Four games do not sound like much.
In an 82-game NHL season, four games are usually forgotten almost as quickly as they happen. But for Peter DeBoer and the New York Islanders, those final four games of the 2025-26 season may end up being one of the biggest advantages they have heading into next year.
When DeBoer was hired with just four games remaining, he described the experience as "drinking from a fire hose." He had to learn a new roster, implement systems on the fly and evaluate players while simultaneously trying to win hockey games. It was far from ideal.
But it was infinitely better than walking into training camp completely blind.
Most new coaches spend the summer guessing. DeBoer got a preview.
He saw firsthand which players adapted quickly to his system. He learned who could be trusted in key situations and who struggled with the details. Most importantly, he got a head start building relationships before a single training camp whistle had blown.
As DeBoer admitted himself, he is "way ahead" of where he would have been had he arrived in the summer.
And the Islanders need to take full advantage of that.
The results over those four games were encouraging. Despite almost no practice time, the Islanders outshot opponents 130-75 and looked noticeably more structured defensively. The offense did not fully click, but the players immediately recognized what DeBoer was trying to build.
“I thought the quality in which we were playing at was pretty high,” said Mathew Barzal via NewYorkIslanders.com. “Defensively, we didn't really give much up. We would have liked to score a few more goals, but that's not on Pete. But I think we did as good as we could have done with the time that we had.”
That sentiment was echoed by Ryan Pulock, who saw similarities to the defensive identity that fueled the Islanders' deepest playoff runs.
“If you look back to some of the success that we've had here in the past, we were a team that could defend and were stingy and wouldn't give up much,” Pulock said. “I think that's an important trait in this league. In the past four games, I felt like we can get back to that.”
That should be music to Islanders fans' ears.
The Islanders are not starting from scratch this fall.
Those final four games may not have saved the season, but they may have accelerated the next one. The challenge now is turning those early building blocks into the foundation of a playoff team. If DeBoer's track record is any indication, those four games could end up being far more important than anyone realized at the time.
