Jack Capuano doesn’t want to name names, but the Islanders coach doesn’t have to: Anders Lee is one of the young players who is “battling” and “struggling,” as Capuano put it before Wednesday night’s game against the Senators at Barclays Center.
Lee, 25, is still the same 6-foot-3, 225-pound guy he was last season when he scored 25 goals. He’s still the same guy who put his name on the bottom of a four-year, $15 million deal that began this season with the annual salary-cap hit of $3.75 million.
Yet he’s also the same guy who was a healthy scratch for two of the team’s seven playoff games last season in the first-round loss to the Capitals, and the same guy who has 12 goals and 32 points in 71 games.