By trading only Brock Nelson this week, general manager Lou Lamoriello committed to the challenge of trying to retool the New York Islanders while keeping them in contention.
The Islanders have a chance to make the task look a little more manageable Sunday night, when they continue a three-game California road trip by visiting the Anaheim Ducks.
The Islanders will be completing a back-to-back set after they never trailed in a 4-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night. The Ducks last played Friday, when they fell to the visiting St. Louis Blues, 4-3.
The win was the fourth in the past five games (4-1-0) for the Islanders, who won two days after Nelson and prospect William Dufour were dealt to the Colorado Avalanche for prospect Calum Ritchie, defenseman Oliver Kylington and two draft picks. They are three points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers in the race for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Islanders, with 65 points, could leapfrog the Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins — all of whom have 66 points and are idle Sunday — with a win and inch closer to the loser of the Blue Jackets-Rangers game, scheduled for earlier Sunday in New York.
Lamoriello, a Hockey Hall of Fame member who built three Stanley Cup champions with the New Jersey Devils, isn’t the type to seek out validation for his approach. But another win Sunday would provide more evidence that he might have been correct in not tearing down the Islanders, though he acknowledged offseason moves will be necessary for a team that missed the playoffs in 2022 and was eliminated in the first round in each of the last two years.
“There will be change this summer,” Lamoriello said before Saturday’s game. “Until there’s change, you can’t say how much. But I can assure you there’ll be change.”
In the meantime, the Islanders — led by 30-somethings Kyle Palmieri, Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, all of whom could have been dangled at the deadline – will look to make the playoffs for the sixth time in Lamoriello’s seven seasons with the club.
“The focus right now is we’re four points out,” Lamoriello said Saturday. “And that’s the way our coaches are feeling. That’s the way our players are feeling.”
The Ducks, whose average age of 27.6 years ties them with the Utah Hockey Club for the sixth-youngest roster in the league, kept their future in mind during a quiet deadline. Anaheim acquired Kylington from the Islanders moments after the Nelson deal and sent defenseman Brian Dumoulin to the New Jersey Devils for prospect Herman Traff and a conditional second-round pick in this year’s draft.
Anaheim, which is nine points behind the Calgary Flames in the race for the second Western Conference wild card spot, is likely to miss the playoffs for the seventh straight season, But the Ducks’ 61 points are more than they collected in either of the previous two seasons and have them on pace for their most points since the 2018-19 campaign, when they had 80.
“We’re going to look to always keep improving,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said Friday. “That’s just our mindset here. But at the same time, we’re allowing our young guys to keep pushing ahead and developing, We’re going to see how this group can do in the last 20 games and I’m excited for this group.”
–Field Level Media
