In a series for The Hockey News, we are looking at how the New York Islanders compare to the other seven teams in the Metropolitan Division heading into the 2024-25 season. Up next is the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Key Departures: Reilly Smith, Jeff Carter, Vinnie Hinostroza, Pierre-Oliver Joseph, Chad Ruhwedel
Key Additions: Kevin Hayes, Anthony Beauvillier, Matt Grzelcyk, Blake Lizotte, Sebastian Aho
Islanders 2023-24 record vs. PIT: 2-2-0
It seems like more of the same from the Pittsburgh Penguins, putting a band-aid on an open wound.
It’s hard to press the rebuild button when you have Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Erik Karlsson on your team, but this team is nowhere close to where it needs to be to compete in the playoffs if they can even make it.
Offensively, Pittsburgh rolls with a duo of Crosby and Bryan Rust, followed by Malkin and Rickard Rakell. It seems, however, that general manager Kyle Dubas is targeting more secondary scoring for the Penguins by adding Kevin Hayes and Anthony Beauvillier, which should definitely help.
It’s obvious to take Crosby over anyone on the Islanders, but the Islanders top-six does have the edge.
Mathew Barzal, Bo Horvat, and Anthony Duclair outweigh the threat of Crosby and Rust. It is not clear, but there is an edge there.
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Kyle Palmeri and Brock Nelson are just about equal with recent production with Malkin and Rakell.
The secondary scoring seems to be equal this year as well when adding Hayes, Beauvillier, and Lizotte to round out the bottom six with Eller and Acciari. The Islanders counter with Pageau, Cizikas, Maclean, and a huge unknown in Maxim Tsyplakov, who could either slot onto the second or third line.
Last season it was clear the Islanders held the depth advantage.
Dubas certainly did a decent job adding guys to take the load off the top six, so it will be interesting to see how these two teams compare offensively.
It seems that the Islanders have a slight edge here, but it could certainly flip.
Defensively, Dubas seemed to take the depth route here as well, adding Matt Grzelcyk and former Islander Sebastian Aho.
Letang and Karlsson will anchor the defensive core, followed up with a lot of role guys, and this is where the Islanders have a massive advantage.
Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock, Noah Dobson, and Alexander Romanov clear the Penguins’ top four of Karlsson, Letang, Marcus Petersson, and Ryan Graves.
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It’s easy to say Karlsson and Letang are better than anyone on the Islanders’ defense, but the reality is the two are aging quickly and have not been defensively sound at all.
Shockingly, the Penguins’ power play last season was beyond putrid, and it can’t be that bad again in 2024-25.
The Penguins likely get the advantage on the power play to Pittsburgh with a solid turnaround.
On the PK, Pittsburgh does have a nice set of guys that they can use, like Hayes, Drew O’Connor, and Lizotte.
Coaching systems will dictate who wins the PK battle
In net, there is a clear advantage here as well for the Islanders with Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov against Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic.
Considering the Islanders already have some sort of cheat code for beating Jarry whenever the two teams play each other, there is no competition. Jarry and Nedeljkovic are still very decent goalies.
However, the truth is that the Islanders’ goaltending duo is maybe the top duo in the league when the two are on their game.
No matter who is on the Penguins, the Islanders will always have a competitive season series with them.
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Roy is going to have to get the Islanders to play a defensive-style type of hockey against the Penguins, who are looking for a run-and-gun offensive type of game.
With the two offenses being so even, it’s smarter for the Islanders to rely on defense and goaltending to where they have a clear advantage.
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