Woeful Islanders Now Without Barzal and Pelech As Lackluster Season Continues To Unfold

The New York Islanders’ season started poorly, but things just got worse for them.

There's the injury to star center Mathew Barzal, who suffered an upper-body injury Wednesday against Columbus and is now on long-term injured reserve (LTIR). The Isles also lost defenseman Adam Pelech in their game Friday against Buffalo, and both Pelech and Barzal are sidelined for the next four to six weeks.

On top of that, defensemen Mike Reilly and Alexander Romanov didn’t play Sunday when the Islanders took on the New York Rangers. And the Isles were already without left winger Anthony Duclair. Things are looking rough on Long Island, and there’s no solution on the horizon that will give them the bump they need.

Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello has proven to be a crafty roster builder over the course of his Hockey Hall of Fame career, but nobody aside from master illusionist Criss Angel can address what currently ails the Islanders. They’re already the second-worst team in the NHL in terms of goals-for average, with just 2.25 goals-for per game. And the Isles are also already the second-worst team in the Metropolitan Division, just one standings point ahead of the eighth-place Philadelphia Flyers. It really can’t have gone much worse for the Islanders, and unless they can come up with some miracle tonic for what ails them, the Isles could be out of the playoff picture by the end of this month.

The Islanders’ schedule will be doing them no favors in the near future. Indeed, in their next 10 games, the Isles take on Pittsburgh, Ottawa, New Jersey, Edmonton, Vancouver, Seattle, Calgary, Detroit (twice) and St. Louis. Not many soft touches there.

The Isles’ defense – currently 19th in the league at 3.08 goals-against per game – isn't quite as poor as the offense but that can only do so much. They need to be much better with the puck, and there’s really no evidence they’re able to do that. Losing Barzal, their most dynamic performer on offense, is a crushing blow. But even when Barzal returns to action in December in the best-case scenario, there’s no guarantee the Islanders will be more effective on offense.

Lamoriello can’t go with half-measures to fix what’s wrong with his team. If any NHL team needs a blockbuster deal right now, it’s the Islanders. Perhaps it’s time to pull the trigger on a Brock Nelson trade, as Nelson is a UFA at this season’s end and he could get them a solid haul in a trade. The same goes for leading point-getter Kyle Palmieri, also a UFA following this season. Nelsen and Palmieri have limited no-trade clauses, but we can’t imagine either of them digging in their feet and demanding to remain on Long Island.

The writing is on the wall for this Islanders group, and at this point, Lamoriello ought to be focused on the long-term future of this team. Anything else is just lipstick on a pig, and Isles fans would understand if Lamoriello focused on a major rebuild. The alternative – trying desperately just to be on the fringes of the playoff race, nowhere close to Stanley Cup contention – is an abysmal idea and one that will bring much disappointment to the fan base.

All teams have to deal with injuries at one point or another each season, but the best teams have the depth to carry them through rough patches. The Isles aren’t one of those teams. They entered the season as a long shot to do major damage in the win/loss column, and everything we’ve seen from them thus far this year confirms how shallow their talent pool really is.

The next month-and-a-half will be a struggle for the Islanders until Barzal returns, but we’d argue the rest of the regular season will be just as difficult for them. Being without Barzal will create opportunities for other Isles players, but the most likely result for this lineup will be far more losses than wins.

It’s already ugly on Long Island, and it’s now almost assuredly going to be uglier. And as New York-area wrestling icon Paul Heyman is famous for saying, "That’s not a prediction, that’s a spoiler."

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