The roller coaster the NY Islanders have been on after one month of play

The Good

There is a lot of good to look back on after one month for the Isles.

For instance, the role Ondrej Palat would play for this year’s edition of the Islanders was a question mark after struggling through portions of last season.

However, 2026-2027 has been a bit of a resurgence for Palat. This is perhaps not evident simply by the box score, but he’s played an important role for the team. So much so that after the Islanders beat the Leafs, Peter DeBoer had this to say: “Right from training camp, he's been engaged. He wants more”. He would go on to say: “It's on me to give him a little bit more. He's been that good”.

While Palat’s contributions aren’t necessarily easy to spot by looking at the box score, Bo Horvat is another story.

Horvat is tied for the team lead in points with 14 and goals with 7. His time on ice per game is third on the team at 21:01. Horvat’s offensive performance on the power play has been exceptional. He leads the team with 4 goals coming on the power play.

Another positive from the first month of the season has come from a somewhat unexpected source.

Logan Stanley was a late offseason addition for the Isles. He didn’t sign with the team until late September. With that said, the defenseman has wasted no time proving his importance to the team—especially given how the injuries have hit the defense.

Stanley’s pairing with Matthew Schaefer defensively has been particularly noteworthy. He’s averaging top-pairing minutes with the Isles’ young superstar for a reason.

Oh, and then there’s that aforementioned young superstar.

Counting Matthew Schaefer among the “good” of the first month of the Islanders’ season seems too easy to do, but not doing it would be insanity. Schaefer is tied with Bo Horvat, leading the Isles in points with 14. He leads the team in assists with ten. He’s averaging an incredible 26:47 of ice time per game.

Then there was that time he became the first NHL skater to ever play all five minutes of an overtime period.

But perhaps the most impressive part of Matthew Schaefer is his overall importance to the franchise. At just nineteen years of age, Schaefer is the face of the Islanders.

And a good reason to take the dreaded shuttle from the Emerald lot to the arena.

The Islanders have a lot of good to take away from the first month of the season. But there is more than ample room for improvement if the team hopes to make the playoffs.

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