The 2024-25 NHL season starts Oct. 4. With training camps underway, NHL.com is taking a look at the three keys, the inside scoop on roster questions, and the projected lineup for each of the 32 teams. Today, the New York Islanders.
Coach: Patrick Roy (second season)
Last season: 39-27-16, third in Metropolitan Division; lost in Eastern Conference First Round
3 KEYS
1. Ilya Sorokin
Islanders coach Patrick Roy said Sept. 16 that Sorokin had offseason back surgery. General manager Lou Lamoriello said three days earlier it was a minor upper-body injury, he wasn't concerned, and the 29-year-old goalie has been skating. Sorokin is in the first season of an eight-year contract he signed July 1, 2023, after going 25-19-12 with an NHL career-high 3.01 goals-against average and career-low .909 save percentage in 56 games (55 starts). He must play better, the Islanders better in front of him and hope he's healthy. New York added goalies Marcus Hogberg (two-year contract) and Keith Kinkaid (professional tryout) on the depth chart behind Semyon Varlamov.
2. The Roy effect
Roy showed why he won the Jack Adams Award coaching the Colorado Avalanche in 2013-14 and is a two-time Memorial Cup champion with Quebec of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (2006, 2023). The Hockey Hall of Fame goalie replaced Lane Lambert on Jan. 20 and went 20-12-5 and 8-0-1 down the stretch to get the Islanders into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 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. With a full training camp ahead of him, next is guiding the Islanders past the opening round for the first time since 2021.
3. A better start
The Islanders began last season 5-6-5 and were 19-15-11 (2-6-2 in a 10-game stretch) when Lambert was fired and needed that late surge and the Philadelphia Flyers losing eight in a row (0-6-2) late in the season to make the playoffs. They signed forward Anthony Duclair (four-year contract, July 1) and Kontinental Hockey League forward Maxim Tsyplakov (one year, May 16) hoping to get out quicker and help an offense that averaged 2.99 goals per game (22nd).