The Islanders are heading toward 2026-27 with bodies down the middle, but not much certainty.
That’s the crux of the issue: they can probably assemble four centers for an NHL lineup, yet none of the candidates looks like a clean fit for a true top-four role. It’s not necessarily the roster’s biggest flaw - the aging blue line gets a hard side-eye here - but it’s high on the list because the team doesn’t have a center who clearly stands above the rest in the 1C, 2C, 3C, or 4C spots.
Bo Horvat, now the captain, gives them a perfectly respectable first-line center. He’s solid.
He’s not a superstar. And when your 1C isn’t in that top tier, you’d normally want a strong 2C behind him.
The Islanders don’t really have that.
Mat Barzal remains the biggest question mark. He’s injured, which raises long-term workload concerns for a position that demands a lot, and he’s still the kind of player people keep wondering about on the wing.
The faceoff issue is part of it, but it’s not the whole story. With his speed and range, center should be the natural answer, and that was the hope Pete DeBoer had this summer.
But nine full seasons into his career, the debate is still open, and time is running short for another Brock-style transformation.
J-G Pageau is the safest bet to stay in the middle. He can still handle a 3C job and a specialized role, though age is starting to loom as he nears 34.
Mathieu Darche chose to re-sign him mid-season, and he even explained the move to then-captain Anders Lee by saying the center spot is harder to replace than Lee’s wing. That decision fits the larger picture of where the roster is headed.
Brayden Schenn is another aging piece in the mix. At 35, he’s been a strong top-six center and a Cup winner, but that’s not the player he is now.
Darche and the pro scouting group - or Patrick Roy - brought him in at the trade deadline with the idea of using him in the middle, which was a surprising call given the two additional seasons at $6.5 million. Paired with the Pageau extension, it was part of the salary-cap squeeze that essentially pushed Anders Lee out.
The one center whose arrow is pointing up is Cal Ritchie. He was Lou Lamoriello’s last gift, coming back in the Brock Nelson trade, and he looks ready to claim a real role.
He’s only 21, showed promise last season before his usage dipped, and early reports from his offseason training are encouraging. Barzal’s injury opens the door for Ritchie to grab more minutes, and there are worse setups than letting him play center with Schenn alongside him as a kind of mentor.
Then there’s Casey Cizikas, who is closing in on 1,000 games. Last season was uneven, and it was the first time in a decade he played without either Cal Clutterbuck or Matt Martin around him.
The Islanders shifted him to wing often down the stretch, and that could be a sign of what’s coming at age 35 under DeBoer. Even so, if Cizikas is in the middle, he’s still more of a bottom-half option than a real answer at the position.
If the Islanders run out of center options beyond that group, Ondrej Palat and Kyle MacLean are still around. Palat, to be fair, already looked like he was no longer a center based on how he was used last season. The less said about that part, the better.
So the roster has enough names to fill the chart. What it doesn’t have is a center group that gives the team an edge. Injuries could force the issue further, or the Islanders could lean even deeper into lesser choices.
DeBoer is smart enough to squeeze value out of what he has, and maybe Ritchie makes a leap that softens the problem. But right now, the question remains the same: who, exactly, are the real centers?
In Other News...
Islanders Just Gave A Familiar Roy Voice An Important New Role
The Islanders have brought Benoit Desrosiers back into the fold in a different capacity, hiring the former assistant coach as a pro scout to help strengthen the organizations scouting department. Desrosiers had been working under Patrick Roy with a specific focus on the clubs face-off unit, a detail that mattered because puck possession off the draw has been one of the cleaner parts of the teams game during his time on staff.
His transition comes after a late-season change on the bench, when he was relieved of his coaching duties and replaced by Rocky Thompson. For the Islanders, the move keeps a familiar Roy voice in the organization while shifting Desrosiers into a role that will ask him to evaluate players from a wider lens, an adjustment that could end up being just as important behind the scenes as his coaching work was on the ice. [Read more 🡒]
Scott Mayfield Is Becoming An Islanders Blue Line Dilemma
Scott Mayfield was part of the mix in the Islanders 4-2 win over the Rangers, but the conversation around him feels different now than it did earlier in his career. Entering his 13th NHL season, he still brings the physical edge and penalty-killing work that have long made him useful, yet there are more moments where his declining speed and slower decision-making show up in plain view. For a team that still values what he can provide, that has created a familiar kind of balancing act.
The Islanders also have younger defense options starting to press for attention, which makes Mayfields spot feel less settled than it once did. If Isaiah George and Kashawn Aitcheson keep pushing for bigger roles, the blue line picture only gets tighter from here, especially with Mayfields contract still carrying significant term ahead of it. For now, he remains a part of the defense rotation, but the direction of the conversation has clearly shifted. [Read more 🡒]
Islanders May Have The Sorokin Insurance They Desperately Need
The Islanders are heading into the regular season with one of the leagues more important questions already attached to their crease: how well can Ilya Sorokin hold up, and what happens if he needs help? The preseason offered a small but encouraging answer in a win over the Rangers, where Semyon Varlamov made his return to game action and gave the team a reminder of why it has long valued his presence behind Sorokin.
Varlamovs status has been one of the more watchable storylines around camp because the Islanders need stability in net as they settle in for the grind ahead. A reliable backup can change the shape of a season, especially for a team that expects to lean on its starter heavily, and Varlamovs first look back on the ice suggested there may still be meaningful insurance available when the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]