A year ago, the Islanders were trying to figure out how to break free from the cycle of mediocrity.
Winning the Matthew Schaefer lottery with 3.5 percent odds was the franchise’s version of cutting the Gordian Knot in half with a sword, a deus ex machina that took years off the process in a matter of minutes.
Now the question is different. It’s how to build a true contender around their young prospects and players — mainly Schaefer, but also Cal Ritchie, Victor Eklund, Kashawn Aitcheson, Cole Eiserman, Simon Holmstrom and Emil Heineman — as fast as possible, without sacrificing the ability to keep contending when Schaefer is 25. In other words, how do you balance a lot of competing tradeoffs to build something sustainable?
The Islanders want to make the playoffs next year, they want salary-cap flexibility to be able to go after a big fish when the time comes, they don’t want to move any of their top-tier prospects or key veterans (namely Mat Barzal, Bo Horvat, Ilya Sorokin) and above all, they want to level up into being a Cup contender. When do they bend one of those goals in service of another, and what boxes do they need to check to make it all work? Well, the teams still playing hockey right now might have some advice worth taking.
