Islanders Confident in Team for Stretch Run

It was a frantic February around the NHL, as over 60 trades were made ahead of this year's trade deadline.
The New York Islanders were involved in two of those deals, effectively kicking off the frenzy with the Bo Horvat
acquisition on Jan. 30
, as well as acquiring Pierre Engvall
on Feb. 28
. While the rest of the league went pencils down on Friday at 3 p.m., the Islanders had already done their homework, written the test and handed it in.

"What we were able to do was satisfy some of our needs for today and tomorrow," Islanders President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Lou Lamoriello told Shannon Hogan in an interview on MSG. "We're pleased. Now we just have to play."

With the Islanders fighting for a wild card berth, Lamoriello was a buyer at the deadline, reinforcing his team rather than selling off pieces. The Islanders acquired Horvat for forward Anthony Beauvillier, prospect Aatu Raty and a conditional 2023 first-round pick on Jan. 30. They sent a third-round pick in 2024 to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Engvall to shore up their forward depth.
"We know what we can do," captain Anders Lee said. "I'm not surprised that we've had that support from Lou and the staff and their belief in us and because it's no different than the belief in the room."
The Islanders (72 points) hold the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, but only four points separate six teams all in the hunt. While Detroit (65 points) and Washington (68 points) were considered sellers at the deadline, the Islanders kept all three of their pending unrestricted free agents, goalie Semyon Varlamov, defenseman Scott Mayfield and winger Zach Parise.
"As an athlete you'll always take the GM that adds over the one that subtracts," Matt Martin said. "We want an opportunity to win and playing meaningless hockey down the stretch isn't any fun, as we learned last year, so he's given us a chance to go there and find our way into the dance."
Horvat has already played a large role for the Islanders since joining the team post All-Star Break. Horvat has eight points (5G, 3A) in 13 games (the Isles are 7-3-3 over that span) and is averaging 21:16 TOI/GP, the most of any forward on the team and second-most overall behind Adam Pelech.

"He's just so solid," Anders Lee said of Horvat. "He doesn't make mistakes out there. He's constantly in the right spot, positionally. He's great on draws, he can kill [penalties] and helps obviously on the power play. He can score from anywhere, so just a really special player and one that's absolutely improved our team."
Already one of the best and most prolific face-off takers in the league, Horvat's face-off acumen has come in especially handy with centers Mathew Barzal and Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Horvat has taken a team-high 246 faceoffs since joining the team, 10th overall in the league and 38.4% of the Islanders total draws. He's won 57.3% of them.
"[Pageau] is not an easy guy to replace in the dot," Lee said. "When Pageau is back, having a lefty and a righty that are that strong circle pays a lot of dividends."
Engvall made his Islanders debut in Saturday's 4-1 win over Detroit, skating 17:26 with five shot attempts (two on net, one blocked and two missed). Engvall's versatility was his calling when Lamoriello acquired him and that was showcased on Saturday, as he skated with Lee and Horvat in Barzal's spot and saw a minute on the penalty kill.

"I like him a lot," Head Coach Lane Lambert said after Engvall's debut. "He obviously showed his speed… There are little things that I liked that he did just in terms of his thought process in certain areas."
With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, the Islanders are confident that both of their recent additions, as well as an experienced group, for a strong playoff push over the final 17 games of the season.
"Inside this room, we're confident each other we're confident in this group and it's nice to kind of reinforce that with the moves that were made," said Kyle Palmieri, who himself was a trade deadline pickup in 2021. "We're excited. Obviously we're going to be in a fight for it until the end."