Islanders’ biggest surprise, disappointment to start 2024-25 season

The New York Islanders are off to a bad start to the 2024-25 season. They are at NHL-.500 after Saturday’s loss to the Seattle Kraken. After two straight First round elimination by Carolina HurricanesGeneral manager Lou Lamoriello knew improvements were needed. The changes he made didn’t stop the big problem Islanders hold the lead in the third period. This isn’t a surprise, but it is both a big surprise and a disappointment for the Islanders.

The 2024-25 Islanders are shaping up thanks to their goaltender. Ilya Sorokin started He had one of the best months of his career with his eight-year, $8.5 million extension. His 2.70 goals against average and .913 save percentage should lead to a better record than 4-4-3. This isn’t a surprise, but as long as Sorokin doesn’t experience last year’s disappointment, the team will be in good shape.

Let’s look at the biggest surprise and disappointment of the season so far for the New York Islanders.

Anders Lee is having a solid offensive season

The main criticism of the Islanders’ roster is that they are old, especially at forward. The biggest example of this is captain Anders Lee, who is entering his 13th NHL season at the age of 34. He was having his worst offensive season in years, shooting 10.8%; this was the lowest figure for an entire season since 2015–16. Things got better for Lee this year.

In 18 games, Lee has seven goals and is shooting 11.8%. His target pace has kept him above 30 all season and this will be only the second time in his career he has reached that level. With a tremendous amount of injuries ahead, the Islanders need Lee to keep up the pace to have a chance at making the playoffs.

This was surprising because Lee appeared to be over the top last season. He was never agile and never lost a step, he was never a great shooter and couldn’t make the jumper and couldn’t even dominate the front of the floor. Lee has made a career out of scoring goals and he didn’t get them last year. He has them this year and the Islanders are much better for it.

Islanders’ Mathew Barzal must step up his scoring pace

Mathew Barzal, on the other end of Lee, has been terrible this season. During He was out of action for a few weeks due to his injury.What he describes as the Islanders’ biggest disappointment was their play before that. Through ten games, he had just two goals and three assists, among the lowest totals on the team. None of these goals are strong enough, highlighting a big problem for New York.

Barzal is the poster child for the true disappointment of the Islanders season; crime. Heading into Monday’s game, they sit 25th in the league in goals per game. A few solid performances got them out of the basement, but not by many. While Barzal was on the shelf, other players like Lee also stepped up. But when he returns, the 27-year-old star needs to dominate.

The Islanders see their playoff chances slip away with every lead lost in the third period. Their most recent loss against the Kraken was another example of the offense failing to rally the defense early in the game, blowing a one-goal lead and eventually collapsing. Barzal is the key to making sure this doesn’t happen again, and to do that he needs to score highly.