The New York Islanders are old and slow.
That’s been the NHL’s narrative regarding Long Island’s team for quite some time.
Players like Zdeno Chara — he suited up at age 44 in his second stint on Long Island — and Zach Parise, playing his age 37 and 38 seasons in Blue & Orange, only perpetuated the already strong narrative.
On paper, things have certainly changed as the team enters the 2024-25 campaign, especially with Patrick Roy behind the bench.
Putting An End To Old Age Narrative
Matt Martin, 35, and Cal Clutterbuck, 36, are not back with New York as they both remain unrestricted free agents.
The 35-year-old Robert Bortuzzo, who spent just one season on Long Island, signed with the Seattle Kraken.
The Islanders’ current roster has an average age of 29.9, the sixth-oldest group in the NHL, per Left Wing Lock.
But there is a caveat to that.
Goaltender Semyon Varlamov, at age 36, plays and prepares as if he’s in his 20s, hence why Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello inked him to a four-year extension on July 1, 2023.
Mike Reilly and Scott Mayfield are the oldest of the defense corps at 31, with Reilly the Islanders’ best-transitioning defenseman.
On offense, team captain Anders Lee, at 34, is the oldest player, a player who has definitely lost a step or two. But he’s also a player who reached the 20-goal mark for a third consecutive season in 2023-24, turning things up in the second half.
Casey Cizikas, at 33, brings the most energy out of anyone on the team, while soon-to-be 33-year-old Brock Nelson has scored 34 or more goals in each of the last three seasons.
Age certainly matters, but age also doesn’t define a player, as Parise didn’t play like he was in his late 30s, the same way Nelson, at his age, seems to be in his prime.
Age really matters when considering a team’s core and how long it has to win.
If we count Mathew Barzal (27), Bo Horvat (29), Noah Dobson (24), Alexander Romanov (24), and Ilya Sorokin (29), the average age of the team’s core is 26.6.
Barzal and Horvat each have seven years remaining on their deal, while Sorokin enters the first year of an eight-year deal.
Dobson and Romanov are entering the final years of their deals.
Both are pending restricted free agents and are likely to get long-term deals.
Need For Speed Narrative
Under Barry Trotz (2018-2022), the Islanders weren’t a fast team, skating-wise, as they got their speed from quick puck movement and breakouts.
Under Lane Lambert (2022-2024), the group played a bit faster but didn’t showcase speed that blew opponents away.
They watched their defensive game disappear, the club’s bread and butter under Trotz.
Through the last handful of NHL Drafts, Lamoriello has focused on speed, drafting players like Matthew Maggio and Isaiah George, to name a few.
Prospects with speed are excellent, but what about the NHL roster?
With Martin and Clutterbuck gone, Kyle Maclean and, let’s say, Simon Holmstrom take their places, a speed boost, if you will.
The big draw to Anthony Duclair, one of two free-agent signings, is his speed, while the other, Maxim Tsyplakov, can move, per his KHL highlights.
Of course, going line by line (projected), each offensive threesome and defensive pair has some element of speed.
Duclair, with Barzal and Horvat, indeed does, while Nelson has shown speed in transition, along with Kyle Palmieri, who will likely start the season with Tsyplakov.
Pierre Engvall, who will likely play with Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau on the team’s third line, is a speedster, using that skillset to serve as the line’s transitioner.
And the fourth line, with MacLean, Cizikas, and either Holmstrom or Fasching, will be a speedy line — the line could be even faster if free agent depth signing Liam Foody makes the squad.
On the backend, Dobson and Romanov can both move, with the Islanders needing Dobson to skate the puck more out of the defensive zone to help the team’s transition game.
Regarding veteran pairing Pelech and Ryan Pulock, if Pelech can rediscover his game after a few years of injuries, he can play a fast game with quick decision-making and shifty moves — the team’s best defenseman under Trotz.
Pulock can get up the ice with no issues.
Mayfield lacks speed, but having Reilly on his left will help counteract that.
Roy wants the Islanders to play a fast game, hence why he sought out Duclair on the morning of July 1 and likely wanted Reilly back after what he showed in his system last season.
Final Thoughts
To kill the “too old and too slow” narrative, the Islanders must perform in 2024-25.
That doesn’t mean stumbling into the playoffs.
This team has the speed to compete with the rest of the NHL, and age, as mentioned, is just a number, depending on how certain players play.
And, even if the Islanders can show off that speed and find a way to be a more consistent team, that doesn’t necessarily mean the league-wide narrative will change.
No one on the Islanders truly cares about what others say about them, especially if they are winning.
But there’s no reason that the Islanders’ narrative of being too old and slow should survive the 2024-25 season.
Training camp begins in a few weeks, with opening night coming on Oct. 10 against the Utah Hockey Club at UBS Arena.
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