New York Training Camp

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Ok, the prospect camp will be ending, the real camp opens Thursday, a four game preseason starts on Sunday. Expect few changes, Darche feels Palmieri/Romanov are the UFA additions with player from Leafs who could actually help. The rest is a group without Shabanov, Tsyplakov who had potential, and a group that scored two goals or fewer in 1/2 the games last season with Schaefer & with an improved powerplay which got them to 30th.

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It was a minor miracle they got all those games to overtime/and went 10-0 in skills competition which got them to fifteen games over/6th seed on 3/29/26, a very secure playoff seeding at that time. They got 18/64 games to overtime, Schenn came in and they got his first game to overtime, that was the only one for the rest of the season.

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What I wrote here on 3/29/26 was they have gotten this far, no reason they can't do it for two more weeks. Then what I expected all season came crashing down with the injuries on defense. Pens, Flyers easily popped the bubble in front of a half filled building in a location unfit for NHL.

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Fair or not Roy got them to fifteen over with the swagger, compassions speeches, now it falls on Deboer to do the same and qualify this time. Likely? No.

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Already the new coach is considering moving Schaefer to RD to bail out Darche massively overloading on LD. Schaefer came within inches of injuries most of last season, many times skating off hurt before returning. I think changing his position is a mistake, but the alternative is likely to move NHL-ready, Isaiah George who is a very capable LD but will not play over Darche's guy he spent 50 million for in Romanov.

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Up front they are overloaded down the middle so Schenn, Ritchie or Barzal continue to play wing. Palmieri is used like Bossy, Pageau like Trottier, and Cizikas like Goring, they can't skate, defend or score with Mac-Lean, Engvall, Palat.

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We'll see, there are fair reasons not to be optimistic. I am about Varlamov's return and the overall defense. Darche wants to send Cizikas, Engvall, MacLean to Hamilton with Palat for Eiserman, Eklund, I may change my mind.

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Ok, short camp, drop the puck.

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Horvat Named Captain

Bo Horvat has been named the 16th captain of the New York Islanders.

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) September 14, 2026

#NYC #NYI #isles Don't really care who is NYI captain. What bothers me about Horvat is he picked the Olympics over rest from his long back to back injuries. He was never the same player after he got hurt. Sure, most players would have went to Olympics as Horvat did.

— New York Islander Fan Central (@NYIFANCENTRAL) September 14, 2026

New York Rookie Camp Roster

The #Isles Rookie Camp roster is HERE! ⬇️

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) September 9, 2026

New York Notables

#NYC #NYI #isles The rookie camp roster was announced last season on 9/11/25 I would guess it's announced in day or so with season starting earlier/fewer preseason games.

— New York Islander Fan Central (@NYIFANCENTRAL) September 8, 2026

#NYC #NYI #isles Last year during preseason I was very concerned this could be one of the worst NYI team in a long time, other teams used their prospects and outworked NYI veterans. When they started 0-3 I had no doubt they were that bad. Somehow they got mant odd/quirky wins.

— New York Islander Fan Central (@NYIFANCENTRAL) September 8, 2026

#NYC #NYI #isles Last year they had Tsyplakov off 35 points, they had Shabanov who had a lot of interest and dominated rookie camp. Drouin was expected to be at least average. This year they come in far weaker with George again outside top six.

— New York Islander Fan Central (@NYIFANCENTRAL) September 8, 2026

#NYC #NYI #isles Last year they had Tsyplakov off 35 points, they had Shabanov who had a lot of interest and dominated rookie camp. Drouin was expected to be at least average. This year they come in far weaker with George again outside top six.

— New York Islander Fan Central (@NYIFANCENTRAL) September 8, 2026

Darche Speaks In Queens

#Isles GM & EVP Mathieu Darche addressed the media today ahead of training camp ⬇️

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) September 2, 2026

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Palmieri extension, Pageau extension is on Darche, Romanov contract belongs to Darche. He's taking about resigning players again? More Cizikas, Mac-Lean, Palat? This team got far worse offensively, and scored two goals or fewer in forty games with Shabanov, Lee, Tsyplakov. Sorry, cannot write things to make people happy here.

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#NYC #NYI #isles Sounds like plan is to keep using Palmieri like Bossy, Pageau like Trottier, and Cizikas like Goring, and Darche was talking about resigning some of his veterans for next season. Good luck scoring two goals or fewer in 40 games again.

— New York Islander Fan Central (@NYIFANCENTRAL) September 2, 2026