The 2024-25 NHL season hasn’t gone as deliberate for the New York Islanders. They’re the one staff within the Japanese Convention unable to amass double-digit win totals within the common season and sit three factors again of the final wild-card place with three extra video games performed.
Some blame will be positioned on New York’s incapability to remain wholesome this season. Defenseman Adam Pelech and Mike Reilly are presently positioned on the staff’s injured reserve and forwards Mathew Barzal and Anthony Duclair are on the staff’s long-term injured reserve. Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News shares that issues are about to alter with the 2 latter gamers.
Rosner writes that Barzal has lastly resumed skating for the Islanders after lacking his seventeenth straight recreation a couple of nights in the past. New York’s most gifted participant has been coping with an upper-body damage since late October after blocking a shot from Columbus Blue Jackets’ ahead Yegor Chinakhov. Likewise, Duclair has been skating for the previous couple of weeks and needs to be activated from LTIR earlier than Barzal.
The 2 have missed a mixed 39 video games for the Islanders this season, and their offense has struggled of their absence. New York has sometimes hovered round three targets per recreation because the 2018-19 season however has now fallen to final within the Japanese Convention with a 2.48 GF/G common.
Barzal wasn’t a game-changing menace when wholesome this season, scoring two targets and 5 factors by means of his first 10 video games. His absence was felt elsewhere, although, as teammate Bo Horvat has misplaced almost all goal-scoring contact with out his typical linemate. Horvat scored three targets in 10 video games with Barzal and has solely two scored two targets within the 17 subsequent video games with out him.
Duclair’s absence has additionally aided within the offense’s stalling out. He’s sometimes a surefire guess to attain 25 targets when wholesome and potted two in his first 5 video games with the Islanders. Moreover, New York’s powerplay has dropped to thirty first within the league with an 11.84% success fee with the person benefit.
The Islanders nonetheless have 55 remaining video games to get better the season and there needs to be rising optimism with Barzal and Duclair’s return on the horizon. It’s tough to think about New York qualifying for the playoffs for the sixth time in seven seasons if its offense doesn’t get better from the dismal begin.
