Friedman: Sit At Your Table Thursday And Be Thankful For The Islanders

By Daniel Friedman
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On Thanksgiving, we often go around the dinner table and ask everyone to say what he or she has to be thankful for.

It can be an annoying tradition, but for Islander fans, it will be a lot easier this year.

The Isles are 15-6 and tied for first place in the Metropolitan Division. They're fourth in the NHL in goals-per-game, and among the top performers as far as advanced statistics are concerned.

This is a completely different hockey team than we've seen in years past. The Isles have tons of offensive firepower, defensive depth and quality goaltending.

Jaroslav Halak's been superb in goal. The last time an Islander netminder played this well was over a decade ago. He's giving this team a chance to win every night and making saves that previous Islander goalies simply couldn't. After a bit of a rusty start to his season, Halak's found his game. He's 7-1, with a 1.35 goals-against average and .950 save percentage in this month of November.

That'll do, to say the least.

Halak's play is the biggest reason why the Islanders are where they are now, but it's not the only one. The additions of Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy have solidified the defense in all three zones, and the maturation of young forwards Brock Nelson and Ryan Strome has given the Isles another dynamic duo to compliment John Tavares and Kyle Okposo.

Offseason free agent acquisitions Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolay Kulemin have made quite an impact as well. Both have provided secondary scoring, and Kulemin in particular has proven to be rather useful in multiple situations.

And whom do Islander fans have to thank for this? General manager Garth Snow.

After a bad season, Snowgot back to doing the things that have made successful. Virtually every one of his offseason moves has paid off, and several of his draft picks have panned out and are now contributing at the NHL level.

Does that mean he didn't deserve to be criticized last season? No, it doesn't. As Craig Button said, Snow deserved the criticism at the time, but he deserves the accolades now. He's plugged up the holes and turned the ship back in the right direction, and that's a tremendous accomplishment.

As the front office has learned from its mistakes, the locker room has followed suit. The Islanders are not the same team they were before. They're winning hockey games regardless of the circumstances -- the calls that don't go their way, the unlucky bounces that have historically buried them into a hole they couldn't get out of.

"No matter what the score is or what the adversity that we're facing throughout our game or how the momentum's going, we're just going to continue to play the way we know how to play," said head coach Jack Capuano. "Last year is in the past. This is a new hockey club with a new attitude."

The Isles have learned to keep their composure and stay the course, which is something all young teams struggle with. It took them a while, but they have done it. There have been more than a few wins this season that would've been losses last season.

"I think that's the sign of a good team," Capuano said. "When you don't play well, and you don't stay focused and you don't do the intangibles that it takes, you still win the hockey game."

For all of the questionable decisions he's made, Capuano deserves some credit here. He's got a lot to prove and much of the criticism is valid, but he's kept his players focused and level-headed and there's something to be said for that. He's also corrected some of those lineup mistakes, which is definitely a positive.

Sticking to the game plan has been critical. The talent was always there, but now we're seeing it on a consistent basis.

"We're understanding what's bringing us success," Tavares said. "We have a talented hockey club when everyone's committed to doing the right things and doing their job."

However, as Tavares pointed out, the season's far from over.

"I honestly think it's one game at a time," he said. "We understand we can be a really good hockey team in this League. But we also understand the work that has to go into it: the details, the execution, the little things that go into it. We need everyone doing that."

Everyone is doing that, from the GM to the goaltenders, and there's no reason it can't continue. The Islanders aren't just a good hockey team; they're elite.

Surely, that's something to be thankful for.

Follow Daniel Friedman on Twitter at @DFriedmanOnNYI

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