If you're wondering why the New York Islanders had a successful season, The Maven has the answer.
Almost a dozen teams in the National Hockey League's East Conference were willing to bet they'd have better seasons than the Islanders.
Every one of them was dead wrong.
Pittsburgh, led by future Hall of Famers Sid Crosby and Geno Malkin, didn't even get a Wild Card.
The Senators went nuts over their whiz kids and new goalie set and wound up flatter than the Mohave Desert.
Buffalo figured its scoring machine, Tage Thompson, would put a decade of
futility behind its Sabres. But the Swords wound up still driving along Futility Boulevard.
The Red Wings put an early winter scare in a bunch of Eastern sextets until the Motor City sextet ran out of motor oil.
In Montreal, the hope was that fresh coach Marty St.Louis would energize the
Bleu, Blanc et Rouge. And he did, but only once in a while.
Columbus threw the bank at Johnny Gaudreau but the Blue Jackets wound up shortchanged.
Washington boasted the record-breaking Ovie while Philly had Lord Torts doing whatever it is that John does. (Doesn't matter; he makes a good buck.)
Meanwhile, the Islanders -- chided for being "too old and too slow" -- sped past every one of the above big-talkers. The Isles kept their collective mouths shut and squeezed into the top Wild Card.
Given a break or two, Lou Lamoriello's team would have knocked off Carolina but, no matter, the Nassaumen fooled the critics and had some fun along the way.
But the fun stopped on Friday night when Peter Stastny stashed the puck behind Ilya Sorokin at six minutes of overtime and the curtain came down at UBS Arena.
That curtain also came down on a few Islanders careers, starting with Josh Bailey who watched all six playoff games in civvies thanks to a season-long dwindling offense.
And that's not all. If maestro Lamoriello is anything, he majors in perfection and as sure as the LIRR has an Elmont station, Sweet Lou will shake up his roster faster than his kitchen mixer can make a chocolate shake.
The two major Islanders needs include a number one scoring center and a defenseman who can fix a power play that was in ill repair all season.
Meanwhile, the general staff will be confronted with a spate of possible "non-returnees" starting with UFA goalie Semyon Varlamov and ending with D-man Scott Mayfield, another UFA.
Me? I'd keep Varly, who is a dependable Sorokin sidekick. But Varly will have to take a pay cut -- I think he will, liking both Ilya and the Island.
I'm not so sure about Mayfield. And since I'm not Scott's agent I'm really not so sure about him. But if Mayfield goes bye-bye, Samuel Bolduc will replace him.
UFA's Pierre Engvall and Zach Parise were treated well -- and played just fine -- which tells me both will return.
Larrupin' Lou never shirks a tough move -- frankly, I think he loves making them -- and that tells me that once and for all the Identity Line will lose its identity.
For sure Casey Cizikas will stay. I'm not so sure about Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin, who Lou just might view as dead wood.
Carolina didn't win the series on speed alone but the Canes giddyap should be enough to persuade Lou to go the Engvall-faster route during the off-season.
One of the season's most interesting acquisitions, Hudson Fasching, is a UFA. I'm certain he'll want to remain on the team that gave him his big break. Also, Lou could use an eager John Tonelli clone.
No question, the high command will bolster its inner circle and that means finding a power play expert becomes one of the highest priorities.
Lou doesn't like the word "rebuild," which suggests that the Isles will treat the 2023-24 season just like this one. Make the playoffs and see what happens.
I expect that he'll work toward a goal of more speed and skill while retaining a solid defensive base.
Which brings us to the question of coaching and Lane Lambert. The most important consideration is that Double L did what his mentor Barry Trotz did not do last season; Lambert steered New York into the playoffs.
Confronted with anxiety issues such as the loss of Barzal, Pelech, and Pageau at key times, Lane never panicked. The club fought through each crisis and made the postseason to boot.
But this was his rookie season as a head coach, and mistakes were evident.
There were enough challenging times when the team seemed unready to play.
Then there was the matter of creativity with the inept power play his main source of migraines.
On the other hand, Lane displayed the necessary leadership skills when it came to benching veterans such as Bailey and other vets who needed to watch rather than play.
But I'm not Lambert's boss; Lou is, and I won't even guess the Boss' thinking on the coaching matter.
What I do know is that Lambert guided the team through damning detours to the playoffs.
And that's more than I can say for Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Buffalo, Detroit, Montreal, Washington, and Philadelphia.