Robert Sabo for NY Post
The New York Islanders come into the 2024-25 season with familiar expectations.
The Isles are projected to fight for a playoff spot, but nobody is backing them to challenge for the Metropolitan Division title, nor are there many punters picking them to completely flame out. Whether you agree or not, the hockey world expects more of the same from the Islanders this season.
On one hand, it’s hard to blame the masses for pegging the Isles for a point total in the low-to-mid 90’s.
Last season, the Islanders finished on 94 points and were bounced by the Carolina Hurricanes in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The previous campaign saw them land on 93 and lose to those same Hurricanes in the first round.
But on the other hand, there are some subtle signals that suggest the Islanders may be flying under the radar a bit going into the new season.
And if you’re bullish that the Isles have a good chance to beat expectations, there is one bet you should seriously consider: Patrick Roy to win the Jack Adams Trophy at 30/1 at FanDuel.
There’s usually a pattern that you want to follow when you bet the Coach of the Year market in any sport. Voters are usually members of the media (the broadcasters vote on the Jack Adams) and will naturally lean toward the best story, which normally is the coach of the team that overachieves the most.
For Roy to win this award, he’d likely need the Islanders to, at the very least, clear 100 points and perhaps challenge for the Metropolitan Division. They’re +220 to do the former and +900 to do the latter.
While Roy is not a lock to win the Jack Adams even if the Isles accomplish both of those milestones, he’d certainly be among of the favorites to win the award — especially if they win the division — so you may as well take a shot on Roy if you’re looking to back the Islanders to have a big season.
Of course none of this will matter if the Isles struggle to even make the playoffs, but that would be pretty surprising considering how much they improved when Roy took over for Lane Lambert last January.
The Isles went 20-12-5 under Roy and went from a playoff longshot to a wild-card team on short notice, but the most impressive part of the improvement was on defense where the Islanders went from being one of the leakiest units in the NHL to one of the more stingy teams.
Should that defensive improvement stick in 2024-25, the Isles should be a real player in the Eastern Conference. It should also go a long way in helping Ilya Sorokin bounce back from a down season (by his standards, at least).
If the Islanders are defensively sound, it would also take some pressure off an offense that has been searching for consistency for a number of years. Mat Barzal, Bo Horvat, Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri give the Isles a good foundation up front, but the team has been crying out for some down-the-lineup offense for a few years.
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Lou Lamoriello addressed that issue by signing Anthony Duclair and Maxim Tsyplakov in the offseason. Those two, along with bounce-back seasons from Anders Lee and Pierre Engvall, should provide the Isles with a more balanced attack.
And finally, there is a case to be made that Isles should improve from some positive regression and better fortune in 2024-25. They dealt with a rash of injuries to their blueline last season (Scott Mayfield, Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech all missed at least 24 games) and had the worst penalty kill in the NHL.
With better injury luck and an improved PK, the Isles should be able to add a few points to their total from 2023-24 right there.
There’s plenty that needs to go right for the Islanders to rattle the cages in the Metropolitan Division, but they already have a strong foundation in place and now just need to hope that they can improve on the margins to start moving up the standings.
And should they do that, their head coach — already a media darling — will get the credit.
Why Trust New York Post Betting
Michael Leboff handicaps the EPL, NHL, golf and anything else that isn’t the NFL and NBA for the NY Post. He’s up 49.73 units betting EPL with a 7.17% ROI.