Isaiah George Talk On Hockey Night in New York Out of the New York Islanders [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-islanders/]' three assistant coaches, only one seems to have the complete buy-in from players. And that's Benoit Desrosiers, who is in his first full season as an NHL assistant coach. While the 36-year-old has a say in the penalty kill, which is historically bad, he has complete control of the team's face-off game plan. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjExODE5MzIwNTg0NDQ3OTc2/usatsi_24852217.jpg] How do we know this? Well, I asked head coach Patrick Roy about face-offs, and he had this to say: "I have nothing to do with face-offs. It's Benny. He's been working with those guys, and they work hard at it, and they've been performing really well. This is something that guys are putting a lot of pride in, but it's not only the centermen. It's also the wingers jumping in and getting those loose pucks. That makes wins for our centermen. So the fact that our guys are our face-off ready helps us." I've talked to a few players about Benoit since he arrived, and they've all loved working with him. "He's been great. He's always trying to figure things out and give you insight," Islanders forward Brock Nelson, who has won 54.2% of draws this season, told The Hockey News. "I think his passion for the game is obviously very high. Regarding face-offs, I think that's always a thing that you could you could focus on in practice. Benny takes a lot of pride in all areas of the game, and face-offs are one of them, and then running some plays off of that." Jean-Gabriel Pageau echoed his sentiments. "He's made us better," Pageau told THN. "Obviously, there's a lot of changes, a lot of changes we made this year. I thought he'd brought up some really good little details about when to be aggressive and some key points, and he's got really good thinking for the game. So, I think he's been a great addition." Just check out these numbers: The Islanders haven't been able to make smooth plays consistently after winning the draw. Like most issues with the team, it's the personnel, not the coaching. But, we've also seen excellence in certain games right off the draw, plays drawn up by Desrosiers. Also, while Desrosiers main role is face-offs, he has experience coaching both special teams: So, is it time for Desrosiers to take on a bigger role? The penalty kill structure under Albelin doesn't work. While Desrosiers certainly contributed to the struggles, there's no reason why he shouldn't be the man running the defense and penalty kill next year. As for the power play, could having a defensive mindset help turn that ship around? What I mean by this is that a defensive mindset allows one to consider what penalty-killers are looking for and what causes them to falter. It's clear that Roy, who brought Desrosiers to Long Island, trusts his former Quebec assistant immensely. The Islanders clearly respond well to Desrosiers's instructions, so it might be time to let him run a department and see what happens.
