The Islanders have had the same core players for the last four seasons. For the first three seasons, they were one of the best teams in the league that teams struggled to figure out. Unfortunately, that same roster has gone stale. The Islanders have struggled this season and have been unable to adapt to the teams who have improved. Although the team had an opportunity to really shake things up at the trade deadline, they chose to stand firm with the roster. While not a terrible decision by the front office at the time, there will need to be a shake up for the Islanders roster.

The main issue with the Islanders roster right now is age. In a league that is constantly getting faster and younger, the Islanders are at a disadvantage with having one of the oldest teams in the league. Having veterans on your team isn’t always a bad thing, as any Stanley Cup-winning team has had contributing veterans. The problem is when you have too many, especially when they are taking up ice time of younger players who deserve to play. You can’t expect Zach Parise to still produce as much as when he was 28 years old. Those guys have to be depth scorers or members of the bottom-six. You also can’t have a line that is full of veterans, like the fourth line. Because if they come up against a fast team, they will get exposed for their weaknesses.

The front office needs to find a way to replace some of the veterans with younger players. Giving players like Robin Salo and Kieffer Bellows a chance to produce on a regular basis could be the start of that. Lou Lamoriello said that the Islanders could look at making “hockey trades” if it makes sense, so what about finding a skater that gets the team younger and faster to possibly improve the overall performance of the team? You can still have grit with speed and youth, the Tampa Bay Lightning have shown this is possible. That also goes down to the head coach, Barry Trotz. He has to put more faith in the younger guys, particularly Oliver Wahlstrom.

The Islanders should explore trading some of their players this offseason. There were rumors swirling around the trade deadline that the Islanders would deal out players. One of them was defenseman Scott Mayfield. Mayfield has been one of the best defensemen for the Islanders this season so if he were to be traded the Islanders would need to get the haul he deserves. Another player that could be dealt is goaltender Semyon Varlamov. His contract is winding down with the Islanders, and his role as starter has been taken over by Ilya Sorokin.

The current Islanders team has been to three straight playoffs and two straight semi-finals, yet the team is stalling and looks like there will need to be a change in the roster. It is unfortunate that the team that has brought the fans a lot of success recently may have to be br0ken up, but it will be better for the team to switch things up and bring in new blood.

Jack Kobil

Hi, my name is Jack Kobil. I am currently attending Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington DC. I am a huge Islanders fan and I love to share my passion for this team.