The New York Islanders have a game tomorrow. I know—I know! I forgot what that feels like, too. But I’m serious this time.
Surely, the Islanders have enjoyed their time at home this week, but they have kissed their partners and kids good-bye and are probably loading onto the team plane right about now. (Actually, I have no idea what time they’d fly out for a one-day trip, but let me roll here.)
Awaiting them are Barry Trotz’s long-time team, the Nashville Predators, who can’t quite figure out themselves. They traded Viktor Arvidsson and Ryan Ellis this summer without really replacing them, and then they gave 31-year-old Mattias Ekholm a four-year extension.