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Their head coach: Jack Capuano. Some coaches that have come in this preview series before him I've compared to British royalty, Italian delicacies. Capuano, in large part due to its sharing the same three beginning letters, and last letter, sounds like cappuccino, makes his name sound like a seasonal warm-weather beverage sold at Starbucks. A venti Capuano sounds like a real nice drink for a cold February morning, wouldn't you agree? Jack is approaching his seventh season as Islanders head coach and been successful at changing the culture there. When he inherited the squad, they were one of the worst in the NHL. Now, they're a fairly consistent playoff team in the East and someone you'd rather not play on any given night. He's done a good job.
Their captain: John Tavares. No man did more in my view to change his status as an elite player last postseason than Tavares. Look at this. My God. What a goal. Patrick Kane's overtime winner in Game 5 at St. Louis I thought was the only better goal in the playoffs in terms of overall skill. That goal from Tavares solidified his place as one of the league's premier players. Pains me to say anyone in the 2009 draft was better than Duchene, but the Islanders knew what they were doing when they took Tavares with the 1st pick.
Their 15-16 season: The Isles raked in 101 points, good enough for the second wild card spot. They upset the Panthers in 6 games, and then lost to the other Florida-based team, the Lightning in 5. Right on par, maybe a little above expectation for the Islanders in their first year at Brooklyn. Playoffs seemed very much in reason, and 2nd round was about as high as their ceiling seemed. I don't think any other team besides Toronto fulfilled expectations as well as they did.
How did they do against the Avs? Each team won at home. Nothing overly memorable about either game. Much better than the Avs' 6-0 loss in the Coliseum the prior season.
When do they play the Avs this season? In Denver on January 6th and in Brooklyn on February 12th.
Will they be good? I see them being right around the same mark they were last season. Maybe 3rd in the Metro, and a 1st round playoff exit? I was surprised they didn't make more of an effort to keep Brian Okposo and Frans Nielsen, because I think the two of them will very much be missed. To go along with Tavares, they still have guys like Johnny Boychuk, Jason Chimera, Thomas Hickey, and Nick Leddy. They also got Andrew Ladd, Jason Chimera, and... P.A PARENTEAU!!! Islanders fans, he will be good for a 2-goal game once every ten games, and not do anything else worth seeing in the other nine. Overall, good squad. Plus Jaro Halak and Thomas Greiss will guard the crease, two real quality goaltenders to have on your team.
3 Questions with their SB Nation blog, Lighthouse Hockey: Zilch, nada, squat, in return from them.