March 9, 2024 | 4:41pm ET
By Anthony LaRocco, TheFourthPeriod.com
ISLANDERS STAND PAT AT TRADE DEADLINE
Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello
NEW YORK, NY — The trade deadline came and went without much fanfare for the New York Islanders as General Manager Lou Lamoriello decided to not make any changes to his team’s lineup.
The Islanders went into yesterday’s trade deadline winners of five straight games, putting themselves right back into the thick of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference. Going into Saturday’s action, they trail the Philadelphia Flyers by just four points for third in the Metropolitan Division with two games in hand and only trail the Detroit Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning by two points for the final two wild card spots, having two games in hand on the Tampa Bay Lightning, as well.
With Lamoriello’s team back in the race and armed with a little bit of cap space after placing defenseman Scott Mayfield on LTIR, the thought was that he was going to bolster his team for the stretch run as they fight for a playoff spot. Instead, Lamoriello opted to not spend any draft capital or assets and left things in the hands of the players in the room.
“Our players and our team determine what would happen on a day like this,” Lamoriello told the media after the deadline passed on Friday. “There is no question I feel good about who we are, where we are, certainly at this point we didn’t feel that we could’ve upgraded.”
Lamoriello also added that it did not make sense to make a “lateral move.” He did state that he would have considered moving this year’s first-round draft pick if there had been something out there that he felt would have helped the team this season.
While Lamoriello did not make any additions yesterday, his team seems to be finally settling in under head coach Patrick Roy.
Roy made some adjustments at the start of the current five game win streak by moving Isles long time second line center Brock Nelson to the top line to play the wing next to Bo Horvat and Mat Barzal. Since then, that trio have produced 21 points in those games. During that span, the Islanders have outshot their opponents 147-126 and have outscored their opponents 24-10.
The juggling of the lines has also sparked Kyle Palmieri, Anders Lee and J-G Pageau. The new trio have generated 15 points over the last five games.
Getting the offensive production that they are currently getting from their top two lines is good, but what is even more encouraging is the team’s defensive play. Over their current win streak, the Islanders are averaging 25 shots on goal per game against, quite different from when goaltenders Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov would be under siege on a nightly basis facing 35+ shots against per game.
The Islanders still have work to do to get into a playoff spot, but they are surely trending in the right direction. If they do qualify for the playoffs for the second-straight season, Lamoriello standing pat at the trade deadline may be an afterthought. However, if the Islanders fall just short, his decision to not add to a team that was playing their best hockey of the year may come back around to bite him. In the meantime, his team will keep trying to ride this current streak back into playoff positioning.