The Islanders are six points back from a wild-card spot with two games in hand.
The New York Islanders may have been playing better hockey lately, entering Friday night's game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
However, their chances of qualifying for the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs still seemed bleak. They were six points behind the second wild-card spot, with five teams in front of them.
With Noah Dobson's lower-body injury, the Islanders were going to have a difficult time filling his role, even if he's had a down year.
The latest big injury and the fact that the Islanders hold a prized trade-deadline possession in pending unrestricted free agent Brock Nelson, selling seemed like the obvious decision.
However, Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello has never sold in his six trade deadlines since joining the organization in 2018, so it's not automatic that he goes against his yearly trend of holding onto his players.
And with his latest signing of Tony DeAngelo, that tells us one thing: The Islanders' playoff push is still on.
DeAngelo's past has vilified him in the hockey community, especially among the NHL fan base. Now, anyone who thinks for a second understands that Lamoriello does not tolerate any behavior detrimental to the team. He has rules and a tight-knit locker room, which he may value over talent.
So, this move comes down to one thing: Can DeAngelo help the Islanders win hockey games?
Clearly, Lamoriello thinks so.
Had the Islanders decided after the Dobson injury that they were going to wave the white flag, sell off their pending UFAs and maybe even some pending restricted free agents, Lamoriello would have just used his seventh defenseman Dennis Cholowski as a regular and see how the season plays out.
But, he went for an upgrade, and the hope with this upgrade is that the Islanders find a way to keep their winning streak going--they are currently 1-0 in the DeAngelo era and 4-0-0 over thier last four games--in an effort to get as close as possible to a playoff spot before March 7th's NHL Trade Deadline.
Now, does the injury to Ryan Pulock and backup goaltender Marcus Hogberg, who was dominating between the pipes, change Lamoriello's outlook?
Maybe.
But, until Lamoriello feels that this team is incapable of making the playoffs, he will keep supporting them, if he can, to field the best team possible.