Andrew Gross: After shorter training camp and minor injuries, the Islanders begin a new season in Toronto
Islanders head coach Pete DeBoer talks to players during training camp at the Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow on Sept. 17. Credit: Newsday/Kendall Rodriguez
TORONTO – Ready or not, the Islanders’ regular season opens against the Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.
The empirical evidence would suggest it leans closer to the “not” than the “ready” with training camp shortened by a week and the preseason cut by two games. These are the new collective bargaining agreement guidelines now and all 32 teams must abide by them.
But the Islanders never played with their full NHL group in their four preseason games (1-3-0). In the game that came closest to Wednesday’s season-opening lineup but did not include Brayden Schenn and defensemen Matthew Schaefer and Tony DeAngelo, the Devils skated them out of UBS Arena, 4-1, on Saturday.
Plus Mathew Barzal (left knee) was not only absent from training camp and the season-opener, but also has yet to resume skating. General manager Mathieu Darche remains hopeful on the timeline for Barzal’s eventual return.
So, are the Islanders ready? Or not?
“What can’t be overstated is a new coaching staff, new systems with a shortened training camp,” coach Pete DeBoer, who was hired to replace Patrick Roy with four games remaining last season, said after Wednesday’s morning skate at Scotiabank Arena. “It’s really hard to implement everything you want to put in in such a short time. So I think the teams with new coaching staffs probably are paying the bill a little bit early here for that. We’re all in the same boat and we’ve got to make it work.”
The shortened training camp made it harder for players on the fringe of the roster to convince the brass they belong. Rookie wing Victor Eklund did so with the Islanders. Top organizational prospects Cole Eiserman and Kashawn Aitcheson came close, but Darche and DeBoer want to see them get more AHL seasoning. The same was true of defenseman Isaiah George, who, if he had another week, perhaps could have overcome a slow start to his training camp (and rookie camp).
“I don’t know if it impacted it,” Darche said of the shorter training camp with regards to the team’s readiness. “I’m sure the players like it. For us, the only unfortunate part of camp is we had little injuries – nothing major – that we never fielded a full roster at camp. When you have six games, you probably had more time to play around with it. Unfortunately, some of the younger guys, or two-way guys, not everybody got an opportunity. By Day 3 we were basically segregating the NHL group and the rest.”
DeBoer is preaching patience as the Islanders ease into the season with no back-to-backs until the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving and no trips out of the East until the last week of October.
And the players certainly believe they’re ready.
“Yeah, 100%,” said Schaefer, whose ability to replicate or surpass his sensational rookie season will go a long way toward determining the Islanders’ success. “When you come around this time of the year, you’re mentally ready. You feel good. I think we’re just as ready as last season, if not more ready.”
“I’m a fan of this quick preseason,” new captain Bo Horvat said. “We’ve done a lot of good stuff. We had a lot of practice time. We’re ready to go. In any other camp, you play two games and you want to get things started.”
As for that alarming performance in the preseason finale, Horvat said, “You throw it out.”
“We weren’t very good and needed to be better,” Horvat said. “But to have a fully healthy lineup going into Game 1. Obviously missing Barzy, that stinks but we’ve got a lot of good hockey players in here that have worked hard over the summer.”
Barzal, who traveled with the Islanders to Toronto, started the season on the injured non-roster list, meaning he’s eligible to return at any point.
He’s dealing with inflammation of the left knee stemming from the surgery to his kneecap in the 2024-25 season, which caused him to miss the final 31 games.
Barzal played 81 games last season and the only game he missed was for disciplinary reasons. But there were practices or morning skates he would take off to manage his knee.
The knee did not pass muster heading into training camp, and the Islanders said he would not skate for two weeks, a period which led exactly to Wednesday’s opener.
“The last week he’s had really, really good progress,” Darche said before Wednesday’s opener. “We hope maybe by the weekend or early next week at the earliest, he gets back on the ice. We’ll see how things progress this week. Mat Barzal is not a guy that needs three weeks to get ready. You give him a few practices and he’ll be good to go.”
So, ready or not? The Islanders say they’re ready.
They have to prove that.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
