PITTSBURGH — If you’re looking for one player on the Islanders' roster who embodies the team’s turnaround from last season under new coach Barry Trotz, defenseman Nick Leddy has to be the guy.
Leddy, 28, had the NHL’s worst plus/minus rating in 2017-18 — a truly ugly minus-42 — as the Islanders allowed the most goals of any team in the 31-team league. But playing under Trotz’s defensive system in 2018-19, the Isles completely reversed their defensive record, allowing the fewest goals in the league in the regular season. And Leddy, the Eden Prairie, Minnesota, native, finished the season even — on ice for as many even-strength or shorthanded goals for, as against.