New York Islanders: This Is The Team, Now Let’s Get To Work

The NHL trade deadline came and went yesterday afternoon, as it always does. The New York Islanders made a couple of minor additions but nothing significant. Regardless of who is or isn’t on the roster today, it’s time to get to work.

Ok, so nothing big transpired yesterday for the New York Islanders. As much as 99.9% of us likely disagree with the route Isles GM Garth Snow decided to take at the trade deadline, it makes no difference now.

The Islanders are still hanging on to a thread of hope that they can finish out the year with a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Now that their roster heading into the home-stretch is all-but-finalized, they most certainly have their work cut out for them.

Their opponents’ combined winning percentage for the remainder of the season is .561, which puts the Isles right around the middle-of-the-pack in strength-of-schedule. And, keep in mind, this is a team that is still ranked 5th in the NHL in scoring.

While they’ve allowed the most goals against in the league, the Islanders’ defensive play has improved over the last few weeks. They held a very talented Minnesota Wild team to only 32 shots-on-goal in a tough loss last week.

That’s a far cry from the consistent 50 SOG the Isles have been allowing every game for what seems like the last six weeks. While they didn’t do much to shore up their defensive deficiencies, adding Brandon Davidson should help increase the productivity of the Islanders’ bottom defensive pairing (or where ever they decide to play him).

More from Eyes On Isles

• Islanders key to success: Load management with goalies
• Islanders Zdeno Chara trending in the right direction
• Islanders: Semyon Varlamov Deserves Benefit of the Doubt
• Islanders Ilya Sorokin becoming number one goalie
• Islanders Zach Parise Was Quiet in Return to Minnesota

New York Islanders should take the lack of confidence in them and succeed in spite of Garth Snow’s inactivity

If Jaroslav Halak can continue improving, as he has been, and the New York Islanders defense can begin to show a little more consistency, there is no reason the Isles shouldn’t stay in the wild-card race up until the very end of the year.

Now, if they should fall a few points short in their quest, there are a few games that come to mind that are the most-glaring culprits. I won’t go through them all, for the sake of my mood for the rest of today.

But if the Isles do indeed fail to make the postseason, fingers also need to be pointed at Garth Snow for sitting back and watching every team the Isles are currently competing with for those coveted playoff spots get better. Apparently, someone added “Eastern Conference playoff standings” to the Parental Block list on Garth Snow’s web browser. Funny joke, guys.

Next: Tavares Considering Re-Signing During The Season

How about, in spite of the organization’s non-activity and apparent lack-of-confidence in this team’s chances this year, the Islanders go play their a**es off, make the playoffs, and throw it right back in their faces.