The Islanders' defense is slow, but it has been steady so far this season

Logan Stanley begged some forgiveness for stating the obvious.

“A guy like myself, not the fleetest of foot,” the 6-7 defenseman told Newsday. “I’m sure Pelly (Adam Pelech) wouldn’t be mad at me but we’re not the quickest guys. We’ve got to defend with our minds and our sticks and our reach.”

The Islanders’ defense and its ability to compensate for an overall lack of elite speed – No. 1 defenseman Matthew Schaefer obviously excluded – is a topic right now with the team in the midst of playing top NHL Stanley Cup contenders and dealing with injury issues that led it to sign veteran Ben Hutton to a professional tryout agreement.

A three-game homestand continues on Thursday against the Cup champion Hurricanes after Connor McDavid’s Oilers won 4-0 on Saturday. But the Islanders (7-5-2) concluded a 2-1-0 road trip with a solid 4-3 overtime win over the Wild, a top Western Conference contender, on Thursday.

Ryan Pulock (upper body) is out two to four weeks and Alexander Romanov (right knee) is likely out for the season. And in the lineup, Scott Mayfield, like Stanley and Pelech, is no barnburner.

But the defense, for the most part this season, has held.

Shoring up the team defense was an immediate point of emphasis for coach Pete DeBoer as he entered his first full season behind the Islanders’ bench.

“He’s just awesome at what he does in so many ways,” Schaefer told Newsday after Tuesday’s practice at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow that incorporated Hutton into the seven-man defense group for the first time. “The systems and the defense, he’s helped me so much and everyone on this team. It’s just fun listening to him. It’s so well spoken.”

The Islanders’ 2.71 goals per game allowed ranks fifth in the NHL and they ranked sixth in five-on-five goals allowed at 23, just three more than the league-leading Bruins.

NaturalStatTrick.com reported the Islanders’ expected goals against in all situations through 14 games was 42.98 compared to the 38 they’ve actually given up. Last season, the Islanders ranked sixth in allowing 2.88 goals per game – 236 over the 82-game season. But NaturalStatTrick.com calculated the Islanders’ expected goals against at 299.05 in all situations, meaning they were giving up too many chances but getting excellent goaltending from Ilya Sorokin, who finished second in the Vezina Trophy balloting.

This season’s analytics show the Islanders are pairing Sorokin’s play with a defensive structure that has done a good job keeping the traffic to the outside.

“We do semi-regular analytics meetings and, when you look at them, you can see a big improvement from where the group was last year on the things we’re trying to concentrate on,” DeBoer said. “It hasn’t necessarily translated into a lot more wins yet. But those are the foundation blocks that, if you keep them in place, eventually that will bear fruit.”

According to skating statistics kept by NHL Edge, the Islanders rank 23rd in the NHL with an average maximum skating speed of 22.97 mph. The league average at 23.25 mph.

So the Islanders’ veterans need to use their hockey IQ to anticipate the plays and properly position themselves to close gaps with attacking players and take away their time and space on the ice. Pelech’s stickwork is among the best in the NHL.

“I’ve actually watched Pelly a lot,” said Stanley, who signed as a free agent just prior to the season opener. “He’s such a good defender and I think a very underrated defenseman. So learning from him, learning his positioning, learning how he plays different situations. It’s closing other guys’ time and space fast. Not always with your feet but long sticks and getting in their face.”

The left-handed Pelech was paired with right-handed Tony DeAngelo at practice while the left-shooting Stanley continued to work with Schaefer, also a lefty who has mainly played on his off-side this season. Left-hander Matt Kessel and right-hander Scott Mayfield comprised the third pair with the left-shooting Hutton rotating in.

Hutton must sign a contract before being eligible to play but he can practice and travel while on the PTO. He had been skating at home in Ottawa, Ontario and wondering why his phone hadn’t rung after notching six goals and nine assists in 55 games for Vegas last season.

He is a strong skater who could provide depth in Pulock’s absence. The 33-year-old was a teammate of captain Bo Horvat with the Canucks and played for DeBoer in 2021-22 with Vegas and was a member of the Golden Knights’ Cup championship in 2023.

“He’s always been a straight shooter,” Hutton said of DeBoer. “His structure is great. He demands it of everyone from top to bottom of the lineup. We had a meeting this morning and I was smiling because he was saying, ‘Everyone pulling on the same rope, it’ll move quicker.’”

The Islanders are certainly not the NHL’s quickest. But they have been pulling on the same rope defensively.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

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.