The Islanders departed the Edmonton bubble for Long Island on Friday, their memorable season ended with a 2-1 overtime loss to the Lightning in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals the night before.
Having their deepest playoff run since 1993 is no guarantee of success the following season.
But if there was an understated positive for the organization’s future in Thursday’s defeat, it was the postseason debut of defenseman Noah Dobson.
"You look at our back end from a standpoint of we’ve got some youth back there, we’ve got some veterans back there," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said.