NY Islanders 2022-23 player report card: Noah Dobson has an off year

As the NHL 2022-23 season wraps up, it is time to evaluate how players on the NY Islanders performed this season. Noah Dobson has been one of the bright stars for the Islanders prior to this year, putting up 50 points last year and being one of the Islanders' better defensemen, but man... he had a rough go this season.

*Read our previously Published player report cards:

-Sebastian Aho | Josh Bailey | Mathew Barzal | Samuel Bolduc |Casey Cizikas | Cal Clutterbuck

NY Islanders 2022-23 player report card: Noah Dobson

Last season, Dobson played an outstanding season. He tallied 51 points on 13 goals and 38 assists and played very well defensively. These are outstanding numbers for a young defenseman who is still just getting started in the league. This year, he maintained around the same amount of points, finishing the year with 49 points off of 13 goals, and 36 assists in 78 games played. However, if you're anything like myself, watching Dobson on the ice this season had to be one of the more frustrating things about this Islanders team.

While his offensive production stood around the same, the defensive part of his play (which is literally almost his entire job) got much worse. Aside from being an absolute turnover machine this season, while Dobson didn't show much regression, he showed a major lack of confidence on the defensive side. This led to his poor play, which ultimately led to Dobson being moved off the Islanders' powerplay unit, and limited in his minutes per game.

Last season, although Zdeno Chara created other problems for the Islanders, Chara did a good job at mentoring Dobson. This year, was a bit of a different story as Dobson didn't have that Chara figure anymore. Another one of the biggest issues for Dobson this season was his inability to read plays. This led to him being slow to get to a spot, or even worse, him leaving someone completely wide open and giving them a free shot on goal.

All things considered, the good thing about Dobson is how young he still is. Yes, did he have an off-year defensively? Absolutely. Was he frustrating to watch at times? Yes. However, being only 23 years old, Dobson still has A LOT of time to get back to his normal self. Next season, look for Dobson to improve a lot on the defensive side of his game. However, this season Dobson finishes with a grade of a C- for the year.