If the New York Islanders are going to put Peter DeBoer in the best position to succeed, they need more scoring threats. The head coach has a history of coaching elite forwards, but when looking at his options on his new roster, just one forward eclipsed the 30-goal mark during the 2025-26 season. Bo Horvat was the only one to break that threshold, and their next highest goalscorer was an 18-year-old defenseman (although an elite one).
There is no shade thrown toward Matthew Schaefer. He earned every single goal of the 23 he scored this season. However, when the next highest-scoring forward is Emil Heineman at 22, and no one else scored over 20, DeBoer is going to have some problems squeezing everything out of this group.
At the top of the priority list for the Islanders this offseason will be a scoring winger, and luckily, there are some options out there.
Matthew Knies
Matthew Knies didn't have the greatest season in Toronto, with some wondering whether he was in the best shape to go through the rigors of an 82-game season. You would expect a highly motivated power forward entering training camp for the 2026-27 season, and if the Maple Leafs trade him this offseason, that'll only add to the fire.
Knies' bad season in 2025-26 was still a 23-goal, 66-point campaign, which would've put him second on the Islanders in both. He also has plenty of room to grow as a power forward, and he scored 29 goals the season before alongside Mitch Marner. If you can put the forward next to a playmaker like Mathew Barzal, he will score.
Jordan Kyrou
Jordan Kyrou needs a fresh start after a terrible 2025-26 season. His goal total was cut in half from the season prior, as he scored just 18 goals along with 28 assists. However, the scoring winger scored 131 goals over the previous four seasons, and at just 28, there is no reason to believe that he doesn't have plenty more of those seasons ahead of him.
The good news for teams is that his trade value is at an all-time low with the Blues failing to cash in on him earlier when they could've. St. Louis might decide to hold on to him and hope for a bounce-back, but new general manager Alex Steen might be ripe for a steal by the Islanders.
Jason Robertson
It'd be quite the story if Jason Robertson reunited with his old coach to become the Islanders' new scoring winger. The one problem is determining which version of the forward the head coach would get. DeBoer's first season in charge of the Dallas Stars saw Robertson have a career year, totaling 46 goals and 109 points. However, he followed that up with two 80-point seasons where he scored just 64 goals total.
With DeBoer out of the picture this past season, Robertson returned to his old form with 45 goals and 96 points. Was it a head coach problem previously, or did the winger just have two poor scoring seasons by his own accord? If the Islanders believe the latter, it could lead to an interesting discussion.
