The Islanders coaching staff will look a little different in 2024-25.
The Islanders coaching staff will look a little different in 2024-25.
There's no question that Patrick Roy coming to Long Island back in late January, as opposed to the summer months, will have a monumental impact on the New York Islanders in 2024-25.
Not only did the few months behind the bench allow Roy and his players to learn and understand one another, but it also allowed for some trial and error regarding line combinations and systems.
The whole summer to evaluate should have the Islanders in a strong place heading into training camp, which should begin in a few weeks.
But the Islanders' success in 2024-25 goes beyond the work of Roy and general manager Lou Lamoriello, who added some more tools to Roy's toolbox.
Roy's coaching staff will play a vital role in what happens this season.
John MacLean: Offense & Power Play
There was some speculation that John MacLean could be out of a job after two years on Long Island, but it's clear that Roy and Lamoriello felt comfortable enough bringing him back.
The Islanders offense under MacLean has averaged 2.97 goals per game, 23rd in the NHL since 2022, going from 2.95 G/GP in 2022-23 to 2.99 G/GP in 2023-24.
Honestly, goal-scoring wasn't an issue for the Islanders last season.
Keeping the puck out of their net was the issue, something we would get to in a minute.
As for the power play, something that's hurt this team for what feels like a decade, we did see a significant jump from 2022-23 to 2023-24.
The Islanders only came through 15.8% of the time in 2022-23 but got that number to 20.4% this past season.
The playoffs were a different story.
They came through just once on 18 tries (5.55%) against the Carolina Hurricanes in 2023 and went 3-for-11 (27.27%) in 2024.
But there was growth, and Maxin Tsyplakov and Anthony Duclair, two players who should help score at 5-on-5—we'll see about the wildcard Tsyplakov—should also help on the power play.
Tommy Albelin & Benoit Desrosiers: Defense & Penalty Kill
At the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas, Lamoriello announced that Doug Houda and the Islanders would part ways.
Houda was brought to Long Island in 2022-23, a teammate of Lane Lambert during their playing days with the Detroit Red Wings.
Given how much of a role Houda played in developing Red Wings' young stud defenseman Mortiz Seider, the goal seemed to be for him to mimic that with a young Noah Dobson.
While Dobson took stride under Houda, his defensive game still needs improvement.
That's not why the two sides parted ways. The defense was horrific the last two seasons, and the penalty kill last season found ways to let the team down rather than bail them out.
In 2022-23, the penalty kill was ninth-best in the NHL at 82.2%, coming through 80% of the time in the 2023 postseason (20 for 25).
In 2023-24, the penalty kill was the worst in the NHL at 71.5%, allowing five power-play goals on 15 Hurricane chances (66.67%).
It wasn't all on Houda, but it's easier to fire a coach than to fire a team or part ways — semantics.
As for his replacement, Lamoriello brought in two-time Stanley Cup champion Tommy Albelin.
The 60-year-old, who Lamoriello hired as an assistant in New Jersey in 2007 before bringing him to Toronto ahead of the 2016-17 season, has been coaching as an assistant with Team Sweden since 2016.
During his playing days, the former eighth-round pick by the Quebec Nordiques back in 1983 won two Stanley Cups playing for Lamoriello in New Jersey (1995, 2003).
Team Sweden has shown tremendous defensive ability under Albelin, which clearly made him an attractive coach for the Islanders, given their struggles.
He'll likely work alongside Benoit Desrosiers, who Roy brought in a few weeks after coming aboard.
Desrosiers, who served as Roy's assistant with the Quebec Remparts, was said to be the mastermind of their system, which helped them become the 2023 Memorial Cup champions.
Talking to many guys in the room, Desrosiers plays a vital role in their positioning following face-offs, which many outsiders probably don't think about when watching a game.
But if you think about it — more so in the defensive and neutral zone than the offensive zone — being positionally sound after winning a draw allows for easier breakouts, while being positionally sound after losing a draw will help slow down the opponent.
It is yet to be determined how Albelin and Desrosiers will handle the defense and the penalty kill, but having two strong voices—one a grizzled coaching vet and one entering his first full NHL season — should put the Islanders in a much stronger defensive spot than they have in a few years.
Piero Greco, Sergei Naumovs: Goalie Coaches
With the departure of Mitch Korn to Nashville to join Barry Trotz again, the Islanders appointed Chris Terreri as the organization's Director of Goaltending.
Terreri played 406 games over 14 years in the NHL, 12 of which were for Lamoriello when he was the general manager of the Devils.
He came to the Islanders organization when Lamoriello was hired.
However, Korn's departure didn't impact Piero Greco's job, as the Islanders' on-ice goalie coach came over from the Maple Leafs when Lamoriello came over in 2018.
Roy has the utmost trust in Greco.
He told us that Piero knows the goaltenders inside and out and is the one who tells Roy who should be in between the pipes on a nightly basis.
So, that won't change.
But something that will help franchise netminder Ilya Sorokin, who is coming off his worst NHL season, was that Bridgeport's goalie coach replacement is Sergei Naumovs, his former goalie coach with CSKA Moscow.
The belief is that Naumovs worked with Sorokin this summer, and he's likely to be on the ice working with all of the goalies during rookie camp and training camp.
Final Thoughts
We know that coaching can only do so much. The players have to execute and adapt.
But having a few people on hand to help get the defense back on track while having a familiar voice to do the same for Sorokin should help immensely.
The power play needs to take strides, and maybe Roy will take more of a lead in terms of making changes if things get stale.
However, in addition to the roster changes this summer, Lamoriello did what he could to bolster his staff and provide additional support for Roy.