The New York Islanders collapse in back-to-back losses, raising urgent questions ahead of the NHL trade deadline. Can General Manager Mathieu Darche pull the trigger to save the playoff push, or will the team’s season spiral? Gil Martin breaks down the nightmarish defeats against the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings, spotlighting alarming defensive breakdowns, a stagnant power play, and lack of physicality from Adam Pelech, Scott Mayfield, and company. Emil Heineman and Bo Horvat manage brief highlights, but is it enough to change the narrative?
Key discussion points include the Islanders’ troubling inconsistency, trade deadline strategies, and which names—like Jordan Kyrou or KaShawn Aitcheson—should be considered untouchable. With playoff hopes hanging by a thread and Metropolitan Division opponents surging, every decision matters. Plus, a crucial preview of the Islanders vs. San Jose Sharks matchup and a trip down memory lane for Billy MacMillan’s Islanders legacy. How will the Islanders respond?
All this and more on today’s Locked On Islanders Podcast with Gil Martin.
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16 Comments
Time for a new coach
now comes the pre-tdl swoon. down 5-1 before 2 late b s g's makes it close. the story-offense is struggling-again and can only score one fkn g with an extra attacker for over six minutes. pathetic. just trade 27 and 44 now darche and call it a day. better to prepare with futures then give up futures for more average shit. please get a few more average 15-16 g scorers to go with the ones isles already have darche. at least garland is a bj and myers a star so no way of getting them now. btw how many games now since that bum 29 has scored a g?
only teams that win a cup at tdl time are the ones like cats who can go out and acquire top end talent at tdl by using ltir to stash away high priced guys until playoffs anyway. i guess there is some rule against that now. not like it matters to isles anyway. and caps got a first for carlson. prediction-stamkos is a cane by tdl afternoon.
Can Roy stop already with the Jonathan Drouin experiment? He can't score on an open net, and his giveaway directly lead to the Kings second goal. What doesn't Roy see? Although tonight Drouin was one of many.
I agree: this game was a disaster. The defense was nonexistent. The PP is horrific. Taking really dumb penalties. Idk what’s going on with this team recently.
That was a disaster. Its going to be interesting to see what Darche is going to do today. LGI
Worst game of the season. Sorokin's worst game since the first few weeks of the season. And think about it: had he played his usual self, maybe the game goes to OT. Tonight really exposed that without a superstarn goalie, we are not good enough to make the playoffs.
SELL! SELL! SELL! Lee might be a nice dude who makes players feel welcome but he doesn't get team ready to play. Players don't feel they have to play hard for Roy either. We seen this with every coach for a while. Players gotta change. Under no circumstances resing Lee or Pageau.
Can we package the Isles radio announcer with Drouin and get rid of both? Dude sucks in a million ways
There is no playoff on Long Island this year! SALE! SALE or give away…LGI😢
Signing Lee and JP is a step in the wrong direction don't even think about…..sale sale sale.LGI
Sell and don’t give up anything other then bad contracts and older aged out players, we’ve witnessed this year with it in our faces Youth and speed, have to build around our quality players thanks Gil🧡LGI 💙
This team has holes. PP is bad, no true sniper all the things we know but to be the 3 and 2 in metro for 64 games proves they are a playoff team. Lets see what happens today trade deadline. Im not panicking because of 2 bad games. 64 games 3/4 of the season isnt a sample size.
Totally ridiculous! Change needs to happen! Roy and Ray Bennett need to Goooooo! This is a job and they are not getting it done! Bobby B and Sorokin’s goalie coach only keepers! If JGP is not signed to an extension he must be traded! Unfortunately Roy is not good enough so that is how the team goes! The team has more holes than sunrise 🌅 highway! Look at the Sabers and what they have done and what they added! Glad Darche did not trade for Garland! I am rooting for the underdog Sabers! We are not ready! Trade Soucy! Lee! JGP if not signed! Duke, Drouin, Shabby! We have a long way to go before we are close to a Buffalo 🦬 team who is young, big, strong, nasty, determined!!!!! Horrible 2 games something has to happen to change this whimp Team! Never such a passive team! Horrible! Mayfield bye! Geez 🙄
I am not trading Eklund! Aitcheson! ! Prokhorov! At no cost am I trading these guys! No no no! I will go small unless the deal makes sense! We need as many assets as possible! Selling Lee would send a message! No one is untouchable! But I know this will not happen! Not resigning Lee! If JGP no extension he must be traded! We have to many holes 🕳️! Be smart Darche ! We need more young assets!!!!
This team is in a weird spot cause they can easily end up missing the playoffs, so if you’re going to add a player like Robert Thomas. I get making a trade, and giving up some futures cause that solves our scoring problem till 2029 and players like him don’t become available very often. but if he’s coming in you need to move Lee and pageau. I’m hoping Darche doesn’t something similar to the soucy and palat deals where he gives up futures for an obvious upgrade but then recoups some of the draft capital through other deals.
Hi Gil, I guess the same old islanders but they are better than last year. Thanks for the updates and you do a terrific job. I am still in Florida enjoying the beautiful weather. I do have to come home 🏠 for ten days in March but then going back. Scotty and I are going to California in April for Nypd baseball ⚾️ tournament. While we are there, we will go to a ducks 🦆 hockey 🥅 game and Dodgers vs Mets. We did go to a Mets spring training game Tuesday. Have a nice weekend!! 11:55