#10 NEW YORK ISLANDERS The Islanders are looking to make it 3 out of 4 years of making the playoffs as they begin their new life in Brooklyn USA.  The Isles missed the playoffs the 5 prior seasons but now have their franchise player reaching his prime in John Tavares.  JT, with a career high 86 points, finished 1-point behind Art Ross Trophy winner Jamie Been.  JT’s wingers will be enjoying career seasons as well.  The younger talent is starting to filter in and the team is looking to improve on last season so they were able to ship Michael Grabner off to Toronto to clear some room.  Just who takes advantage of the opportunity will be seen.  Jaroslav Halak has been a steadying influence since signing a free agent deal last summer.  Look for that to continue.  The defense was solidified when Snow brought in Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk just prior to the season in deals with teams looking to create cap space.  Free agent signing of Marek Zidlicky should help with the power play. GOALIES It was pretty much status quo in the goalie department expect the team improved their backup position by signing Thomas Greiss to a 2-year deal. Halak should amass another 60 starts and give similar performance as last season.  The team is improving in front of him so as long as he remains consistent, there shouldn’t be a problem.  He needs to improve his GAA a little, as you can see from the table below, but they just need him to be the rock he was last year. 2014-2015                      GP      GAA       W        L        OTL       SP Jaroslav Halak             59         2.43       38       17         4         .914   DEFENSE The signing of Zidlicky could be a godsend and just be the spark that could make the Islander power play click.  Even at 38, he still has a knack for scoring and being an asset oh the power play. A lot of people are believing that Leddy will be the main focus on the blue line and well he should be.  At 24 and a year under his belt as an Islander look for the young d-man to better his career high of 37 points accomplished twice.  Last year and his second year with the Blackhawks. When Boychuk started with the Islanders, he came out of the shoot like a house on fire but settled in after that hot start.  He does have a scoring touch but don’t expect anything more than mid-30’s and that may be a stretch with the arrival of Zidlicky.  Travis Hamonic has shown glimpses but is lower on the depth chart while Thomas Hickey and Calvin de Haan round out the top six.   FORWARDS There was a time in fantasy when you stayed away from the New York Islanders as they were pretty dreadful but the arrival of Tavares and the recent maturation of said player, the time is now to start filling in your fantasy rosters with some young Islander talent.  At 25 years of age, Tavares is in store to eclipse his career high and may even tamper with the century mark if things fall in place.  One of the beneficiaries of playing on JT’s wing is Kyle Okposo.  Okposo was second in scoring on the Isles behind JT but had a somewhat disappointing season curtailed by an injury as he played in just 60 games.  There were pre-season rumors that perhaps Okposo was on the block.  Personally I don’t see it happening but you never know with GM Garth Snow.  On the other side of JT is Anders Lee, who is poised to have a career year if he can show the staff once again that he is deserving of such an honor.  We have him down for just 46 points but he can easily get into the mid-50s or so playing on Tavares’ wing.  They might not be household names but the Isles second line can be one that you might want to start paying attention to.  Ryan Strome, in just his second season, posted a quiet 50 points and could be in store for a huge breakout season.  Brock Nelson recently signed a 3-year deal and made people stand up and take notice last season with his goal-scoring prowess early in the season.  The pair are centered by Frans Nielsen who had a drop-off in production from 58 to 43, but he can benefit by dishing off to these two talented wingers.    PROSPECTS The farm is stockpiled with loads of young talent on both the backend and the frontline. We will start with defense and Ryan Pulock.  Pulock is just about ready for the NHL but another season may be in order or until a spot opens up due to injury or trade.  He is destined for a good professional career.  The Isles have some forwards that will be knocking on the door sooner than later.  Keep your eyes on Josh Ho-Sang as he looks like he could have some issues with his maturity but he does possess the talent to be an NHL force but will his head be in it.  The question is how long will the team wait to bring Michael Dal Colle up to the big leagues? With back-to-back seasons of 39 and 42 goals scored, I hope they don’t wait too long. This past NHL Entry Draft saw the team draft another highly skilled forward in Mathew Barzal.  More of a disher than a scorer, will be a great compliment to John Tavares as the second line center one day. Overall Fantasy Outlook There is no denying that years of suffering are starting to pay off as the Islanders behind Snow’s system of acquiring loads of draft picks and amassing young talent.  The team made sure to supply Tavares with lots of support and with the defense and goaltending pretty much set for the next couple of years, the Islanders should be a playoff regular for the next few years with hopefully a chance at a Stanley Cup or two.  Look for them to progress a little more this year and give teams fits come playoff time, but they still will need to go through the experience before having a legitimate opportunity.