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Good Morning, Islanders Country.
From time to time, we run non-scientific polls to see where the fanbase stands on a given topic. The 6-2 non-competitive loss to the NHL-best Boston Bruins was a reason to ask a question, would fans prefer to make the playoffs over having a chance to win the draft lottery when the reward is playing the Bruins?
With over 2,000 votes cast, the fanbase is split on it.
On one hand, it’s hockey, and the playoffs are just different.
We’ve all seen 8th seeds upset the top seed - even historically good teams. The “you get it and see what happens” crowd believes that with Ilya Sorokin, the Isles have an elite goaltender that can steal games. Plus, the team is full of playoff experience and can even point toward recent success against Boston in 2021.
Sure, that may be true, but what is the more likely outcome?
The Islanders have a history as the 8th seed. In 2003 and 2004, the Islanders captured the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and lost both series in five games (Ottawa in 2003, Tampa Bay in 2004). Close games, but talent won out.
There was also 1994, but we won’t go there.
In 2007, the Islanders were out of a playoff spot when they acquired Ryan Smyth from the Edmonton Oilers in a “go for it” move made by (at the time) inexperienced GM Garth Snow. Smyth was solid with the Isles, but they still needed help and heroics from backup goalie Wade Dubielewicz to win their final three games in dramatic fashion and clinch the last playoff spot, with the reward being a match-up against the President’s Trophy-winning Buffalo Sabres.
After splitting the first two games on the road, the Islanders lost two highly competitive and somewhat controversial games at the Nassau Coliseum and bowed out in five games. Smyth left in free agency, and the team missed the post-season the next year. The Isles were picking No. 1 overall in 2009 and didn’t get back to the playoffs until 2013, during the shortened season, as you guessed it, the eighth seed where they lost in six games to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Do you see what I’m getting at? Nearly half of the responders voted that they preferred to be in the draft lottery rather than the playoffs as the eighth seed. It’s not that they have a “losers mentality” or whatever. They’re just realists.
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