Islanders 2024-25 NHL Season Betting Preview: Points Total, Player Futures Odds and Predictions
By Nate Duffett
We are 16 days from the NHL's opening night on Oct. 8. The daily NHL picks will return once the season starts, but leading up to the big day I'll preview some future bets for every team in the league. Check out our previous article where we bet some futures for Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.
Let's look at two futures bets for the New York Islanders in 2024-25.
New York Islanders Future Bets for 2024-25 Season
Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
- UNDER 91.5 Regular Season Points
- Mathew Barzal UNDER 73.5 Points
UNDER 91.5 Regular Season Points
The Islanders have been fighting off the idea of rebuilding for years, as Lou Lamoriello is not interested in being out of the playoff race. However, there's only so long that they can put off the inevitable. The Islanders' roster continues to age, and it seems like they are in a lull of being good enough to make the first round but not much more.
The issue with being stuck in that mode is that the Islanders will never get a high enough draft pick to add substantial prospects to their pool, explaining why they have one of the worst pipelines in the league.
The Islanders rode a hot second half of the season to third place in the Metropolitan Division in 2023-24. Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov formed a successful tandem for their new head coach Patrick Roy, and the momentum of him taking the job helped them get to the postseason. The Islanders had minimal success in the postseason, but hope was created that Roy was the answer to their contending.
Well, I'm not buying it. The Islanders are due for a poor season, and the early news in training camp of Ilya Sorokin battling an injury doesn't do anything to change my mind. Varlamov's play improved with his former coach Roy joining the team, but he won't sustain that over the entire season. If Sorokin is battling injuries all season and Varlamov has to take a bigger workload, it could be trouble for the Islanders.
Mathew Barzal UNDER 73.5 Points
Mathew Barzal averaged a point per game in 2023-24 for the first time in his career, tallying 80 points in 80 games. It was the first time he played anywhere close to a full season since 2018-19. He recorded 85 points in 82 games in the previous season, and people believed he was the league's next superstar. However, after starting his career with two straight 82-game seasons, Barzal couldn't keep up the pace in points or games played.
Islanders fans can dream of 2023-24 being the new norm for Barzal, but it's another theory about the team that I'm not buying. I've seen enough inconsistent play from him to fade this elevated points total, and I believe last season was just a year where everything came together. I'll bet on it not happening again in 2024-25.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.