Islanders' 3-Game Losing Streak & Remembering the Devon Toews Trade
Welcome to the THW New York Islanders Substack newsletter, with all the latest from our team of Islanders writers.
Today’s edition has a piece on the Islanders’ 7-4 loss to the Avalanche, which extended the team’s losing streak. We also look back on the Devon Toews trade and discuss how regrettable it is.
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4 Takeaways From Islanders’ 7-4 Loss vs Avalanche
October 25, 2023 by Mike Fink
The New York Islanders lost their third game in a row and the strong start to the season has suddenly turned into a rough patch. They lost to the Colorado Avalanche 7-4 in a game where they looked outmatched and overwhelmed. At 2-2-1, they not only look like a team that is falling apart but a team that isn’t going to contend in the Eastern Conference.
The recent game had its bright spots. Cal Clutterbuck, Anders Lee, and Simon Holmstrom scored their first goals of the season. The offense scored four goals, a threshold they’ve only eclipsed once before the loss to the Avalanche (interestingly, in the Oct. 20, 5-4 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils). Lastly, goaltender Ilya Sorokin made 34 saves including some highlight-reel stops to keep the game as close as it was.
However, the loss was ultimately one that raised concerns about the Islanders and whether they will be a playoff team this season. The Avalanche are a team that will make a lot of teams look bad and at 6-0, they are one of the elite teams in the NHL but the Islanders, especially on the defensive end of the ice, looked like a team that could see their season unravel quickly as it has in the past week.
Revisiting the Islanders & Avalanche Devon Toews Trade
October 23, 2023 by Mike Fink
The New York Islanders faced the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday, Oct. 24, as part of the full slate of NHL games called the “Frozen Frenzy” with multiple staggered start times. These two teams rarely face each other, with only two meetings per season, but when they do, one player comes to mind, defenseman Devon Toews, as he was part of a trade that shaped both rosters for years to come.
The Islanders traded Toews in the 2020 offseason to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for second-round draft selections in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft and the 2022 Draft. At the time, the deal didn’t look like a bad one for the Islanders and it looked like it would leave them better off in the long run (there’s an article on this site about the trade, which has since aged poorly). Three years later, the trade looks like one of general manager (GM) Lou Lamoriello’s most regrettable decisions.