New York Islanders Hamonic Could Hinder Lineup in Return

As Travis Hamonic gets closer to returning to the lineup, New York Islanders fans should be more worried than excited for his return, as he has been more of a liability to the team in his time in the lineup.

With his insanely low -14 plus/minus rating, New York Islanders Travis Hamonic has arguably had the worst season of his NHL career. He’s out there looking like someone who has never played defense in his life.

When placed on the top pairing with Nick Leddy, who turned into the best defenseman on the team since Hamonic’s injury, the team’s let up goals left and right.

There is no excuse for Hamonic playing this bad defensively, it’s what he gets paid to do. New York Islanders diehards already know how bad he is at producing points, only scoring 25 goals in his 430 game NHL career, which doesn’t help the New York Islanders at all.

More from Eyes on Isles: Bit Win in Dallas on Ho-Sang’s Debut

While the two young guys who took Hamonic’s place in the lineup, Adam Pelech (who has 6 points with a -4 rating in 26 games) and Scott Mayfield (who has 4 points with a +1 rating in 15 games), have been playing great during this hot streak for the New York Islanders, Hamonic’s return may hinder it.

Travis Hamonic has never played a game under head coach Doug Weight, and it may take time for him to know the system that lead the Islanders to a 13-5-2 record since his hiring, and make the same costly mistakes he did while under Jack Capuano.

Next: Josh Ho-Sang Has Much To Prove

While we don’t know for sure if Hamonic will improve under Doug Weight, we do know that it could mess up the chemistry built between these defensive pairings, and if Hamonic doesn’t fix the problems he had at the beginning of the season, this may not end well for the New York Islanders.