NY Islanders' Noah Dobson A Complete Enigma In 2024-25

The second school of thought would like to have a word with you. Sure, Dobson’s analytics are good but they haven’t translated to a ton of scoring. He’s only registered 24 points through 46 games. He’s only on pace to finish with a measly 38 points. That would be his lowest since the 2020-21 season when he was a low-usage 21-year-old in the shortened COVID season. 

For a “franchise-caliber offensive defenseman” those numbers are abhorrent. It’s tough to care about Dobson’s underlying analytics because he’s supposed to be a superstar. Superstars finish the plays they make. Even if Dobson is “expected” to produce more, he hasn’t. That’s reality. 

What makes it worse is that Dobson’s mistakes are ghastly. There’s currently no analytical way to weigh the importance of a play. Numbers do not discriminate against “goals against”; they all count the same. But the eye test shows that when Dobson messes up, he really messes up and it usually ends up in the back of the net. 

It’s earned him the nickname “Slob-son” from agitated fans. He doesn’t drive the play much, especially on the power play. That’s a minimum expectation of an offensive defenseman; to drive the play and spark the counterattack. His body language is terrible, often appearing visually aloof and lazy. His mistakes all appear to come from not paying attention, physical “softness”, and apathy. 

Why should the Islanders play a guy like that, especially when the team started winning without him? 

The Islanders embarked on a season-high winning streak as soon as Dobson hit the shelf with injury. Sparked by the offensive attack of Tony DeAngelo and others, the Islanders finally seemed to get the offensive contributions they expected from Dobson. They almost looked better off without him, in the minds of some fans. 

Who is right? I don’t know! 

As I said above, the answer is probably somewhere in between. There is merit to the belief that Dobson’s high xG indicates an unteachable talent that the Islanders ought to cherish. 25-year-olds don’t often play at this level like that for 24 minutes per night. However, there’s also merit to the belief that he is a contact-avert, underachieving defenseman who has not lived up to his potential. 

If you polled Islanders fans from both sides of the spectrum, some would grade him “A+” and others would grade him “F-”. There is only one thing that is certain about 2024-25 Dobson, and that is that he is a player on the New York Islanders. And he is a player with a lot to prove after the Four Nation Face-Off. 

Overall Grade: C+