New York Islanders Roundtable: It’s Time for the Difficult Talk

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Nov 25, 2016; San Jose, CA, USA; Fans of the New York Islanders cheer as they score the tying goal in the third period of the game against San Jose Sharks at SAP Center at San Jose. The San Jose Sharks defeated the New York Islanders with a score of 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports /

Billy Lewis

I feel the Islanders do have some pretty good pieces in place. Any team that has John Tavares on it should stay away from a rebuild. The Islanders should look to retool rather than rebuild.

Islander fans are much too familiar with the term rebuild. We’ve been hearing it for a long time, and up until the beginning of this year felt like we were about to reap the benefits. I don’t believe you would find anybody who would tell you that winning one playoff round could be considered a successful rebuild.

Last year Tavares was a man on a mission in the postseason. For that reason alone I’d lean towards retooling the Islanders. If it’s up to me I’d be willing to trade anybody but Tavares and Nick Leddy.

I also wouldn’t be afraid to move some of the young talent if the right deal comes along.
I feel at this point ideally, we would see another General Manager and coaching regime making this moves. Assuming Snow would be the one in charge, I will give him some credit for the moves to acquire Leddy and Johnny Boychuk . Those two deals were quite literally Snow’s finest hour as a GM.

I would love to see Snow pull some of that magic and finally get Tavares the elite winger he deserves. An elite winger could be just what JT needs to reach the 100-point plateau. Right now the Islanders are struggling, but they may just be a few pieces away from propelling themselves into the playoff conversation.