5 questions facing the Islanders this offseason
The Carolina Hurricanes and the Islanders shake hands after Game 5 of the First Round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at PNC Arena on April 30, 2024 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Credit: Getty Images
The Islanders’ roller-coaster season ended with a five-game loss to the Hurricanes in the first round and the team has now won just three playoff games and no postseason series since 2021.
Change is seemingly in order. How drastic it will be is unclear.
Here are five offseason questions confronting the Islanders:
What direction does ownership want to take?
Media-shy owner Scott Malkin is not likely to tip his hand but it comes down to whether there is still trust in president/general manager Lou Lamoriello to lead hockey operations. If ownership mandates there should be extensive changes to the core group of players — to which Lamoriello has shown incredible loyalty — a new boss may be needed since Lamoriello has historically been opposed to rebuilds. Ownership’s hand may be forced from a bottom-line business standpoint if season-ticket renewals are slow.
How much wiggle room is there to make extensive changes?
On paper, not much. Lamoriello has much of the Islanders’ core locked up long term, including goalie Ilya Sorokin for eight more seasons, Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat for seven, Pierre Engvall and defensemen Scott Mayfield and Ryan Pulock for six, defenseman Adam Pelech for five, goalie Semyon Varlamov and Casey Cizikas for three, Jean-Gabriel Pageau for two and Kyle Palmieri and Brock Nelson for one more. Of that group, all but Sorokin and Cizikas have at least a modified no-trade clauses, per CapFriendly.com. The NHL salary cap is finally rising significantly next season to a projected $87.7 million after four seasons of COVID-19 stagnation. But the Islanders already have $82.2 million committed to 18 players. Only Vegas and the Flyers have less cap room available, per Spotrac.com. Plus, top-pair defensemen Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov — the team’s two youngest blue-liners — will both be restricted free agents with arbitration rights after next season and in line for significant raises.
Who’s the most likely to be traded?
Nelson and Palmieri probably would be the most attractive to other teams.
Was this it for Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin?
The longtime fourth-liners are both unrestricted free agents. Clutterbuck, who turns 37 in November, just played all 82 games for the first time in his career and has indicated he wants to play next season. Martin, who just turned 34 and who missed the last two playoff games with a lower-body injury, has not hinted at his future plans, though he is only 45 games shy of reaching 1,000 for his well-respected career. But with the Islanders’ obvious need to get younger and faster, does either returning make sense for the organization, even if it’s on a cap-friendly, one-year deal? Of the two, Clutterbuck seems the likelier candidate to return.
Who are the other free agents?
In addition to Martin and Clutterbuck on the NHL roster, defensemen Mike Reilly, Robert Bortuzzo and Sebastian Aho are all UFAs while forwards Oliver Wahlstrom, Simon Holmstrom, Kyle MacLean and Ruslan Iskhakov are all RFAs. Reilly, who became a third-pair stalwart after being claimed off waivers from the Panthers is probably the highest priority among the defensemen. He might agree to a one-year deal worth around $1.3 million. Bortuzzo, acquired from the Blues for a seventh-round pick, came in handy when Mayfield’s ankle injury finally shut him down. But again, the Islanders need to be younger and faster. Re-signing MacLean, an undrafted free agent who was the team’s best find this season as he centered the fourth line, will likely be the priority among the forwards, though Holmstrom, too, should be re-signed. Wahlstrom, the 11th overall pick in 2018 who never established a full-time role, knows it’s time to move on.
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.
