New York Islanders

Metropolitan Division, Eastern Conference · 25 reports in the 2024-25 edition.

This is the 2024-25 edition — an archived read, written from that season alone. Read the 2026-27 club page →

The club

2023-24 · 82 games · 192 for, 209 against

How it played

Shot attempts share, five-on-five: 46.9% 25th of 32
Expected goals share, five-on-five: 49.1% 22nd of 32
Power play expected goals per sixty: 6.71 26th of 32
Penalty kill expected goals allowed per sixty: 8.45 32nd of 32

Where the record lies

Finishing goals scored above what the chances were worth: +0.7 18th of 32
Goaltending goals prevented beyond what the chances allowed were worth: +13.2 7th of 32

New York Islanders got 13.2 more saves than the chances they faced warranted — 13 goals of the record that the underlying play does not explain, and it regresses.

Roster shape

Points-weighted, so these are the ages and origins of the production rather than of the sweaters.

Average age: 28.8; weighted by points
From 33 and up: 6.6%; of skater points
From under 26: 20.2%; of skater points
Homegrown: 53.6%; drafted by this club
Continuity: 80.3%; of last season's five-on-five minutes

The read

the numbers, and the eye

More five-on-five hockey than any club in the league, the twenty-fifth shot share at it, and thirteen goals of goaltending holding the whole thing up.

Who this names 14 of 25 on the roster · 65% of their five-on-five minutes details

Both columns above are searched, and a name counts on the same terms the page links it: in full always, by surname only when one man in the edition wears it. Nothing here says who ought to be named — only who was, so the weighting can be seen rather than guessed at.

Not named here: Samuel Bolduc, Tony DeAngelo, Pierre Engvall, Hudson Fasching, Julien Gauthier, Kyle MacLean, Scott Mayfield, Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock, Mike Reilly, Oliver Wahlstrom.

What the Quant Says

39-27-16, 94 points, 15th in the league. Sixteen overtime losses: this club took a point from fifty-five of its eighty-two games and won thirty-nine of them.

246 goals for and 263 against, on the twenty-fifth shot share in hockey, with the twenty-first power play and the twenty-sixth penalty kill. There is no part of this club's play that was above average.

What there is, is thirteen goals of goaltending, seventh in the league, and a way of playing that keeps games close. Fifty minutes and forty-one seconds of even-strength hockey a night is the most in the league, and sixteen overtime losses is what a club looks like when it is never out of a game and rarely ahead in one.

Noah Dobson is 24 with 191 points in 317 games. Mathew Barzal is 27 with 314 assists in 500. Alexander Romanov is 24. Simon Holmstrom is 23. Against that: Matt Martin is 35 with 955 games and 1,158 penalty minutes, Casey Cizikas is 33 with 815, Semyon Varlamov is 36, Anders Lee is 34, Kyle Palmieri is 33 and Jean-Gabriel Pageau is 31.

This is a club held together by two goaltenders and a 24-year-old defenceman, playing a style that produces ninety-four points and no more than that. The summer added Anthony Duclair, who scored 24 goals across San Jose and Tampa Bay, and nothing else.

What the Scout Says

Two very good goaltenders, one very good young defenceman, and a forward group that has been the same men for six years.

Ilya Sorokin has a career .9188 across 192 games. Noah Dobson had 70 points at 24. Mathew Barzal has 314 assists in 500 games. Bo Horvat, Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri have 762 career goals between them.

The identity is unmistakable and it has not changed since 2018: check, defend, take almost no penalties, draw almost none, play more five-on-five than anybody and win 3-2. It produced ninety-four points and it has produced roughly that every year.

Who this names 6 of 15 forwards · 55% of their five-on-five minutes details

Not named here: Casey Cizikas, Pierre Engvall, Hudson Fasching, Julien Gauthier, Simon Holmstrom, Kyle MacLean, Matt Martin, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Oliver Wahlstrom.

What the Quant Says

246 goals, 22nd in the league, on the 21st-best rate of chance creation at even strength — 2.510 expected goals per 60. Those two agree with each other, and both of them are poor.

At five-on-five New York took 46.9 per cent of the shot attempts, 25th, and 49.1 per cent of the expected goals, 22nd. Seven clubs in hockey were outshot more heavily. The gap between those two numbers is the whole identity of this club: it does not have the puck often, and when it does the shots are better than most.

And it scored 166 goals at five-on-five against an expectation of 165.3 — a surplus of 0.7, 18th in the league. Exactly average at finishing. The twenty-second-place attack is the chances and nothing else.

Noah Dobson had 10 goals and 60 assists for 70 points from the blue line at 24, sixth among defencemen in this edition in assists. Mathew Barzal had 80 points in 80 games, Brock Nelson 34 goals, Bo Horvat 33 and Kyle Palmieri 30 with eight game-winners.

Four thirty-goal-or-close forwards and a defenceman with sixty assists is not a twenty-second-place attack on paper. It is one because nobody underneath them scored at all.

What the Scout Says

Four men who score and a bottom six that does not.

Mathew Barzal took 240 shots at a median of 27 feet and converted 9.6 per cent against a career 10.72. He is 6-1 and 186 and the fastest man on the roster; 314 assists in 500 games says what he is, and 128 goals says what he is not.

Anders Lee took 277 attempts at a median of 12 feet with 68 per cent of them from inside twenty — the fifth-closest shot chart of anybody in this edition who took a hundred attempts. He is 6-3 and 234 and has 260 career goals from that exact spot.

Brock Nelson is 6-4 and converted 13.6 per cent on 250 shots at 32. Bo Horvat converted 13.3 on 248 and has 13 career shorthanded goals. Kyle Palmieri took 218 at a median of 20 feet and scored eight game-winners. Anthony Duclair arrives having converted 18.6 per cent across San Jose and Tampa Bay, against a career 13.84, which is a warning as much as a recommendation.

Who this names 6 of 8 defencemen · 89% of their five-on-five minutes details

Not named here: Samuel Bolduc, Tony DeAngelo.

What the Quant Says

New York allowed 2.603 expected goals per 60 at even strength, 20th in the league, and conceded 263 goals, 19th. Consistent, and middling.

This club played 50:41 of even-strength hockey a night, more than any other in the league, because it drew the fourth-fewest power plays and took the third-fewest penalties. Almost everything about the season happened at five-on-five.

Noah Dobson played 79 games at 24:31 a night with his ice at 71-53 against an expectation of 64.28-65.22 — seven goals of finishing above what the chances were worth and twelve fewer conceded than they called for. Alexander Romanov was plus-23, the best mark on the club, over 1,504 minutes at 20:50.

Ryan Pulock played 58 games at 22:33 and Adam Pelech 58 at 20:17. Both of the club's shutdown defencemen missed a third of the season, and Scott Mayfield played 41 at 18:46. The blue line was short all year and Dobson absorbed it.

What the Scout Says

Noah Dobson, and then a lot of men who were injured.

Noah Dobson is 6-4 and 200, right-handed, and played 24:31 a night at 24. Sixty assists from the blue line is sixth in this edition and the whole of it comes from moving the puck up ice early — he is not a shooter and 5 per cent of his attempts came from inside twenty feet.

Alexander Romanov is 6-1 and 220 and was plus-23, the best on the club, at 20:50 a night. He hits everything, blocks shots, and took 2 per cent of his attempts from inside twenty, which is a defenceman who has been told exactly what his job is.

Ryan Pulock is 22:33 a night when fit and played 58 games. Adam Pelech is 20:17 and played 58. Both are genuinely good defensive defencemen and neither has played a full season recently. Scott Mayfield is 6-4 and 215 with 430 career penalty minutes and played 41. Mike Reilly took 17:10 in 61 games.

Who this names 2 of 2 goaltenders details

What the Quant Says

The club's goaltending came in 13.2 goals better than the chances it faced, 7th in the league. On a club that was 25th in shot share, that is the difference between fifteenth and out of it entirely.

Ilya Sorokin went 25-19-12 with a .9083 and a 3.01 in 56 games, facing 1,821 shots, with 2 shutouts. He is 29, a third-round pick, and his career line across 192 games is a .9188 with 18 shutouts — so last season was ten points of save percentage below his own standard and still good enough to be seventh in the league.

Semyon Varlamov went 14-8-4 with a .9176 and a 2.60 in 28 games, facing 837, with 3 shutouts. He is 36, has 611 games, 286 wins and 41 shutouts, and a career .9160. That .9176 was the better of the two numbers here by a distance.

Two Russian goaltenders, both above their club's shot share by some margin, and no third option. This is the most reliable thing the Islanders have and it is also the thing they can least afford to lose.

What the Scout Says

The best part of the club by a distance, and both men are past twenty-nine.

Ilya Sorokin is 6-3 and 189 and plays a deep, patient game, letting the shot come to him and moving only when the puck does. Eighteen career shutouts in 192 games at a career .9188. The .9083 last season was the worst of his four, and it was still worth seventh-best goaltending in the league on a club that gave up the puck as often as this one.

He tracks through traffic as well as any goaltender in the league and the rebound control is the reason the second chances do not arrive. The puck-handling is ordinary and the club keeps him in his net.

Semyon Varlamov is 6-2 and 201 and 36 years old, with 611 games, 286 wins, 41 shutouts and a career .9160. He plays higher in the crease than Sorokin and is quicker across it than a man of his age has any right to be. The .9176 in 28 games was the better of the two save percentages here.

Two of them, both Russian, both over 29, and nothing at all behind them.

The roster

Evidence 0 Full 23 Light 2 No record

No measured season behind two of them: Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov. Their pages carry an older stat line and a judgment, and nothing from 2023-24.

Mathew Barzal

C · New York Islanders

Three hundred and fourteen assists in 500 games, and 128 goals.

Samuel Bolduc

D · New York Islanders

Six foot four, 224 pounds, and not one attempt from inside twenty feet all season.

Casey Cizikas

C · New York Islanders

Eight hundred and fifteen games, eleven career shorthanded goals, and thirteen seasons for one club.

Tony DeAngelo

D · New York Islanders

One hundred and sixty-two career assists in 371 games, and thirty-one of them in Carolina.

Noah Dobson

D · New York Islanders

Sixty assists from the blue line at 24, sixth among defencemen in this edition.

Anthony Duclair

LW · New York Islanders

Twenty-four goals at 18.6 per cent against a career 13.84, which is the whole question.

Pierre Engvall

LW · New York Islanders

Six foot six, and nine goals of scoring that never arrived on his ice.

Hudson Fasching

RW · New York Islanders

A shot median of thirteen feet, 66 per cent of them from inside twenty, and four goals.

Julien Gauthier

RW · New York Islanders

Twenty-first overall in 2016, a career minus-25 in 180 games, and the worst chance share on this roster.

Simon Holmstrom

RW · New York Islanders

Five shorthanded goals in one season at 22, and all five of his career total.

Bo Horvat

C · New York Islanders

Thirteen career shorthanded goals, 241 goals in 732 games, and a career minus-70 that belongs to Vancouver.

Anders Lee

LW · New York Islanders

A shot median of twelve feet with 68 per cent from inside twenty, and 260 career goals from that spot.

Kyle MacLean

C · New York Islanders

Undrafted out of Verona, New Jersey, and 32 games at 25.

Matt Martin

LW · New York Islanders

One thousand one hundred and fifty-eight career penalty minutes in 955 games, and 81 goals.

Scott Mayfield

D · New York Islanders

Six foot four, 430 career penalty minutes, and no goals on 36 shots.

Brock Nelson

C · New York Islanders

Two hundred and seventy-five goals in 840 games, thirty-four of them at 32, at 6-4.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau

C · New York Islanders

Twenty career shorthanded goals in 718 games, second in this edition behind Brad Marchand.

Kyle Palmieri

C · New York Islanders

Eight game-winning goals, 246 in a career, and 76 career power-play goals.

Adam Pelech

D · New York Islanders

One goal on 71 shots, a career plus-75, and 26 goals in 500 games.

Ryan Pulock

D · New York Islanders

A career plus-55 in 486 games, and fifty-eight of eighty-two.

Mike Reilly

D · New York Islanders

One hundred and four career assists against 18 goals, and a fourth-round pick's ninth season.

Alexander Romanov

D · New York Islanders

Plus-23 on a club that was outshot by all but seven others, and 2 per cent of his attempts from inside twenty feet.

Ilya Sorokin

G · New York Islanders

A career .9188 across 192 games, and thirteen goals of goaltending on the twenty-fifth shot share in hockey.

Semyon Varlamov

G · New York Islanders

Six hundred and eleven games, 286 wins, 41 shutouts, and a .9176 at 36.

Oliver Wahlstrom

RW · New York Islanders

Eleventh overall in 2018, and 67 points in 193 games across five seasons.

How they were used

2023-24 · 82 games

Measured from shift charts at five-on-five, not projected. Units are built from the strongest partnership outward and ordered by how much they were used; the percentage is the share of the first player’s five-on-five ice time spent alongside each linemate. A low number means the club never settled on a combination. Players who have gone are marked — either to another club, or off an NHL roster altogether, which covers retirement and an unsigned summer alike.