Islanders in Good spot going into Christmas Break

After a win against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Islanders head into the holiday break sitting in 2nd in the Metropolitan Division with a 16-8-9 record with 41 points. Despite a multitude of injuries on the blue line, the Islanders are playing very well so far this year.

The Islanders top line duo of Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat have both been amazing through the first 33 games of the season. Barzal is having his best season since his Calder winning year in 2018. With 10 goals and 25 assists for 35 Points. Horvat on the other hand with 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points. They’re also getting fantastic production out of defenseman Noah Dobson who is also playing above a point-per-game pace. (5G-29A).

An interesting fact about the Isles this year, their usual pendulum has flipped on its head. They have the 6th-best Power Play percentage in the NHL (24.7), however their usual elite penalty kill has not been that. Sitting dead last in the NHL sitting at 71%. If the Islanders can get the kill back up to that 80% range while sustaining the production on their power play, they’re going to be scary come the Playoffs.

With Adam Pelech being on LTIR and Ryan Pulock being on IR along with Scott Mayfield, the Islanders needed some more defensive depth. They claimed Mike Reilly off waivers from Florida and they acquired Robert Bortuzzo from St. Louis. So far these moves have worked out great. There are going to have to be some cap manipulation if the Isles want to be able to keep all of them after activating Pelech off LTIR. The Islanders despite missing 2 of their top defensive guys and a bottom pair guy in Mayfield, they should look a lot better when they are back.

The Islanders still have a long road ahead of them to make the playoffs, but they are on a good pace. There won’t be much room to add at the trade deadline unless they traded someone with a high cap hit which I do not see. But for now, the Islanders are in a great spot and they aren’t even playing at their best. They should be a fierce playoff contender by the end of the season.