Every year, each NHL team looks to improve upon the progress made during their previous season. For the Islanders, the postseason is expected in the 2019-20 season and the team will look to move past the second round.

However, the road to the playoffs next season will not be a cakewalk.

The Eastern Conference next season will be a blood bath, and it does not help the Islanders cause that each team in the NHL knows the Islanders are for real. Unlike last season, the Islanders will not have the element of surprise on their side. 

The Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers, Philadelphia Flyers, and Ottawa Senators will all be starting the upcoming season with new bench bosses.  

The Buffalo Sabres have been the laughing stock of the NHL for quite some time now. However, this past season they had moments when they looked like they were headed for an upward trajectory. Although they missed the playoffs, the Sabers won 10 games in a row early in the season. However, the wheels eventually fell off the bus, and the Buffalo Sabres missed the playoffs.

Their franchise player, Jack Eichel, finished with 82 points in 77 games. Jeff Skinner, whom the Sabres acquired the previous summer through a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes, had a decent season. The star-studded winger began the season with a bang and put up a career-best 40 goals.

After two disappointing seasons, the Buffalo Sabres fired Phil Housley and named Ralph Krueger their new head coach. Krueger was the head coach of Team Europe at the World Cup of Hockey and led the team to the Finals where they lost to Team Canada. With Krueger as a new head coach the Buffalo Sabres could surprise next year and be fighting for a playoff spot come early April.

In April, the Florida Panthers named Joel Quenneville as their new head coach. Previously as coach of the Blackhawks, Quenneville led the team to three Stanley Cup Championships. This hire is a big deal: Quenneville finished his incumbency behind the Blackhawks bench with a 452-249-96 regular season record along with a 76-52 postseason record. Quenneville is also the second-most winningest coach in NHL history with a whopping 890 wins. Having Quennville in charge of the young talented Panthers should scare the rest of the NHL.

The Panthers also have a ton of skill and talent. Led by their nifty young captain Aleksander Barkov, who was the second overall selection in the 2013 NHL draft, along with former first overall pick Aaron Ekblad in the 2014 draft and third overall pick in the 2011 NHL draft Jonathan Huberdeau, the Panthers have the players to put up wins. Now with Quenneville leading the ship, the Florida Panthers could be in the playoffs next season.

Almost every year the Flyers prove to the NHL that they are the epitome of mediocracy. From missed playoffs each season to early first-round exits, the Flyers continually struggle to make a deep playoff push since their defeat in the Stanley Cup Final to the Chicago Blackhawks back in 2010.

However, there is no denying that the Flyers have talent on their roster. Their captain, Claude Giroux, put up 85 points last season and a remarkable 102 the season prior. Then there is the exceptionally underrated forward Jakub Voracek: for the past six of the last seven seasons, Voracek has hit the 20 goal plateau and has racked up over 80 points in two of those seven seasons. They also have an extremely talented defenseman in Shayne Gostibehere. Gostibehere put up 37 points last season and a career best in the 2017-18 season with 65. Last season the Flyers added James Van Riemsdyk back to their roster, after spending the last six seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He only played 66 games and still managed to put up 27 goals.

The Flyers have also been active so far this offseason. They signed Kevin Hayes to a seven-year deal and acquired veteran defenseman Matt Niskanen from the Washington Capitals. However, the Flyers most significant move was signing Alain Vigneault to a five-year deal, making him the organization’s next head coach. Vigneault is an extremely underrated head coach; as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks for seven seasons, the team made the playoffs every year except for one season. Also, Vigneault led the team to two President trophys and one Stanely Cup Final appearance in which they lost to Boston in seven games. Then during his five-year tenure with the New York Rangers, Vigneault led the Blueshirts to a President’s Trophy, a Conference Final appearance and a Stanely Cup Finals appearance. Although Alain Vigneault has never won a Stanely Cup, he certainly is a winner. Moreover, the Flyers talented roster along with Alain Vigneault’s presence behind the bench should make Philadelphia a playoff team next season, and maybe even a Stanley Cup contender. 

Although some people may argue that a new coach does not matter and cannot transform a bad team into a good team, the Islanders know first-hand what a talented coach can do to your organization. The Sabres, Panthers, and Flyers all have talent; now with their new head coaches, they could surprise many people next year.

The Ottawa Senators also made a coaching change this off-season as well. They hired D.J. Smith as the franchise’s next head coach.

Smith has a polished coaching resume and is a perfect fit for the young Senators team. However, the Senators will most likely not be relevant for another couple of years. Their roster is simply just not good enough. They need some more time to grow and develop before they can compete for a playoff spot each year. 

Along with the Senators, the Detroit Red Wings will need a few more years to continue to rebuild before they become relevant again. They named Steve Yzerman executive vice president and general manager this offseason. Yzerman did a fantastic job rebuilding the Tampa Bay Lightning and it is very much expected he will be successful with the Red Wings organization. The Red Wings do have young talent with Dylan Larkin, Andreas Athanasiou, and Anthony Mantha. However, those players are young and still developing. The Red Wings next year will be at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

The Montreal Canadiens next year will most likely be fighting for the final wild-card spot. Montreal has their fair share of talent with Carey Price in the pipes along with Max Domi, Brendan Gallagher and Jonathan Drouin. But, Montreal is one of those teams that fall in the middle of the pack. They are not bad enough to completely “blow it up” and start a rebuild. However, they are not a guaranteed playoff team each year, a team that really has expectations to make a Stanley Cup run.

Moving along, the Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals, Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins need no introduction and are perennial contenders.

The Tampa Bay Lightning had a fantastic regular season. They tied the NHL’s record for most wins with 62. They completely dominated the regular season. Nikita Kucherov finished the 2018-19 season with the league’s best 128 points. Steven Stamkos finished the season with 98 points. Defenseman Victor Hedman finished the season with 45 points. Finally, 23-year-old Brayden Point finished the season with 92 points, racking up 41 goals.

The Lightning, however, had an atrocious postseason. They followed up their record-breaking record season by getting swept in the first round by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Despite the early first-round exit, expect the Lightning to be back next season with a vengeance. The Lightning next year will have their sights set for the Stanley Cup.

The Washington Capitals had a good regular season but came up short in the playoffs. They have a highly skilled roster, and there is no question the Capitals next year will be trying to win another Stanley Cup while Alex Ovechkin and Niklas Backstrom are still productive. So the Capitals next season will most likely be, as usual, one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

The Boston Bruins will definitely be making the playoffs next season, and will likely contend for the Stanley Cup. They had a tremendous regular season and followed that by an incredible Stanley Cup run, but ended up just falling a little short in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. The Bruins have an exceptional core with Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, Tuukka Rask, Zdeno Chara, David Krejci, Charlie McAvoy and Charlie Coyle. However, they have done an incredible job incorporating a group of young players into their nucleus. The Bruins inclusion of their young players with their veterans has led to their success, and it will be a big reason why they will most likely continue to find success next season.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are another team that will most likely be a contender next season. Although this season they squeaked into the playoffs and then were swept by the New York Islanders, the Penguins have enough talent on their roster to rack up a storm.

Their franchise player, Sidney Crosby, had 100 points last season. Evgeni Malkin only had 72 points but only played in 68 games. Jake Guentzel had 40 goals. Additionally, defenseman Kris Letang had a phenomenal year with 56 points. While some people may think hearing that Pittsburgh is a playoff team next year and a contender is hilarious, remember that the Penguins have an enormous amount of talent on their roster along with an aggressive general manager who is always looking to add pieces that can help the Penguins be victorious. Also, if you believe that because the Penguins got swept last season that they are headed into decline remember every number one seed lost last season in the first round. The Penguins were not the only team favored to win that ended up losing.

The Columbus Blue Jackets, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Carolina Hurricanes success will be determined by whether or not they can re-sign their crucial key players.

The Columbus Blue Jackets will most likely lose Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky, and maybe Matt Duchene as these players are testing the market. These are top tier talents, and if Columbus loses all of these players, they will most likely miss the playoffs next year. Although a team’s success is not determined by one player and the New York Islanders can attest to that, Columbus is heading into dangerous territory where they can lose all three of these players. Moreover, with the loss of these three talented players, Columbus will likely not be able to recover from that and would miss the playoffs next year.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in danger of losing phenomenal talent Mitch Marner if they do not offer him what he deserves as one of the NHL’s generational talents. If the Leafs lose Marner, they will still be a playoff team, but likely not a Cup contender and they could fall to a team that’s fighting for a playoff spot down the last stretch of the season.

However, here is the catch: if the Leafs do resign Marner for around eleven million, they will still be in trouble because now they are handcuffed because they will most likely have to move some of their other younger players since they will be unable to afford them. Either way, the Leafs will be a playoff team, but they will be fighting the NHL and the salary cap.

The Carolina Hurricanes are in danger of losing young forward Sebastian Aho. The Hurricanes overachieved last season, and it is highly unlikely they can repeat last postseason’s success.  Losing Forward Sebastian Aho will only make that so much harder. The Hurricanes will most likely  be in the midst of the fight for the final playoff spot. They have a young roster with talented players and should make the playoffs, but it is not uncommon for a team to have a falloff year after making the playoffs.

The Devils and Rangers both added generational talents to their roster this offseason.

The New York Rangers selected Finish phenom Kaapo Kakko as the second overall pick in the 2019 NHL draft. Although Kakko has the talent and physical body to make an immediate impact with the Rangers, the Rangers will most likely miss the playoffs next season. While Artemi Panarin could possibly be signed to accelerate the rebuild, the team is still too young. Their rebuild is going sensatioanlly well so far as they have an enormous amount of young talent in their system. However, those young players are not ready to lead the Rangers to the playoffs just yet. The Rangers will likely need another 3-4 years before they can return to making the playoffs each without question.

The New Jersey Devils will not be irrelevant next season. In fact, they will probably be very good. Although they were terrible his past season, they made the playoffs two seasons ago during the 2017-18 season, and it is not uncommon for a team to have a falloff year after making the playoffs. There is no question on whether or not the Devils have talent.

Former Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall only had 37 points last season but only played in 33 games. Additionally, he had 93 points in 76 games during the 2017-18 season. Former first overall pick Nico Hischier will be starting off his third career season this year, and Hischier will continue to grow and develop each season. Last year he put up 47 points in 69 games, which was five fewer points than the amount he put up the prior season, but he played in 13 fewer games. The Devils also have one of the most underrated players in the NHL with Kyle Palmeri. Palmeri last season put up 27 goals and 24 goals the year prior.

Most importantly, the Devils secured the first overall pick in the 2019 NHL draft, and with that pick selected generational talent Jack Hughes. Hughes, while playing with the U.S. National Development Team program, had 116 points in 60 games during the 2017-18 season. And during the 2018-19 season, Hughes had 112 points in 50 games. Hughes is going to be a problem next year and for years to come in the Eastern Conference.

On top of that, the Devils added one of the league’s best defenseman when they acquired PK Subban. Subban last season had 31 points with the Nashville Predators and had 59 points during the 2017-18 season with the club. The Devils will most likely be a playoff team this year, and if not this year the following year. The Devils got a lot better this offseason.

So where do the Islanders fall in this?

The Islanders success next season will fall on what happens in the next week. If the Islanders let goaltender Robin Lehner or forward Andres Lee walk, they must replace them by adding someone else. Even if the Islanders re-sign Lehner or Lee, it would be ideal if they can add a player like Panarin or Marner. A player like that would give the Islanders the much-needed goal scorer they missed out on during the Carolina Hurricanes series.

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