really the point.

The 2009 draft changed the direction of the Islanders because it didn’t produce one important player. It produced a group that became part of the franchise’s identity for more than a decade. All seven Islanders selections from that draft eventually appeared in the NHL, with Tavares, de Haan, Cizikas and Lee becoming the major organizational hits.

Sixteen years later, the Islanders desperately needed another draft capable of producing more than one answer.

Schaefer is already one.

If Aitcheson, Prokhorov, Eklund, or Poletin become what the Islanders believe they can become, we may eventually look back at 2025 the same way we look back at 2009.

Not as the draft when the Islanders found their next superstar.

As the draft when they found their next team and their next identity.

📺 Up The Turnpike: Why Schaefer Isn't The Islanders Next Captain

🔗 Eiserman intrigued by ‘buzz’ around Islanders ahead of training camp by Tracy Myers, NHL.com “There's a new coach and it seems like there's a lot of buzz around the Islanders, which is pretty cool especially with 'Schaef,' Eklund and Aitcheson, (Malte) Gustafsson, all these young guys," Eiserman said at the NHLPA Rookie Showcase in Chicago in July. "It's cool everyone's coming at the same time-ish, which is important for all of us. We all feel very comfortable and excited, mostly because we're all in it together.”

🔗 The NY Islanders may not be great this season but they will be exciting by Mike Stahurski, Eyes on Isles “Over the past seven seasons, one word many have used to describe NY Islanders hockey is boring. During the Trotz era, the team over-achieved, defending their own zone and nearly made the Stanley Cup Finals. But boring and the Islanders don’t coincide much anymore thanks to Matthew Schaefer.”

And we leave you with this…Matthew Schaefer’s slicked-back look in Vegas.

Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter for regular updates until the next newsletter.

And please check out our newsletters about the Knicks and Mets, too.

Hockey Night in NY

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

There is a word everyone around the Islanders suddenly seems comfortable using.

Transition.

And there is another word nobody seems particularly interested in using.

Rebuild.

The distinction matters.

A rebuild asks you to wait.

A transition asks you to believe.

Subscribe now

Believe that Mathieu Darche can change the organization without tearing apart the roster. Believe that Pete DeBoer can squeeze more out of players who were already here. Believe that a healthier roster can correct some of what went wrong last season. Believe that prospects can start taking jobs from veterans. Believe that all of the future cap space eventually becomes something meaningful.

And, more than anything else, believe that Matthew Schaefer has already changed the timetable. That’s what happens when an 18-year-old now, 19 (Happy Birthday!) walks into the NHL, scores 23 goals, finishes with 59 points, and wins the Calder Trophy unanimously.

Patience gets harder, and it gets easier to promise you won’t need too much of it.

If the Islanders were simply an aging team coming off consecutive playoff misses, everyone could probably agree on the prescription. Move veterans. Accumulate picks. Get younger. Take your medicine. Then Schaefer shows up and gives you the kind of player franchises can spend decades trying to find.

Suddenly, some feel the transition shouldn’t take long, and fans’ patience will likely determine how long that word remains acceptable to describe the franchise.

Let’s dive in.

Facing Reality

The Islanders are finally saying the quiet part out loud. This is a transition. Assistant general manager Evan Gold has used the word, and Mathieu Darche has repeatedly talked about building a team that can sustain success instead of plugging holes every summer.

The Post’s Ethan Sears argues that the organization needs to follow that philosophy through, especially with 10 players entering camp on expiring contracts and the possibility of roughly $40 million in cap space opening up next summer. For the first time in a while, the Islanders have the flexibility to decide what the next version of the roster should actually look like.

Darche has invested in development, analytics, and the AHL operation precisely because the Islanders need more than one great young player. The challenge now is to build around Schaefer without letting his accelerated rise lead to bad decisions. “To be a sustainable playoff team you can’t just patch every year and just bring one player here, one player there, you have to build it,” Darche said.

“But a good thing is, we have some solid veterans that can keep us relevant, keep us fighting for the playoffs as we incorporate and we always need to mix up both. You can’t win with only young guys, you can’t win with only older guys, so that’s the transitional part that he’s talking about.”

Tier 1 📈

Expectations for Matthew Schaefer were already ridiculous.

Then Scott Wheeler raised them again. The Athletic’s prospect analyst placed Schaefer in Tier 1B of his under-23 rankings and explained that the projection essentially amounts to “future-best-D-in-the-world.”

Wheeler noted that only Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, Zach Werenski and Rasmus Dahlin currently occupy Tier 1 among defensemen in his broader player tiers. Even more remarkable, one NHL scout reportedly told Wheeler that Schaefer should have been placed another level higher.

Think about how quickly this conversation changed.

A year ago, the Islanders were hoping the No. 1 pick could become their franchise defenseman. Now the debate is whether he might eventually become the best defenseman in the league. Wheeler called that level of belief in a 19-year-old defenseman “practically unheard of.” Schaefer isn’t merely being projected as a future All-Star or Norris contender anymore. Evaluators are talking about him as a player who could define the position.

Birthday Boy 🥳

We can no longer refer to Matthew Schaefer as an 18-year-old defenseman. That ended on Friday, when Schaefer turned 19, and celebrated the way most young men do in their final teenage year, with the Martin Family and their kids.

Ice Painting 🎨

The Isles are giving a select group of Season Ticket Members an opportunity that goes well beyond watching a game at UBS Arena. Fans will actually help paint the lines on the ice the Islanders will play on this season.

The exclusive experience takes place Wednesday, Sept. 9, from 7:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m., when selected fans will join the Islanders’ ice operations team as the rink is prepared for the upcoming season. Unlike the familiar end-of-season tradition of fans painting the ice, this time participants will need to stay within the lines.

Members entered through Isles Rewards for 350 non-refundable points, and winners can bring one guest. Entries closed Sept. 4.

📚 SOUND SMART: After a Vezina-caliber season that saw him finish as the runner-up for the trophy for the second time in his career, Ilya Sorokin is once again in the conversation as the best goaltender in the world, and also among the best players in the NHL. This weekend, he was revealed as the No. 35 ranked player on the NHL Network’s Top 50 list after being unranked a season ago.

🎥 ISLES REWIND: On September 5, 2020, the Islanders advanced to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since 1993, as they defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0 in Game 7 of the Second Round.

The Islanders’ methodical shutout victory featured scoring from Scott Mayfield, Andy Greene, Brock Nelson and Anthony Beauvillier. Thomas Greiss posted a perfect 16-save performance in the shutout, in what was a defensive clinic by the Islanders. The 16 shots against were the fewest they’d allowed in the playoffs.

🎧 Can Prospects Put Isles On Path To Stanley Cup Contention?

🔗 NY Islanders D Matthew Schaefer cracks List of top 10 Norris Trophy candidates by Jiggs Westfall, Eyes on Isles “Matt Larkin of the Daily Faceoff ranked Schaefer seventh among its top 10 Norris Trophy candidates for the 2026-27 season, placing the 19-year-old alongside some of the most accomplished defensemen in hockey. The list includes Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, Lane Hutson, Zach Werenski, Rasmus Dahlin and Evan Bouchard ahead of him.”

🔗 Islanders can’t skip the transition they desperately need by Ethan Sears, New York Post “So here is some more reality, of which everyone in the organization and around the NHL is well aware. The Islanders have not won a playoff series since 2021. They had 91 points last season and missed the playoffs for a second consecutive season. The best, most important assets in their organization are almost uniformly young enough to be in college, and 10 players enter training camp with expiring contracts, giving the Islanders an estimated $40 million in salary cap space going into next summer.”

And we leave you with this… Isles Den put together a video this summer featuring a long list of Islanders legends scoring their final goals with the franchise.

Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter for regular updates until the next newsletter.

And please check out our newsletters about the Knicks and Mets, too.

Hockey Night in NY

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

Mathieu Darche spent much of the first day of free agency selling New York Islanders fans on a vision, even if that vision doesn’t appear to have much to do with the 2026-27 season.

Subscribe now

When Darche was asked what he expected from this year’s Islanders team, he didn’t talk about winning the Stanley Cup. He didn’t talk about contending in the Eastern Conference. He didn’t even really talk about making noise in the playoffs. The phrase he used was “a playoff contender.”

Listen carefully. A playoff contender.

For a franchise that has missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons (hasn’t won a playoff round since 2021) and plays in a Metropolitan Division that seems to have gotten stronger this summer, that feels less like a rallying cry and more like a disclaimer.

And, truth be told, there’s nothing wrong with that, and yesterday was the closest the GM has come to indicating that is likely the case, while also keeping the door open to being a playoff team if players overachieve and things break right.

Wednesday wasn’t a bad day for the Islanders. Far from it. Darche made a smart, low-risk bet on Matias Maccelli, brought in Vítek Vaněček as insurance behind the eternally hopeful return of Semyon Varlamov, and added veteran defenseman Mark Kessel without blocking Isaiah George’s path to the NHL. Those are the kinds of moves good general managers make.

But the biggest move of the day was the one Darche didn’t make.

Anders Lee is gone, and he didn’t have to be.

Not to Minnesota. Not back to Long Island. To Utah, on a three-year deal that Darche simply wasn’t willing to match. The Islanders’ captain of the last eight seasons wanted more than a one-year commitment, and Darche never really budged. There is a logic to that. There is also a cost.

Because now the Islanders don’t just need to replace Lee’s goals and leadership. They need a new captain, too.

What was striking about listening to Darche afterward wasn’t what he said about the current roster. It was how often he talked about the next one.

He talked about the roughly $40 million in cap space the Islanders could have next summer (17th most in the league as of now). He talked about the young players coming through the pipeline. He talked about wanting the flexibility to take big swings when the right opportunity presents itself.

And all of that sounds perfectly reasonable.

It’s also the kind of language executives use when they don’t believe the present roster is quite good enough.

Maybe the Islanders surprise people. They nearly did a year ago before fading down the stretch. Maybe Pete DeBoer can find the same magic that Barry Trotz did in 2018-19. Maybe Matthew Schaefer takes his game to an even higher level. Maybe the next wave of Eklund, Eiserman, and Aitcheson gets here sooner.

But when a general manager spends more time selling tomorrow than today, he is telling you something. The future, for better or worse, has started on Long Island, with the present in the way of the Islanders getting there.

📺 Up The Turnpike: 2026 NHL Free Agency Reaction! Matias Maccelli, Vitek Vanecek, Matt Kessel SIGNED

🔗 NY Islanders coach Pete DeBoer has been a big fan of Matias Maccelli’s game by Jiggs Westfall, Eyes on Isles “New York Islanders head coach Pete DeBoer believes newly signed forward Matias Maccelli has the talent to become an impactful addition to the club's lineup, citing firsthand experience from coaching against the skilled winger during his time in the Western Conference.”

🔗 Mathieu Darche wishes Anders Lee well after the NY Islanders captain signs with the Utah Mammoth by Mike Stahurski, Eyes on Isles “The way he's handled himself the last year...it's not an easy situation for him. He handled it with the utmost class with the way he played, the way he cared about this team on and off the ice, the way he's been for all these years on Long Island, the way he got involved in the community, and you saw, up until the end, first-round pick, he's calling him three, four days before his contract expires.”"

And we leave you with this…2025 2nd round pick Daniil Prokhorov showing off his size and speed for Team White during last night’s scrimmage.

Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter for regular updates until the next newsletter.

And please check out our newsletters about the Knicks and Mets, too.

Hockey Night in NY

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

It’s July 1, and New York Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche has reportedly drawn a line in the sand. Whether that line ultimately proves to be prudent or problematic will be another chapter that defines a GM’s tenure.

As free agency opens Wednesday afternoon, the possibility that Anders Lee’s long run on Long Island could be ending felt more real than ever. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported that Lee, the Islanders captain since 2018-19 and one of the franchise’s defining players of the post-dynasty era, would test the market. And while nothing is official until a contract is signed elsewhere, the vibe have become increasingly difficult to ignore.

Apparently, this isn’t primarily about money. It’s about term.

Reports indicate the Islanders have been unwilling to move beyond a one-year offer to Lee, who will turn 36 later this week. That’s a defensible position on its face. Every general manager needs boundaries. Every general manager needs to know when sentimentality stops and roster construction begins. If Darche believes giving out multi-year contracts to players in their mid-30s is bad business, then he should stick to that philosophy.

The problem is that he hasn’t.

That’s what makes this situation so perplexing to some.

Last March, the Islanders extended 33-year-old Jean-Gabriel Pageau for three years and committed roster spots and term to veterans like 35-year-old Ondrej Palat and 34-year-old Brayden Schenn. Those moves inherently limit flexibility, too. Those moves also create obstacles for the younger players Darche presumably wants to integrate into the lineup.

So why is Anders Lee the exception?

This isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about consistency.

Lee remains a productive player. He scores 20 goals just about every season. He’s played 81 or 82 games in three of the last four years. He remains one of the team’s most respected leaders and one of the few Islanders who has consistently produced through multiple eras of this franchise.

“I feel like you’re a captain of a team and from a fan’s perspective, it’s like, he’s the leader in the room or whatnot, but there’s a lot of work behind the scenes that goes into it with media or different meetings,” Ryan Pulock said in the New York Post. “Probably more than I realize, to be honest with you. He gets it all done. He’s doing it for us and the rest of the guys in this room.”

If the argument against bringing him back on a second year is preserving flexibility, then that standard should apply universally. Maybe Darche ultimately proves right. Maybe Lee’s next contract becomes an overpay that the Islanders wisely avoided.

But as the hockey world waits to see where one of the greatest captains in franchise history lands, it’s hard to escape the feeling that the line Darche drew for Anders Lee has been remarkably firm, especially compared to the lines he’s already been willing to move for others.

We’ll soon find out if that line moves enough for Lee to return.

📺 New York Islanders Development Camp | Media Availability

🔗 Islanders have so much to weigh before letting Anders Lee walk in free agency by Ethan Sears, New York Post “The door is not closed, not yet, not officially, on Anders Lee to return to the Islanders. No one is eager to see the captain leave, not when he’s just 77 games away from becoming the fourth player ever to hit 1,000 games in blue and orange, not when his leadership still means so much to this team, not when he’s still a perfectly productive player, scoring 19 times last year at age 35”

🔗 NY Islanders’ Isaiah George using two contrasting seasons to earn NHL roster spot by Jiggs Westfall, Eyes on Isles “For Isaiah George, the last two seasons have provided two very different lessons. As the New York Islanders prepare for training camp this fall, the young defenseman is hoping those experiences will help him seize what could be his best opportunity yet to earn a full-time NHL role.”

And we leave you with this…Anders Lee career highlights (h/t IslesDen)

Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter for regular updates until the next newsletter.

And please check out our newsletters about the Knicks and Mets, too.

Hockey Night in NY

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

A year ago today, the vibes were very different.

The New York Islanders stepped to the podium at the 2025 NHL Draft with a new general manager, Mathieu Darche, and selected Matthew Schaefer first overall. It felt like the beginning of something. Not just because Schaefer was considered an elite prospect, but because the organization appeared to have a new direction.

Subscribe now

After the mostly-viewed favorably Noah Dobson trade, the Isles finished the first round with three picks, replenishing a prospect pool that had been criticized for years and earning glowing reviews from virtually every draft analyst.

Twelve months later, the returns on that night are glowing even brighter.

Schaefer didn’t merely live up to expectations. He obliterated them. He became the unanimous Calder Trophy winner, tied Brian Leetch’s rookie goal record for defensemen, and looked every bit like a franchise cornerstone. Off the ice, he embraced the spotlight with a maturity that made him an equally obvious choice to become the face of the organization.

And the good news didn’t stop there.

Victor Eklund came over from Sweden after an outstanding professional season and immediately looked comfortable in North America before making his NHL debut. Kashawn Aitcheson has been rewriting Barrie Colts playoff record books, establishing himself as one of the organization’s premier defensive prospects.

So why does it feel...different?

Because instead of building with the future in mind, Darche has chosen the middle road. The Islanders appear intent on squeezing out one more competitive window with an aging veteran core while waiting for the next wave to fully mature. That’s why he made the Palat and Schenn trades last season, to push for the playoffs and remain competitive this year and next.

It’s a strategy that tries to satisfy everyone, yet risks satisfying no one. The roster isn’t young enough to grow together, but it also doesn’t look good enough to seriously challenge for anything than a playoff spot if EVERYTHING goes right.

That’s the uncomfortable truth.

The Islanders still have a Vezina-caliber goaltender in Ilya Sorokin. They hired Peter DeBoer, one of the league’s most accomplished coaches, whose résumé is filled with deep playoff runs. There is enough talent to remain respectable.

But respectable isn’t good enough, and hasn’t for five years now.

That’s why the mood around Islanders Country feels so conflicted. One year after arguably the franchise’s best draft in decades, optimism about the future has somehow been replaced by uncertainty about the present.

The brightest young star the organization has produced in generations is already here. The prospect pool is healthier than it’s been in years. Yet instead of accelerating toward that future, the Islanders seem content to idle in neutral.

It’s time to pick a direction.

🔗 Turning Islanders into destination spot as important as NHL draft by Ethan Sears, New York Post “In an offseason that so far has seen Brady Tkachuk and Jordan Kyrou — linked to the Islanders ahead of the last trade deadline — traded, Dylan Larkin request a trade and rumors surround fellow Team USA Olympians Connor Hellebuyck and Zach Werenski, the Islanders have mostly been on the periphery of all the noise.”

🔗 Islanders focused on prospects as NHL Draft approaches by Andrew Gross, Newsday “The takeaway is general manager Mathieu Darche, overseeing his second draft, is prioritizing the prospects already in the organization as well as the ones to be selected. The long-term plan to develop a consistent contender with the Islanders having missed the playoffs in two straight seasons must be to build around unanimous rookie of the year Matthew Schaefer, still more than two months shy of turning 19.”

And we leave you with this…On The Island … Episode 6.

Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter for regular updates until the next newsletter.

And please check out our newsletters about the Knicks and Mets, too.

Hockey Night in NY

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

It’s a Quick Fix featuring Joe Buono (@IslesFix) and former VP of Communications for the Islanders, Chris Botta (@ChrisBottaNHL).

In this episode, Joe and Chris react to “Clean Out Day” interviews with players and GM Mathieu Darche following the bitterly disappointing end to the Islanders’ 2025-26 season. We dig into Darche’s comments defending his in-season trades, which he says helped the team but didn’t lead to team success. Based on his comments, the big changes some expect may not come with a roster that has few spots open, and several contracts that will be hard to move.

Isles Fix Podcast Network

Later, we discuss the treatment of Anders Lee this season, and the type of deal Darche may make to have the captain return and play his 1,000th game in an Islanders uniform. Plus, Barzal and Ritchie say they’re centers, Bridgeport loads up for the post-season, and reasons to be optimistic about next season.

Thanks to all who listened this season. Enjoy!

📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, the Isles lost only five games in OT/SO’s; it was their fewest OT/SO losses since the shootout was introduced in 2005-06. The Isles did not play OT in their last 17 games, the longest single-season streak in the shootout era for the club.

🎥 ISLES REWIND: On Apr. 17, 1980, the New York Islanders defeated the Boston Bruins 5-4 in overtime for the second consecutive game in their Stanley Cup quarterfinal matchup as Bob Bourne tallied the game-winner 1:24 into the extra sessions after intercepting a pass and unloading a slap shot just inside the blue line and past Gerry Cheevers. The game is also known for one of the most eventful bench-clearing brawls in Stanley Cup history that ignited the Islanders, who won the best-of-seven series in five games.

🔗 Islanders’ breakup day grounded in ‘miserable’ reality of missing playoffs: ‘Absolutely sucks’ by Ethan Sears, New York Post “No matter what the rest of the league, or the stats, or their own fans thought, the Islanders, almost uniformly, insisted on optimism. Not Wednesday. Big picture, yes, the organization is in a much better spot than it was a year ago. It’s got an 18-year-old superstar in Matthew Schaefer, a prospect pipeline that looks legitimately promising and real reason to believe there can be a contending team on Long Island in the very near future.”

🔗 Islanders rookie Matthew Schaefer marvels at what he was able to do in first year on Long Island by Andrew Gross, Newsday “Matthew Schaefer’s record-setting rookie season started with admittedly humbler goals than budding superstardom after the Islanders selected him first overall in June. First, he just wanted to make the team, let alone quickly ascend to being its No. 1 defenseman and top power-play quarterback. Then he wanted to last 10 games so he wouldn’t be sent back to junior hockey.”

And we leave you with this…Semyon Varlamov takes the ice for Bridgeport!

Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter for regular updates until the next newsletter.

And please check out our newsletters about the Knicks and Mets, too.

Hockey Night in NY

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

It’s hard — maybe harder than it should be — to put aside how it ended and remember how much fun it was along the way.

Because right now, the disappointment is loud. It lingers. It stings. You think about the missed chances, the games that slipped away, the slow unraveling over the final month that turned something promising into something frustrating. That’s the part that sticks first. But if you give it time, if you let the sting fade just a little, you’ll remember something else.

You’ll remember the moments this season gave you.

It will always be the year of Matthew Schaefer — the year an 18-year-old didn’t just arrive, but took over. The year he became the face of the Islanders and hinted, loudly, that he might be one of the next faces of the NHL. From ping pong lottery luck to the no-doubt Calder Trophy winner, it was a ride nobody saw coming, and nobody will forget. It was that good.

There were moments. Plenty of them.

Undefeated in OT. The brilliance of Ilya Sorokin. The sellouts. A dominating sweep of the Rangers and Devils. Nights where UBS Arena buzzed with something real, something building. For a while, it felt like anything was possible.

And then came the turn.

The losses. The collapse. The firing of Patrick Roy. The bold moves by Mathieu Darche that didn’t land the way they were meant to. The arrival of a new voice behind the bench, and questions that will carry into the summer.

That’s part of the story, too. But it’s not the whole thing.

Because seasons, even the ones that fall short, are built on moments. And this one had plenty that made you smile, that pulled you in, that reminded you why you care in the first place.

In time, that’s what you’ll remember most about a season that gave us a lot, but had more to give.

Let’s dive in.

Game Recap

The New York Islanders closed out their season with a 2-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night, dropping their seventh game in the last eight.

Mark Jankowski scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, while Nikolaj Ehlers opened the scoring early in the first for Carolina, which finished atop the Eastern Conference after winning four of its final five games.

Bo Horvat provided the lone goal for New York, tying the game late in the second period off a pass from Mathew Barzal. Rookie Victor Eklund recorded an assist in his NHL debut. David Rittich made 19 saves in the loss, while Carolina’s Brandon Bussi stopped 28 shots. Ehlers finished his first season with Carolina with a career-high 71 points. The Hurricanes also saw Felix Unger Sorum pick up an assist in his NHL debut.

For the Islanders, it marked a quiet end to a difficult stretch to close the season.

GameScore Impact Card

⏭ NEXT UP: The Off-Season

📊 STANDINGS

Is This The End of Anders Lee?

Anders Lee was asked if he expects clarity soon from first-year GM Mathieu Darche. Islanders captain Anders Lee kept the focus on the present.

“That’s a good question,” Lee said. “I don’t know. I know we’ll have our closing meetings and have a chance to revisit some of this conversation and go from there. My focus, as a player and the captain of the team, has been on the team and what I can do to help it.”

Before the game, Andrew Gross of Newsday presented Lee with the Sid Payne Good Guy Award, named for the late Long Island Press sports reporter who covered the team from its birth in 1972 to his untimely passing in 1976.

Lee, who will turn 36 on July 3, just completed the eighth season of his seven-year, $49 million deal and has long maintained his desire to remain with the only NHL organization he’s known. Contract discussions were expected to wait until the offseason, and that approach held throughout the year.

Lee continued to provide consistency and durability, entering the finale with 19 goals and 23 assists, while appearing in all 82 games — the third time in the last four seasons he’s done so, and the fifth time in his career. Over that span, he has missed just one game, reinforcing his role as a steady presence for the Islanders.

News & Notes

Wearing No. 73, one of the team’s top prospects, Victor Eklund, made his NHL debut Tuesday night, skating alongside Simon Holmstrom and Bo Horvat. “When I found out last night, I called my mom, my dad, my brother,” Eklund said. “I’m super excited… it’s a dream come true.”

His parents traveled to Long Island while his brother, William Eklund, watched from afar. Head coach Peter DeBoer offered encouragement ahead of the debut. “He told me to enjoy it… and that I deserve it,” Eklund said. DeBoer praised the 19-year-old’s “speed, skill, and tenacity,” traits that earned him the opportunity.

Liam Foudy made his season debut after a strong AHL campaign with 25 goals and 46 points, skated with Casey Cizikas and Marc Gatcomb. Ryan Pulock missed the season finale; the team cited several injuries he was battling, per the team. Pulock has 27 points (3G, 24A) through 76 games this season.

Performance Bonus

Matthew Schaefer’s historic rookie season delivered more than highlights — it also triggered a standard salary cap outcome tied to his performance bonuses.

As an entry-level player, Schaefer is eligible for performance bonuses based on individual achievements. He reached all Level A thresholds for defensemen, including goals, assists, points, and top-tier ice time. His elite production also puts him in position to earn Level B bonuses, which are awarded for finishing among the NHL’s top 10 defensemen in categories like scoring or ice time.

Those bonuses are not counted against the salary cap during the season, but are applied afterward. If they push the Islanders over the cap, the excess becomes a carryover charge for next season. It’s a common scenario for teams with standout young players — and in this case, a reflection of just how impactful Schaefer’s rookie year has been for the Islanders.

📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, Bo Horvat joined Anders Lee as Islanders who scored their 300th career goal this season; prior to that, only three other non-Dynasty players had done so – all between 2004 -2006 (Cliff Ronning, Alexei Yashin, Miroslav Satan). Horvat (31 years, 9 days) is the youngest Islander since Clark Gillies (30-364 on 4/6/1985) to score his 300th goal as an Islander; Gillies also did it in a season finale. Mike Bossy was 25, and Bryan Trottier was 26 when they hit 300 NHL goals. Victor Eklund earned the secondary assist on the goal for his first career NHL point.

🎥 ISLES REWIND: On Apr. 16, 1985, the New York Islanders became the first team in NHL history to overcome a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-five series, eliminating the Washington Capitals three games to two. The Isles beat the Caps 2-1 in DC for the deciding Game 5 victory. Anders Kallur and Brent Sutter scored for the Isles in the second period, and Billy Smith stopped 39 of 40 shots in the road win.

📺 Up The Turnpike: Postgame Recap, Reaction, Highlights

🔗 Islanders’ flameout leaves Anders Lee’s future unclear by Ethan Sears, New York Post “The first, obviously, is the way the Islanders finished the season. Crashing out in spectacular fashion and failing to make the playoffs changed this from a feel-good, fun year to one that will prompt general manager Mathieu Darche to reexamine the roster, even if the franchise is still undoubtedly on an upward trajectory. Lee, as a 35-year-old whose contract is expiring, is a convenient lever for change.”

🔗 Islanders playoff miss likely cost Sorokin Vezina Trophy by Nestor Quixtran, Eyes on Isles “One of the narratives surrounding the New York Islanders throughout this season was Ilya Sorokin’s brilliant season. For a while, the chatter focused on Sorokin following in Connor Hellebuyck’s Vezina/Hart Trophy season last year. Hellebuyck earned the rare feat by posting otherworldly numbers en route to the Winnipeg Jets winning the Presidents’ Trophy.”

And we leave you with this…the team leaders for the 2025-26 season

Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter for regular updates until the next newsletter.

And please check out our newsletters about the Knicks and Mets, too.

Hockey Night in NY

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

“Playing with house money” is supposed to feel liberating. It’s the idea that you’ve already won, already beaten the odds, already turned something small into something meaningful — and now, whatever comes next is a bonus.

You take a few more chances. You loosen your grip. You play freer, bolder, like there’s to lose because, in a way, there isn’t.

For a long stretch of this Islanders season, that’s exactly what it felt like. They weren’t supposed to be here, not really. It was supposed to be a transition, a retool, a year spent figuring things out. And instead, they overachieved. They hung around. They collected points. They built belief. That’s house money. That’s the sweet spot where pressure fades, and possibility grows.

But then came the pivot.

Read more

Hockey Night in NY

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

I’ve been an Islanders fan since the 1992-93 season, which means I’ve seen just about every version of this team there is to see (besides the Stanley Cup-winning type, of course).

I’ve seen the ones that never had a chance, seasons where you knew by Thanksgiving it wasn’t happening. I’ve seen the rare teams that locked up their spot early and let you enjoy the ride without the nightly anxiety. But mostly? It’s been this — the grind. The full-season push. The scoreboard watching. The living and dying with every point in a race for that final playoff spot. Sometimes they got there. Sometimes they didn’t.

But I can’t remember anything like this.

Not like this. Not 4-9-0 over their last 13. Not one goal in two must-win games at home with your season on the line and a new coach behind the bench.

Because make no mistake, this wasn’t just a bad stretch or a tough break. This was a collapse. A full, undeniable free-fall from a team that had everything in front of it and simply let it slip away. They were in position. They didn’t just believe — they acted like it, too. Mathieu Darche bought at the deadline, raised the stakes, and told everyone this season was about more than just progress.

And then it unraveled.

Not because the teams around them surged. Not because they were outplayed over time. But because they lost control of their own season. That’s the part that’s hard to process. That’s the part that sticks. They did it to themselves.

This started with good vibes. With upside. With the feeling that something was building, something real. You could see it in the way Matthew Schaefer energized everything, in the way the building started to believe again. You could picture it — playoff games at UBS Arena, a team nobody wanted to face.

Instead, they seem destined to finish sixth in the division.

And that’s more than disappointing. Because this isn’t something Islanders fans are used to seeing. Not like this. Not from a team that had it all right there.

This wasn’t just another ending. It was something entirely different.

Read more

Hockey Night in NY

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

There is nothing quite like the power of positivity that arrives with a new NHL coach. It doesn’t matter how long he’s been around, how many benches he’s stood behind, how many times he’s run this exact same playbook. When he walks into a new room, everything feels new again. Every drill has purpose. Every message lands a little louder. Every detail suddenly feels like it might be the one that changes everything.

That’s where Peter DeBoer finds himself now.

Nearly two decades behind the bench, and still, in these first few days, everything he touches is met with a kind of unfiltered enthusiasm. “I’m going a little old school for sure with the whiteboard and jerseys,” DeBoer said. “I’m drinking from a fire hose right now trying to get up to speed. Just trying to get information to the guys without paralyzing them.” It’s equal parts honesty and urgency, and right now, it sounds exactly like what this team needs to hear.

Because the early returns are always the same.

The practices feel sharper. The pace feels higher. You hear about intensity — more of it, better of it — just like you did when Patrick Roy replaced Lane Lambert. That’s the cycle. The reset. The jolt that comes when a new voice takes over and everyone leans in just a little bit more.

And DeBoer has done this before.

Read more

Hockey Night in NY

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

This is what a calculated gamble looks like when it’s made by someone who understands more than just the roster in front of him.

Mathieu Darche didn’t just fire Patrick Roy and hire Peter DeBoer. He flipped the narrative. Completely. With four games left in the regular season and a four-game losing streak dragging everything toward an all-too-familiar ending, Darche made the kind of move that stops a season in its tracks and forces everyone — players, fans, media — to look in a different direction.

Because this wasn’t just about results. It was about perception.

The Islanders were teetering. Another loss or two, and the story writes itself: late-season collapse, missed opportunity, trades that didn’t move the needle the way they were supposed to. A failed season from what had so much promise. That’s where this was headed. That’s what was coming. And Darche saw it.

So he changed the story before it could be written.

Now, the season ends one of two ways — and both of them, in their own way, work for him.

If DeBoer walks in and gives the Islanders the jolt coaches sometimes do — the reset, the clarity, the urgency — and they surge into the playoffs, Darche looks bold. Decisive. The first-year GM who saw a slipping season and refused to let it go quietly. The guy who pulled the ripcord at exactly the right moment and saved it.

And if they don’t?

If the losses continue, if the hole they’ve dug proves too deep, then Darche still walks away with something valuable: timing. Because now the conversation shifts. It’s no longer about what went wrong in March and April. It’s about what comes next under DeBoer, one of the most sought-after names on the coaching market.

The summer becomes about the future.

Not the failure.

That matters more than people like to admit.

Because a few days ago, this was about whether moves for players like Soucy, Palat, and Schenn were enough — or not enough. Now? That’s already fading. The focus has shifted forward, exactly where Darche wants it.

He may be a first-year GM, but he understands the game within the game. He understands how quickly narratives harden, and how valuable it is to get in front of them before they do.

Time will tell if he can build a winner on Long Island.

But make no mistake — he already knows how to control the story.

Let’s dive in.

New Guy In Charge

The Islanders have made a major shift behind the bench, as Mathieu Darche announced that Patrick Roy has been relieved of his coaching duties, with veteran bench boss Peter DeBoer stepping in as the franchise’s new head coach. The move signals a clear transition in direction, as the organization pivots toward experience and a proven postseason track record.

DeBoer, 57, arrives after a highly successful three-year run with the Dallas Stars, where he posted a 149-68-29 record (.665 win percentage) and guided the team to three straight Western Conference Final appearances.

DeBoer brings one of the most accomplished résumés in the NHL today. With 662 career wins (18th all-time) and 97 playoff victories, he has led four different franchises to the postseason and reached the Stanley Cup Final twice. His reputation as a big-game coach is underscored by a perfect 9-0 record in Game 7s, the best in league history, along with international success that includes multiple gold medals with Team Canada.

The Move He Could Always Make

When Mathieu Darche took over as GM, he had a chance to immediately reshape the Islanders — but instead, he kept Patrick Roy. At the time, it felt like stability. In hindsight, it looks more like a strategy.

Darche created a built-in safety net. If the team succeeded, he’d share in the credit. If it faltered, he’d have the freedom to pivot to his own coach. For much of the season, it worked. Behind Matthew Schaefer’s breakout and Ilya Sorokin’s elite play, the Islanders surged into the playoff picture, exceeding expectations. Darche doubled down at the deadline, acquiring Brayden Schenn in a clear win-now move — a sign of belief in both the roster and Roy.

But then came the slide. Four straight losses shifted everything. With the playoffs suddenly in jeopardy, Darche made the move he always had available — firing Roy. Instead of focusing on collapse, the conversation turned to a new era and fresh direction.

Bottom line:

Darche played this perfectly from a management standpoint — protecting his timeline while resetting expectations. But it also highlights a tough truth in hockey: When things go wrong, the coach is often the easiest one to replace

⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders and new head coach Peter DeBoer have three days off before their next game, Thursday night against Toronto at UBS Arena.

📊 STANDINGS: Philadelphia knocked the Isles out of third in the Metro, and Ottawa then knocked them out of the second Wild Card spot. Detroit suffered a late loss to Minnesota, and Washington got blown out at Madison Square Garden.

Instant Reaction

In the middle of a playoff push, with everything still technically in front of them, the Islanders didn’t just tweak — they detonated. Chris Botta and I recorded a Quick Fix last night to discuss the shrewd move by the GM, and what it can mean for the Islanders over the last four games and beyond.

📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, Patrick Roy was fired the team with fewer games remaining, and later in the season by calendar date, than any other Islanders coach. Butch Goring was let go with 17 games left in 2000-01; meanwhile, Rick Bowness’ last game was on 3/10/98, a week later than Butch, but with 19 games left.

🎥 ISLES REWIND: On April 6th, 2002, the Islanders finally clinched a playoff spot after a seven-year hiatus and one season after posting the worst record in the NHL. Oleg Kvasha, Eric Cairns, Kenny Jonsson, Jason Blake, and Michael Peca scored in a 5-4 win over the Washington Capitals, giving the Isles their first postseason berth since 1994. WATCH: Isles Clinch 2002 Playoff Berth

“We’ve done a good job putting aside a lot of bad traditions,” then first-year Isles coach Peter Laviolette said. “It was nice to kill two birds with one stone.”

📺 Isles House | Reaction to the firing of Patrick Roy

🔗 Islanders jumped line to nab Pete DeBoer with more than saving this season in mind by Ethan Sears, New York Post “Setting aside the very immediate task of pulling the Islanders out of their morass and into the playoffs, these will be pivotal seasons if the franchise is to win a championship with the core it’s currently constructing. The move to hire DeBoer is one of the most important Darche will make as GM.”

🔗 Pete DeBoer hire officially starts the clock on Mathieu Darche’s tenure by Andrew Gross, Newsday “In a sense, DeBoer’s hiring now starts Darche’s clock in earnest. A GM only gets so many coach hirings before his own job is called into question. Sometimes it’s just one. Lamoriello, who ran the Devils from 1987-2015, was the exception, not the rule.”

And we leave you with this… a look into the life and philosophy of Peter DeBoer

Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter for regular updates until the next newsletter.

And please check out our newsletters about the Knicks and Mets, too.

It’s a Quick Fix featuring Joe Buono (@IslesFix) and former VP of Communications for the Islanders, Chris Botta (@ChrisBottaNHL).

In this episode, Chris and Joe didn’t dance around it — Mathieu Darche’s decision to fire Patrick Roy with just four games left in the season and immediately bring in Peter DeBoer is as stunning as it gets. In the middle of a playoff push, with everything still technically in front of them, the Islanders didn’t just tweak — they detonated.

Isles Fix Podcast Network

The Islanders are spiraling, losers of four straight, watching their playoff position slip while other teams gain ground. Darche felt like he had no choice — that something, anything, had to change to spark a response. But this wasn’t just about the next four games. This was about control. Darche inherited Roy. He didn’t hire him. And now, at the exact moment where the season can still be salvaged, but failure is a real possibility, Darche makes the move that he owns.

Listen and enjoy!

And we leave you with this… the backpage of the New York Post