The New York Islanders have started the season at 4-6-2 through the first 12 games of the 2024-25 season.

In an offseason where the expectations and standards were elevated with the acquisitions of veteran goal scorer Anthony Duclair and the No. 1 KHL transfer, Maxim Tsyplakov, the team has already fallen short of the mark. Three weeks in and the Isles are already facing the biggest test — depth strength. The aforementioned Duclair finds himself on the long-term injured reserve along with All-Star forward Matt Barzal.

On the blue line, Alex Romanov, Adam Pelech and Mike Reilley all find themselves on the injured list as well. This team is struggling to find a rhythm with a collaboration of injury, lack of talent and depth from the top down.

As always, between the pipes is nothing to complain about, with Ilya Sorokin posting a sub-2.30 GAA along with Varlamov with a 3.21 average. 

The problems run deep in terms of skaters, from the blue line to the corners. The 11th and 12th roster spots have a revolving door even when fully healthy. The constant shifting pieces almost clears out a path for any sort of chemistry in all forward and defensive lines. These issues have combined to present a team with no true identity and a large margin in the skill department.

The Isles have made the playoffs in seven of the last 10 years, including two conference finals trips, off the structure of “playoff hockey.” These were teams that had been taught to grind on every line and chip away at the opponent. They may not have had high-end talent, but they knew how to make up for it.

Fans called it “boring,” but it was a winning formula for rosters that seemed to be mediocre at best. They no longer can defend against any offense no matter the difficulty and now run into the pit of mediocrity, offensively. Where teams of the past made up for it with defense, this team has subcommand to the task.

General manager Lou Lamoriello has stuck this core together while trying to add goal scorers, claiming it would be the missing piece. He did it with Bo Horvat and Duclair, throwing away future first-rounders at every turn. In this process, he has failed to create a complete team that is able to compete with others in the Metropolitan division both defensively and offensively.

All that the fans, including myself, are asking owner John Ledecky to do is to clean the house and start the rebuild.