As Islanders head into the offseason, here are 5 questions facing the club

It’s officially the offseason for the Islanders after a season filled with highs and lows.

The highs, namely the quick emergence of rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer as one of the NHL’s best players and a Vezina Trophy-worthy season from goalie Ilya Sorokin, led to a strong uptick in attendance at UBS Arena, which was sold out for 26 of the 41 home dates.

The lows included a late-season swoon of losing seven of their last eight and 10 of their last 14, all in regulation, leading general manager Mathieu Darche to fire coach Patrick Roy with four games remaining in favor of Pete DeBoer (1-3-0).

That led to the lowest low of a second straight playoff miss despite 43 wins, their most since 2018-19.

“It absolutely stinks,” Darche said during Wednesday’s breakup day at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow that followed Tuesday’s season-ending 2-1 loss to the Hurricanes. “It was terrible yesterday and this morning is a terrible morning.”

The Islanders missed the Eastern Conference playoff cutoff by eight points despite a 43-34-5 mark after missing the postseason by nine points in 2024-25 with a 35-35-12 record. That shows the conference markedly improved this season and that the Islanders have plenty of ground to make up this offseason.

So here are five offseason questions:

1. What moves can Darche make?

All season, the fans’ expectation — or perhaps hope — was that Darche could use his first full offseason in charge of the franchise to reshape the roster. But those expectations should be tempered with a tepid class of unrestricted free agents, mainly in the 30-something category, who will not fit Darche’s vision for the franchise despite $16.125 million of space under the $104 million salary cap ceiling, according to PuckPedia.com.

That likely will leave the trade market as Darche’s main avenue of improvement, but he said the two biggest “trades” of the offseason might be getting a healthy Kyle Palmieri (knee) and defenseman Alexander Romanov (shoulder) back after both were sidelined in November. The Islanders do need to improve their defense depth and scoring.

“Let’s face it, when I took this job last year, I knew that for two years we’d have a fairly similar roster,” Darche said. “Contracts are contracts, right?”

2. Will captain Anders Lee leave?

Short answer: It seems very likely. Lee, who will turn 36 in the offseason, will be a UFA after completing a seven-year, $49 million deal. He’s been with the Islanders for 14 seasons and has been the captain for eight. He’s 77 games shy of 1,000 and Darche said he’d like to see Lee reach that milestone as an Islander.

He also said a new deal would have to make sense for both sides, meaning the Islanders are not likely to offer a term or a salary attractive to Lee. There’s already strong speculation that the Minnesotan could play for his hometown Wild next season.

“We can . . . have that conversation and see where he’s at and likewise for myself,” Lee said of his exit interview with Darche.  

3. Is goalie Semyon Varlamov a viable option?

The soon-to-be 38-year-old goalie, who has undergone two partial knee replacements — one on each knee — and has not played in the NHL since Nov. 29, 2024, told Newsday he believes he can rejoin the team next season. Darche said he considers Varlamov, who has one season remaining on a four-year, $11 million deal, a viable option to back up No. 1 Ilya Sorokin.

Varlamov took a major step on Wednesday night, making 18 saves in a 5-2 win for AHL Bridgeport in his first game action in 517 days. This season’s backup, David Rittich, a pending UFA off a one-year, $1 million deal, struggled down the stretch and finished 14-10-3 with a 2.76 goals-against average and .894 save percentage.

4. What impact will DeBoer have?

DeBoer, making his sixth NHL coaching stop, is known for quick success with his new teams. He took the Devils (2012) and Sharks (2016) to the Stanley Cup Final in his first season with those franchises. The Stars reached the Western Conference finals in all three seasons under DeBoer from 2022-25. If nothing else, his four-game introduction at the end of the season gave him a head start on training camp.

“Pete’s going to put the systems in place,” Bo Horvat said. “It’s up to us to go and do it.”

5. Which prospects will compete for a roster spot?

Defensemen Carson Soucy and Tony DeAngelo are UFAs and forwards Marc Gatcomb and Max Shabanov and defenseman Adam Boqvist are restricted free agents. It’s possible that DeAngelo will be the only returning player from that group, so there should be some roster spots open in training camp.

The organization is high on several of its forward prospects currently playing for AHL Bridgeport, including first-rounders Victor Eklund and Cole Eiserman, newly signed undrafted free agent Quinn Finley, Liam Foudy, Daylan Kuefler and Adam Beckman. Bridgeport defenseman Isaiah George should be among the Islanders’ top six next season.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

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.