Connect with us

New York Islanders

The Unknown is Approaching: End of Nelson’s Tenure?

Published

on

brock-nelson-new-york-islanders

When you turned on a New York Islanders game for the last six seasons, there were certain things you could count on reliably: hard work, effort, and a drive to win and fight tooth and nail for the playoffs.



While that didn’t always end well, looking at the 2021-22 season, it always felt hard to question this group’s fight and dedication. You never felt like you could reasonably count them out of the equation. Team President and General Manager Lou Lamoriello handed out well-earned contract extensions to virtually every player on the team, signaling his commitment to getting this group over the hump after the heartbreak in June of 2021.

How’d We Get Here?

That leads to today, January 17. The Islanders lost again last night, 5-3, to the Flyers, and for the second straight game, their Head Coach publicly admitted they did not have enough hunger in their game.

In a vacuum, that’d be one bad thing. That head coach is Patrick Roy, a hockey hall-of-fame member with as much passion for the game as anyone in the sport. Ordinarily, teams feed off that type of passion, especially when Roy has worked hard to be even-keeled and filled with positivity in his messaging.

Instead, this team has truly begun to circle the drain. The Islanders are 4-6-0 in their last 10 games, which includes what was supposed to be a confidence-fueling three-game win streak with a win over one of the best teams in the NHL, the Vegas Golden Knights.

Instead, returning home after a clean 3-0-0 trip, the Islanders have dropped both games to teams ahead of them in the Eastern Conference standings and have sunk to 15th in the East and 27th in the NHL. They’re 8 points outside of a playoff spot, with six teams outside the line, all in front of them in line.

With the trade deadline seven weeks away and a full two-week gap for the Four Nation Face-Off in February, the Islanders are rapidly approaching the unknown with this core and their future.

Brock Nelson:

Brock Nelson has been an Islander since the 2013-14 season, when he made his NHL debut and hung around, skating in 72 games. Of the last 906 regular-season games of New York Islanders Hockey, Brock Nelson has skated and played in 884 of them. But as a percentage, that is 97.5%.

In playoff totals, he’s played in all but one playoff game since the 2014-15 season. He missed game five against the Washington Capitals on April 23, 2015, as a healthy scratch.

During the Conference Finals runs, Brock led the team in goals in both runs, scoring nine in the 2020 Bubble and another seven in the post-Covid 2021 playoff run. He totaled 30 points in 41 playoff games over the two seasons for New York, good for a tie with Mathew Barzal for second on the team. Josh Bailey, Nelson’s linemate, led the way with 33 in 41.

While Bailey faded out by the 2022-23 and 23-24 short playoff appearances, Nelson remained and is currently tied with Bailey at 50 playoff points in his career. Both are tied for the most playoff points in franchise history for anyone not on the dynasty teams, those without a Stanley Cup.

Nelson has been a constant throughout his Islanders’ tenure, appearing in every big moment and stepping up as a leader after John Tavares’s exodus. He restored honor to a franchise that had just been humiliated. He eventually earned a permanent “A” on his jersey after Bailey retired in 2023.

So, in this his 12th NHL season with the Islanders, it seems his story may be approaching a close. If so, it would leave just Anders Lee, Casey Cizikas, and Matt Martin as the only active Islanders to have been with the franchise in the 2014-15 series against the Capitals and here now. Martin left for Toronto for two seasons, so his stay hasn’t been continuous.

Nelson sits littered among the Islanders’ franchise leaderboard. He’s fifth all-time in games played (884), ahead of Cizikas by 25 games, Martin by 37, and Lee by 81. He’s tied for fifth-most goals in franchise history with 287, tied by Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter. Nelson can break the tie on Saturday, the same night the Islanders induct Sutter into the team’s Hall of Fame.

With the Islanders’ season slipping away, it sure seems like Nelson’s time is up on the Island, and what a time it was.

End of This Era:

As the above reads, it’s hard to look back at this era of Islanders’ hockey without seeing Nelson all over it. Though the group never got over the hump, they came mighty close in 2021, falling 1-0 in Game Seven against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The sting of that loss only grows the further you get away, as now it’s unclear when the Islanders will ever return to such a prominent spot.

This era is ending, and this season’s collapse is the final sign. Nelson’s tenure will end when he is traded by the deadline on March 7. Kyle Palmieri, the team’s major deadline acquisition in 2021, also seems set to be dealt as a pending UFA.

Questions linger around the future of Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who was acquired in 2020 before the shutdown and has since played over 300 games for the Islanders, playing a key role on the runs in ’20 and ’21. His value may never get higher than it is currently, so perhaps Lamoriello will cash in and move the versatile Pageau.

Martin may retire after this season, one where he’s been made an extra forward and played sparingly, ending his second stint in New York.

While the fans have been ready to turn the page, it seems the organization is finally getting there too. Make no mistake, the unknown is coming.

GET NYIHN IN YOUR INBOX!

Enter your email address to get all of our articles delivered directly to your inbox.

NYI Team & Cap Info