NY Islanders Power Play Struggles Claim Another Assistant as Ray Bennett Departs

The New York Islanders power play has claimed another assistant coach.

After another season of watching the man advantage look more like a suggestion than an actual threat, Ray Bennett will not return to Peter DeBoer’s staff for the 2026-27 season. The Islanders announced Bennett’s departure, and the Washington Capitals later confirmed he had joined their staff as an assistant.

According to The Post’s Ethan Sears, the decision was mutual. Still, it is hard to separate the move from the Islanders’ ongoing power-play misery. Bennett arrived last year after working with the Colorado Avalanche’s power play, joining Patrick Roy’s staff with the hope that he could help fix one of the franchise’s most stubborn problems.

Instead, the Islanders finished with the third-worst power play in the NHL at 16.5 percent. And yes, somehow, that was actually an improvement from the 12.5 percent disaster the year before.

That is where this gets very Islanders.

Down the stretch, with the team trying to hang around the playoff race, the power play went ice cold again. Over the final 12 games, the Islanders converted just five of 34 chances. In the final six games, they went 2-for-18. That is not exactly the kind of late-season surge that saves jobs.

Matthew Schaefer led the team with eight power-play goals during his Calder-winning rookie season, while Bo Horvat added seven. After that, nobody had more than five. For a team with enough offensive pieces to be better than bottom-three, that is a problem DeBoer cannot ignore.

Bennett’s exit is the second notable coaching change of the offseason, following Rocky Thompson’s promotion from the AHL staff after one season running Bridgeport.

Now, DeBoer gets a chance to reshape the bench and, more importantly, finally fix the power play. Because at this point, the Islanders do not just need a new assistant coach.

They need new ideas, and maybe new players.

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