Islanders Issues Yet To Be Sorted

Now that training camp has been sighted in The Maven's pre-season telescope, it's time for us to collectively consider some pertinent issues involving the New York Islanders. 

(Voice From The Crowd: DROP THE PUCK, ALREADY.!)

Based on my unofficial polling, the general feedback I get is that the rookie coach Lane Lambert deserved one more chance behind the bench. 

All things considered, I agree.

We start with the fact that the Isles beat out eight -- count 'em, eight -- teams to make the playoffs. That -- in and of itself -- is an accomplishment.

Among those who missed included Sidney Crosby's Penguins, Alex Ovechkin's Capitals, and a revived Ottawa sextet that supposedly was ready for a big push. And, still, they missed the gold ring, along with five other worthies.

Just making the playoffs a year after his mentor, Barry Trotz, missed has to guarantee at least one feather in Lambert's cap.

A few other feathers are for: 1. Infusing youth into the lineup; 2. Not playing favorites with veterans such as Josh Bailey; 3. Remaining cool, calm, and collected when things went sour.

But Lane now has his work cut out for him in other areas. And, make no mistake, they are areas of concern. 

As one fan beefed to me, "Too many times the team seemed un-ready to play. They seemed to be 'feeling their way around' while the opposition dominated." This has been a chronic problem dating back to the Barclay Center days, and yes, it is a problem.

Our Stefen Rosner asked Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello during his end-of-the-year press conference about the slow starts:

"Those are questions, okay, and if you've got some answers for them, I'm all ears. We have to look into what potentially...is there a reason why? We had too many of those little things that transpired..."

Back in the good old Nick Leddy Era, we could rest assured that Nicholas would relieve the pressure by bobbing and weaving his way out of his end and out of trouble.

The relief that Leds provided cannot be underestimated.

I'd like to think that -- with a "learning" year under their belts -- either Alexander Romanov or Noah Dobson could do some Leddy imitations in 2023-24.

Make no mistake, the power play is fixable. 

A basic irritant was Lambert allowing a failing power-play unit to remain on the ice in the hopes it would quickly get better. 

Nay and NAY! 

Quicker changes must be made if the power play happens to be broken, as often was the case. 

Make quick switches rather than waiting for good things to happen, which, by the way, often did not.

Without a doubt, Lambert is blessed with having Ilya Sorokin as his starter.

 The real puzzle has to do with how much Sorokin should be played.

Or, to put it another way, it's a matter of ensuring that Ilya is in mint condition at playoff time and not worn out, as seemed to be the case later in the Carolina series.

Looking backward at the overtime goal scored by Carolina's Paul Stastny, you have to wonder whether Sorokin blew what looked like an easy save because he simply was worn down beyond relief.

Lamoriello has retained a splendid backup in Semyon Varlamov. 

I suggest that Lambert adds to Varly's workload; say, up to 30 games. 

I consider it a gamble worth taking.

Here are a couple of free solutions. 

A: Puck movement must be quicker

B: Select one pair of designated shooters. And, if it's not Ryan Pulock nor Romanov, then how about up-and-coming Sam Bolduc or the guy who is due for a big year, Bo Horvat?

Both like to fire the puck, and each can be an alternate to whatever systems have failed in the past. 

Horvat lit 38 red lights last season. That alone should qualify him for starting power play time. That and the fact that Bo wants the puck on his stick.

And, one more thing; It seems to me that Bolduc is worth an early season chance to quarterback the power play. 

Granted, that may seem to be too far out in coaching Dreamland, but, as the sages like to say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

And the way the power play has been powerless, a Bolduc experiment should not be ruled out of the question!

(Okay. Okay, go argue with me!)