That the New York Islanders defense needs help has been evident since Opening Night. Maybe it was clear before that—perhaps when the team traded Travis Hamonic to Calgary before the 2017-18 season even began.
No matter what defensive category you want to use—take goals against per game, shots against per game and penalty kill percentage, for example—the Islanders are either last or among the bottom three in the NHL. What’s frustrating is that they have the league’s second-best offense scoring 3.36 goals per game, second only to Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Islanders have tried to build from within and in the case of the forwards, it has worked fairly well.