from Andrew Gross of Newsday,

It’s clearly a new-look Islanders with Lou Lamoriello, who won three Stanley Cups with the Devils, assuming control as president and general manager and hiring Stanley Cup-winning coach Barry Trotz. Calder Trophy-winning Mathew Barzal is the presumptive new face of the franchise as the No. 1 center and successor to Tavares as the team’s superstar.

“It’ll end when you guys stop asking,” right wing Josh Bailey said, laughing, when asked how long Tavares’ absence would be a topic this season. “For us, that’s hockey. That’s the way this business works. We move forward, he moves forward. We’re worried about what goes on in here. We like what we’ve seen so far.”...

“I think there’s just a lot of potential we have within us,” added left wing Anders Lee, who set career highs last season with 40 goals and 62 points. “Barry’s been grabbing onto us, opening some doors. Kind of pushing us to a point where we know we have an extra step. I think that’s where we’re going to surprise some people. We have some familiar faces from the years prior but we’re going to be different.”

In short, they need to be because last season’s combination of a potent offense coupled with non-existent defense, goaltending and penalty killing was a recipe for failure.

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