An 18-year-old tied the NHL record for goals by a rookie defenceman. Ilya Sorokin recorded seven shutouts, the most in the league. The team went undefeated in overtime. On March 28 they were second in the Metropolitan Division. Then the power play went cold, the stretch collapsed, Patrick Roy was fired with nine days remaining, and the New York Islanders missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season.
By Mike Holloway · May 2026 · 2025-26 Season Review Series · Entry #19 of 32
Phase 1 · Oct-Dec: Genuine Contender
Schaefer producing from the blue line, Sorokin dominant, Barzal healthy after a lost 2024-25. For the first time in years, the building felt different.
Phase 2 · Jan-Mar 28: 2nd in the Metro
One point ahead of Pittsburgh with two weeks left. Playoff spot in hand. Sorokin leading the league in shutouts. Schaefer chasing a record.
Phase 3 · Late March-April: Collapse
The power play went cold at the worst possible moment. Stretch losses piled up. Out of the playoff picture before they realised they were out of it.
Apr 5 · Roy Fired, DeBoer In
Patrick Roy let go with nine days remaining. Peter DeBoer took over, handed Victor Eklund his NHL debut, and lost the finale 2-1 to the eventual Stanley Cup champions.
On March 28, 2026, the New York Islanders were second in the Metropolitan Division. One point ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins. In a playoff spot with fewer than two weeks remaining in the regular season. Sorokin had seven shutouts, the most by any goaltender in the NHL this year. Matthew Schaefer, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 draft who had turned 18 in the offseason, had tied the NHL record for goals by a rookie defenceman with 23. The team was 10-0 in overtime, undefeated in every game that reached extra time. The franchise that had missed the playoffs in each of the prior two seasons was right there, with the games to close it. Then the games didn't go the right way. Then Patrick Roy was fired on April 5 with nine days left in the season. Then Peter DeBoer presided over the final stretch, including the season finale against the Carolina Hurricanes - the eventual Stanley Cup champions - a 2-1 loss that ended the Islanders' campaign and their third consecutive season without the playoffs.
The circumstances of the miss are different from the prior two years. A nine-point improvement from last season's 82 points to this season's 91 is meaningful. A rookie defenceman tying the NHL historical record for his position at 18 years old is meaningful. Sorokin leading the league in shutouts on a team that misses the playoffs is remarkable in exactly the way that rewards attention. The franchise is better than it was. It is not yet good enough. And the power play - ranked 30th in the league at 16.7%, up from 31st at 12.6% the prior year - is still the specific structural problem that has not been fixed for three consecutive seasons, and which the coaching and front office have been unable to solve despite identifying it publicly every single offseason.
Twenty-three goals ties the NHL record for goals by a rookie defenceman, a historical mark that has stood for decades. Schaefer did it at 18 years old, in his first NHL season, on a non-playoff team that finished with 91 points. His +13 led the entire Islanders roster. His eight power-play goals led the team alongside Anders Lee's seven, on a power play that ranked 30th in the NHL, which gives some context for how much Schaefer was generating from the blue line on limited opportunities.
He made clear before the season that his goal was to play for the Islanders rather than return to Erie in the OHL. He delivered on that confidence completely. The Islanders have not had a blue-liner this individually impactful since Noah Dobson's prime, and Schaefer at 18 suggests a higher ceiling than anything Dobson projected at the same age.
31st in 2023-24. 31st in 2024-25. 30th in 2025-26. The Power Play Has Been Identified Every Offseason. It Has Not Been Fixed in Three Years.
The Islanders ranked 31st in the NHL on the power play in 2023-24 (12.6%). They ranked 31st again in 2024-25 (12.6%). They ranked 30th in 2025-26 (16.7%) - a meaningful improvement in percentage but still near-dead-last in the league. Before the season, they selected Matthew Schaefer specifically as a power-play quarterback from the blue line. He delivered: his eight power-play goals were the most on the team. And still: 30th.
The power play is worth approximately 10-15 standings points over a full season compared to a league-average unit. A team that converts at 16.7% instead of the league average of 22% concedes roughly 20-25 power-play goals against that average over the course of a season. That gap is the difference between 91 points and a playoff appearance. It has been this gap, in this specific area, for three consecutive years. Every preseason discussion mentions it. Every postseason analysis confirms it.
The most direct explanation: Dobson was traded. Dobson had 109 points in his prior two seasons as an offensive defenceman and was the team's primary power-play point source. Schaefer, in his first NHL season, produced less from the same position. In 2026-27, Schaefer at 19 with a full season of NHL adjustment behind him is the legitimate answer to the power play question - if DeBoer deploys him correctly and gives him the minutes and personnel to produce. The waiting is over. The solution is on the roster.
Ilya Sorokin led the NHL in shutouts with seven. He won 29 games. He posted a 2.68 GAA on a team that finished sixth in the Metropolitan Division and missed the playoffs. "We still have the best goalie in the world," Mathew Barzal said on cleanout day. The statement is not hyperbolic for the purpose of making a bad situation feel better - it is a factual claim that the evidence of the 2025-26 season supports. A goaltender who posts seven shutouts and a 2.68 GAA on a team with a 30th-ranked power play, no Noah Dobson, and a backup tandem that missed Varlamov entirely is performing above the standard that his team's results suggest.
Semyon Varlamov missed the entire 2025-26 season with a knee injury. The veteran netminder who had been Sorokin's long-term backup hasn't played NHL hockey since November 2024. David Rittich filled the backup role: 14-10-3, 2.76 GAA, .894 save percentage. Adequate. Not the Varlamov standard. Sorokin carried a heavier workload than any prior season with less rest-game quality behind him. He responded with the best shutout total in the league. He is the reason this team competed for a playoff spot in March and not something lower. He deserves to play for a team that makes the playoffs. He has not done so since 2023-24.
Patrick Roy was fired on April 5, 2026, with nine regular-season days remaining. The Islanders were already eliminated from playoff contention. DeBoer, who had been hired to succeed Roy and was conducting preparation work before officially beginning his tenure, took over for the final stretch. The Roy firing concludes a coaching tenure that included a mid-season takeover in January 2024, a playoff appearance in 2023-24 (eliminated in the first round), and two consecutive missed playoffs in 2024-25 and 2025-26. His 2025-26 team improved nine points from the prior year and finished second in the Metropolitan Division in late March. The nature of the firing - with nine days left and the season already over in terms of postseason implications - reads as ownership making a decision they had reached some time prior to April 5 and waiting only for the appropriate moment.
Peter DeBoer was praised immediately for his work in the final days of the season. In the season finale against Carolina, he chose to give Victor Eklund - the 16th overall pick in the 2025 draft - his NHL debut. Eklund recorded an assist, making a beautiful seam pass to Barzal who found Bo Horvat for a goal. DeBoer, who coached Logan Stankoven in Dallas and has praised Eklund's ceiling in Stankoven-like terms, begins his Islanders tenure with a young core that includes Schaefer, Eklund, Cal Ritchie, and whoever the 2026 draft adds. The franchise is changing coaches while being deliberately designed around youth. The combination of DeBoer's system experience and the roster's developmental arc is the most coherent case for optimism the franchise has made in several years.
“We're pissed off in this room. We really feel it this year. So if there's any positive it's that you can tell that we care in this room.”
— Mathew Barzal, on cleanout day, April 15, 2026
2025-26 Individual Season Grades
29W · 7 shutouts (NHL lead) · 2.68 GAA · the franchise's most important individual
Seven shutouts is the most by any goaltender in the NHL this season. Twenty-nine wins on a team that missed the playoffs. A 2.68 GAA despite a 30th-ranked power play creating constant defensive pressure situations and a backup tandem operating without Varlamov all year. Barzal called him "the best goalie in the world." The evidence of 2025-26 supports that claim more than it challenges it. He is the reason the Islanders were competitive. He deserves a playoff team. The franchise's most urgent off-ice priority is building one around him before his window of elite performance closes.
23G · +13 (team leader) · 8 PPG · tied NHL rookie D goals record · 18 years old
The franchise's most important long-term development and its most encouraging individual result of the entire 2025-26 season. An 18-year-old tying a historical record in his first NHL campaign while leading the team in plus-minus and generating the most power-play goals of any defenceman on the roster is exactly what a first-overall pick is supposed to do and almost never actually does in Year 1. He is the power-play solution the team has been missing for three years. He is also the future of the franchise's blue line. Both things are already true at 18 years old.
72 pts (19G-53A) · led team in assists and points · healthy bounce-back from injury-limited 2024-25
After missing most of 2024-25 (30 games, none after February 1), Barzal played a full season and led the team in assists (53) and points (72). His 53 assists are the creative engine that makes every other forward on the roster function better than they would without him. His distribution - Horvat's line benefited most - was the most important individual playmaking contribution on the roster. He is 28, in his prime, and on a team that now has legitimate structural reasons to expect improvement. His offensive production should be higher in 2026-27 if the power play functions.
31G · 57 pts · career 300th goal · 10-0 OT record · consistent two-way centre
Horvat's 300th career goal, scored in his 881st game, arrived in the season finale in a 2-1 loss to Carolina. The milestone added a thin positive note to a disappointing day. His 31 goals were his fourth time reaching 30 in five seasons. His 57 points matched his total from 81 games the prior year, achieved in 68 appearances this season. He is exactly the player the franchise signed him to be: reliable, defensively responsible, above-average offensively, and the kind of leadership the team needs in its middle years. He was also +8 on a team where the next-best plus-minus was Schaefer's +13.
20+ goals for the first time · development milestone arrived
Heineman surpassed 20 goals for the first time in his NHL career, the development threshold that distinguishes a role player from a sustainable middle-six contributor. His arrival at that milestone gives the Islanders a depth forward who can be relied on for double-digit goals in subsequent seasons. He is not a star. He is exactly the kind of player a team building toward playoff contention needs to develop internally.
Established himself as a regular NHLer · key development milestone for an unguaranteed prospect
Ritchie came into training camp with a question mark about whether he had earned a full-time NHL role. By the end of the season, that question was answered. He established himself as a regular contributor, exactly the kind of prospect development that rebuilding teams need to see from their secondary pipeline when the top picks are as young as Schaefer. His established presence in 2026-27 frees the franchise to focus draft resources on further blue-line development rather than needing a centre.
9-point improvement · 2nd in Metro on March 28 · fired with 9 days left · same power play problem
His team improved nine points from the prior year. His team was second in the Metropolitan Division with two weeks left. His team also had the 30th-ranked power play for the third consecutive season under his watch, a specific, identified, unfixed problem that recurred across three separate offseasons. The power play failure is the most direct route to explaining both why the team missed the playoffs and why the organisation ultimately decided it was time for a change. DeBoer was already identified and prepared before the firing, suggesting the timing was the only question, not the decision.
| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | PTS | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathew Barzal | C | ~78 | 19 | 53 | 72 | Led team pts and assists · healthy bounce-back |
| Bo Horvat | C | 68 | 31 | 26 | 57 | 300th career goal · 4th 30+ goal season in 5 years |
| Matthew Schaefer | D | ~80 | 23 | - | - | Tied NHL rookie D goals record · +13 team leader |
| Anders Lee | LW | - | - | - | - | 7 PPG (tied 2nd) · captain |
| Emil Heineman | LW | - | 20+ | - | - | First 20-goal season · development milestone |
| Ilya Sorokin | G | ~60 | - | - | 29W | 7 shutouts (NHL lead) · 2.68 GAA · "best goalie in the world" |
| David Rittich | G | ~28 | - | - | 14W | 2.76 GAA · adequate backup · Varlamov out all year |
| Victor Eklund | F | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | NHL debut · seam pass to Barzal/Horvat · DeBoer praised "Stankoven-like" |
Schaefer at 19 - The Power Play Answer Arrives
Three years of dead-last power play. One solution: give Schaefer, now a year older with a full NHL season behind him, the primary power-play role from day one of camp. He produced 8 PPG in a 30th-ranked unit as an 18-year-old rookie. At 19 with better personnel around him and a coach who deploys him with full confidence, the power play transforms from the franchise's biggest weakness into a competitive unit.
The Youth Core
Schaefer at 18 tied a historical record. Eklund at 19 debuted with a point and drew immediate Stankoven comparisons from the new coach. Ritchie established himself as a regular. Heineman hit 20 goals. The franchise is developing internally at a pace Lou Lamoriello's prior conservative approach had not produced. Darche's first offseason adds to this core rather than trading it away.
The 10-0 Overtime Record - Unsustainable but Diagnostic
Ten-and-zero in overtime is a small-sample achievement that regresses to the mean in 2026-27. What produced it - competitive structure, goaltending that wins tight games, a team that doesn't quit at regulation - is sustainable. DeBoer inherits a team whose identity in close games is defined by resilience. He coaches specifically to that identity.
Fix the Power Play - Three Years Is Enough
DeBoer's first priority is not debatable. The unit that has ranked 30th or 31st for three consecutive seasons must improve. It will improve if Schaefer gets the right deployment. It will also improve if Darche acquires one dangerous forward who generates power-play opportunities from in tight. The unit that was 30th had only four players with more than 10 PP points.
Varlamov Returns
Varlamov returned to AHL conditioning sessions before the season ended. His knee is progressing. A healthy Varlamov backing up Sorokin gives the franchise the goaltending tandem Sorokin's workload requires - genuine rest games that keep his performance level high across 82 regular-season games and into a deep playoff run. Rittich was adequate. Varlamov is better.
Barzal's Prime Is Now
Barzal at 28 with a full healthy season (72 points, 53 assists) is in the middle of his prime. Every year missing the playoffs is a year of his best hockey producing nothing beyond regular-season statistics. Sorokin is 30. Barzal is 28. Horvat is 30. The window when all three are peak or near-peak is not infinite. Darche's most important summer mandate is building the power play and defensive depth that converts these three into a playoff team.
The season ended on a 2-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, the team that would go on to win the Stanley Cup eleven weeks later. Victor Eklund assisted on the Islanders' only goal in that game. DeBoer praised him afterward, drew the Stankoven comparison, and talked about what the franchise's young core can become. It was the most honest encapsulation of where the Islanders stand: losing in their final game to the eventual champions, but losing it with the future getting his first NHL point and the future's coach giving him the opportunity. There are building blocks. The tide, as Barzal said, is still rising. Three more seasons of this specific frustration is not an option the roster, the goaltender, or the new coaching staff will tolerate.
The tide is rising. It needs to crest.
Schaefer tied a record. Sorokin led the league. 10-0 in overtime. Second in the Metro in March. Third consecutive missed playoff. Same power play. Roy fired. DeBoer in. The C+ is the most honest grade for the most genuinely transitional season in this review. Nine points better than the prior year. A historically excellent rookie performance from Schaefer. Sorokin doing things that goalies on playoff teams do. A 10-0 overtime record that reflects genuine competitive identity.
It is also three consecutive missed playoffs. The same power play ranked 30th for the third time in three years. A coaching change with nine days left in the season. A team that was second in the division on March 28 and couldn't hold it. The same ending.
The difference between this missed playoff and the prior two is Schaefer. At 18, tying a historical record, leading the team in plus-minus, generating power-play production from the blue line, he is the power-play solution the franchise has been missing and failed to find for three years. He was there the whole time. He just needed to be 18. At 19, with DeBoer, with the PP role fully his, with Eklund arriving, the Islanders are a more interesting team than their standings suggest. The window that Sorokin and Barzal represent requires that interesting to become decisive before it closes.