New York Islanders: The Isles are in worst possible situation

The New York Islanders are coming off a solid home win vs the playoff bound Penguins but the emphatic win is too little too late. They now find themselves in the worst possible situation.

Okay, I know it might come off as a little dramatic but the New York Islanders are 100% done. It’ll take more than a miracle for them to make the playoffs. Same goes for winning the draft lottery which would be a win in itself.

But no, the Islanders are so far off what is going to help them in any, way, shape, or form.

When a team shows as little effort or has a bad a stretch as the Isles have there are still some things that make it easier for the fans to cope with. Not with the Isles. Once the playoffs seemed too far off it became about pride.

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The Rangers began their rebuild, the Devils began to fall off. We knew the Islanders would not make the playoffs but at least they were going to be better than the Rangers! Even that is not true anymore. The Rangers are openly in a rebuild. But guess what? The fans and players still have pride. They went on a run and find themselves better than the Isles right now.

The Devils didn’t want to be that team that collapsed so they did not.

The Isles have no pride. They sit pretty in last place in the Metropolitan Division and might only leap one or two spots by season’s end. That is shameful considering where they were at the beginning of the year.

So once all “pride” or the “moral victories” are gone what is left? We cannot use the “at least they are better than the Rangers” or “at least they are not in last place” anymore. Both of those may not be true any more.

So, when all else fails the only thing to look forward to is the draft. The Isles do have Calgary’s first-round pick in the upcoming draft s bait but it means nothing with how inept Garth Snow is. They also find themselves in a similar situation.

But the last time the Isles had a first overall pick it was John Tavares. But what is aggravating is the Isles are nowhere close to the first pick this year either.

The Isles are in the middle of both. There is nothing to be proud of and their fans cannot even root for the tank. The top lottery pick is too far away with how many teams are worse than them.

Once again the Islanders did not go all in on being bad or good. They put themselves in a bland situation again. They have nothing to be prideful of and do not have the ammo to get the player of the future.

It could be worse for the Isles I guess but this is a team that John Tavares shouldn’t even come back to for the long-term. They are a mess. I’ll even say they make one last run too to still not make the playoffs and have less than ideal draft picks.

The New York Islanders are in a terrible spot. The fans have very little to look forward aside from the new arena that is many years away.

Next: Playoff hopes fading fast

If you asked me if I’d rather them be in last but not be the worst but no playoffs possible, and stuck in the middle OR be the worst team get a top pick and finally start building towards an actual future I would pick the latter, in a heartbeat.

Pride is fun. I understand rooting for them to win just for the sake that it’s the goal of the sport but there is nothing wrong with wishing they were even worse at this point to get better picks.

What a tease the hot start to the season was. This team just could not keep it together.

Unreal.

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