Mar 22, 2026; Elmont, New York, USA; New York Islanders center Bo Horvat (14) celebrates his goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets with teammates during the first period at UBS Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
There’s been quite a bit of change within the New York Islanders’ ranks heading into the 2026-2027 season.
Anders Lee is in Utah, Bo Horvat is the new captain, and Pete DeBoer is the head coach. All of this, alongside a loaded Metropolitan division and an early-season injury to Matt Barzal, means there are a lot of things in question for the Isles.
The odds seem stacked against New York heading into the season. Moneypuck gives them the lowest odds to make the Eastern Conference playoffs at just 22.6%; on paper, this seems low for a team that was playing meaningful hockey until the final week of the season last year, but the Islanders had a lot of issues under the hood last season, issues that were masked by Vezina Trophy-caliber goaltending from Ilya Sorokin and Matthew Schaefer’s historic rookie campaign. The Isles tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for the fifth-best goals-against average in the NHL with 2.88, per Moneypuck, but their expected goals against was 3.36. Sorokin’s otherworldly performance kept the puck out of the net to the tune of taking half a goal per game off the board. When Sorokin even slightly faltered, the Isles bottomed out, and it looks like the 31-year-old Russian netminder will need to put together another superhuman effort to get New York back into playoff contention.
Schaefer was one of four players to be named an alternate captain; he joined former St. Louis Blues captain Brayden Schenn, Ryan Pulock and Kyle Palmieri. Schaeffer is heading into the season with the kid gloves off; the entire league now knows how good he is and has had a full offseason to figure out how to neutralize him. Schaefer, who is coming off a 59-point rookie campaign, has been practicing on the right side of the defense during training camp. He’s projected to start the season with Adam Pelech on his left; pairing Schaefer with a stay-at-home defenseman such as Pelech could allow Schaefer to become even more dominant offensively.
Logan Stanley has been added to the mix on the blue line. He played eight games for the Buffalo Sabres in last year’s postseason after being acquired in a trade with the Winnipeg Jets. Stanley stands at an imposing 6-foot-7 height and 231 pounds, and — for now at least is in the way of Isaiah George and Kashawn Aitcheson playing for in the NHL. Stanley is on this team for one reason: to be an enforcer. He’s fought 24 times in his career and dishes out over a hit per game. Despite being a last-minute addition, Stanley has likely bumped Scott Mayfield out of the opening night lineup.
Matias Maccelli is the big forward addition for the Isles, the 25 year old winger struggled at times last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, only putting up 39 points, but put up 57 with the Arizona Coyotes in the 2023-24 campaign. He’s currently projected to be on the second line with Schenn and Cal Ritchie, but Barzal’s return could throw a wrench into that line.
The Islanders have been projected towards the Eastern Conference’s basement both by several publications and analytical models, but the high-end talent is there. Deboer has a reputation for raising the floor of the teams he has coached; that bump, continued development from Schaefer, Ritchie, and Victor Eklund, continued strong play from Sorokin, and the rest of the big boys playing as advertised could very well make the Islanders one of the NHL’s surprises in 2026.
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