New York Islanders: 5 things the Isles completely wasted this season

John Tavares will be a free agent this summer. But aside from another great year with impressive stats and hitting elite career marks, the Islanders wasted his contract year.

This reason why the Islanders wasted their season is potentially the one that will come back to haunt them the most. Although nothing is official in terms of where Tavares will lace ’em up next season, the Islanders did not show him too much to convince him to stay.

This should have been a year where they showed long-term promise. They 100% failed.

I feel like I do not even need to mention how good John Tavares was this year because he does it year after year. Yes, there are questions about his lack of defensive talent but his offense and leadership are so elite that the defense is not a problem nor significantly costing the team.

But none of that matters if John Tavares leaves and, quite honestly, he should. The New York Islanders did nothing to try to make the playoffs during his last season. They did nothing to show a promising future that includes him.

They hyped up other players and let him go by the wayside. The offseason revolved around keeping JT happy but the entire season, in general, should have too. It felt as though, right when things stopped working, the Isles gave up.

Once the new Belmont deal was announced it felt like a Tavares extension was next. When the former happened but the latter did not, the writing on the wall became clear.

If John Tavares does re-sign with the New York Islanders it will be more surprising than we all once thought.

In 2017-2018, the Islanders completely wasted a season. It was one of the most important seasons too because now the ball is in John Tavares’s court, not theirs.

Having JT in a contract year and showing nothing but a likely rebuild was not smart.

What a waste.

No one understands how good Tavares is and I personally do not want to find out with him elsewhere.