For six long weeks, the Islanders' plan was to wait for injured players to recover.
If they can keep the NHL around .500 on the fringes of the playoff race, the pending returns of Mathieu Barzal, Anthony Duclair, and Adam Pelech can certainly help them break through the middle of the Eastern Conference and make the postseason. I thought so.
One night, it seemed like there might be some credence to that theory when Duclair returned on Dec. 21 and played his best game of the season as the Islanders defeated the Maple Leafs 6-3.
That was one night.
Duclair has had one goal and two assists in five games since returning to action, and has had little impact on games.
Barzal has one goal (to an empty net) and two assists in seven games since his return, interspersing his usual skills in between the long stretches of time he hasn't been seen.
The Islanders are 2-5-0 in their last seven games with Pelech returning on the same day as Barzal, with their next game on Thursday against the Maple Leafs at UBS Arena.
The Islanders' playoff chances have been drastically diminished over the past month, and with the exception of Bo Horvat, none of the club's stars have played like stars, although there's a lot to blame for this.
At least Barzal and Duclair have an excuse to come back from injury, and it usually takes a few weeks of play for players to get back to full cardiovascular fitness. (Interestingly, this never factored into the whole idea that the Islanders just needed to get healthy).
Not so Ilya Sorokin, who was given a heavy workload along with Semyon Varlamov and is still struggling to cope with the pain. He has allowed three or more runs in all but one of his last seven starts, posting a save percentage of .853.
Coach Patrick Roy's Islanders net management deserves some scrutiny after Marcus Hogberg looked more than capable when he was finally given a chance to play in Pittsburgh on Sunday, but Sorokin He is the fourth highest paid active netminder in the league.
Brock Nelson — who played in three or more games and went scoreless for the first time since February 2014 — also lacks an excuse.
The best years of Nelson's career all came after he turned 30, and the Islanders did not entertain the idea of moving him at the last trade deadline, when he would have been sold at a high price.
There is plenty of speculation that he could be moved this year, and if the Islanders go in that direction, he would likely be the most valuable asset available.
However, if he can't get back to his game quickly, that could affect his potential trade return.
More directly, the Islanders need more from him than they're currently getting if they have any chance of getting their season back.
The same goes for Barzal, Duclair, and Sorokin.
Noah Dobson has rebounded somewhat from a slow start to the season, but his offensive performance has lagged compared to a year ago and the expected defensive zone growth has yet to consistently show, which puts him in this mix. You could also put it in.
In theory, the Islanders' depth chart should be good enough to make the playoffs, at least when they're healthy.
There was real reason to be excited about how much depth the forward group suddenly had this offseason with the additions of Duclair and Maxim Tsyplakov, and I think they can continue their good form once they finally get healthy. It wasn't a strange thing to think.
But for that to happen, the Islanders' star needs to be a star.
Otherwise, their problems will be much bigger than simply missing the 2025 playoffs.
