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ST. LOUIS — Here is why, despite an underwhelming 1-1-1 record, I would be feeling pretty good about the way things are going if I were Patrick Roy or Lou Lamoriello.
Three of the biggest question marks about the Islanders when they reported to camp a month ago — that is, how Anthony Duclair and Max Tsyplakov would fit and how Ilya Sorokin would respond after the combination of offseason back surgery and a bad end to last season — have been answered affirmatively in the first three games of the season.
Issues have popped up over the first 180 minutes of hockey, particularly an apparent disconnect between the forwards and defensemen that was an issue in both of the Islanders’ losses. But that is something that, at least in theory, shouldn’t be too difficult to fix, and indeed looked improved in Colorado on Monday night.
Had Duclair failed to click with the top line, had Tsyplakov proven unready for the NHL or had Sorokin looked like damaged goods, none of those problems would have looked like quick fixes. The Islanders would have been saddled with them for the foreseeable future, and excepting Tsyplakov, who is on a one-year deal, these are players in whom they have invested considerable years and dollars.