Andrew Gross: Islanders weren't playoff-worthy, but next season could be a different story
New York Islanders head coach Peter DeBoer responds to questions from reporters during press conference after an NHL hockey game against the Montreal Canadiens Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Elmont, N.Y. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray) Credit: AP/Noah K. Murray
The Islanders whetted everyone’s appetite for the playoffs, then proved emphatically since mid-March that they were not a playoff-worthy team.
The final judgment was handed down with a 4-1 loss to the playoff-bound Canadiens on Sunday night at UBS Arena, a game that was close and had a postseason feel to it until the visitors scored three times in 55 seconds in the second period.
Yet the Islanders will enter next season with heightened and hyped expectations of being a Stanley Cup contender.
Dichotomy? Sure. This is a franchise that has missed the playoffs two straight seasons and has not won a playoff series since going to back-to-back NHL semifinals in 2020 and 2021. That was four coaches ago.
But they will have Matthew Schaefer for his sophomore season at age 19, Cal Ritchie back for a second season at 21 and goalie Ilya Sorokin still in his prime at age 31.
Plus forward prospects Victor Eklund and Cole Eiserman on the horizon.
“The buzzer just rang, so just disappointment,” Mathew Barzal told Newsday in the hushed dressing room. “When you look around the room and know what we have within the organization, obviously an amazing coach, Schaef, Cal Ritchie, these young prospects that should shape up nicely in a year or two and the best goalie in the world, I think there’s still a lot of promise here.
“We’re close, man. We’re closer than people probably think.”
There does need to be a trust in new coach Pete DeBoer, who has a track record of instant success. He took the Devils to the Cup Final in 2012 in his first season with them and did the same with the Sharks in 2016. He had the Stars in the Western Conference finals in three straight seasons from 2023-25.
And despite the back-to-back weekend losses — including 3-0 to the playoff-bound Senators on Saturday — when it came to defensive structure, the Islanders did look like an improved team compared to the 3-7-0 ending to Patrick Roy’s tenure, the Canadiens’ three-goal barrage notwithstanding.
“I’m disappointed,” DeBoer said. “I know they were in a good spot a month ago or coming out of the Olympic break. I can only speak to the last seven days. These guys have had a lot of stuff thrown at them. They’re wearing that a little bit, and you feel for them.
“I’m going to be way ahead of where I would have been had I come in during the summer. I’m excited to start fresh and have a [training] camp and get to work with them. There’s some exciting pieces here, but there’s no doubt we have a lot of work left to do.”
DeBoer’s decision to use Barzal back at his natural position of center should pay dividends next season, but he simply did not have enough time to figure out how to repair the power play. That’s now a next-season problem and possibly one for the next assistant coach after Ray Bennett.
And he could only work with the parts given to him. On Sunday, that was Anthony Duclair in for Ondrej Palat — one of first-year general manager Mathieu Darche’s in-season acquisitions — and neither should be among the Islanders’ top 12 forwards next season.
About Darche’s in-season trades:
Let’s not put too much stock or thought into acquiring defenseman Carson Soucy from the Rangers. That was making the best of it with Alexander Romanov out and none of the call-ups from AHL Bridgeport able to secure the spot. Romanov will be healthy for training camp and Soucy is not likely to be back.
Darche’s relationship with Palat dates to their two Cups together with the Lightning in 2020 and 2021, and the general manager has a healthy respect for what Palat, at his best, can bring. But Palat is signed for one more season with a salary- cap hit of $6 million. So it’s not about what Darche gave up for Palat — he essentially was a freebie — but whether Palat blocks a prospect next season.
The cost was relatively low for Brayden Schenn, too, the highlight being the Avalanche’s first-round pick, which may wind up at No. 32. But at age 34, Schenn has two seasons left on his deal with a cap hit of $6.5 million, and DeBoer already has moved him to left wing.
Darche will face tighter scrutiny for the moves he’ll make this offseason.
So is there a mulligan associated with this season? Absolutely not. The Islanders collapsed, and they all will have to wear that through the offseason.
“It stinks,” Casey Cizikas said. “We just couldn’t get it done, and that’s the frustrating part. We played good hockey all year and you go through stretches here and there and sometimes it’s not going your way.”
But if the Islanders live up to the heightened expectations next season — and that’s a big if — this season ultimately will feel like the start of something big.
For now, though, there’s just the empty feeling because they proved not to be playoff-worthy.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
