Not this time. No way. That was, essentially, what Anders Lee took into the offseason. Sure, he led the Islanders in goals last season, but his mind wandered back to that glacial start that had his ice time dwindling drastically by early November.
“I just knew I didn’t want to be in the same position again,” the winger said Wednesday before the Islanders took on the Flyers at Barclays Center.
“Things have gone a little bit better. You work extremely hard to make sure things like this happen,” he added. Where I was beginning this time last year, I was playing a little less time each night and you get less opportunities in those situations and you’ve got to work your way out of it and prove yourself to the coaches and the team again that you deserve everything you’ve gotten, and I think I was able to do that and earn my way back into it.