The Islanders season finished the way most thought it would once the playoff pairings were set, and the post-mortems started to publish quickly, all with remarkably similar themes that reflect how obvious the situation is. If you pretty much knew how things would end — if not the details, which were cruel yet appropriate — then your post-mortem was almost pre-written:
Inconsistent. Decline/aging of formerly key players. Apparent wearing down of some current key players. A penalty kill for the dogs. The need for change surely must be apparent (???) to a management that doubled — or in some cases septupled — down on this roster last summer.