why are people picking them to miss the playoffs

Équipe: 2023-24 Islanders de New York

Date de création initiale: 12 sept. 2023

Publié: 12 sept. 2023

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

I think many see Pittsburgh or Buffalo making the playoffs and pushing the Islanders out of the playoffs. I still think the Islanders make the playoffs. They made the playoffs with Barzal missing a significant part of the season and Pelech missing a good part of the season. They made the playoffs even though Horvat couldn't score. This is basically the same team as last year minus Josh Bailey and Zach Parise. They should make the playoffs. They have Ilya Sorokin who is one of the best (some could argue he is the best goalie) in the league. Sorokin could singlehandedly carry this team to the playoffs. The Islanders owned Pittsburgh last season, but they had diffculty beating Buffalo. I don't know why the Islanders allowed like 40 shots against Pittsburgh 3 times and won all 3 of those games. (They won the 4th game as well, but they were the ones with like 40 shots) I think Florida and Boston are more likely to fall out of the playoff race and the Islanders should stay as the 1 WC. I don't see Pittsburgh surpassing them although I do see the 2 WC (Pittsburgh imo) being higher than the 3rd in the Atlantic (Buffalo or Ottawa). They still feel like they are a 2nd round exit at best. If Barry Trotz was still HC I could see the Isles going on another run. They have to be able to score in the playoffs. If they play like the 2019 St. Louis Blues or the 2020 and 2021 versions of themselves then they can go far. However many of their forwards are 30 and older. The entire 4th line is old and not as effectively as it was in the 2020 and 2021 runs. Anders Lee didn't do anything in last seaosn's playoffs. He is 33. Brock Nelson will turn 32 in just over a month, but Nelson should be fine. Palmieri will be 33 by the time the playoffs roll around. He only played 55 games last season. However Pittsburgh is an even older team and most of the Rangers forwards are actually 30 and older (Laff, Kakko, and Chytil are the only forwards that are less than 30).