The Islanders made some changes, but they don’t want to change the direction they’ve been headed the past two seasons.
Gone are Kyle Okposo, their second-leading scorer the last three years; Frans Nielsen, the Isles’ do-it-all center and Matt Martin, the heart and soul of the team. That’s a collective 1,573 games of Isles-only experience out the door, just a few months after the team won its first playoff series since 1993.
Garth Snow brought in three veterans to replace those three among the forwards. Andrew Ladd brings five years as captain and two Stanley Cup rings; Jason Chimera has 16 seasons and 20 goals a year ago with the Caps under his belt and PA Parenteau brings back his good chemistry with John Tavares, albeit from five seasons ago.