The reality is all NHL teams are flawed to varying degrees and in different areas. It's the teams who can best fill-in those gaps, play to their strengths and minimize their weaknesses, who are successful. The New York Islanders have had trouble doing just that for the better part of three months. Could Mike Hoffman, a 2020 UFA, help to fix that?
There had always been questions about how replicable the Islanders' brand of playoff-style hockey was in a long-form 82 game season. The question persisted last year, even as the team defied everyone's expectations over the course of a 103-point regular season, ultimately making it to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.