It will be hard to differentiate this article from the Edmonton Oilers article, as both teams are in the same position (except the Islanders only got to pick first overall once). The Isles have a plethora of young talent among their group of forwards, with two more A prospects in the pipeline, but have a big need at the back-end. Up front they are led by one of the league’s new superstars in John Tavares (31-50-81 in 82 games), three-time 30-goal scorer Matt Moulson, and very good two-way forwards in Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo. All four players are locked into team-friendly contracts, and so is Michael Grabner, who scored 34 goals as a rookie last season. Defensively, they have tried to fill holes with seasoned journeymen as a stabilizing influence. The result has been anything but stable, as the team can’t defend if their life depended on it. Thankfully they will have roster spots open on the blue line, as well as significant cap space. But therein lays another problem: the Islanders have the worst owner in the NHL. Charles Wang doesn’t care at all about his team, doesn’t spend to improve his team, doesn’t spend to improve its’ facility, doesn’t spend to improve the atmosphere. It’s extremely hard to attract players in free agency when your team statement is filled with the word “doesn’t”. Thus, the Islanders will have to rely on their pipeline right now, and they do have a good defenseman that should be able to break camp with them next year. Young Matt Donovan made it into three NHL games this year after producing 44 points and a plus-11 rating in the AHL. He seems to have the makings of a fairly productive second-pair defenseman that could quarterback a power play. Their top defensive prospect is Calvin de Haan, but he is probably a year or two away yet. They need more than those two though, as eventually Father Time will get the best of Streit. With the young assets up front, they certainly could make a one-for-one trade to a team with the opposite need (Nashville, Toronto). Another problem on the back-end: the Isles have severe goaltending issues, some of the worst in the league. They have the ghost of Evgeni Nabokov signed next year as a stop-gap, and to back him up (until 2021) is Rick “Paper Mache” DiPietro. It is doubtful there is a team more hopeful than the Islanders that there is an amnesty clause in the next CBA, because then they wouldn’t have to force DiPietro (because of his contract) on the ice whenever he deems himself somewhat healthy enough to play. This is another area where they should explore trade possibilities dealing from their position of strength (forwards) to bring in a better prospect in net (Bernier, Lindback, et al), because it is not a given that Anders Nilsson or Kevin Poulin will be starting material. So be positive, Islanders fans, for all you need is better defense, better goaltending, and a new owner. That’s all, nothing major… Nick is RealGM’s NHL Feature Writer. You can reach him by email nick.obergan@realgm.com or on twitter @NickObergan