Stefen Rosner
The New York Islanders offseason was more about seeing personnel leave the island rather than come aboard. There were opportunities to add players, but New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello believed that the cost to make upgrades outweighed the upgrades themselves.
Although that is not a popular opinion among the New York Islanders faithful, the lack of moves are somewhat justified given how much teams have had to give up to clear salary cap, something Lamoriello would have had to do to bring on any of the stars that were seemingly available this offseason.
But to get better, sacrifices have to be made. Every winning team does it.
The Islanders have added a few pieces this offseason in defensemen Alexander Romanov and Dennis Cholowski. Romanov signed a three-year extension worth $12.5 million, as he will serve as a top-four defenseman.
Cholowski signed a two-year, two-way deal worth $1.525 million, as he will be one of the players in the running for the sixth and final defenseman spot or potentially the seventh spot.
This offseason, the New York Islanders subtracted future Hall of Fame head coach Barry Trotz and his coaching staff, Zdeno Chara and Andy Greene.
The question is, did the subtractions make the New York Islanders a stronger team for 2022-23?
It goes without saying that this question cannot be answered no matter what words you read next until the New York Islanders play out their 82-game regular season.
But we have a few weeks before training camp begins, and it’s a question that everyone is thinking about.
Let’s start with the loss of Barry Trotz.
Right after he was fired, relieved of his duties, however you want to word it, there was a divide amongst the Islanders faithful.
Did Lamoriello really just fire one of the best coaches in hockey, a future Hall of Famer, a Stanley Cup-winning coach, and a coach that brought success to Long Island after years of very little?
Indeed.
But Trotz, regardless of the resume, did not have a good 2021-22 season. And he would tell you that. He told us that towards the end of the season that he had to do a better job and even before the All-Star break, stating that he had to be better in the second half.
To no fault of his own, Trotz had personal things that got in the way of coaching and undoubtedly impacted his ability to coach to the best of his abilities.
The failures of the 2021-22 season could not and should not fall on his shoulders alone. There comes a time, no matter who is at the helm, where change is needed, and Lamoriello believed that a new bench boss was the correct route.
The Islanders system under Barry Trotz, a sit-back, defense into offense approach, had its flaws, especially in an 82-game regular season, no matter how crazy the season was, and Lamoriello pulled the plug on the operation.
Long-time Trotz assistant coach Lane Lambert gets a crack at it, and despite still having to play to the Islanders’ strength and defense, we are expecting a little more of a loose system, with more of a strategic approach to generating more offense.
Although none of the players under Trotz said they were frustrated with the lack of offense (2.79 GPG), the Islanders took the third-fewest shots on goal in 2021-22 (2,367).
More on the Islanders shooting and finishing coming up this week at NYI Hockey Now.
But suppose Lambert can get the Islanders to be more offensive while not sacrificing their defense. In that case, the Islanders not only will have more success, but that success will be more sustainable.
Moving on.
There’s no debating how much Zdeno Chara meant to young phenom Noah Dobson.
Despite a tough start as a pairing, Chara’s wisdom undoubtedly made Dobson a more intelligent, more confident hockey player.
Dobson took off in December and never looked back, while Chara, to his credit, played much better than he did in the early months.
But for how much Chara tried, the 45-year-old defenseman played to his age.
Having the longest stick in hockey was not enough to counteract opponents coming over the blue line, as too many times we saw players go right around him and get prime chances on goal.
Given the Islanders’ offense or lack thereof, giving opponents easy chances to score was not something discussed in their game plan.
There should only be stick taps when a 45-year-old is still lacing up the skates at 45, but that does not mean that he can still be the player he once was.
And unfortunately, in 2021-22, Chara’s game hurt the Islanders, along with the play of Andy Greene.
When Greene came over prior to the 2020 NHL Trade Deadline, his job was to shore up the backend, a blue line at the time that had just come back from a horrid west coast trip.
Noah Dobson was struggling, and Greene was tasked with settling him down.
Over his year and a half with the Islanders leading up to the 2021-22 season, Greene played his role to a tee. But this season was a rough one for him.
Greene skated with Scott Mayfield before he went down with a season-ending injury, followed by stints with Sebastian Aho, Robin Salo, and others from the AHL.
At this point in Greene’s career, he could not provide support to those inexperienced players as he did in years past.
But this season, the 39-year-old Greene struggled to keep up with the NHL game. Unlike the 6’8 Chara, the 5’11 Greene did not have the luxury of relying on his frame to knock players off the puck.
Greene has always used his skating and hockey IQ to his advantage, and while the IQ will never leave his game, his skating ability did.
Both Chara and Greene, regardless of their struggles, remained in the lineup each night, even on back-to-backs. And a defensive group, a year removed from being elite, was slow and significantly weaker.
Again, it’s tremendous how long those two men have been able to lace up the skates, but Father Time is undefeated.
With their subtractions and the addition of Romanov, the Islanders’ defense is improved, and, depending on how the defense plays as a collective group, it could be as strong, if not better, than what they once were.
And Lane Lambert as the new coach, with a louder voice (not volume, position) and a looser system, may be what the Islanders need to reset and bounce back after what transpired a season ago.
Barry Trotz gone. Zdeno Chara gone. Andy Greene gone. One NHL-ready addition in Romanov.
Do the subtractions outweigh the lack of additions?
