Good Morning, Islanders Country.
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.
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
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