Inside look at New York Islanders

NHL.com is providing in-depth roster, prospect and fantasy analysis for each of its 32 teams from Aug. 1-Sept. 1. Today, the New York Islanders.

The New York Islanders have retooled for another run at the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Anthony Duclair (four-year contract, July 1) and Kontinental Hockey League forward Maxim Tsyplakov (one year, May 16) were signed to help an offense that last season averaged 2.99 goals per game (22nd in the NHL) and scored 12 in a five-game loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference First Round. Three 30-goal scorers (Brock Nelson, 34; Bo Horvat, 33; Kyle Palmieri, 30) and captain Anders Lee are among key holdovers for Patrick Roy, who will run his first full training camp as Islanders coach.

The narrative of being good enough to lose the opening round must change. They know it.

"Obviously the playoffs are the biggest manager of what your success is, and that's what we're pushing for," assistant general manager Chris Lamoriello said. "The focus of what we did is to really stabilize what Patrick started to introduce, what pushed us into the playoffs on that run at the end of the year and really grow from there.

"We've been fortunate to have some long runs in the past. We want to get back to that. That's the goal.”

Roy replaced Lane Lambert on Jan. 20, when New York was 19-15-11, mired in a 2-6-2 slump over 10 games and 5-8-4 in nearly a one-month stretch. The Islanders lost six in a row (0-5-1) from March 11-21, and needed an 8-0-1 surge to clinch the No. 3 seed in the Metropolitan Division. New York allowed 2.89 goals per game after Roy was hired, down from 3.36, and 1.89 during the nine-game push to the postseason.

Roy is the first coach to join the Islanders midseason and qualify for the playoffs, another feather for the Hockey Hall of Fame goalie voted winner of the 2014 Jack Adams Award after guiding the Colorado Avalanche to 52 wins and 112 points in his first season as an NHL coach and a two-time Memorial Cup winner with Quebec of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (2006, 2023).

Unlocking what it takes for a long playoff run elusive since New York was on the doorstep of the Stanley Cup Final in 2020 and 2021 is the next challenge.

"He's straightforward and honest, and he believes in our group," Lee said. "The energy that he brings on top of the great knowledge that he has from not only his career, but his coaching career as well."

That helped sell Duclair on joining his eighth different team in 10 seasons. He's projected for left wing on the first line with Horvat and Mathew Barzal after averaging 27.5 goals over his two previous full seasons, including an NHL career-high 31 for the Florida Panthers in 2021-22. He's reunited with his junior coach and could lift the Islanders at 5-on-5 and the 19th-ranked power play (20.4 percent) that went 3-for-11 (27.3 percent) in the playoffs.

Duclair had 116 points (51 goals, 65 assists) in 118 games for Quebec from 2011-13, and 50 goals and 99 points the season Roy left for Colorado.

"When your coach calls you and tells you [that] he wants you on his team, it's hard to say no, especially when it's someone that you have a tremendous amount of respect for," Duclair said July 2.

Tsyplakov, who turns 26 on Sept. 19, set KHL career highs in goals (31), assists (16) and points (47) for Spartak Moscow last season and could start his first NHL training camp skating alongside Nelson and Palmieri. Barzal, converted from center to wing, had 80 points (23 goals, 57 assists) in 80 games. Noah Dobson (70 points; 10 goals, 60 assists) leads a defense expected to play better in front of goalies Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov. Ryan Pulock, Adam Pelech and Scott Mayfield are healthy, the latter returning from surgery for a lower-body injury that limited him to 41 games (none after Feb. 22).

There will be competition for roles among the bottom-six forwards with "Identity Line" pillars Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck each an unrestricted free agent.

But the core remains intact, potential upgrades are in place and Roy is entrenched as the guy in charge.

"It started this offseason," Lee said. "Our group has not finished where we would like to finish. We have an opportunity to get into camp, get to our game and find some of our better hockey earlier on. If we can avoid putting ourselves in a position where we're having to go 8-0-1 or whatever it was to get in, we can build our game to the next level throughout the regular season."