For quite some time, islanders have relied on their culture.
This is a veteran team, they’ve won a playoff series, and they know what it takes.
So it came as a pretty big surprise Wednesday when the Islanders went bag skating after a physically demanding practice and their head coach spent most of his subsequent press conference talking about his efforts to improve the team’s competitive level. Ta.
Patrick Roy has been at the club for less than a month. And he certainly sounded like someone on Wednesday who was ready to challenge the self-image he’d held for so long.
This is a team still trying to make the playoffs, but if Roy is changing something as fundamental as the culture, it’s hard to imagine that process ending by the time the playoffs begin.
“I was very pleased [with practice] I don’t like this either,” Roy said. “But unfortunately, sometimes you have to do that. I just follow what I’ve learned from the past, years where I had a chance to win, and I felt like it was a good moment.
“Sometimes we don’t use the word ‘satisfied’ because we don’t have enough English vocabulary. But it may be okay to say that, but sometimes we feel like we forget these things. I think that’s a big part of this game. How you participate in these battles and how you compete in all areas. I feel like that’s the big difference between winning and losing. I can’t express it in numbers. There are things we don’t have, and one of them is the level of competition.”
Now, four days of no games between Tuesday’s loss to Seattle and Sunday’s outdoor game against the Rangers gave the Islanders the opportunity to practice like this.
And unless something changes overnight, the goal is still to win. It would be a complete shock to see the Isles sold at the trade deadline. Especially when the team has just a few weeks left before it’s back in the driver’s seat for a playoff berth. Things can change quickly.
That’s all important to say. But it’s still pretty amazing to hear the Islanders talk like that and have a February training camp-like practice on Wednesday.
Roy isn’t shouting words like “country club” or “effort.” But he wasn’t exactly hard to read between the lines during practice, nor was he when asked if he was trying to re-establish the culture.
“When I say this, I think you can understand where we’re going,” Roy said. “That’s the culture we want. We want a team that works hard. Maybe in the ’80s when we won the Stanley Cup, they work harder than other teams and try to outdo them.” I’m sure they had a mindset. Every time they worked.
“That’s what I told my players. Every time we put our skates on the ice, we’re going to work hard. We’re going to be ready to win no matter who we play. That’s the culture. That’s the DNA we’re going to have as a team.”
The Islanders are pretty used to Roy’s system. Tuesday’s loss aside, they looked like a much more convincing hockey team than they have under coach Lane Lambert. They know what they want to be and that’s some kind of progress.
What hasn’t changed is the night-to-night inconsistency that has largely made the Islanders a team that is less than the sum of its parts.
After just over three weeks in office, Roy appears to be focusing on why.
“It’s just a matter of mindset,” Scott Mayfield told the Post. “You just have to do it. You hear it all the time, the season is long. But the way we’re built, the way our team is, we definitely have to bring it every night. But I can tell you that everyone in this room has no game. We all look in the mirror. We’ve got to find our inner grit, our inner drive to go out and compete. No need.”
How close are the Islanders to where they need to be from a cultural standpoint?
“Time will tell,” Roy said. “This is a good group. It’s a group we want to work hard at. Sometimes we’re faster than others, but we’ve never set a timeline on this. It’s a day-to-day thing that builds it.
“It’s not just about saying, ‘Oh, I want to go there today.’ No, it’s who you are and what you do about this every day. And I think that’s what we’ve been doing. Well, I love that because our practices are intense and we work hard. And I love it when that happens. And the players have been very supportive of that. ”
As for that outdoor practice…
If Thursday’s session counts as practice, Roy said the Isles will be practicing every day from now until Sunday.
But it looks like Roy will treat it for what it really is: a league-mandated photo shoot.
Roy called Wednesday “distracting.” “…We’re not practicing tomorrow. Practice is going to be 10 to 15 minutes, but let’s give them time to see what they need to see and focus on Sunday’s game.”
Want to catch a game? The Islanders schedule and links to purchase tickets can be found here.
food for thought
— Jordan Eberle, a name that should have been included in last week’s newsletter about potential trade targets. This doesn’t appear to be for salary reasons, as Eberle has a $5.5 million cap hit. But as a former Islander and close friend of Matt Barzal (who would likely be on the front line if reacquired), you have to assume that the idea has at least passed through Lou Lamoriello’s head.
— Since the return of Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock, they have been a top pairing, at least in terms of how the Islanders compete. So far, with a combined 79:11, Perek and Pulock account for an expected goals rate of 43.99, creating dangerous chances with a 5-9 margin. Per Natural Stats Trick.
— The Islanders earned 57 points through their first 53 games (26-22-5) last season and entered the playoffs with 93 points. Both teams have been on exactly the same point pace through 53 games this season (22 wins, 18 losses, 13 draws), but it seems unlikely they will qualify for the tournament with 93 points. Toronto, Detroit, New Jersey and Philadelphia are ahead of the Islanders in 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings.
