Better luck next year: Things are bleak for the New York Islanders

This might be one of the toughest situations in the NHL right now.

Welcome back to Better Luck Next Year, a series that will focus on each team as they get eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. What went wrong, why it went wrong, what (if anything) went right, and what is next. We continue today with the next team to be eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention: The New York Islanders.

The New York Islanders are by no measure the worst team in the NHL, or even one of the worst. They are not even close to that.

They were in the playoffs in each of the past two seasons, in five of the previous six seasons, and during that time have actually had a decent amount of success. Probably more than most people outside of Long Island realize. They might have been boring, there might have always been an element of “how in the hell are they actually DOING this" to it all, but they found ways. It was baffling. It was annoying. It was, for every non-Islanders fan, infuriating. But that is also probably the way Islanders fans liked it. They thrive on chaos, being counted out and overachieving.

But after missing the playoffs this season, and without a playoff series win in four seasons, they are getting further and further away from that success.

Even worse, there does not appear to be much reason for optimism in the short-term or long-term.

Worst yet, there might be an argument to be made that this is one of the bleakest situations in the NHL.

That, again, does not necessarily mean this is the worst actual team. But when you start digging down into the teams below them in the standings you can at least see some signs of hope for a lot of them.

The San Jose Sharks have Macklin Celebrini and a good core of young talent.

The Chicago Blackhawks have Connor Bedard and six recent first-round picks starting to make their way into the NHL.

The Anaheim Ducks have a really strong collection of young talent starting to break into the NHL.

The Philadelphia Flyers have Matvei Michkov and at least have a direction.

But what can be said about the Islanders at this point?

They are not particularly good right now. They lack star power. They are one of the oldest teams in the NHL. They do not have an overly strong farm system. They have a general manager that seems to have lost his touch and his grasp on the reality of the team. Their head coach is nuts. When next season begins they are going to have 10 players(!) age 30 or older that are signed to long-term deals.

The only other teams that are on this sort of level are probably Pittsburgh and maybe Boston. But even Pittsburgh seems to have at least picked a direction and started to look more toward the future.

I am still not sure what the Islanders are doing, where they see themselves, or where they are going.

It is grim. It is bleak. It is not good.

What went right this season