3 Off-Season Personnel Decisions for the NY Islanders

Extend/Trade/Wait Regarding Noah Dobson

No player on the Islanders roster improved this season as much as Noah Dobson. The 24-year-old finished with a career high in points with 70 (10 G, 60 A), besting his previous high of 51. 

Nearly three-quarters of the way into the season Dobson was in contention to be a finalist for the Norris Trophy, but the last month of the season saw his production slip. He wasn’t elected to represent the Islanders at the All-Star but probably should have. 

Before the 2022 season, Dobson signed a three-year bridge deal worth $4M annually. With one year remaining on that deal, he's eligible to sign an extension with the Islanders beginning July 1st. 

While it seems like a no-brainer to extend Dobson to a maximum contract to remain with the organization through the prime of his career, he’s played four full seasons in the NHL and this is the first time he’s shown this type of production. While the first five months of the season were phenomenal, there was a big drop-off in the later part of the season, leaving one to wonder if he can maintain that offensive pace over a full season. 

There’s no reason not to believe Dobson isn’t looking at a max-term deal in excess of $8M a year. Before the 2021 season, Cale Makar signed a 6-year extension with the Colorado Avalanche with an AAV of $9M. While it’s hard to fathom him earning similar money to the league's top defenseman, there’s no reason he won’t start the bidding somewhere similar to Quinn Hughes ($7.85M) and Thomas Chabot ($8M).

Lou Lamoriello will have to decide if now is the time he’s willing to give Dobson that sort of term. The 81-year-old GM isn’t a fan of giving out contracts with this kind of money and term, but that’s now the lay of the land in the NHL.

If he’s not ready to shell out that kind of dough, he can always wait until the end of next season to extend Dobson, as he’ll still be an RFA after the 2024-25 season. But if he does put up a similar or even better season, Dobson’s camp could demand money in excess of $9M a year. 

The Islanders had the chance before 2021 to extend him long-term to what would now be a bargain contract, but they elected for the bridge deal which has worked out in Dobson’s favor.

The other option would be trading Dobson but that seems unlikely. He’s coming off the best offensive season for an Islanders defenseman since Denis Potvin. An offer would need to blow Lamoriello out of the water to offload a controllable 24-year-old blue liner due only $4M next season. 

Have we seen the end of Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck?

Two players synonymous with the Islanders, Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin will see their contracts expire on July 1st, making them free to sign anywhere they want.

The game has become a bit too fast for Martin, as it looks unlikely he’ll return for another season in blue and orange. He’s 34 years old and his ties to Long Island along with his family make it highly unlikely he’d be willing to relocate for what would only be a couple of seasons. 

As they have with players in the past, the Islanders would likely be willing to offer Martin a position within the organization, similar to Johnny Boychuk and Denis Seidenberg. 

Cal Clutterbuck is the NHL’s all-time leader in hits and has been plagued by injuries over the last few seasons. This was the first season of his 16-year career that he’s played in all 82 games and the first since 2018-19 he’s played in at least 60. 

Clutterbuck hasn’t expressed any desire to hang up the skates and seems like the more likely of the two the Islanders are willing to offer a new contract. He’s still effective in his role on the fourth line but a new deal will need to come at a value worth it to the Islanders as they find themselves with little wiggle room in terms of the salary cap and retooling the roster. 

Will there be changes within the coaching staff?

If there’s one thing for certain, it’s that Patrick Roy will be back behind the bench next year. While his contract details haven’t been made public, it’s unlikely that he would agree to take over the Islanders without a multi-year deal.

Shortly after Roy took over the helm, he brought in Benoit Derosiers who started the season as the Head Coach of the Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL and was an assistant coach under Roy with the Quebec Remparts for five seasons. Derosiers was the only staff member Roy brought in, as all signs point to him being back alongside Roy next season.

Doug Houda and John MacLean joined the Islanders coaching staff under Lane Lambert, remaining with the organization after his departure.

Houda, in charge of the penalty kill, has had total opposite results in his two seasons with the team. Last season the Islanders finished the season successfully killing 82.2% of penalties - good enough for eighth best in the league. This season, all the good things the team did the season before went straight out the window, falling to a league-worst 71.5% - ninth worst in league history. 

Similar to Houda, MacLean, who runs the power play, saw a difference in results over the two seasons. Last season the Islanders finished .2% off the league bottom at 15.%, improving to 20.4% this season. At one point he had his unit in the top 10 of the league, but the power play struggled in the second half of the season, finishing 19th in the league.

With his first training camp ahead of him, there's a chance Roy may want to bring his own guys, eliminating the bench personnel from the Lambert era.