Islanders Anxiety – Episode 370 – Complicated Complex Feelings

In a very stream of consciousness episode, Mike and Dan sort through the many thoughts they’ve had since the Islanders season ended a week ago.

After their final game (a 2-1 loss to Carolina, of course) and all of the exit meetings, there’s still a lot to process about the 2025-26 Islanders. Matthew Schaefer’s incredible season remains above reproach but everyone and everything else feels like its under the microscope. From players once thought untouchable to questions of motivation to the GM whose moves didn’t work out, there are good reasons to wonder what next season will look like. Missing the playoffs in three out of five seasons with the same core means that major changes are needed. Mathieu Darche’s final presser of the season makes it seem as if he knows where the problems were, but he also leaves himself open for more criticism. It’s gonna be a long summer of questions with few answers.

In the second half, we look at Semyon Varlamov’s amazing comeback from double knee surgeries, talk about Mat Barzal taking heat for how the season has gone and discuss an article about a strange subplot of the Islanders and UBS Arena that tells us a lot about how the owners see the team they control. All while some live Tarps Off action is happen as we speak.

We solve nothing but at least we can talk it all out.

REFERENCES:

• Great seeing Semyon Varlamov get a couple of wins in at Bridgeport after surgeries on BOTH KNEES.
• Belmont Village doesn’t have a ton of stores or customers.
• Dan found Mathieu Darche’s post-season press conference to be telling but Mike wasn’t impressed.

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