Noah Dobson sees ice-time cut during the deciding minutes of NY Islanders' win on Saturday

This season was supposed to be the most important of Noah Dobson’s career, entering the final year of his contract and in line for a massive payday. After setting a career-high in 2023-24 with 70 points (10 G, 60 A), the NY Islanders blue-liner appeared to have taken that next step and was in line to become one of the league’s premier offensive defensemen.

It’s safe to say that through 25 game this season that Dobson has severely underperformed.

At times it appears as if Dobson has taken a step in the right direction regarding his defensive game. He has a much more active stick and has disengaged the puck from opponents more effectively than in the past. As valuable as defensive-minded defensemen are, they typically aren’t the ones who garner the biggest contracts.

Noah Dobson stuck on the bench

Dobson’s value lies mostly in his offensive game. Without Mike Reilly for potentially the remainder of the season, Dobson is the Islanders' only real threat from the blue line. 

Through 25 games this season, Dobson has one goal (an empty net goal) and nine assists. There is a glaring distinction between his pace last season when he had 23 points (5 G, 18 A) through the same amount of games.

The shutout win Saturday night against the Buffalo Sabres was the first real indication that Patrick Roy and the coaching staff aren’t exactly thrilled with Dobson’s play. The player who is supposed to be the team’s top defenseman didn’t play the final 6:41 of the game as the Isles held onto a two-goal lead.

“In that game, we just felt like the guys in front of him were playing better hockey,” Roy said at today’s press conference. “That’s all. There’s nothing behind this. In that game, I think Tommy [Albelin] thought the guys were playing better than him.”

Roy went on to say that the team needs Dobson if they are going to succeed. 

But this needs to be a wake-up call for Dobson, who is seeing his ice time cut even with Adam Pelech out of the lineup.

As Roy said, the Isles need Dobson if they’re going to make it anywhere this season, and he needs to improve his play if he hopes to see his bank account grow during the off-season.