It's partially the great defensive teams the goaltenders came from. Although Poulin/Nilsson didn't have strong years last year, the Islanders were simply awful without the puck and Halak/Johnson are not Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur.
But a healthy Nabokov is pretty close to what Halak/Johnson can realistically achieve on Long Island. It's an upgrade, for sure, but not a monumental upgrade that many here might be expecting.
I am a huge Halak fan and I'm glad he signed with the Islanders and I'm optimistic about him specifically and the season - cautiously optimistic I suppose. To me, Chad Johnson is a bit unproven, no strong reason to doubt or to show too much confidence at this stage. We shall see.
It's the team defense that bothers me most, always has. Capuano's system is still a high-pressure, forecheck hard game that's prone to costly mistakes. The team is still a small-ish team that's susceptible to big, forechecking teams that force turnovers, maintain zone pressure and can give the Isles fits.
I hope the Islanders show some maturity and commitment to team defense this season. That's part system and part personnel.
In short, like most seasons in recent memory, a lot has to go right for the Islanders this year if they're going to make the playoffs. This is the best team, on paper, in a long time, but ignoring the question marks is rather dishonest.
I expect Tavares, Okposo, Nielsen, Grabovski, Hamonic, Visnovsky and Halak to play the way they can and have.....and it'll be Nelson, Strome, deHaan (possibly Lee, Reinhart) to be the difference makers that will either push the Isles forward, or, stagnate.
Should be a really fun season.
