Islanders Most underrated players ever according to fans

Some 300+ players have worn a New York Islanders jersey since 1972, who amongst those players is the most underrated? I asked fans for their thoughts.

On Tuesday I took to Twitter to ask New York Islanders fans who were the most underrated players in team history. I had a good idea of who would come out on top, but I was still surprised by some of the answers I got.

I chose the top three based on the frequency in which they were mentioned and ranked them that way. If you have someone in mind that isn’t mentioned, let me know in the comments or on Twitter.

Honorable Mentions

Not every player suggested was going to get 250 words on why there were great. The least I could do is share those that didn’t make the cut.

Mariusz Czerkawski: It’s often forgotten, but from 1999 to 2001 Czerkawski was on fire. He’d score 65 goals and 132 points. He’d earn an All-Star nod for his efforts in 2000.

Kyle Okposo: Solid top-six player throughout his Islanders career at least 50 points four times and 60+ points twice.

Ziggy Palffy: He may not have been underrated for his skills by the league, but he was certainly underrated by Islanders management when they sent him to Los Angeles.

Ken Morrow: Stay at home defensemen don’t often get a lot of credit, but Morrow was a staple of the Islanders four cup winning teams. ANd he hasn’t done a bad job as Director of Pro Scouting either.

Glenn Healy: When left the Islanders goaltending situation changed dramatically. While Ron Hextall‘s stats in 93-94 were better than Healy’s 92-93 numbers, the goaltending situation was a mess for a while.

Jason Blake: His first year with the Islanders didn’t start off great but Blake turned it around int he following season, scoring 55 points. In his final year with the Isles, he scored 40 goals and 69 points.

Marty Reasoner: Good solid veteran leadership and a great fourth-line center.

Adam Pelech

Percentage of vote: 13%

As I said, the demographic of my Twitter followers skews younger. But there’s a strong case to be made that Adam Pelech is one of the most underrated players for the Islanders.

Under Barry Trotz, defense is key. Keeping the high-danger areas clear is the most important aspect of his strategy and Adam Pelech is incredible at it. Just look at how clear the slot is when Adam Pelech is on the ice for 5on5 this season.

Since Pelech went down with a season-ending injury at the start of January, the Islanders went from a 25-10-3 (0.697 pts%) team at the top of the league to 10-13-7 (0.45 pts%) and out of the playoffs. It’s clear that without Adam Pelech, the Islanders can’t play that defense-first system.

Who’d of thought losing a defensive defenseman who carries a $1.6 million cap hit would be so vital to the success of a team.

Casey Cizikas

Percentage of vote: 13%

There isn’t a better fourth line center in the league at the moment. You can’t convince me otherwise.

Casey Cizikas‘s ability to kill penalties and to generate offense from defense is unmatched in the league. In 2018-29 Cizikas scored career-high 20 goals for the Islanders. You’d be hard-pressed to find a 20+ goal scorer with less than 50 percent offensive zone time. Justin Williams might have been the only one with 48 percent offensive zone time.

Cizikas had 37.6 percent offensive zone time in 2018-19.

You can say it was a fluke and that his 18 percent shooting rate wasn’t sustainable. But in 2019-20 he had ten goals in 48 games before an injury took him out for some time. That’s a pace of 17 goals over 82 games.

The Islanders clearly miss his secondary offense and his ability in the defensive zone. Just like Adam Pelech, Casey Cizikas is vital to this team and his contributions are often undervalued.

Kenny Jonsson

Percentage of vote: 9%

Kenny played huge minutes for the Islanders when he came over from the Toronto Maple Leafs. In 1998-99 Jonsson averaged 24:59 a night for the Islanders. That’s some incredible work-horse level of ice-time.

Jonsson was never going to put up big numbers, but he was a steady presence on the back-end. If the opponents brought the puck into the Islanders zone, Jonsson would make sure to get back out. And he was pretty good at it.

He was quiet and soft-spoken which definitely helped him fly under the radar, but there were few players that were as good on both sides of the puck as Kenny Jonsson.

John Tonelli

Typically, the praise for the dynasty years goes to the big names: Mike Bossy, Denis Potvin, and Bryan Trottier. But there were 17 guys who were there for all four cups.

In 594 games with the Islanders, John Tonelli scored 544 points including a 93 point season in 1982-83 and a 42 goal and 100 points season in 1984-85. Come the playoffs, he’d score 83 points in 113 games, none more important that this assists on Nystrom’s 1980 Cup winner.

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Dave Langevin

There’s probably no Stefan Persson without Dave Langevin. His hard-hitting style of play made it difficult for opponents to find a safe space in the Islanders zone. That style allowed his defensive partner time to move the puck up the ice and into an attacking position.

Like most of the other names mentioned, Langevin didn’t put up the numbers that would jump out at you on the score sheet. But he played an important role on that second defensive pairing on those four cup teams next to Stefan Persson.