New York Islanders offseason depth chart: Are they better than last year?

The New York Islanders haven’t changed very much this offseason but Lou Lamoriello deserves a bouquet — a small one, let’s not break out the bridal arrangement yet — for making a couple of smart moves with limited cap space.

Anthony Duclair has had a journeyman’s career in the NHL but could be a solid fit in the Isles’ top six. Mike Reilly was a nice waiver pickup last season and also fits well on the third defense pair. The addition of KHL scoring winger Maxim Tsyplakov is a genuine wild card, too. If those are the only three moves Lamoriello makes before training camp then maybe you can say this Islander team is better than how it looked when it skated off the ice in Raleigh two months ago after a second consecutive first-round exit at the hands of the Hurricanes.

There could be some other moves we don’t yet know about; this is Lamoriello’s world we live in. It appears, 10 days into free agency, that Cal Clutterbuck could be headed elsewhere after 11 seasons on the Island — there’s definite interest in the 36-year-old. Matt Martin’s future whereabouts aren’t yet known either. An Islander team without those two will be strange, but it may just be time to reconfigure that fourth line.

Ruslan Iskhakov is headed to the KHL for a guaranteed payday the Islanders couldn’t give him. Oliver Wahlstrom is still an Islander for the time being but Lamoriello is trying to move the 2018 No. 11 pick. Simon Holmstrom is still an RFA but he’s not likely going anywhere. Liam Foudy, the 18th pick in the 2018 draft who has 102 NHL games under his belt with the Columbus Blue Jackets, is now on board with a two-way contract, giving him a shot at a depth role.

There should be a few more two-way contracts for veteran pros to come — looking down the team’s depth chart, you don’t see much NHL readiness, even though there is a bit more promise for the future with most of the next wave under 25.

What’s left to wonder about is whether Lamoriello will decide to move out a veteran forward like Jean-Gabriel Pageau to make space for an incoming move, use the team’s second buyout window next month to make a change that way or add a low-cost forward on a flier to improve the top 12. Jakub Vrana, still just 28 and trying to revive his NHL career after a couple of wayward years following a stint in the league’s Player Assistance Program, is still available; so is Daniel Sprong, who had 43 points with the Detroit Red Wings last season.

Barring any of that, here’s what you’ve got: an NHL team that should be stronger, provided it stays healthy. Depth is a real issue.

Forwards

I’ve started with Tsyplakov on LW2 even though my gut tells me Lee gets a crack at that spot first. Lamoriello said he didn’t sign Tsyplakov, who had 31 goals in 65 games with Spartak, to play in Bridgeport; the GM also presumably didn’t sign him to play on the fourth line. If the Islanders are going to give him a real shot, the left side with Nelson and Palmieri seems like the best spot, since Duclair looks on paper to be the right fit with Horvat and Barzal on the top line.

Engvall-Pageau-Holmstrom may not be a high-powered scoring line but could be a speed matchup line that the Islanders really haven’t had in a while. The third line was the leftovers line for years here and creating an identity (not the Identity, that one’s taken) for that line, provided Pageau sticks around, would be ideal. Engvall has probably convinced enough observers that he’s not a top-six player but he can be effective.

The fourth line is tricky. Cizikas finished last season as the unlikely top-line digger for Horvat and Barzal; he’s better suited to center and a pairing with MacLean makes sense. If the other wing is Lee, it will be interesting to see if the captain can change his 5v5 game to be more of a checker and sacrifice the goal scoring he’s done well for years. At 34 and the leader of the squad, Lee may have no other option to keep a regular roster spot.

Beyond the top 12, you’re likely to see Fasching or recently signed Foudy as the 13th forward. The Isles currently have around $1.85 million in cap space minus whatever Holmstrom gets, so there’s only room for 22 NHL roster spots, which likely means 13 forwards only. One of Fasching or Foudy plus Gauthier could be a waiver casualty during camp.

The younger forwards are mostly pretty green. William Dufour, Matthew Maggio and Tyce Thompson have had some moments in the AHL, Karlstrom has a handful of NHL games in his three pro years in North America but that’s about all. A rash of injuries up front, even to the bottom six, would be a big blow to this team.

Defense

With Reilly back in the fold, this group is set unless Lamoriello has some real tricks up his sleeve. Romanov-Dobson, Pelech-Pulock and Reilly-Mayfield are three natural pairs who have all spent time together, the top two in particular. A healthy Mayfield should provide some penalty-kill and 5v5 stability.

Bolduc is the automatic No. 7 once again, it seems. Hutton, still in the organization after 227 games in Bridgeport, is the easy answer to a right-shot call-up for the moment. Isaiah George is the most promising D prospect but he needs some AHL time before he can be properly evaluated at the pro level. Cholowski, Fulp and Warren are relative unknowns beyond the AHL, but the Isles at least have a top eight that looks stable.

Goaltending

Despite the last six weeks of the 2023-24 season, it’s still Sorokin’s net. Varlamov was the biggest reason the Islanders made the playoffs but Sorokin is the only Islander who can make this team above-average consistently. Hogberg’s addition guards against injury and Tikkanen will have a chance to play some significant minutes in Bridgeport to see if he can blossom into something.

This is not a Stanley Cup-contending lineup at the moment, but the Islanders really have improved since the season ended. If there’s more to be done, it will have to be done by cutting from the core rather than simply adding via trade or in a low-risk free agency move. So we’ll see if there’s a reason to take another look at this depth chart again before camp starts.

(Photo of Anthony Duclair skating with the puck as Mike Reilly and Semyon Varlamov defend: Kim Klement Neitzel / USA Today)