By now if you’re a fan of the Islanders and hockey in general, the start date for this upcoming season seems to be furthering with each passing day.
As much as everyone was hoping for the season to commence on New Years Day — there still a possibility of that — it might be time to come to the realization that there might not be a season. There just might be too many hurdles ahead; with the uncertainty regarding the coronavirus, players and owners squabbling over money, possible realignment and bubble environments again to keep the players safe.
In the Islanders case, just like all other 30 clubs, there are both advantages and disadvantages to this year being shelved.
Putting the pandemic aside for just a moment, the Isles could benefit without playing a single game this year. And it starts with g.m. Lou Lamoriello having more time to try and figure out the organization’s cap situation.
Lamoriello’s favorite mantra is “if you have time, use itâ€. Well with no season to be played, he will have all that extra time to focus on trying to make some decisions to better his team in the future. The main ones are getting Mathew Barzal signed to a new deal which coincides with possibly finding a trade partner for one of the veterans, Johnny Boychuk or Leo Komarov.
Some of those other vets will have even more time to get a full year healthy. Although they’d probably be ready to go if camp started tomorrow, guys like Adam Pelech and Casey Cizikas suffered season-ending injuries in the postseason. Them having extended time to heal so they can be at 100% will always win out.
Now we get to the cons, and there are a lot of them.
Will start with this: the team not getting to build off their best back-to-back campaigns in three decades.
The Isles made it to the Conference finals this past summer for the first time in 27 years and came within just two games of playing for the Stanley Cup. The amount of momentum they were going to have coming into this year was palpable even with all the cap concerns. Seeing this year lost would be a total shot to the solar plexus for a franchise that had taken tremendous strides in the last few seasons and a fan base who was reveling in their team’s success again.
A lot of the players will be another year older by the time another season is ready to begin.
The organization’s core guys, besides a select few, are all nearing 30-years-old or just above that age. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, the Islanders are in a peculiar spot where their window is open now before more possible overturn could be on the horizon.
Ilya Sorokin.
Ever since he was drafted in 2014, Sorokin has been the “white whale†of the organization. But now he’s here. And this year was expected to be his coming out party. Waiting another number of months to finally see him, the so-called “goalie of the futureâ€, just feels almost unfair for how arduous a journey it was for the Islanders to finally get him to come play on Long Island.
The Nassau Coliseum not receiving a proper farewell.
This one will definitely hit home for a lot of people if it does happen. Sure there was a send off in 2015, but it didn’t have the same impact as one this year might have had. The Coliseum has been the home of the Islanders and their fans since the franchise’s inception.
What would hurt more is that all team’s home games were set to be played there.
Captain Anders Lee made it clear a month ago that he and the rest of the guys want to give the Old Barn one last hurrah before they make the move 15 minutes down the road to their brand new digs at UBS Arena starting next year.
That not being a reality would be a missed opportunity that the players and the fans might never get back.
Maybe things do change over the next few weeks between the league and the players. One can only hope.
But the Isles could find themselves on both sides of the coin if in fact the season gets canceled after all.