Honestly, the first month of the New York Islanders season has felt really strange. When Josh Ho-Sang and Ryan Pulock were not in the opening night lineup I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. It made me feel like issues from past regimes would carry over.
To an extent it has. The Islanders still are giving the opportunities to expensive veteran players, instead of letting the youth get the necessary on-ice experience at the NHL level.
We’ve seen this on full display with Ryan Pulock being a healthy scratch through two-thirds of the games so far this year.