NY Islanders Plus/Minus for 2023-24: Noah Dobson is critical to Isles' future

PLUS

In the first three months of the season, the Prince Edward Island native scored ten goals and averaged about 21 minutes of ice time per night. He followed that up with only scoring three more times in the latter four months of the season while shortening his average TOI by almost two minutes. The goal-scoring ability is there, but Dobson needs to sharpen his consistency for this team that needs all the goals they can get.

On the offensive side, Dobson has flashed everything he is capable of being: an elite offensive defenseman. He adds speed to the backend that the Isles won't get from the more defensive-minded players. He has a powerful right-handed wrist shot and slap shot that he might need to use a little more, but he gives other teams fear at the top of the blue line. Scoring double-digit goals is hard for a defenseman to do, even for the higher-tier offensive D-Men, and for Dobson to crack 13 in the last two seasons at 22 and 23 years old is impressive. Plenty of Islanders forwards can't light the lamp that many times.

Dobson's ability to pass and fake the defender out in front of him while up a man is part of the reason why he is a smart power play QB. Capable of sliding a slick pass over to a player teeing up for a one-timer, say, Brock Nelson, Ryan Pulock, or Wahlstrom, is a good asset to have and should be planned on being utilized more. He has plenty of patience at the line as well, which you don't see from a guy like Aho. With two seasons under his belt at running the power play, hopefully, the unit as a whole can build around him next season.

MINUS

If you watched the tail end of the Isles' season, you know exactly where Dobson struggled: in his own end.

There were many times when he was beaten by an opposing forward while pinching in the offensive zone too far, leading to an odd-man rush the other way. Dobson also typically got out-muscled in front of the Isles' net or even in the corners. Getting bigger physically should be a goal for him during this off-season. He almost acted like a lost forward while in his own zone, which is not something that the coaching staff was probably happy with on a nightly basis.

He certainly was not consistent enough either to be able to classify this season as a step forward for him. In January, Dobson only registered three points, all assists, and only scoring three goals in the last four months was not good enough to string more wins along for the blue and orange.

Fans of any New York team usually have less patience than smaller market teams' fans, and plenty called for Dobson to be traded after noticing his defensive liabilities during the past season. It would not be wise at all, however, to trade away one of the few cheaper young players that the Isles have whose role is to be a scorer (think back to Devon Toews) and getting rid of him before he reaches his full potential as an elite offensive defenseman would only make fans curse themselves years after.