Mathieu Darche entered his first offseason as GM of the New York Islanders with a handful of roster players to sign, and his biggest contract went to 25-year-old restricted free agent Alexander Romanov.
Romanov’s eight-year, $50 million deal ($6.25 million AAV) made him the highest-paid defenseman on Long Island, and his 2024-25 season went a long way in landing the high price.
He finished the year with the second-highest average TOI per game (22:18), trailing only Tony DeAngelo (23:21), while consistently facing opponents’ top players.
He notably finished third among Islanders' defensemen in defensive zone starts per 60 minutes and had the fewest offensive zone starts per 60 minutes.
According to PuckIQ, Romanov’s 413 minutes logged against “elite” competition ranked second among Islanders defenseman, trailing only Ryan Pulock (470), who played 10 more games than Romanov.
PuckIQ’s criteria for ‘elite’ players include maintaining points/60 > 2.21 (all game states), time on ice per game > 75th percentile, relative corsi > 40th percentile, and relative dangerous fenwick > 40th percentile. This leaves around 60 players in this category per season.
Both traditional and advanced metrics portrayed Romanov as an average defender. He finished near the Islanders’ team average in goals against (2.56), expected goals against (2.76), and shots against (28.07) per 60 minutes at 5v5, according to Natural Stat Trick, as well as CoreNHL’s Shot Quality Against metric.
However, context is necessary, as Romanov’s difficult deployment and high usage influenced these numbers.
Romanov missed 18 games due to injury throughout the season, and his absence was felt, with the Islanders going a mere 6-10-2 in those games.
After missing 13 games in the middle of the season, Romanov spoke to The Hockey News about how frustrating the season became:
"Yeah, the worst thing a player can have is injuries. You're in shape, you play good 10-11 games, you start the season, and then you get injured," Romanov said.
"The hardest part to getting injured in the first part of the season when, after 10 games, everyone is just starting to grow, building team chemistry between defense pairs and lines and you're injured and you miss 13 games, and then you gotta jump back in. And you have to be at the same level as your team.”
When he initially returned, his partner, Noah Dobson, had just gone down with a lower-body injury.
Romanov was given no time to ease back into the lineup, consistently playing north of 23 minutes per game and topping out at 31:39 in his seventh game back – his highest single-game ice time of the season.
Outside of the defensive zone, Romanov remained on par with his career offensive norms.
He finished the year with 20 points, two shy of his career high (2022-23, 2023-24), as well as four goals, three shy of his career high (2023-24).
On a per 60-minute basis, Romanov finished 2024-25 with the second-highest point production of his career in goals, primary assists, total assists, and total points per 60 minutes at 5v5.
The strong offensive output was no result of luck, as Romanov showed an increased willingness to step into plays, carrying more pucks into the offensive zone and occasionally pinching opponents when he previously dropped back to avoid an odd man rush.
Final Verdict: B+
Romanov’s 2024-25 season was the perfect candidate to show that the stat sheet does not tell the entire story.
He faced top opponents, ate massive ice time, bounced between pairings, and dealt with injuries.
While the data suggests he’s a league-average defender, context – and more importantly, the eye test – highlight just how impactful his energy and presence truly are.
Heading into 2025-26, the Islanders will need Romanov to take another step.
Romanov’s most common partners last season were Dobson and DeAngelo, spending 458 and 413 minutes at 5v5 with them, respectively.
The production was, unsurprisingly, better with Dobson. The Islanders scored more, allowed fewer goals, generated more shots and expected goals, and gave up less in both categories per 60 minutes when Romanov was paired with Dobson instead of DeAngelo.
The Romanov-DeAngelo pairing improved as the season went on, something understandable given DeAngelo joined the Islanders in January after starting the season in Russia’s KHL.
Their two skill sets give another reason for optimism, as Romanov’s physical, defense-first mindset and DeAngelo’s ability to stretch the ice and consistently generate offensive chances give Patrick Roy a pairing that can do it all.
Romanov is likely to open the season alongside DeAngelo, though there’s a chance he slots in elsewhere, potentially with Ryan Pulock, his third-most frequent partner in 2024-25.
Regardless of his even-strength role, Romanov will continue to anchor the penalty kill, likely on the top unit with Scott Mayfield. Among New York’s regular defensemen on the PK last season, Romanov posted the lowest goals against (9.31) and expected goals against (8.02) per 60 minutes, reinforcing his value to Roy and his staff.
CoreNHL’s model projects Romanov to provide an estimated $4.9 million of value in 2025-26.